176 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
A new emperor
A key factor driving the Bohemians’ search for a new king was the date
set for the Imperial election following Matthias’s death. This was to take
place in Frankfurt am Main on 28 August 1619, and were Ferdinand
to become emperor the prestige surrounding the office would make it
even more difficult to justify to the world his abrupt removal from the
Bohemian throne. Moreover as long as Ferdinand remained formally
king of Bohemia he also remained an elector, and as such able to vote
for himself as emperor. In the event the deposition was carried through
in time, although with a mere six days to spare, and Friedrich was elected
in Prague four days later, but the news had not reached Frankfurt by the
time the electors cast their votes.
Every emperor for almost two hundred years had been a Habsburg,
as despite all opposition, manoeuvring and blocking attempts a mem-
ber of that family had always emerged successful. On this occasion too
ideas of depriving the Habsburgs of the throne had been canvassed well
in advance, not only by the Bohemians but also, and independently, by
the Palatines. They had, however, experienced the same problem which
the Bohemians themselves later faced in looking for a king, that of find-
ing an alternative candidate who was both credible and willing. With
Ferdinand once accepted as king of Bohemia in 1617 the long-standing
situation was maintained whereby the Imperial electoral college had a
four to three split in favour of the Catholics, and therefore no mem-
ber of any other religion could hope to secure a majority. Only Duke
Maximilian of Bavaria, the moving force of the Catholic League, seemed
to have the standing that might persuade the three ecclesiastical elec-
tors to switch their support from the Habsburgs, so paradoxically it
was to him that the Calvinist Palatines turned, their position at the
head of the Protestant Union notwithstanding. It was well known that
Maximilian had his own differences with the Habsburgs, so in Febru-
ary 1618 Friedrich himself, not yet king of Bohemia, went to Munich
to try to persuade him to stand. Maximilian gave him no encourage-
ment, although he enigmatically did not rule a candidature out.^47 More
optimistically still, some of the Bohemians had floated the idea that the
elector of Saxony might be persuaded to put his hat into the ring despite
the adverse religious balance of votes, but they had received no support
in Dresden.
Without a serious candidate to put forward as the election
approached, the Palatines tried instead to have it postponed on the
grounds that the situation in Bohemia should be resolved first, while