Battle of Sablat in 1619. The Protestants of
Bohemia responded by declaring Ferdi-
nand deposed as their king and replacing
him with Elector Frederick V of the Palati-
nate.
Spain then sent armies from Flanders
to come to the emperor’s assistance. Span-
ish armies marauded through the Protes-
tant cities of western Germany, then joined
up with the emperor to put down the re-
bellion in Austria. At the Battle of White
Mountain on November 8, 1620, Ferdi-
nand defeated the Protestant armies under
Frederick V, a victory that permanently re-
turned Bohemia to Habsburg control.
Spanish armies then captured Mannheim,
Heidelberg, and many other cities, execut-
ing or driving out their Protestant leaders.
The king of Denmark then came to
the rescue of the Protestants by gathering
a mercenary army, allying himself with En-
gland and France, and invading Germany.
The Danes suffered two defeats at the
Battle of Dessau Bridge in April 1626 and
the Battle of Lutter in August 1626. By the
Treaty of Lubeck in 1629, the Danes gave
up their alliance with the Protestants and
the Danish king was allowed to keep his
throne. The Swedish king Gustavus Adol-
phus then intervened, fearing the growing
Habsburg power in northern Germany. A
brilliant military tactician, this king won
several important battles, including the
Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631. The Swedes
won again at the Battle of Lutzen, but
Gustavus Adolphus was killed in the battle.
The Peace of Prague of 1635 tempo-
rarily ended the fighting and granted a
truce to the Protestant opponents of the
emperor. After this, France entered the war
on the Protestant side against the Hab-
sburgs. Catholic Spain invaded France in
retaliation. The war caused massive dam-
age and heavy casualties on both sides,
and after more battles in Bohemia and
southern Germany the Truce of Ulm was
signed in 1647. The Peace of Westphalia
followed in the next year. Over the three
decades of war, Germany was ravaged by
fighting, pillaging, and widespread disease
and famine. The nation would remain
fragmented and weak for more than two
centuries. Spain began a long decline that
left it one of the weakest nations in Eu-
rope, and the republics of the Low Coun-
tries permanently broke away from Span-
ish control. Habsburg authority was also
weakened in central Europe, while France,
which saw little fighting, emerged as
Europe’s dominant power.SEEALSO: Habsburg dynasty; Reformation,
ProtestantTintoretto, Jacopo ...........................
(1519–1594)
Venetian painter of the Late Renaissance,
who rejected the careful precision of con-
temporary painters for a freer, more ener-
getic style and who was keenly skilled in
the rendering of light, perspective, and
sheer drama in his works. Born into a fam-
ily of twenty-one children, he was the son
of a dyer, whose occupation (tintore)gave
his son the nickname of Tintoretto. He
was sent by his father to the workshop of
Titian, who soon sent the boy home out
of jealousy or contempt for his indepen-
dent style of drawing. As a result, Tintor-
etto was largely self-taught as an artist,
taking both Titian and Michelangelo
Buonarroti as his models. He developed
his own method of preparing paintings by
constructing three-dimensional clay or
wax models, posing them and using light
from various angles to get the most dra-
matic effects.
Tintoretto’s first major commission
was a painting for the Scuola di SanTintoretto, Jacopo