Page:Glimpses of Bohemia by MacDonald (1882).pdf/22

 she is a main link in the line of connection by which Queen Victoria now represents the Tudor and Stuart dynasties. As the Protestant heroine of the Thirty Years’ War, she exercised an influence in the seventeenth century which it is now difficult for us fully to appreciate. Born in Fife on 16th August, 1596, she was baptised at Holyrood on 28th November of the same year—the English ambassador, on behalf of the godmother, Queen Elizabeth, holding the child in his arms, and the herald afterwards quaintly proclaiming her style and title as “Lady Elizabeth, first daughter of Scotland.” Her marriage took place in London in 1613, and was celebrated with the most extravagant outlay and display. The six following years were spent happily at Heidelberg in comparative seclusion; but thereafter her husband and herself were thrown forward among the most prominent actors in the exciting events of this unsettled period. Frederick, although not without good qualities, was extremely irresolute, and but for Elizabeth, who urged him on, would probably have declined the offered crown. The new king and queen were received in Prague with great enthusiasm, and were crowned early in November, 1619.

Among the Bohemian nobility there were some turbulent feudal barons. With such men surrounding him, and with the anxious negotiations with his Protestant allies and Catholic opponents, Frederick must have been burdened to no ordinary extent during the whole period of his short reign in Prague. He is said, notwithstanding, to have borne himself with cheerfulness, and for this he was doubtless indebted to the courage and hopefulness of his wife. It is well known that his father-in-law James, eager to obtain for his son Charles the hand of the Spanish Infanta, deserted the Protestant cause, and became mere tool in the hands of Spanish politicians. Frederick’s expectation of help from France was also cut off, while Austrian and Bavarian armies entered Bohemia, and a Spanish army threatened the Palatinate. To make matters worse, Frederick, with great want of tact, gave the chief commands in his army to German Generals, who were viewed with jealousy by the Bohemian nobles, many of whom had gained military distinction in the wars with the Turks. Rapidly events rolled on,