From Bohemia to the Thirty Years War 251The move did not stay secret for long, as only a few weeks later a con-
signment of letters from Ferdinand and the papal nuncio in Vienna to
their opposite numbers in Madrid was captured by Mansfeld’s troops.
These documents were passed on to Friedrich, who promptly spread the
news of their contents, while they were published in full the follow-
ing spring, and hence both Ferdinand’s original promise and his secret
transfer of the electoral title to Maximilian were revealed. Opposition
continued nevertheless throughout the following year, as did efforts to
find a settlement, which were led by James I’s representatives but frus-
trated on the one hand by Friedrich’s refusal to agree to more than
relinquishing the Bohemian crown and on the other by Maximilian’s
persistence with his claim to the Lower Palatinate. Maximilian was
equally obdurate in rejecting Ferdinand’s renewed attempt after the
conquest of the Upper Palatinate to persuade him to accept that ter-
ritory as surety in place of Upper Austria, pointing out that the former
remained militarily vulnerable whereas the latter was relatively secure,
although meanwhile he continued to hold both. He also maintained
his efforts to find support for his claim to the electoral title, even
attempting to win over Johann Georg by arguing that the political
positions of Saxony and Bavaria were similar. Lutherans and Catholics
had a common interest in opposing the Calvinists, he said, and they
had lived together peaceably on the basis of the religious peace of
Augsburg ‘until the Calvinist spectre began to intrude its noxious seeds
and weeds’.^41
In the end it was not diplomacy but Tilly’s military successes in mid-
1622 at Wimpfen and Höchst, followed by the occupation of the whole
of the Palatinate, together with the peace agreement with Bethlen Gabor
earlier in that year, which persuaded Ferdinand to proceed with the
confirmation of the electoral transfer, as the papal nuncio reported.^42
Equally significant, however, was the fact that those victories were not
total, with Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick rebuilding their forces
in Holland, so that Ferdinand could not fob Maximilian off indefinitely
while remaining dependent on his League army.
The forum was a meeting of princes of the Empire which had been
summoned for January 1623, although this, neither an electoral meeting
nor a Reichstag, was intended not to decide on the question but merely
to give public recognition to Ferdinand’s transfer of the title on his own
authority.
However the proposal immediately generated a hostile debate, led
by the representatives of Saxony and Brandenburg. The two electors
and virtually all other Protestant princes declined to attend in person,
and their opposition was increased by the fact that in October 1622