162 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
particularly the artillery necessary to capture strategic cities. Hence nei-
ther was able to establish dominance or strike a decisive blow, and
the fortunes of war swung to and fro without reaching a conclusion.
Mansfeld arrived in Bohemia in 1618 just in time to prevent the Imperi-
alists from making a determined advance on Prague, following which
both sides preferred to spend the autumn manoeuvring, skirmishing
and ravaging the countryside rather than risk a major battle. In this
Thurn fared rather better than the Imperialists, while Mansfeld besieged
Pilsen, which he captured in late November after a seven-week siege,
a feat for which he was promptly placed under the Imperial ban by
Emperor Matthias. This marked the end of the campaigning season,
leaving the troops to find their winter quarters and the governments to
pursue the conflict through diplomacy and propaganda until military
action could be resumed in the spring.
During the late autumn the Moravians, led by Zierotin, Liechtenstein
and Cardinal Dietrichstein, and thus representing both sides of the reli-
gious divide, attempted to mediate between the Imperial government
and the rebels. The horrors of war had already left their marks on the
country as they travelled through to Vienna and Prague on their mis-
sion, and they made a deep impression on Zierotin, as he recorded. The
would-be peacemakers met with an unfriendly reception in Prague,
where the directors refused to consider negotiations unless all Imperial-
ist troops first withdrew from Bohemia. Zierotin’s own peace proposals
were met with scorn by Ruppa. ‘It was as clear as the sun’, he was
reported as saying, ‘that the Moravians had only come to Prague in order
to be able later, like Pilate, to wash their hands of the affair and claim
innocence over the outcome.’^18 They fared no better in Vienna, where
although Matthias and Ferdinand remained willing to confirm the Let-
ter of Majesty they stipulated that before negotiations could begin the
Bohemians must dissolve their own forces. As neither side was prepared
to meet the other’s conditions no further progress was possible.
The revolt had so far been an entirely Bohemian affair, but one
watched anxiously in the other territories of the Bohemian crown. Only
the Silesians sent any practical help, a small force of nominally 2000
infantry and 1000 cavalry, which arrived in October 1618, but even
this was hedged around with strict conditions about its employment
for purely defensive purposes.^19 The Moravian Estates, while attempting
to mediate, also prepared to defend themselves if necessary, mobilising
their establishment of 2000 cavalry and 3000 infantry in the summer of
1618, but nevertheless maintaining a strict neutrality towards the war in
progress across their border. As they continued to ignore all appeals to