116 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
to the castle to demand its surrender, following which Rudolf became a
virtual prisoner.
Matthias himself had carefully avoided setting foot in Bohemia while
he sought diplomatic cover for his decidedly delicate position. He had
written to the Bohemians saying that he was sending troops to the aid of
the loyal Estates, while telling Rudolf that as a loyal brother he could not
stand by while he, the emperor, was molested in his own castle by the
Passau army. To both he claimed that he was acting in accordance with
his duty as designated successor to the crown, while for good measure
he went on to complain to Rudolf that he had broken the terms of their
agreement, thus giving him the right to intervene. Nevertheless as his
troops advanced into Bohemia Matthias went no further than a town
on the Moravian border, where he waited.
With Ramé gone and with Matthias’s army at their gates, the Estates
issued a formal invitation to Matthias to come to Prague, but they
imposed conditions, asking him to give assurances before crossing the
border that he would respect all their rights and privileges. A week of
mutually mistrustful diplomatic exchanges followed, Matthias at one
stage disingenuously enquiring what the Estates wanted of him in
Prague, while they avoided a direct reply. Both sides knew that they
wanted to replace Rudolf with Matthias as king of Bohemia, but on quite
different terms, while the very subject of displacing a king was fraught
with difficulties. However Zúñiga, the Spanish ambassador, went to meet
Matthias, and it appears that he assured him of his master’s support,
while eventually Rudolf himself wrote saying that although Matthias
had been invited into Bohemia without his knowledge he was welcome,
as he was sure he would come as a true friend and brother. Hence on 24
March Matthias finally made his entry into Prague. A guard of honour
under Thurn and Fels rode out to escort him to the city, on the out-
skirts of which he was welcomed first on behalf of the Estates and then
on behalf of the citizens, before riding in during the early evening on a
horse draped in scarlet, to the cheers of the crowd.^38
As no-one was sure how to go about displacing Rudolf it was clearly
preferable to persuade him to abdicate, but even at this stage he was
not ready to do so. Zúñiga and Heinrich Julius of Brunswick both saw
that his position was hopeless, and they sought to persuade him to do
as many of his predecessors had done and authorise the election of a
new king of Bohemia during his own lifetime, thus providing himself
with a dignified means of withdrawal. Eventually Rudolf agreed to call a
general assembly of the Estates of all the lands of the Bohemian crown,
signing the summons on 28 March and calling the meeting for 11 April.