Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/227

 lawlessness had already been prevalent, and had endangered the welfare of the people. All the native contemporary sources unite in telling us of the hopeless moral decay and the internal ruin of the Bohemian State, both with regard to ecclesiastical and political affairs."

But neither the precarious condition of the country nor the claims of the Archduke Ferdinand (founded as they were on the treaty between the late King Vladislav and the Emperor Maximilian) discouraged numerous competitors for the vacant throne. Almost immediately after the news of the death of the king reached Prague (September 9), it was rumoured that many princes aspired to the crown of Bohemia. Besides the Archduke Ferdinand we find among them the Bavarian Dukes Louis and William, Sigismund King of Poland, John Elector of Saxony and his son John Frederick, and George Duke of Saxony. Francis I, King of France, Joachim Margrave of Brandenburg, Duke Frederick of Leignitz, and the noblemen Charles Duke of Münsterberg, Zdeněk Lev Lord of Rožmital, and Adalbert Lord of Pernstein, were also mentioned as candidates. There appear to have been two parties among the Estates, whose duty it was now to elect a king and establish a new dynasty in Bohemia. The adherents of one party were strongly opposed to the choice of a Bohemian noble, as they objected to a king who was their equal by birth. The other party, on the contrary, declared that no one should be chosen who was ignorant of the Bohemian language, and it was urged that if a man capable of ruIing strongly could be found, it would be of minor importance if he were poor, as the country was rich enough to allow its sovereign the means of sustaining the regal dignity." This probably referred to Lev of Rožmital, who was the most prominent of the Bohemian candidates to the throne, and whose financial circumstances at that time were very unsatisfactory. Archduke Ferdinand at first aimed rather at his recognition as King of Bohemia—in virtue of his relationship to the late king, and of the agreements mentioned above—than at his election. The Bohemian nobles were, however, immovable in their determination to maintain the elective character of the Bohemian crown. Ferdinand lost no time in sending his representatives to Bohemia, and they were soon followed by envoys of