fact that Rudolph had, in consequence, no hope of aid from Spain or from the Catholics of Germany. Having these facts in view, we can only account for his next step by the vacillation induced by his frail state of health. Acting probably under the influence of the High Chancellor Ždeněk of Lobkowitz, a fanatical Romanist, Rudolph at first assumed a most uncompromising attitude towards the Protestants. He demanded that the petition which the Estates had addressed to him during Matthew's invasion (the so-called Twenty-five Articles), with the signatures attached to it, should be delivered up to him for destruction. He declared that he considered that the contents of that document constituted a confederacy formed without his permission, and therefore an act of rebellion. The Estates, adroitly using this demand to their own advantage, chose twelve of their number who were to present the petition to Rudolph with its signatures," so that the king might learn the names of his faithful subjects." Among the members of this deputation was Henry Matthew, Count Thurn, a foreigner and a German, who was not even thoroughly acquainted with the Bohemian language; he was none the less now beginning to obtain influence in the country, more through his resolution and self-confidence than through his talents.
Rudolph, seeing the impossibility of maintaining his former uncompromising attitude, once more gave way, and consented to the religious question being brought before the Diet. The Estates now, as in the previous year, demanded the recognition of the Bohemian Confession of 1575; they presented a petition to this purpose by a new deputation consisting of ten members. Rudolph returned no immediate answer. He demanded that a copy of the "Confessio Bohemica" should be presented to him, and then showed it to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Prague, and to the papal nuncio. As was to be expected, the two ecclesiastics expressed unfavourable opinions of the Confession. Rudolph at last decided to reply by letter to the petition. He demanded the complete acceptation of the Roman faith and ritual, with the only exception that communion might still be received by laymen in both kinds. He called on the Estates to recognize the authority of the Catholic Archbishop of Prague, and to expel all heretical preachers. The Estates considered this letter to
