CHAPTER XX THE ERA OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR Rudolph ii. was succeeded as emperor by his brother Matthias. The succession to him was settled upon Ferdinand of Styria, l. The Thirty his cousin, a prince of ability and vigour, but an Years' War. aggressive Catholic. Matthias had succeeded to the Crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, but Bohemia claimed that the Crown was elective j and being a Protestant country, The Crown of Ferdinand's succession there was likely to be dis- Bohemia. puted. The Bohemians, however, were surprised into electing him as heir. A strong repressive policy was at once entered upon, and there was an immediate Protestant revolt. Matters were still in the balance when Matthias died. Ferdinand secured the Imperial Crown, but at the same time Bohemia repudiated its previous decision, deposed Ferdinand, and chose for its king Frederick the Elector Palatine, the nominal head of the Protestant Union of Germany and the son-in-law of James, King of England. The King of Bohemia was an elector of the empire; the recognition of Frederick's election as king by Bohemia, of which the legality was more than doubtful, would give him a double vote, and would transfer a vote from the Catholics to the Protestants. The Catholic princes at once united against Frederick, while the Lutheran princes refused to espouse his cause because he was a Calvinist, and also because Ferdinand promised them various concessions as the reward of their neutrality. Thus began the Thirty Years' War. Within fifteen months of his election Frederick was completely routed at the White Hill, in Bohemia, and Spanish troops in alliance with Ferdinand 274
