These demands placed Maximilian in a difficult position. At that moment he required the support of the Estates, not only for the purpose of obtaining aid in the Turkish war, but also to secure the election of his son Rudolph as King of Bohemia. The Pope, on the other hand, threatened him with excommunication should he make any further concessions to the "heretics." The Spanish branch of the house of Habsburg used all its influence towards the same end. After protracted negotiations a compromise was at last devised. The old Consistory, appointed by the king, continued to be the ruling body of the old-utraquist Church.
The Lutherans, however, who were now far the more numerous body, were exempted from its jurisdiction. They were authorized to choose fifteen "Defenders"—five from each of the three Estates—who were to have the supreme supervision over the Lutheran Church. The "Defenders" were authorized to appoint for each district a "Superintendent" (Moderator), whose office it was to maintain order and discipline among the clergy.
In consequence of their separation from the more advanced reformers the old-utraquists drew nearer and nearer to the Church of Rome. Through the influence of the papal nuncio the utraquist Consistory in 1587 secretly renounced the entire teaching of Hus with the exception of communion in the two kinds, and in 1593 the administrator Rezek, with 50 utraquist priests, declared Hus to be a heretic and acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope.
Though they had not succeeded in securing the control over the Bohemian utraquists, the Lutherans had obtained a very valuable concession by the recognition of their Church as a religious body under a separate administration. The coronation of Archduke Rudolph as King of Bohemia followed immediately afterwards (September 21, 1575), and Maximilian almost at once left the country. His hasty departure was caused by troubles concerning the succession to the Polish throne. Maximilian was preparing for war when he died (October 12, 1576), only forty-eight years of age.
Maximilian is one of the Bohemian kings of the house of Habsburg to whom history, perhaps in consequence of his enigmatic nature, has done scant justice. He has both among catholic and protestant historians found few friends. He possessed, what at that period was rare, a genuine feeling
