20 Wallenstein
had been backed in the main by the Catholic nobility and Matthias
likewise by the Protestants, but since Matthias’s accession this position
had reversed, and the mainly Catholic court party was becoming bolder
and more provocative while the Protestant-dominated Estates became
steadily more recalcitrant. Now Matthias was clearly declining, and the
question of the succession was on everyone’s lips, not least because of
the conflict that it might cause.
Adult male Habsburgs were scarce, and most were either old, like
Matthias’s remaining brothers, or Spanish, which was worse. Ferdinand
was almost the only available candidate, but he also seemed the man
least likely to pour oil on the troubled waters of the Empire. Jesuit-
educated and deeply religious, Ferdinand exhibited a crusading zeal
which frightened the more worldly-wise Habsburg practitioners of
Realpolitik in Spain and the Netherlands. Within a few years of reach-
ing the age of majority and taking up the reins of government in 1595
he had high-handedly and almost single-handedly brought his mainly
Protestant archduchy of Styria back to Catholicism, expelling Lutheran
pastors, burning their books, and giving the ordinary people three weeks
to return to the Mass or to leave his territory. True, there had been little
trouble, but in some ways that made things worse. By now approach-
ing 40, Ferdinand showed no sign of a more relaxed maturity, and his
earlier success was only likely to encourage him to try again should
he become king of Bohemia, this time perhaps with disastrous results.
Amid this general Habsburg discomfort about Ferdinand, the king of
Spain even considered putting himself forward as a possible candidate
for the Bohemian and Imperial crowns, but as this did not seem realistic
he allowed himself to be bought off with a land settlement in the family
negotiations which eventually concluded that Ferdinand it had to be.
While the Habsburgs debated behind closed doors the most likely
outcome was already there for thinking men to see, particularly in
the Bohemian lands, where Ferdinand would be the most unwelcome
possible candidate for the throne. Trouble could follow from one of
two directions. Either the Bohemians would reject Ferdinand, possibly
finding another and perhaps Protestant candidate, thus leading to a
confrontation with Catholic Habsburg power. Alternatively they could
accept him, and Ferdinand might then provoke a rebellion by challeng-
ing the Protestant nobility and the freedoms they had extracted from
Rudolf in the Letter of Majesty of 1609. Of course some peaceable mid-
dle way might be found, but the prospects did not look good.
Where did Wallenstein stand in this? The answer is, potentially out
on a limb. His inclinations might have placed him in the court party