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14 aﬂairs, consolidating his power, and affirming absolutist principles. He abolished the rights of the cities and their local autonomy, and imposed royal officials on them. His absolutism brought him universal hatred. But the nobles, gradually losing sight of the people's interests, no longer resisted, except for the selfish and personal interests of that class. Thanks to their attitude, Ferdinand easily succeeded in his work of centralisation and absolutism: at a moment when the towns were deprived of all power, the only force able to resist the self—seeking nobles was the dynasty, which was blinded by its family interests.

His successors continued his policy. During the sixteenth century the struggle between the Bohemian nobles and the Crown became more acute. The new religious quarrels of the Catholic dynasty against the Protestant heresy curiously complicated the old strife for the independence of Bohemia and the privileges of the nobles. At the commencement of the seventeenth century an abyss already separated the Czechs from the Habsburgs in consequence of the religious intolerance of the dynasty, and a second revolt of the Czechs against the House of Austria was on the point of breaking out. Finally, in 1619 the Czech Estates elected Frederic of the Palatinate for their king, and rose up against Ferdinand II.