102 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
to present these demands, and rejecting the reclusive emperor’s attempt
to limit this to a small delegation the entire assembly packed into the
reception hall of his palace, where one of the most senior nobles, Count
Joachim Andreas Schlick, read the document out to him. Rudolf’s reply
on the following day was placatory, and during the ensuing discussions
he conceded some of the less contentious items, including agreeing to
accept the settlement in Hungary and the treaty with the Turks, but little
progress was made on the central religious issues.
Meanwhile militia and other recruits were coming in to protect
Prague, although most of the former were poorly armed farmers or arti-
sans, who according to a contemporary report usually ran away without
even firing as soon as they saw the enemy, while some of their rudimen-
tary weapons training had to be provided by the royal gamekeepers.^14
Nevertheless by the time Matthias’s forces reached Prague and halted
just outside at Lieben (Liben) these defenders were in position, and itˇ
was evident that the city could not be occupied without a fight. Thus
after a short skirmish between the advance guards it was agreed to begin
negotiations, which were carried out mainly between representatives of
Matthias and of the Estates over the following three weeks. The prox-
imate cause of the confrontation, the emperor’s efforts to undermine
the treaties of 1606, had effectively been dealt with by the Bohemians,
but the determination of Matthias’s allies to rid themselves of Rudolf
remained. Eventually it was decided that Matthias should retain those
territories which had sided with him, becoming king of Hungary and
margrave of Moravia as well as ruling prince of Upper and Lower
Austria, while Rudolf was to remain king of Bohemia, duke of Silesia
and margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia, as well as emperor. The lat-
ter territories also agreed to recognise Matthias as Rudolf’s prospective
successor. The Bohemians, anxious not to delay the departure of the
invading army, agreed despite not having reached a conclusion on
their own religious demands from Rudolf, and in the clear expecta-
tion that concessions would be forthcoming they accepted reference
of these to a further Estates meeting arranged for November. Rudolf
himself was left with no choice but to accede to this arrangement, sign-
ing the relevant documents on 25 June 1608, while on the same day
Matthias formally accepted nomination as his heir in Bohemia. Signifi-
cantly for later events, Matthias described this as a ‘free election’ by the
Bohemian Estates, guaranteeing them in return all their existing rights
and privileges.^15 He then celebrated his success with a banquet at Lieben
from which, it is reported, the Bohemian representatives returned to
Prague ‘well drunk’.^16