The Elector of Saxony, always secretly opposed to the interference of Sweden in the affairs of Germany, had even before the battle of Nordlingen begun to negotiate with the Emperor in view of a treaty of peace. His representatives met those of the Emperor at Litoměřice on June 15. These negotiations did not, however, put an immediate stop to the hostilities between the two countries, and the Saxons united with the Swedes attacked Bohemia a few weeks later. The Swedish general Baner marched as far as the White Mountain near Prague, but the news of the battle of Nordlingen obliged him to retreat hastily from Bohemia.
In the following year the prolonged negotiations between the Emperor and the Elector of Saxony were at last brought to a conclusion. Lusatia was definitely ceded to Saxony, and the Edict of Restitution was, as far as it concerned the Lutherans, greatly modified. No provisions were made to secure toleration for the Calvinists as their bitter enemy, the court chaplain Hoe, still had great influence with the Elector. As regards the Bohemian Protestants, Ferdinand assumed the intransigent attitude which he afterwards maintained during the negotiations which preceded the peace of Westphalia. The Emperor positively refused to allow the presence of any Protestant in Bohemia or Moravia. In Silesia the Protestants were to remain unmolested and to retain the use of a few churches. These assurances were, with the tacit connivance of the court of Vienna, frequently violated by the local officials. The agreement between Austria and Saxony was signed at Prague on May 30, 1635, and was followed immediately by a treaty of alliance between the two countries.
Ferdinand II died early in the year 1637, and was succeeded by his son Ferdinand III, who had during his father's lifetime been crowned as King of Bohemia. The Thirty Years' War continued with alternating success during the first twelve years of the reign of the new ruler. In 1639 the Swedes under their able general Baner again invaded Bohemia. A considerable number of Bohemian exiles again accompanied the Swedish army, and when Baner declared that he entered Bohemia as a protector of the freedom of the Protestants, he was enthusiastically welcomed by many Bohemian peasants. After capturing Podmokli,[1] Ústí and Litoměřice, Banēr advanced on Prague. The "Catholic
- ↑ In German "Bodenbach."
