88 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
were certainly closely bound up with them. Around 1600 rumours began
to circulate that Rudolf was actually insane, and the elector of the
Palatinate, upon whom a regency would have devolved, felt it his duty
to have enquiries made. His emissary, the margrave of Ansbach, reported
back that he had spoken many times with the emperor, and that ‘His
Majesty discusses important matters without any sign of mental distur-
bance, but with deep understanding’. Nevertheless, continued Ansbach,
he was prone to severe melancholy, so that he was often unable to attend
to any business, and he was also under the malign influence of his cham-
berlain, who was reported to dabble in the black arts. The papal nuncio
was more categorical, reporting to Rome on Rudolf’s strange behaviour,
particularly in relation to his own religious observances, and concluding
bluntly that the devil was evident in his speech.^13
During these latter years Rudolf’s relations with his family, already
bad, deteriorated further, ending in an open conflict verging on war
with his brother Matthias. This episode has become known as the
Habsburg brothers’ feud, from the title of a nineteenth-century play by
the Austrian dramatist Grillparzer, but while the real events certainly
had drama enough the underlying issues were principally political,
albeit with personal overtones. They will be described fully in the next
chapter, but a little background is necessary. As Rudolf had acquired all
his father’s lands through the family compact his younger brothers were
largely dependent on the unpredictable new emperor, not only for the
payment of their annuities, but also for future appointments to offices
within the family territories, or for support in gaining offices elsewhere.
Rudolf did indeed appoint Ernst, who was close to him in age and had
shared his Spanish upbringing, as governor of Upper and Lower Austria,
a post which he held until 1592, when Philip II of Spain made him
governor in the Netherlands, although he died three years later. To his
remaining brothers Rudolf initially offered little or nothing.
Matthias, the next oldest but only nineteen at the time of Rudolf’s
accession, promptly absconded in an ill-judged attempt to make his
own way in the world, which first took him into a risky association
with the secessionist Protestant Dutch provinces and eventually left him
virtually penniless and living in a half-ruined castle in Linz.^14 Rudolf
remained deaf to his ambitions for many years to follow, but he even-
tually appointed him as Ernst’s successor in Upper and Lower Austria.
The third brother, Maximilian, entered the Order of German Knights,
a religious foundation stemming back to the Crusades, later becoming
Grand Master, but he also sought to win election as king of Poland in
- The outcome was disputed, and a local war broke out between