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Jesuits, thoroughly re-established Catholicism in their own realms, in
accordance with the legally recognised principle _cujus regio ejus
religio_. The young Austrian archduke, Ferdinand of Carinthia, a pupil
of the Jesuits, was equally determined in the suppression of
Protestantism within his territories. The "Estates" resisted, refusing
supplies; but the imminent danger from the Turks forced them to yield
the point; while Ferdinand rested on his belief that the Almighty would
not protect people from the heathen while they remained heretical; and
so he gave suppression of heresy precedence over war with the Turk.

The Emperor Rudolph, in his latter years, pursued a like policy in
Bohemia and Hungary. The aggressiveness of the Catholic movement drove
the Protestant princes to form a union for self-defence, and within the
hereditary Hapsburg dominions the Protestant landholders asserted their
constitutional rights in opposition. Throughout the empire a deadlock
was threatening. In Switzerland the balance of parties was recognised;
the principal question was, which party would become dominant in the
Grisons.

There was far more unity in Catholicism than in Protestantism, with its
cleavage of Lutherans and Calvinists, and numerous subdivisions of the
latter. The Church at this moment stood with monarchism, and the
Catholic princes were able men; half Protestantism was inclined to
republicanism, and the princes were not able men. The Catholic powers,
except France, which was half Protestant, were ranged against the
Protestants; the Protestant powers were not ranged against the
Catholics. The contest began when the Calvinist Elector Palatine
accepted the crown of Bohemia, against the title of Ferdinand of
Carinthia and Austria, who about the same time became emperor.

The early period of the Thirty Years' War thus opened was wholly
favourable to the Catholics. The defeat of the Elector Palatine led to
the Catholicising of Bohemia and Hungary; and also, partly through papal
influence, to the transfer of the Palatinate itself to Bavaria, carrying
the definite preponderance of the Catholics in the central imperial
council. At the same time Catholicism acquired a marked predominance in
France, partly through the defections of Huguenot nobles; was obviously
gaining ground in the Netherlands; and was being treated with much more
leniency by the government in England. And, besides all this, in every
part of the globe the propa