From Bohemia to the Thirty Years War 257issue which concerned them directly, namely the continued presence
of Tilly’s League army and his Spanish supporting troops. After defeat-
ing Christian of Brunswick at the battle of Stadtlohn in August 1623
Tilly had moved his army back into Westphalia and encamped it on the
borders of the Lower Saxon Circle, where he rebuilt its strength while
he kept watch on Mansfeld in Ostfriesland, and although Mansfeld dis-
persed his force and slipped away early in 1624 Tilly stayed put. There
were of course good reasons for this. Mansfeld had fled into Holland
once before, only to re-emerge six months later with a substantial recon-
stituted army, and he might have done so again. Moreover Ferdinand
and Maximilian were well aware, at least in general terms, of the efforts
being made to assemble a coalition to attack them, and as that threat
lay in the north it was logical to keep the army there at the ready. It
would in any case not have been welcome back on Catholic territory, as
a stationary army imposed huge burdens on the land and population.
Better to leave it in a Protestant area and ignore the complaints.
Complaints there certainly were, as the army effectively lived off the
land, imposing billeting and financial contributions across a wide area
of the Lower Saxon Circle, while it was also seen as a political threat
by the princes. Hence by early 1625 they were ready to respond to
Christian’s proposals that they should arm themselves in order to force
Tilly out, and the king himself began recruiting in Holstein. In order
to validate his actions under Imperial law, however, he needed an offi-
cial position, and as the office ofKreisoberst, the military commander
of the Circle, was conveniently vacant he set out to gain it for him-
self. The problems he encountered again demonstrated the widespread
reluctance to become involved in moves which could lead to war, and
the process itself was reminiscent of what had previously happened
within the Protestant Union. Christian took the precaution of calling
a prior meeting of the princes to gain their support, although it took
him two days of persuasion to do so, so that his actual election should
have been a foregone conclusion, but instead when the full member-
ship assembled in April 1625 opposition emerged, particularly from
the cities. Hence they declined either to sanction military action or
to elect Christian, choosing a nonentity in his place. However the lat-
ter refused the position, so that a further meeting was convened in
May, at which Christian’s appointment and the raising of forces were
reluctantly agreed. Even then, though, any action was to be specifi-
cally defensive and within the confines of the Circle, so that there was
no question or even mention of intervention in connection with the
Palatinate.