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their subjects in religious affairs, which right was gradually 

 considered by them as a right of reforming the state of 

 religion. For this purpose the Roman Catholic princes 

 employed the Jesuits and the Capuchins ; the Jesuits were 

 active in the conversion of men distinguished by birth, 

 bv knowledge, or by their social position, and the Capu- 

 chins worked upon the mass of the people. Their zeal 

 and success occasioned bitter complaints among the Pro- 

 testants, who' however gave causes of complaint equally 

 numerous and equally well founded to the Roman Catho- 

 lics. The dissatisfaction of the people was augmented by 

 the selfish policy of their princes. 



The ecclesiastical dignity of a bishop having lost all its 

 signification in the Reformed religion, the Protestant 

 bishops became mere temporal princes. Among their 

 number were the archbishops and bishops of Bremen, of 

 Magdeburg, of Verden, of Liibeck, of Osnabriick, of 

 Ratzeburg, of Halberstadt, and of Minden. There being, at 

 the same time, some hope that the Protestant bishops 

 might become hereditary princes in their bishoprics, the 

 Roman Catholic bishops of Miinster, of Paderborn, of 

 Hildesheim, and the elector archbishop of Cologne, mani- 

 fested their intention to adopt the Protestant faith. 

 Availing themselves of the privilege granted them by 

 the ' jus reformandi,' they encouraged their subjects to 

 adopt the Protestant religion. The Roman Catholic princes 

 tried all in their power to prevent such changes, but the 

 Protestant princes favoured them, and each party had its 

 motive for doing so, as the younger sons of the princes and 

 nobles of both parties were usually appointed bishops, 

 abbots, and canons. 



The Roman Catholic party recovered its political influ- 

 ence towards the end of the sixteenth century. The 

 Protestant elector archbishop of Cologne, Gebhard, count 

 of Truchsess, was driven from his see, and his successor, 

 Ernst, duke of Bavaria, who held together the bishoprics 

 of Cologne, of Liege, of Miinster, and of Hildesheim, 

 oppressed the Protestants in all his extensive dominions. 

 The bishops of Wiirzburg and of Bamberg, assisted by the 

 Jesuits, compelled their Protestant subjects to emigrate, 

 and the archbishop of Salzburg treated the Protestants 

 with unheard-of cruelty. In Strassburg there were at the 

 same time a Protestant and a Roman Catholic bishop, 

 who, after a bloody feud, were both sustained by the 

 emperor Rudolph II. in those parts of the bishopric 

 which they had conquered ( 1593). The Roman Catholic 

 people were equally persecuted by the bishops of Halber- 

 stadt and of Osnabriick, and the troubles were increased 

 by the differences which arose in the Protestant party 

 itself between the Lutherans and the Calvinists. 



The leader of the Calvinists was the elector palatine 

 Frederick IV., who, with a small number of Calvinist 

 princes, refused to appear at the diet of Regensburg 

 ( 1.VJ4), which was assembled by Rudolph II. for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining the assistance of the empire against the 

 Turks. Frederick and his party declared that they would 

 not assist Rudolph in the Turkish war, unless he satisfied 

 all the claims of the Protestants, and at the same time 

 they promised a subsidy of 400,000 gulden to Henri IV. 

 of France if he would restore the Protestant bishop of 

 Strassburg to the entire bishapiic. The Lutheran princes 

 expressed the utmost indignation at the treacherous con- 

 duct of Frederick IV., and they sent their contingents to 

 the Turkish war. But from that moment there was a 

 French party among the princes of the empire, and we 

 shall afterwa'rds see how dexterously France managed her 

 influence over Germany. 



The diet at Regensburg was dissolved in 1608 without 

 any results with respect to the peace of the empire. The 

 Roman Catholic states claimed the restitution of all the tej-- 

 ritories, bishoprics, abbeys, and churches, which had been 

 seized by the Protestants since the treaty of Passau (1552) ; 

 but so far were the Protestant, and especially the Calvinist, 

 princes from yielding to these claims, that they resolved to 

 t them by every means in their power. For that pur- 

 pose they concluded the ' Protestant Union ' on the 4th of 

 May, 1008, of which however the elector of Saxony de- 

 clined to become a member. The elector palatine Fre- 

 derick IV., a Calvinist, was the leader of the Union. The 

 members of the Union immediately levied troops, and 

 sent ambassadors to England, France, and Venice, thus 

 giving the example of a well-organized rebellion, and 

 P. (;., No. 1535. 



showing that they would resist the emperor and break 

 :he constitution of the empire with the assistance of 

 foreigners. 



The confusion of political and religious interests in- 

 creased after the death of John William duke of Jiilich, 

 Cleves, and Berg (1609), one of the most powerful princes 

 of the Roman Catholic party. The succession to his rich 

 and extensive territories was disputed between John Si- 

 gismund, elector of Brandenburg, a Lutheran ; the count 

 palatine of Neuburg, Philip Louis, a Calvinist ; and 

 Christian II., elector of Saxony, a Lutheran, but a friend of 

 the emperor. Alarmed by this latter circumstance, the 

 elector of Brandenburg and the count palatine resolved 

 to govern those duchies in common, until they could find 

 an opportunity to settle this affair ; and they immediately 

 took possession of Jiilich, Cleves, Berg, and the dependent 

 counties. This act was declared by the emperor to be a 

 breach of peace ; he ordered the vacant inheritance to be 

 sequestrated, and he appointed Leopold of Austria, bishop 

 of Strassburg and Passau, to carry the measure into effect. 

 He was assisted by the whole Roman Catholic party, 

 which, alarmed at the loss of such a powerful member as 

 the duchy of Cleves, concluded a union, to which they gave 

 the name of the ' Liga' (llth July, 1C09). This Liga was 

 afterwards the strongest support of the emperor during 

 the Thirty Years' War ; Maximilian, duke of Bavaria, was 

 at the head of it. But as early as the llth of February, 

 1610, the Union concluded an alliance with Henry IV. of 

 France, and occupied the bishoprics of Wiirzburg and 

 Bamberg. French troops entered the duchy of Jiilich. 

 King Henry seemed to have found an opportunity of 

 carrying into effect his plans of a European republic, but 

 he was murdered on the 14th of May, 1610. Frederick IV. 

 died only five months later, and the Union concluded a 

 peace with the Liga at Munich on the 34th of October, 

 1610. In the mean time a deadly personal animosity had 

 broken out between the elector of Biandenburg and Wolf- 

 gang William, the son and successor of the count palatine 

 Philip Louis, owing to their common government in the 

 states of the late duke of Cleves. Wolfgang William, in 

 order to obtain assistance against Brandenburg, adopted the 

 Roman Catholic religion ; and the elector of Brandenburg 

 made himself a Calvinist for the purpose of obtaining the 

 assistance of the Union, which was chiefly composed of 

 Calvinist princes. The confusion which arose from these 

 sudden changes became still greater by the interference 

 of the king of Spain, Philip III. This king became afraid 

 of new religious troubles in his provinces of the Nether- 

 lands, situated on the boundaries of the duchies of Cleves 

 and of Jiilich, and he therefore ordered his general, Spi- 

 nola, to occupy them for the count palatine with a body 

 of 30,000 Spaniards. But no sooner had his army entered 

 these territories than the United States of the Netherlands, 

 then at war with Spain, sent troops into the same countries 

 under the pretence of occupying them for the elector of 

 Brandenburg (1614). This was the first example of a war 

 between foreign powers being carried on in Germany. 



The empire was now on the eve of a general war. It 

 was generally expected that it would begin on the banks 

 of the Lower Rhine, but, on the contrary, it broke out in 

 Bohemia. 



By a solemn declaration of the emperor Rudolph II., 

 liberty of religion had been granted to the Utraquists, a 

 numerous Protestant sect in Bohemia (9th of July, 1609). 

 The document containing this declaration had the name 

 of the ' Majestats-Brief.' Civil troubles having broken out 

 in Bohemia, and Rudolph II. having taken arbitrary mea- 

 sures to put an end to them, the Bohemians deposed him, 

 and chose his brother Matthias king in his stead, in 1611. 

 Rudolph II. died of grief in the following year, and 

 Matthias likewise succeeded him on the Imperial throne 

 (1612). The number of Lutherans and Calvinists having 

 greatly increased in Bohemia, they claimed the same re- 

 ligious liberties with the Utraquists. Matthias refused to 

 yield to these claims, and serious differences arose between 

 him and the Lutheran and Calvinist Bohemians. They 

 were joined by the Utraquists, who were afraid the em- 

 peror might abolish the ' Majestiits-Brief.' Matthias sent 

 commissioners to Prague, who assembled the deputies of 

 the Bohemian states in the royal castle of the Hradshin, 

 and declared to them that their king and emperor would 

 not extend the ' Majestiits-Brief ' to the Lutherans and 



VOL. XXIV. 3 C 



