256 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
shipping. Christian’s intention of responding militarily was overruled by
the Danish council (effectively the Estates), and in the resulting negotia-
tions Denmark was forced in June 1624 to concede on almost all points,
including the Sound dues, a humiliating defeat which had a bearing on
Christian’s subsequent attitude and actions.^47
In July 1624 James I, with Dutch support, sent a diplomatic mission
to Copenhagen to seek Danish participation in joint action aimed at
the restitution of the Palatinate and containment of Habsburg expan-
sionism. Christian, who was proposed as leader of the campaign, was
by this time ready to resume his involvement, but his council main-
tained the steadfast opposition which they had presented to all previous
suggestions. Gustavus was also approached, but he refused not only to
serve under Christian’s leadership but even to take part in any venture in
which Denmark was included. However he responded more favourably
to a subsequent approach from England, the Dutch and the elector of
Brandenburg, as in this case he was to be the leader, but he soon became
more cautious and started to make conditions. He would not cooper-
ate with Catholic France in the parallel Anglo-French plan which was
still being proposed at that time, and he would need an army of 40,000
men, of which he was to have sole command although his allies were to
provide two-thirds of the troops. Such a contribution was well beyond
James I’s resources, while the scale of the implied ambitions for the pro-
posed intervention caused him considerable anxiety, so that he returned
to vain efforts to secure Danish leadership and to persuade Gustavus to
take part in rather than to control the venture.
With these plans going nowhere Christian developed an alternative
of his own. He was not only king of Denmark but also duke of Holstein,
a neighbouring but separate German territory which was part of the
Empire rather than of Denmark, and which extended as far south as the
free city of Hamburg and the River Elbe. As such he was also a prince
of the Empire and a member of its Lower Saxon Circle, and while the
Danish council could limit his actions in respect of Denmark they had
no powers of constraint over him as duke of Holstein. His freedom in
that capacity was further increased by the fact that he, like Maximilian
of Bavaria, was one of the personally richest princes of the day, so that
he was not dependent on the Estates, either of Denmark or of Holstein,
for tax grants to finance his venture.
Christian had sought to involve the Lower Saxon Circle in action
over the Palatinate at the Segeberg conference, but both then and
since the members had proved disunited and disinclined to risk any
significant participation. By late 1624, however, there was one new