190 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
their own still solidly Catholic domains might ensue, together with the
political challenges and demands which usually accompanied it.
Maximilian of Bavaria
By the autumn of 1619 Ferdinand’s military situation was critical. True,
he had been elected emperor at the end of August, but in the same
month Bethlen Gabor had taken the field again, launching a new attack
through Hungary directed towards Vienna. A year after Ferdinand had
set out to crush the Bohemian revolt his army was instead hastily retreat-
ing to defend his own capital, with Thurn in hot pursuit and about to
join up with Bethlen to besiege the city for the second time. Spanish
support had been limited, and despite the urgings of Archduke Albrecht
from the Netherlands the Spanish court in Madrid were still reluctant
to do more. Maximilian of Bavaria seemed to be Ferdinand’s only hope
of substantial military support, so after his coronation in Frankfurt he
made his way directly to Munich.
Maximilian was a much more significant character than Ferdinand,
strong willed, more thoughtful and further sighted, but although not
without social graces he was more reserved and did not share the
Habsburg’s winning affability. Slim and of medium height, Maximilian’s
most noted physical feature was his high-pitched feminine-sounding
voice, while his most evident personal trait was his extreme piety, which
seems to have been as much innate as instilled by his Jesuit education.
His confessor recorded that his daily routine included an hour of pri-
vate prayer on rising, followed by two or sometimes three Masses in the
morning and well over an hour of Vespers in the afternoon, together
with a careful examination of his own conscience before retiring to
bed. Nevertheless, concluded the Jesuit, Maximilian’s religion was ulti-
mately personal and private, a point confirmed when after his death
a box which he always had at hand, but the contents of which he
had never revealed, was found to contain a hair shirt and well-used
instruments for self-flagellation.^19 Maximilian was a determined oppo-
nent of ‘heresy’, but nevertheless not a fanatic, and where political
considerations arose he had a notably more pragmatic approach than
Ferdinand, exhibiting none of the recklessness with which the latter
sought to implement what seemed to him to be God’s commands. Both
were admirers of the Jesuits, but although Maximilian respected the
advice of his spiritual guide the latter never exercised comparable influ-
ence to Ferdinand’s confessor or the court preachers of many Protestant
princes.