The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618

120 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618

noted in Chapter 2, and after the crises and confrontations of Rudolf’s
last decade the first five years of Matthias’s reign, from 1612 to 1616,
were also markedly less traumatic in the Habsburg lands. Even though
there was neither war nor open internal conflict, however, the religious
and political struggle continued unabated, albeit on a smaller scale.
Ritter summed it up:

Both sides attempted to achieve gradually at the lower levels what

they had been unable to win outright at the top. In numerous small

disputes the emperor sought to restore and increase the power of the

princes and the Catholic church, which had been severely dimin-

ished in the recent upheavals, while for their part the Protestants

strove to consolidate and extend the position of their confession, and

to build up the authority of the Estates.^9

Historians often skip quickly over this period, so that the dramatic flare-
up in Bohemia in 1618 can seem a disconnected and startling throwback
to the earlier turbulence after a period of relative calm, whereas in fact it
followed logically from a steady increase in tension, but in the Habsburg
lands rather than in the Empire, during these years.
Matthias’s accession was itself not a foregone conclusion, despite his
position as the heir apparent and with the Habsburg family compact
to support him. There were some in the Empire who saw a potential
opportunity to displace the Habsburgs, perhaps even by a Protestant,
and others, including Habsburg supporters, who would have preferred
Archduke Albrecht from the Netherlands. Matthias’s role in the step-
by-step usurpation of Rudolf’s authority and titles was also held against
him in some quarters, and under Khlesl’s tutelage he had to make con-
siderable diplomatic efforts to win back support. Ultimately, however,
there was no other credible and willing candidate, so Matthias was duly
elected. Nevertheless the search for an alternative continued, focusing
instead on the prospective succession to the ageing and childless new
emperor.
Meanwhile the Protestant estates in the various Habsburg lands
quickly reverted to their preoccupation with their own internal affairs,
rather than seeking to maintain a common front towards their Catholic
princes. Joint action had been limited enough even at the critical
moments during Rudolf’s latter years, and although it had been effective
at the time of Matthias’s march on Prague in 1608 the Bohemians had
nevertheless held back to pursue their own objectives, while Silesia and
Lusatia had taken no active part. Moreover, although the participants