Report and Answer

B 2

[provincial] rights and privileges, along with the recently obtained Letter of Majesty The Majestätsbrief was a 1609 charter signed by Emperor Rudolf II granting religious freedom to the Bohemian Protestants; its revocation was a primary cause of the Thirty Years' War., were to be abolished; and that the mentioned Count of Bucquoy Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, a commander of the Imperial forces had been called upon to carry out the execution against the Bohemians, just as the Duke of Alba had come from Spain to the Netherlands fifty years ago to perform a similar commission against the Dutch original: Belgas. Historically, "Belgians" referred to the inhabitants of the Low Countries during their revolt against Spain.. Thus, by these things, the minds of the Bohemians were not a little troubled; nevertheless, they always declared in previous terms that they were and wished to remain Emperor Matthias’s loyal subjects, and behaved within the limits of blameless self-defense original: intra limites inculpatæ tutelæ, waiting for the first blow to be struck in their land—regardless of whether it might have been more useful for them to take the offensive original: ihre pferde bald anfangs an frembde zeune zubinden; literally "to tie their horses to foreign fences" at the start right away.

But as the mistrust and inflammation of minds original: exulceratio animorum increased even more after the death of Emperor Matthias, and as a result, the Bohemian envoys who were nearby at the election day in Frankfurt could obtain no audience, but had to return unheard—where perhaps some middle way original: media aliqua via might still have been found—just as without doubt Elector Daniel and Elector Wolfgang of Mainz Daniel Brendel von Homburg and Wolfgang von Dalberg, former Electors of Mainz known for their more conciliatory policies, had they still been alive and at the helm in Frankfurt at that time, would have exerted themselves with all diligence on that account and would have avoided extremes original: extrema by every possible means. Thus, this affront, insult, and injury inflicted upon the Bohemian Estates in the sight of the whole Empire, indeed of Europe original: in conspectu totius Imperii, imò Europæ (as they perceived it), went so deeply to the spirit and heart not only of the directors and the noblemen but also of all citizens of the realm original: regnicolis and the whole nation in general, that a universal alienation of minds original: universalis animorum abalienatio followed, and such changes, complications, and inconveniences, as are now visible before our eyes, arose from it.

From all the above, it appears that it cannot be firmly concluded from the reinforcements secours|Military aid or relief troops. led into Bohemia by the Count of Mansfeld that anyone conspired against Emperor Matthias, because the Bohemians recognized him as their Lord until his death. However, regarding the point of the 15,000 men, it is likely that this proposal arose because the Catholic side had begun to solicit powerful reinforcements original: secours against the Bohemians from the Pope and Spain, as well as in France and Poland; and that the Unionists The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant states had to fear that, if the Bohemians were to fall original: succumbentibus Bohemis, the Catholics would not stop, but would proceed strongly against the neighboring Protestants in the heat of victory original: calore victoriæ (as experience now shows); and that for this reason, an opening was made with the aforementioned Duke regarding the 15,000 men, to which he may have declared himself not disinclined, about which also—