-spread
ancestral territories.

James I. of England had been negotiating a marriage of his son, the
Prince of Wales, subsequently Charles I., with the daughter of the King
of Spain. This would have been, in that day, a brilliant match for his
son; and as the Spanish monarch was a member of the house of Austria,
and a cooeperator with his cousin, the Emperor Ferdinand, in all his
measures in Germany, it was an additional reason why James should not
interfere in defense of his son-in-law, Frederic of the Palatine. But
now this match was broken off by the influence of the haughty English
minister Buckingham, who had the complete control of the feeble mind of
the British monarch. A treaty of marriage was soon concluded between the
Prince of Wales and Henrietta, a princess of France. There was
hereditary hostility between France and Spain, and both England and
France were now quite willing to humble the house of Austria. The nobles
of Lower Saxony availed themselves of this new turn in the posture of
affairs, and obtained promises of aid from them both, and, through their
intercession, aid also from Denmark and Sweden.

Richelieu, the imperious French minister, was embarrassed by two
antagonistic passions. He was eager to humble the house of Austria; and
this he could only do by lending aid to the Protestants. On the other
hand, it was the great object of his ambition to restore the royal
authority to unlimited power, and this he could only accomplish by
aiding the house of Austria to crush the Protestants, whose love of
freedom all despots have abhorred. Impelled by these conflicting
passions, he did all in his power to extirpate Protestantism from
France, while he omitted neither lures nor intrigues to urge the
Protestants in Germany to rise against the despotism of Austria.
Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, was personally inimical to Ferdinand, in
consequence of injuries he had received at his hands. Christian IV. of
Denmark was cousin to Elizabeth, the mother of Frederic, and, in
addition to this interest in the conflict which relationship gave him,
he was also trembling lest some of his own possessions should soon be
wrested from him by the all-grasping emperor. A year was employed, the
year 1624, in innumerable secret intrigues, and plans of combination,
for a general rising of the Protestant powers. It was necessary that the
utmost secrecy should be observed in forming the coalition, and that all
should be ready, at the