Styria. He had been trained by the Jesuits in a fierce enthusiasm for
the Catholic faith. He had carried out a ruthless policy in Styria
against the Protestant preachers; and he had there compelled both
citizens and peasants to attend the Catholic services. He had already
been proposed by the extremer Catholics as a candidate for the Imperial
throne; and it was to hinder his election that Z̆erotin supported the
election of Matthias. Matthias, indeed, was now weary of his position,
and he was particularly glad that Ferdinand should take his place in
facing the hostility of the Moravian Assembly; but a new, and perhaps
unexpected, opponent came forward at the next meeting of that Assembly,
to resist the policy of the Emperor and his champion. Bishop Khlesl had
never been popular with the main body of the House of Hapsburg. They
considered that his personal influence over Matthias tended to separate
the policy of that prince from the general schemes of the House. The
Bishop therefore understood that the rise of Ferdinand to power would
be the prelude to his own fall. His recent elevation to the rank of
Cardinal encouraged him to venture on a more independent policy; and,
with the help of Z̆erotin, he succeeded in defeating another proposal
for a grant in aid of the Transylvanian war.
But Matthias’s old policy of ruling by dividing was at last to obtain
an unexpected and signal success. It will be remembered that Silesia,
like Moravia, had secured, after Matthias’s coronation in Prague, a
much more independent position than had been conceded to it in earlier
days; and it was one result of the new position of these provinces,
that they were now able and eager to contend against each other, like
independent kingdoms, for the possession of territory which might have
been previously accepted by them as a part of their common Kingdom of
Bohemia. The land specially in dispute was the district of Troppau,
which appears to have had some separate Assembly of its own, but
which some of the dukes of Silesia considered to be closely connected
with their province. The Moravians, on the other hand, believed that
Troppau more properly belonged to them; and, as they were more ready to
recognise the rights of the Troppau Assembly, it seems probable that
the popular feeling in that district would incline to the Moravian
side. But Matthias, remembering that Moravia had successfully opposed
his military projects, eagerly advocated the cause of Silesia; and,
while securing to that province a more complete independence of the
Bohemian Chancellor, he declared at the same time that the ruler of
Troppau must be a prince of Silesia. To weaken the Moravians still
further, by sowing division in their own ranks, he chose Karl von
Lichtenstein as Duke of Troppau and Prince of Silesia. The bitter
quarrel which followed this decision had an important effect on the
future of the country; for Charles of Z̆erotin was thereby convinced
that his hope for a peaceful league between the three provinces had
become a vain dream; and, in February, 1615, he resigned his Captaincy
of Moravia, and was succeeded by a member of the Catholic party.
While this increasing separation between the differing provinces was
bringing further weakness to the Protestant cause, the Archdukes were
being driven forward to an extremer Catholic policy. The new attitude
of Khlesl had irritated against him even the moderate Maximilian, and
had decided the Archdukes to demand the deposition of Khlesl’s patron
and pupil, first from the Bohemian, and afterwards from the Imperial,
throne; and the substitution of Ferdinand for him in both those
dignities.
It is difficult to understand how it was that, in June, 1617, the
Catholic party seem to have gained a power in Bohemia greater than they
possessed either in the previous or the following year; though no doubt
the surprise at Matthias’s decision, and the absence of any possible
successor, had placed the Estates in a position of great difficulty.
At any rate, so it was, that Count Thurn and Colonna von Fels were
the only members of the Assembly who ventured to oppose Ferdinand’s
election; while the majority not only raised no objection, but even
abandoned that right of free election on which they had insisted in the
time of Ferdinand I.; and they “accepted” their new sovereign as the
necessary heir to the kingdom. Some little remnant of spirit, however,
was shown in the demand that Ferdinand should confirm the privileges
of the Estates before he was crowned; and, after consulting with his
Jesuit advisers, he gave his approval, even to Rudolf’s Letter of
Majesty.
But no sooner was Ferdinand seated on the throne, than he proceeded to
violate the principle, if not the letter, of the promises which he had
just made. He directed the judges of his chief tribunal to preside at
the meetings of the Church Congregations in Prague; to inquire into all
their accounts, and to allow no decision to be passed by them which
the judges had not approved. Further they were to examine all the
institutions connected with each church; to find out if they carried
out the purposes of their founders and, if not, to compel them to do
so. This decree was intended as a step towards the restoration to the
Catholics of all the churches which had passed into Utraquist hands. At
the same time, the Archbishop of Prague, who had already demanded the
closing of a Protestant church at Hroby, now insisted that that church
should be pulled down. Sometimes, as in the case of the monastery
of Braunau, the encroachments of the Catholics were defended on the
ground of some peculiar interpretation of Rudolf’s Letter of Majesty;
but it was evident that the attacks on the Protestants would not long
be limited by any legal pretences. The Defenders of the Protestants,
who had been chosen during the struggle against Rudolf, still retained
their offices; and they now summoned a Protestant Assembly to meet in
Prague on March 5, 1618. The towns, however, would not venture to send
representatives to this Assembly; and the nobles who did come decided
to defer action until the Estates of all the Crown Lands could meet on
the 21st of May.
The Royalist Party resolved to counteract this movement by every
means in their power. They tried hard to separate the towns still
further from the nobles; and they hoped to draw the representatives
of the old Utraquists away from the other Protestants. The attempt
to influence the towns had some partial success; but nevertheless
six of them (including Kutna Hora and Mláda Boleslav) consented to
send representatives to the new Assembly. The attempt to separate
the Utraquists from their fellow Protestants was a complete failure,
for all the parish clergy of Prague consented to announce from their
pulpits the meeting of the Assembly.
It was now clear that a violent crisis was unavoidable; and no sooner
did the Assembly meet in the Carolinum than two officials of the
Emperor entered the building, and announced that Matthias forbad them
to continue their discussions. The Protestants were seriously alarmed;
and Count Thurn demanded that, as they had been summoned to the Castle
to meet the representatives of the Emperor, they should be allowed to
wear arms on that occasion. The official representative of Matthias
consented to this proposal; and on May 22nd Count Thurn had a special
meeting with Budovĕc, Colonna von Fels, and a few others, at which
they resolved on their plan of action. A rumour rapidly spread that
the Protestants were planning some violent attack; and one of the
officials fled secretly to Vienna.
On May 23rd the Estates gathered in the great Hall of Assembly at the
Castle; and, as soon as the letter of the Emperor had been read, the
Protestants read their letter of protest against his prohibition of
their meeting. Then they demanded to know who had advised the Emperor
to threaten the Estates. Adam of Sternberg, who was now chief Burggraf
of Prague, refused to answer this question, on the ground that Privy
Councillors were not bound to reveal the advice which they had given
to the Emperor. Count Thurn replied that the Estates would not leave
that place till they had received an answer to their question. Then a
number of charges were fiercely poured out against the advisers of the
Emperor; and Martinic and Slavata were reminded of their resistance
to the Assembly of 1609, and especially of their refusal to sign the
Letter of Majesty. One of Count Thurn’s followers denounced them as
enemies of the commonwealth; and this charge was received with shouts
of applause by the other members of the Estates. Sternberg entreated
the Assembly to be calm; but he was urged to retire from the Hall,
and was at last forced out of it, with one of the other officials.
Then William of Lobkovic suddenly seized upon Martinic, and, after a
fierce struggle, flung him from the window down into the castle ditch,
which was twenty-eight ells below; and Thurn threw Slavata after him.
Their secretary, Fabricius, protested, and was in his turn thrown out
of the window. Wonderful to say, none of the three were killed; and
only Fabricius seems to have been seriously injured. They succeeded
in taking refuge in the house of the Chancellor; and afterwards they
escaped secretly from the city.
[Illustration: HALL IN THE CASTLE OF PRAGUE FROM WHENCE MARTINIC AND
SLAVATA WERE THROWN.]
A provisional government was at once formed of thirty Defenders.
Wenceslaus of Ruppa, who had taken a leading part in this plot, was
chosen President, and Count Thurn was once more appointed General
of the Bohemian forces. The towns now gathered courage to join
the movement; and only Budweis (Budejóvice), Pilsen (Plz̆en), and
Krumov remained on the side of the Emperor. Matthias would even now
have wished to conciliate his opponents; and, on the 6th of June,
a messenger arrived in Prague announcing the Emperor’s willingness
once more to confirm the Letter of Majesty. But this message was
speedily followed by a letter from Ferdinand, announcing that he would
only observe the Letter of Majesty in the same way that he had done
hitherto; and he further threatened punishment against all who would
not keep the peace. The Assembly saw the significance of this letter,
and continued their preparations for war.
Ferdinand was now eager for action; but he found that Matthias still
hindered his proceedings. This opposition the Archdukes attributed
to the influence of Khlesl; and Maximilian was entrusted with the
office of suppressing the Cardinal. For this purpose he paid a visit
of apparent friendliness to Khlesl; but, when the cardinal returned
the call, he found himself suddenly seized by Maximilian’s servants,
stripped of his Cardinal’s robe, forced into a carriage, and driven off
to Innsbrück, where he was kept a prisoner till the end of the Bohemian
struggle.
But there were still other advisers, who claimed to be heard against
the war. Both in Hungary and Upper Austria, the Estates, though
unwilling to take active part with the Bohemians, urged Matthias to
take peaceable measures for the restoring of order in Bohemia. In the
Moravian Assembly, a resolution in favour of a similar policy was
carried by Z̆erotin’s influence; though many of his colleagues would
have preferred to give more active support to the Bohemians. The
Protestant princes of Germany, however, and particularly the Elector
Palatine, were eager for forcible resistance to Matthias; and a son
of the Margrave of Brandenburg, who was also a prince of Silesia,
persuaded his Silesian colleagues to assist the Bohemians. It was
evident that war could no longer be avoided, and Matthias despatched
Count Bucquoi to Bohemia. Count Mansfeld and the Elector Palatine had
already sent troops to assist the Protestants; and Bucquoi was so
thoroughly defeated at Lomnice, near Budejóvice, that he urged Matthias
to make peace. The hopes of the Bohemians were further encouraged by
Count Mansfeld’s capture of Pilsen; and Count Thurn resolved to invade
Austria, and to attack Ferdinand at his headquarters. Now, however,
there arose new difficulties. Tschernembl, indeed, tried to rouse the
Austrians in defence of the Protestant cause; but he found only a very
partial support; while an attempt to persuade the Moravians to assist
the Bohemian invasion was defeated by the influence of Z̆erotin, who
bitterly denounced Thurn and Ruppa for making a religious movement
the cover for their political intrigues. These rebuffs impressed on
the Bohemians the necessity of strengthening their alliances with the
German Protestants; and Ruppa sent a message to the Elector Palatine,
to invite him to become king of Bohemia. Frederick V. was unwilling to
accept this proposal. He understood that the Duke of Savoy was likely
to dispute his claim to the Bohemian throne; and he also believed
that his father-in-law, James I. of England, would object to his
acceptance of that dignity. He did not, however, directly refuse; and
the necessity for decisive action was still further shown by two deaths
which took place about this time; that of the Archduke Maximilian, the
one conciliatory member of the House of Hapsburg, and that of the
Emperor Matthias a few months later.
Ferdinand was now face to face with his enemies, without any check
upon his purposes. The alarm among the Protestants was all the greater
for these events. The Silesian Assembly joined with their princes
in support of Bohemia; Lausitz followed their lead; in spite of the
resistance of Z̆erotin, many of the Moravian nobles also joined the
cause; and the citizens of Jíhlava welcomed Count Thurn into their
town. Carl von Lichtenstein, who was generally on the winning side,
joined the Protestants in their support of the Bohemians; two attempts
on the part of colonels to carry off their troops to Ferdinand met with
complete failure; and at last Z̆erotin was put under arrest in his own
house, and a provisional government was proclaimed in Moravia, and
entrusted with power to co-operate with the Bohemians. The hopes of the
Austrian Protestants were roused by this new phase of the movement; and
Tschernembl at last persuaded the Estates of Upper Austria to declare
in favour of the insurgents.
Thurn’s opportunity now seemed to have come; in May, 1619, he
entered Austria, defeated some of Ferdinand’s forces, and marched to
Vienna. But Ferdinand remained undaunted. He summoned before him the
representatives of the Lower Austrian Estates, appealed to their sense
of patriotism, and tried to persuade them to resist the Bohemians. He
had been arguing in vain for some time, when suddenly the scene was
changed by the entrance into the Hall of four cornets of horse, who had
been secretly summoned by Ferdinand. The resistance of the Protestants
was suddenly paralysed; and, when Thurn appeared before Vienna the next
day, he found the citizens so unwilling to help him that he was forced
to abandon the siege, and hastened back to defend Bohemia. There the
contest had continued with various fortune; but it is believed that
Bucquoi might soon have carried the day, had not a new ally appeared on
the Bohemian side.
Bethlen Gabor, the new Prince of Transylvania, saw from the first
that the success of Ferdinand would naturally lead to those renewed
invasions of Transylvania which had played so important a part in
the policy both of Rudolf and Matthias. The Hungarian Assembly had
been at first unwilling to co-operate with the Bohemians; but, during
his expedition to Vienna, Count Thurn had made the acquaintance of
a leading Hungarian Protestant, whom he had roused to sympathy with
the Bohemian cause. When this leader returned to Hungary, he soon
convinced his friends that the cause of Protestantism was bound up with
the effort for Bohemian independence; and, when Bethlen Gabor openly
declared war on Ferdinand, large districts of Hungary rose on his
behalf, and he speedily found himself in occupation of Presburg.
This encouraging news reached the Bohemians just as they were
entering on one of the most important stages of their movement. The
representatives of all the Bohemian provinces had met at Prague, and,
after a declaration in favour of the Protestant cause, had formally
deposed Ferdinand from the throne of Bohemia. Three candidates for
the throne now offered themselves--the Duke of Savoy, the Elector of
Saxony, and the Elector Palatine of the Rhine. But the first of the
three had very much cooled in his friendship towards the Bohemian
cause, since he had found that neither France nor England would support
his claim to the crown. The Elector of Saxony, though popular with a
small minority of Bohemians, had never been a zealous supporter of
their liberties; and he was suspected of being a tyrannical ruler
in his own dominions. So, on the 26th of August, 1619, the Elector
Palatine of the Rhine was chosen King of Bohemia.
But, during the discussions of the Assembly, a sign had been given
which might have warned the leaders of the insurrection of one fatal
weakness in their position. The unfortunate peasantry, pressed down
by the burdens of serfdom, greatly feared the additional evils of
war. They had hoped that the concession of spiritual freedom, which
Budovĕc had won for them, would have been followed by the grant of
other liberties, more directly improving their material position; and
they were proportionately bitter with their favourite leader, whom
they accused of deserting them from motives of selfish ambition. They
now assured the Estates that they could not hope for a blessing on a
movement which ignored the wrongs of the peasantry. The charge against
Budovĕc seems to have been wholly unjust. He was now past seventy; and,
though his name was still useful to the leaders of the insurrection,
his influence on their policy was extremely small. Had it been
otherwise, the Council might have taken a different view of this vital
question. As it was, the wrongs of the serfs were again ignored; and
not only did the Protestant leaders lose thereby a popular basis for
their movement, but they soon provoked against them a most dangerous
opposition. When the peasantry found that the mercenary troops which
the Protestants employed were as dangerous to natives as to foreigners,
they began to think that Ferdinand was preferable to Frederick; and
peasant risings hindered the progress of the Protestant army.
Frederick, of course, knew nothing as yet of this cause of weakness in
his new position. Nevertheless, it was with a hesitating mind that he
had listened to the proposal of the Bohemian Assembly. He had wished
to wait until he could have secured the approval of his father-in-law,
King James of England; and he knew already that he had to encounter the
opposition of France. A still more dangerous omen for his future career
had been given only two days after this election. The Electors of the
Empire on the 28th of August had chosen Ferdinand Emperor of Germany;
and on that occasion the Elector Palatine had been the only one who
voted in the minority.
But two powerful counsellors urged Frederick on to his fate--his wife
Elizabeth, and Christian of Anhalt. The latter promised him the support
of the Protestant Union; but, though that support was most welcome,
it was believed in Bohemia that his wife’s opinion had more weight
on Frederick’s final decision. Therefore, on September 28, 1619,
he resolved on accepting the crown, without waiting further for the
opinion of his father-in-law. The victories of Bethlen Gabor doubtless
encouraged Frederick in his dangerous course; and the enthusiasm with
which he was received in Prague must have raised his hopes still
further. His queen, indeed, though publicly thanked for her influence
on his decision, soon became unpopular from her English dress and ways,
and her ignorance of the Bohemian language; but this unpopularity does
not seem to have affected her husband’s position.
A more serious difficulty was the inability of the Assembly to raise
money for the payment of the troops; an evil which drove the soldiers
to mutiny and robbery, and eventually caused the rising of the peasants
against them. These evils the Bohemian Government attempted to meet,
partly by debasement of the coinage, and partly by borrowing money from
foreign powers; but the great hope of the Bohemians still lay in the
support of Bethlen Gabor.
About three weeks after the coronation of Frederick, Bethlen had
invaded Austria, and was on his march to Vienna. The Austrians were
again panic-struck; and when the peasantry discovered that they
suffered as much from the forces of Ferdinand as from the Hungarian
army, they refused to bestir themselves on the side of the Emperor.
Suddenly, however, the news arrived that a Roman Catholic nobleman,
who had been defeated by Bethlen in the earlier part of the struggle,
had now returned to Hungary at the head of a Polish force, and had
gained a signal victory over some of Bethlen’s supporters. Bethlen
thereupon hastened back to Hungary, and Ferdinand hoped to get rid of
this formidable opponent on moderate terms. But this hope speedily
disappeared. Bethlen’s return to the scene of action at once restored
success to his supporters. In January, 1620, the Hungarian Assembly
formally deposed Ferdinand, and declared Bethlen Prince of Hungary;
nor could even the acceptance of this election by his deposed rival
detach Bethlen from the Bohemian cause; and he refused to make terms
with Ferdinand until the latter had abandoned his claim on Bohemia.
This encouraged the Bohemians yet further in their resistance; and
the Austrian Protestants also showed considerable zeal in their
cause. Tschernembl even came to Prague and took an active part in
the organisation of the war; but he saw plainly that the oppressed
condition of the peasantry prevented the struggle from assuming that
popular character which alone could make it successful. He therefore
strongly urged upon his colleagues the abolition of serfdom, as a
means of securing the sympathy of the peasantry. But it was one of
the weaknesses of the movement that the Bohemian nobles were hampered
throughout by their class prejudices; and Tschernembl’s proposals were
rejected.
About the same time Ferdinand strengthened his cause by the complete
union of his forces with those of the Catholic League. Maximilian of
Bavaria, the founder of that League, had cherished for some time his
hereditary suspicion and dislike to the House of Austria; and he had
been even mentioned as a rival when Ferdinand was first proposed as
Emperor. But the increase of the power of the Protestants gradually
brought the Catholic rivals together; and towards the end of July,
Maximilian had already consented to assist in suppressing an Austrian
rising. Now, in September, he entered Bohemia; and his general, Tilly,
became the chief person in the Imperialist army. This seems to have
been the turning-point in the war. Christian of Anhalt, who had joined
the Bohemian forces, was compelled to retreat to Moravia; while one of
Ferdinand’s generals was despatched to Presburg to prevent Bethlen from
marching to the assistance of the Bohemians. One of the ablest generals
on the Bohemian side was Count Mansfeld, a lawless soldier of fortune.
He, unable to pay his troops, had taken to plundering the Bohemian
peasantry; and, finding that Frederick and Anhalt were both opposed
to this method of warfare, he consented to accept a bribe from the
Imperialists, which kept him quiet during their advance to Prague. This
at once led Maximilian to hope for a speedy conquest; and, abandoning
the siege of Pilsen, Bucquoi and Tilly at once marched forward to
Prague.
Anhalt, who had been defending Pilsen, hastened to Rakonic, a town
about thirty miles west of Prague, in order to cut off the advance
of the Imperialists. But, in spite of his energy, the Imperialist
forces came upon the Bohemians at Rakonic before they expected them,
and utterly routed them. Frederick at once lost heart, and sent off
a messenger to Elizabeth to tell her to fly from Prague, as all was
lost. But the Queen seems to have inherited something of the courage,
as well as of the beauty, of her unfortunate grandmother, Mary Queen
of Scots; and she indignantly refused to accept this advice. Anhalt
in the meantime had succeeded in rallying his forces, and holding the
Imperialists in check before Rakonic. But on the 3rd of November,
Maximilian received a new supply of provisions; and, encouraged by
this refreshment, the Imperial army once more broke up their camp, and
continued their march to Prague. Anhalt again attempted to anticipate
their march; and, on the night of the 7th of November, he reached the
White Hill, about an hour’s journey from Prague.