There were curious conditions at that time assigned to the occupancy of the throne of Poland.  The elected monarch, before receiving the crown, was required to give his pledge that he would reside two years uninterruptedly in the kingdom, and that then he would not leave without the consent of the nobles.  He was also required to construct four fortresses at his own expense, and to pay all the debts of the last monarch, however heavy they might be, including the arrears of the troops.  He was also to maintain a sort of guard of honor, consisting of ten thousand Polish horsemen.

In addition to the embarrassment which these conditions presented, there were many indications of jealousy on the part of other powers, in view of the wonderful aggrandizement of Austria.  Encouraged by the emperor’s delay and by the hostility of other powers, a minority of the nobles chose Stephen Bathori, a Transylvanian prince, King of Poland; and to strengthen his title, married him to Anne, sister to Sigismond Augustus, the King of Poland who preceded the Duke of Anjou.  Maximilian thus aroused, signed the articles of agreement, and the two rival monarchs prepared for war.  The kingdoms of Europe were arraying themselves, some on the one side and some on the other, and there was the prospect of a long, desperate and bloody strife, when death stilled the tumult.

Maximilian had long been declining.  On the 12th of October, 1576, he breathed his last at Ratisbon.  He apparently died the death of the Christian, tranquilly surrendering his spirit to his Saviour.  He died in the fiftieth year of his age and the twelfth of his reign.  He had lived, for those dark days, eminently the life of the righteous, and his end was peace.

  “So fades the summer cloud away,
    So sinks the gale when storms are o’er
  So gently shuts the eye of day,
    So dies a wave along the shore.”

CHAPTER XII.

CHARACTER OF MAXIMILIAN II.—­SUCCESSION OF RHODOLPH III.

From 1576 to 1604.

Character of Maximilian.—­His Accomplishments.—­His Wife.—­Fate of his Children.—­Rhodolph III.—­The Liberty of Worship.—­Means of Emancipation.—­Rhodolph’s Attempts against Protestantism.—­Declaration of a higher Law.—­Theological Differences.—­The Confederacy at Heilbrun.—­The Gregorian Calendar.—­Intolerance in Bohemia.—­The Trap of the Monks.—­Invasion of the Turks.—­Their Defeat.—­Coalition with Sigismond.—­Sale of Transylvania.—­Rule of Basta.—­The Empire captured and recaptured.—­Devastation of the Country.—­Treatment of Stephen Botskoi.