The Search for Allies 183the Calvinist group around the Palatinate, linked both these subjects to
their long-standing demands for security of possession of secularised for-
mer Catholic church properties, together with the closely linked issues
of majority voting in the Reichstag and the status of the Imperial courts.
Their resulting declaration was essentially a restatement of the demands
they made at the Reichstag of 1615, progress upon which was to be a
precondition of anyKomposition, and pending which they would seek
to block discussion of the Imperial succession. The force of this threat
was, however, considerably diminished by the weakened state of the
Union at the time. A year earlier a proposal to extend its life by ten
years had been defeated, mainly by the cities, and a mere three years
agreed in its place, and moreover Brandenburg and Neuburg had ceased
to participate, while the search for new members, particularly in north-
ern Germany, had been completely unsuccessful. The cities, the Union’s
principal paymasters, had also placed an effective limit on the ambitions
of the more militant princely members, stressing that the Union’s con-
stitution confined it strictly to the defence of its members’ territories in
the event of attack.
The outbreak of the revolt in Prague a few weeks later produced no
immediate response from the Union, and nor did the Bohemian direc-
torate’s urgent application for membership, which they made in June.
Instead the Union did not meet again until October, and when they
assembled in Rothenburg it was quickly evident that most of the mem-
bers had no intention of becoming involved in the revolt. They went so
far as to agree that the situation in Bohemia should be regarded as of
wider concern due to its bearing on religion and freedom, but they lim-
ited practical assistance to permitting the recruitment of soldiers by the
Bohemians in their territories, while denying the same opportunity to
their opponents. They also decided to refuse passage through their ter-
ritories for troops intended for use against the Bohemians, with Spanish
forces from the Netherlands clearly in mind, but this was no more than a
gesture, given the availability of other routes through Germany. The mil-
itants, notably Christian of Anhalt and the margrave of Ansbach, were
not satisfied with this restrained approach, but they were very much in
the minority.^9
Thereafter the Union did little or nothing beyond looking on for a fur-
ther eight months, while the fortunes of war in Bohemia went first one
way and then the other, and when it did meet again it was not the situ-
ation of the Bohemians but the death of Matthias in March 1619 which
was the proximate cause. Nevertheless the members were not blind to
the signs of potential escalation in the conflict. Although major Spanish