THIRTY YEARS' WAR 709 state of prescribing the form of worship within its limits, and to all subjects, Lutheran or Catho- lic, the privilege of emigrating from the states where their creed was prohibited. The Prot- estants were to retain the ecclesiastical pos- sessions which they had appropriated previous to the peace of Passau in 1552. But though the basis of a definite settlement was estab- lished, two important points remained on which no agreement could be reached. The Catholic party, to guard against the danger that would accrue to the church in the future appropria- tion of her prelacies by the Protestants, intro- duced an article, known as the ecclesiastical reservation, by which all prelates who should henceforth abjure Catholicism were to for- feit their benefices. This article was inserted against the protest of the Lutheran members of the diet. The other point related to Prot- estant subjects in the ecclesiastical states, for whom the Protestant members sought to se- cure the right of worship in such territories. The Catholics refused to admit such an article, and they could only obtain instead a personal declaration to the same effect from the empe- ror's brother Ferdinand, who presided at the diet of Augsburg. The exclusion of the Cal- vinists proved another source of contention. Under the rule of Ferdinand I. (1556-'64) and his son, the mild Maximilian II. (1564-'76), a general tranquillity was maintained, while the balance was fast turning toward the side of the Protestants, who in the Austrian territories began to tyrannize over the Catholics. The bigoted Rudolph II. (1576-1612), swayed by the Jesuits and the court of Spain, resolved to re- press Protestantism, and in his immediate do- minions proceeded to restrict, and finally even to abolish the Protestant worship. Religious disputes again distracted Germany. The en- mity between Lutherans and Calvinists equalled their mutual hate for the Catholics. The aulic council, whose decisions were inspired by the imperial court, usurped an unlawful jurisdic- tion in the empire. In Aix-la-Chapelle the Protestants established their worship in spite of the Catholics (1580), and at first beat back the troops sent to execute the imperial ban. About the same time an opportunity was pre- sented of enforcing the ecclesiastical reserva- tion. Gebhard, archbishop of Cologne, ab- jured his faith to marry a Calvinist lady, but determined not to renounce his see. He was accordingly placed under the ban of the em- pire, and a war ensued, which ended in his defeat and expulsion in 1584. A violent con- test followed for the see of Strasburg. In 1607 the Protestant imperial city of Donauworth, whose inhabitants an abbot had provoked to acts of violence by processions, prohibited within the town, was deprived of its liberties, in open violation of the peace of religion. Alarmed for their safety, the Protestant princes, in May, 1608, formed at Auhausen in Franco- nia an offensive and defensive league styled the "Evangelical Union." It soon comprised the Palatinate, Neuburg, Baden, Wtirtemberg, Brandenburg, Strasburg, Nuremberg, and other states of the empire. Frederick IV., elector palatine, a Calvinist, was placed at its head, though its most active member was Christian of Anhalt. The Lutheran elector of Saxony, however, declined to join the union. On their side the Catholic states, independently of Aus- tria, established the league (July, 1609), with Maximilian, duke of Bavaria, at their head. In the mean while the Protestants of Hun- gary and Austria had risen against Rudolph and recovered their rights (see RUDOLPH II., and MATTHIAS) ; and thus encouraged, their brethren in Bohemia, in July, 1609, wrung the Majestatsbrief from the emperor. Amid these disorders the heirless duke of Julich died (March, 1609), leaving a host of claimants to his dominions, which were at once jointly seized by Brandenburg and Neuburg. Rudolph ordered a levy of troops to enforce their se- questration. The Protestant princes flew to arms, and invoked the aid of France, the Neth- erlands, and other powers. Henry IV. of France now hoped to execute his design of humbling the house of Hapsburg, and was pre- paring to invade Germany when the dagger of Ravaillac terminated his career (May 14, 1610). Hostilities ceased, but under the em- peror Matthias, who succeeded in 1612, the unsettled claims of Julich again led to war, and Dutch and Spaniards, called in by Branden- burg and Neuburg respectively, occupied the disputed lands. Matthias, being without heirs, was induced to put forward as his successor his cousin Ferdinand of the Styrian line, whose big- otry and rigor alarmed the Protestants. Fer- dinand was nevertheless crowned in Bohemia in 1617 and in Hungary in 1618. But already in Bohemia an event had occurred which pre- cipitated the thirty years' war. The Protes- tant inhabitants of Klostergraben and Braunau had erected new churches against the prohi- bition of the archbishop of Prague and the abbot of Braunau, lords of the two places, who enforced their authority by seizing the buildings. Protestants and Catholics appealed to a somewhat obscurely worded clause in the Majestatsbrief, which the former contended gave the right of building new churches to the Protestants of the towns in general, while the latter maintained that it extended only to the states and royal towns. The court sup- ported the Catholics, and refused all redress. The storm now burst. On May 23, 1618, an assemblage of Protestants, led by Count Thurn, entered the palace at Prague, and seizing Sla- vata and Martinitz, the most odious members of the council of regency appointed by the crown, hurled them together with their secre- tary from a lofty window. They escaped as if by a miracle. Thurn and his associates organ- ized a general rising, and evoked the assistance of the union and of Bethlen Gdbor of Transyl- vania. In a short time nearly all Bohemia was in their hands. They were joined by the Sile-
