The Habsburg Brothers’ Feud 99hajduks, landless serfs who had become freelance soldiers and formed
the core of Bocskay’s forces. Dissatisfied with their treatment after the
peace, they directed their anger at the Habsburg government, and with
covert Turkish support they were more than a match for the available
Imperial troops, most of whom had been demobilised after the treaty,
while the remainder were demoralised, widely scattered and in no mood
to fight. The Hungarian nobility for their part had found a new leader in
the wealthy Protestant magnate Stephan Illéshazy, whose objective was
not only to defend but to extend the rights and freedoms which Bocskay
had extracted.
It fell to Matthias, by this time formally governor of Hungary as well
as of Upper and Lower Austria, to deal with the situation, but as well as
these political problems he had to contend with the personal hostility
of his brother. This was of long standing, but it became a clear threat
when, also in 1607, Rudolf issued aListe von Gravamina, a comprehen-
sive critique of Matthias’s stewardship in his territories, and particularly
of his concessions to the Hungarians and the Turks in the treaties of
1606.^9 Some historians have thus interpreted Matthias’s conduct in the
events which followed as motivated principally by self-defence, whereas
others contend that he deliberately used the opportunity thus presented
in order to further his personal ambitions.^10 The two possibilities are not
mutually exclusive.
What is evident is that Matthias desperately needed support, as he
was fighting on two fronts, against both Rudolf and the insurgents,
and without the clear backing of the other archdukes the only remain-
ing possibility was the Estates. He turned first, however, not to the
Hungarians but to the Austrians, assembling representatives from both
Upper and Lower Austria before proceeding with them to a Hungarian
assembly in Pressburg (Bratislava) in January 1608. To this highly uncon-
ventional joint gathering he presented the conventional request for
financial and military support against the Turks, but at the same time
he had private contacts with a strong Hungarian faction which had pre-
viously wanted to make him king and which was now determined to
be rid of Rudolf. This essentially Protestant support met with opposi-
tion from the Catholic prelates, who were still represented in the Estates
in Austria, together with the Catholic minority among the nobility,
while many others were apprehensive about an open challenge to the
emperor. It took the strenuous efforts of Matthias himself, supported on
the Hungarian side by Illéshazy and among the Austrians by the radi-
cally inclined Georg Erasmus Tschernembl, who had become the leading
activist in the struggles with Rudolf in the preceding years, to bring these