The wily emperor having succeeded so admirably with the Protestant elector, now turned to the Roman Catholic court of France—­that infamous court, still crimsoned with the blood of the St. Bartholomew massacre.  Then, with diplomatic tergiversation, he represented that the conflict was not a political one, but purely religious, involving the interests of the Church.  He urged that the peace of France and of Europe required that the Protestant heresy should be utterly effaced; and he provoked the resentment of the court by showing how much aid the Protestants in Europe had ever received from the Palatinate family.  Here again he was completely successful, and the young king, Louis XIII., who was controlled by his bigoted yet powerful minister, the Duke of Luines, cordially espoused his cause.

Spain, intolerant, despotic, hating Protestantism with perfect hatred, was eager with its aid.  A well furnished army of twenty-four thousand men was sent from the Netherlands, and also a large sum of money was placed in the treasury of Ferdinand.  Even the British monarch, notwithstanding the clamors of the nation, was maneuvered into neutrality.  And most surprising of all, Ferdinand was successful in securing a truce with Gabriel Bethlehem, which, though it conferred peace upon Hungary, deprived the Bohemians of their powerful support.

The Protestants were strong in their combination; but still it was a power of fearful strength now arrayed against them.  It was evident that Europe was on the eve of a long and terrible struggle.  The two forces began to assemble.  The Protestants rendezvoused at Ulm, under the command of the Margrave of Anspach.  The Catholic troops, from their wide dispersion, were concentrating at Guntzburg, to be led by the Duke of Bavaria.  The attention of all Europe was arrested by these immense gatherings.  All hearts were oppressed with solicitude, for the parties were very equally matched, and results of most momentous importance were dependent upon the issue.

In this state of affairs the Protestant league, which extended through Europe, entered into a truce with the Catholic league, which also extended through Europe, that they should both withdraw from the contest, leaving Ferdinand and the Bohemians to settle the dispute as they best could.  This seemed very much to narrow the field of strife, but the measure, in its practical results, was far more favorable to Ferdinand than to the Bohemians.  The emperor thus disembarrassed, by important concessions, and by menaces, brought the Protestants of Lower Austria into submission.  The masses, overawed by a show of power which they could not resist, yielded; the few who refused to bow in homage to the emperor were punished as guilty of treason.