of toleration and of respect for the religious views of others. It is true that this has by many been ascribed to indifference or scepticism, and it is almost certain that the king, when dying, refused to partake of the last sacrament. His well-known remark that the prince who would claim to rule over the consciences of men would usurp the throne of God, is at any rate a proof of an open-mindedness that was very rare in his time.
Rudolph, who had already been crowned King of Bohemia, was twenty-four years of age when he succeeded his father as ruler of that land. He also succeeded his father as Emperor of Germany and King of Hungary, and inherited from him Upper and Lower Austria. His accession at first caused apprehension among the Lutherans of Bohemia. Rudolph had been educated at the Spanish court, and it was rumoured that he had there acquired religious views of a more uncompromising character than his father's had been. His attitude during the later and more eventful years of his life, and the lack of interest which he always showed in religious controversies, render it probable that the teaching of the Spanish court made but a slight impression on him. From the beginning of his reign Rudolph fixed his residence at Prague, and thus in a manner that town became the capital of all the extensive dominions over which the Austrian branch of the house of Habsburg ruled.[1] The new king from the first showed a distinct tendency to melancholy, and a strong dislike to political affairs. The bent of his mind engrossed him in subjects detrimental to his position as an emperor, and which would better have befitted a wealthy person in private life. Rudolph from his earliest youth showed great interest in art, especially in painting, sculpture, and mosaic-work,
- ↑ Dr. Gindely, Rudolph der Zweite und seine Zeit. The fact that Prague had virtually become the capital of vast countries, together with Rudolph's marked interest in the arts, resulted in a great enlargement and embellishment of the town duiing his reign. Paul Stransky—no friend of the house of Habsburg—quotes the following epigram to this purpose—
"Lignea prima fuit, posuit cum limina Pragae
Jam tum surgenti prima Libussa suae
Marmorea inde stetit postquam super aethera turres
Extulit et magnas luxuriosa domos
Jam non marmorea est non lignea at aurea tota
Continua facta est sede Rodolphe tua."
