252 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
Ferdinand, prompted by the papal nuncio, had ordered the expulsion of
Protestant pastors and schoolteachers from Prague. Even the Catholic
princes were less than enthusiastic in their support, and the elector
of Mainz in particular remained opposed, eventually suggesting as a
compromise that the transfer should be only to Maximilian personally,
rather than hereditary, so that the claims of Friedrich’s children, James
I’s grandchildren, should not be permanently prejudiced. Maximilian
was reluctant, but after Ferdinand gave him yet another secret under-
taking, promising that the transfer would be made hereditary as soon
as circumstances permitted, he was persuaded that this offer should be
accepted before further objections emerged.^43
The electors of Saxony and Brandenburg maintained their opposition,
while the Spanish ambassador Oñate declined to attend the transfer cer-
emony and Archduchess Isabella of the Netherlands (Albrecht by then
having died) registered a protest. At the same time Friedrich’s Palatinate
was sequestrated and dismembered. The Spanish continued to occupy
the western part of the Lower Palatinate, while small sections of the
eastern part were awarded to neighbouring territories in settlement of
various claims, but the remainder, together with the whole of the Upper
Palatinate, went to Maximilian.
These actions fuelled growing international hostility. At one level
this had a genuinely religious element, as all parts of the Protes-
tant Palatinate thus came under Catholic government at a time when
Ferdinand’s militant approach to his re-conquered Bohemian territories
was already causing great concern. The executions in Prague in May
1621 had been widely reported, and they were followed by extensive
confiscations of Protestant property and the beginnings of a programme
of recatholicisation. A wave of embittered emigrants spread tales of per-
secution far and wide, while Friedrich assumed the status of the most
prominent exile, expelled from his territories and reduced to penury, so
that his attractive wife and young children became dependent on Dutch
charity. This image attracted particular sympathy in England, where
James I’s reluctance to provide active military support for his son-in-
law was already deeply unpopular both in parliament and on the streets
of London, but it also had echoes in the other Protestant countries of
northern Europe.
At another level there were also significant geopolitical considera-
tions. The effective elimination of the Palatinate, in conjunction with
the collapse of the Protestant Union, the re-emergence of a much
strengthened Catholic League, the triumph of the Habsburg emperor,
and a substantial enhancement of the size and status of Bavaria, all