Matthias’s Reign, Ferdinand’s Succession 127particularly in respect of the Empire, as he must have been well aware
that a Spanish contender would have been as unwelcome to the Protes-
tant electors as the arch-Catholic Ferdinand, while even the Catholic
electors were likely to have reservations. Significantly, almost from
the outset Philip set a price for giving way to Ferdinand, asking for
the cession of various detached Austrian Habsburg possessions, most
notably Alsace, to the Spanish branch. Initially the price was too high
and the prospective succession too far off, but secret and more serious
discussions were later resumed.^22
These negotiations also became bound up with the Uzkok war, which
ranged Ferdinand’s Inner Austria against Venice and her allies around
the Adriatic from late 1615 onwards. It is not necessary to discuss the
causes or course of this conflict here, other than to note that Ferdinand
was having very much the worst of it and was receiving very little
help. His only prospective salvation seemed to be Spanish money and
diplomatic support, but that came at a price, which in turn involved
the question of the succession. A secret agreement was eventually bro-
kered in early 1617 by Oñate, the Spanish ambassador to the Imperial
court, in which Ferdinand committed himself to make substantial terri-
torial concessions to Spain once he had successfully become emperor.^23
In return Philip waived his own claim to the succession and provided
Ferdinand with a large subsidy to strengthen his Uzkok war effort,
together with the mediation which eventually enabled the latter to
achieve a face-saving settlement on terms which amounted to thestatus
quo ante.^24
Despite Khlesl, Archduke Maximilian made repeated efforts during
this period to gather support for the election of Ferdinand as king of the
Romans, but in the end he failed to secure agreement even for the elec-
tors to meet to consider setting a date for the necessary formal assembly.
The search forKompositionin the Empire had greater priority for many
there too, while the Calvinist electors of the Palatinate and Brandenburg
were determined not to participate in an election until a broader polit-
ical settlement satisfactory to them had been reached. Less openly, the
former in particular was actively seeking an alternative candidate, even
accepting that a Catholic would be necessary, to put forward when the
time came.
With the Oñate agreement all but concluded, Matthias was finally
persuaded by his failing health to proceed with establishing Ferdinand
as his successor in the Habsburg lands, and it was decided to start in
Bohemia, not least because Ferdinand would thus himself become an
elector, enhancing his status prior to an Imperial election. Hence the