276 THE AGE OF HAPSBURG ASCENDENCY Incidentally also England was detached from the proposed matrimonial alliance with Spain, and instead of the Spanish princess the French king's sister Henrietta Maria was pre- sently betrothed to the Prince of Wales. It was in short being realised that the war in Germany was really an international affair ; that it would develop into a cam- Europe paign against Protestantism, which for various involved. reasons involved Denmark, Sweden and Poland as well as Hungary, outside the limits of the empire itself. As concerns Denmark it is enough to say that the Danish king held Holstein as a fief of the empire, as well as certain Imperial bishoprics. As to the other countries named a brief retrospective sketch becomes necessary. In Poland the reformed religion had made considerable pro- gress. The reigning family of the Jagellons died out in 1572, 2. The Outer an d the Polish Estates thereupon resolved, first Powers. that the monarchy should be entirely elective henceforth, and secondly that Protestants and Catholics should have equal political rights. The king was to be merely a Poland and nominal head of what was in fact an aristocratic Sweden. republic. The third king elected was Sigismund, who was also heir to the throne of Sweden. Sigismund, how- ever, was a strong Catholic, and set about restoring Catholic ascendency in Poland. When he became King of Protestant Sweden, his attempts to pursue the same policy there resulted in his deposition in favour of his uncle, Charles ix., who ruled with vigour and success, and was succeeded by his son Gustavus Adolphus in 161 1. Sweden had disputes with Denmark on the one side, and on the other was threatened by Sigismund of Poland with his claim to the Swedish throne. At this stage Russia becomes a factor in the complications. We saw that Ivan 111. freed himself from the Mongol dominion. During the sixteenth century his successors, notably Ivan the Terrible, extended the Russian kingdom on one side to the Caspian Sea, and tried to extend it on the other side to the Baltic. Here, however, Poland stood in the way, and the Russian expansion was forced back. Then while Charles ix. was ejecting Sigismund from Sweden, the ruling
