A. D. 1610. PART 1. occafion, when you may be fuppofed to have digefted the materials already before you; obferving, in the mean time, that foon after the peace of Weftphalia, which may be confidered as the foundation of all subfequent treaties, fociety almoft every where affumed its prefent form. I must begin with a view of the troubles of Germany. A.D. 1612. THE two great confederacies, diftinguished by the names of the Catholic League and Evangelical Union, which had threatened the empire with a furi ous civil war, appeared to be diffolved with the death of Henry IV. But the elector of Brandenburg, and the duke of Neuburg, ftill maintained their claim to the fucceffion of Cleves and Juliers; and being affifted by Maurice, prince of Orange, and fome French troops, under the marefchal de la Chatre, they expelled Leopold, the fequeftrator, and took poffeffion by force of arms. They afterwards, however, disagreed between themselves, but were again reconciled from a fense of mutual intereft. In this petty quarrel Spain and the United Provinces interefted themfelves, and the two greatest generals in Europe were once more opposed to each other; Spinola on the part of the duke of Neuburg, who had renounced Lutheranifm in order to procure the protection of the Catholic king, and Maurice on the fide of the elector of Brandenburg, who introduced Calvinifm into his dominions, more ftrongly to attach the Dutch to his caufe '. MEANTIME Rodolph II. died, and was fucceeded by his brother Matthias. The proteftants, to whom the archduke had been very indulgent, in order to accomplifh his ambitious views, no fooner faw him feated on 1. Mercur. Gallo Belg. tom. x. lib. iii. the LXXIV. the imperial throne, than they plied him with memo- LETTER rials, requiring an extenfion of their privileges, while the Catholics petitioned for new restrictions; and to complete his confufion, the Turks entered Tranfilvania. But the extent of the Ottoman dominions, which had fo long given aların to Chriftendom, on this, as well as on former occafions, proved its fafety. The young and ambitious Achmet, who hoped to fig. nalize the beginning with his reign by the conqueft of Hungary, was obliged to recall his forces from that quarter, to protect the eastern frontier of his empire; and Matthias obtained, without ftriking a blow, a peace as advantageous as he could have expected, after A. D. 1615. the most fuccessful war. He ftipulated for the reftitu. tion of Agria, Peft, Buda, and every other place held by the Turks in Hungary 2. MATTHIAS was now refolved to pull off the mask, which he had fo long worn on purpose to deceive the the Proteftants, and to convince them that he was their mafter. Meanwhile, finding himself advancing in years, and declining in health, he procured, in order to ftrengthen his authority, his coufin Ferdinand de Gratz, duke of Stiria, whom he intended as his fucceffor in the empire, to be elected king of Bohemia, and acknowleged in Hungary, neither himself nor his A. D. 1617. brothers having any children: and he engaged the Spanish branch of the house of Auftria, to renounce all pretenfions which it could poffibly have to those crowns 3. THIS family compact alarmed the Evangelical Union, and occafioned a revolt of the Hungarians and Bohemians. The malecontents in Hungary were foon A. D. 1618. appealed; but the Bohemian proteftants, whose 2. Heifs, liv. iii. chap. viii. H 3 3. Annal, de l' Emp. tom, ii. PART I. privileges had been invaded, obftinately continued in A. D.1618. arms, and were joined by thofe of Silefia, Moravia, and Upper Auftria. The confederates were headed by count de la Tour, a man of abilities, and fupported by an army of German proteftants, under the famous count Mansfeldt, natural fon of the Flemish general of that name, who was for a time governor of the Spanish Netherlands.-Thus was kindled a furious civil war, which defolated Germany during thirty years, interested all the powers of Europe, and was not finally extinguifhed until the peace of Weftphalia. A.D. 1619. AMID thefe diforders died the Emperor Matthias, without being able to force the event of the struggle, or who fhould be his fucceffor. The imperial dignity, however, went according to his deftination. Ferdinand de Gratz was raised to the vacant throne notwithstanding the oppofition of the elector Palatine and the ftates of Bohemia; and with a lefs tyrannical difpofition, he would have been worthy that high station. THE election of Ferdinand II. inftead of intimidating the Bohemians, roufed them to more vigorous meafures. They formally depofed him, and chofe Frederic V. elector Palatine for their king. Frederic, fcduced by his flatterers, unwifely accepted of the crown, notwithstanding the remonftrances of James I. of England, his father-in-law, who ufed all his influence in perfuading him to reject it, and protefted that he would give him no affiftance in fuch a rafh undertaking. THIS measure confirmed the quarrel between Ferdinand and the Bohemians. Frederic was feconded by all the Proteftant princes, except the elector of Saxony, who ftill adhered to the emperor, in hopes of obtaining the investiture of Cleves and Juliers. Bethlem Gabor, vaivode LXXIV. vaivode of Tranfilvania, alfo declared in favour of LETTER the Palatine; entered Hungary, made himself mafter of many places, and was proclaimed king by the Pro- A.D. 1619. teftants of that country *. FREDERIC was farther fupported by two thousand four hundred English volunteers, whom James permitted to embark in a cause of which he disapproved; and by a body of eight thousand men, under prince Henry of Naffau, from the United Provinces. But Ferdinand, affifted by the Catholic princes of the empire, by the king of Spain, and the archduke Albert, was more than a match for his enemies. Spinola led twenty-five thoufand veterans from the Low Countries, and plundered the Palatinate, in defiance of the English and Dutch; while Frederic himself, unable to protect his new kingdom of Bohemia, was totally routed, near Prague, by the imperial general Buquoy, A.D. 1620. and his own Catholic kinfman, the duke of Bavaria 3. THE Palatine and his adherents were now put to the ban of the empire; and the Bohemian rebels being re- A. D. 1621. duced, an army was dispatched under Buquoy, intoHungary against Bethlem Gabor who confented to refign his title to that crown, on obtaining conditions otherwife advantageous. In the mean time the conquest of the Palatinate was finished by the Imperialifts under count Tilly. Frederic was degraded from his electoral dignity, which was conferred on the duke of Bavaria ; and his dominions were bestowed by Ferdinand, "in "the fullness of his power," upon those who had helped to fubdue them . 4 Barre, Hift. d'Alemagne, tom. ix. 6. Barre, tom. ix. 5. Heifs, liv. iii. chap. ix. WHILE H 4 PART I. WHILE the house of Austria was thus extending its A. D. 1621. authority in Germany, a project no less ambitious than bloody, was concerted for rendering the Spanish branch of that family abfolute in Italy. The duke d'Offuna, viceroy of Naples, the marquis de Villa Franca, go'vernor of Milan, and the marquis of Bedomar, the Spanish ambaffador at Venice, confpired to fubject the Venetians, and with them the reft of the Italian ftates, under the dominion of their master. For this purpose they had formed a horrid plot, which would infallibly have put them in poffeffion of Venice. That city was to have been fet on fire in different parts, by a band of ruffians already lodged within its walls; while a body of troops, fent from Milan, fhould attack it on one fide, and fome armed veffels from Naples on the other. But this atrocious defign was discovered by the vigilance of the fenate in 1618, when it was almoft ripe for execution. The greater part of the confpirators were privately drowned; and Bedomar, who had violated the law of nations, being fecretly conducted out of the city, was glad to make his escape 7. ANOTHER project was formed in 1620, for extending the Spanish dominions in Italy, by the duke of Feria, who had fucceeded the marquis de Villa Franca in the government of Milan. He encouraged the popifh inhabitants of the Valteline to revolt from the Grifons and the king of Spain, as protector of the Catholic faith, fupported them in their rebellion. The fituation of the Valteline rendered it of infinite importance, as it facilitated the correfpondence between the two branches of the houfe of Auftria, fhut the Swifs out of Italy, kept the Venetians in awe, and was a bridle on all the Italian states 8. 7. Abbé St. Real. Batt. Nani, Hift. della Republica Veneta. |