Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/385

 The one motive that seemed to actuate this ruler was to raise the royal prerogative upon the ruins of civil and religious liberty. In the former he was successful, but not in the latter. Still he paved the way for future rulers, and gave a direction to the government that was followed by them, and ultimately brought the country to ruin.

The only good thing in his government was that there was order and security, and that, on the whole, the common people were prosperous.

At the death of Ferdinand, his son Maximilian assumed the government of Bohemia. Besides this, he received as his inheritance both Upper and Lower Austria, was elected King of Hungary and Emperor of Germany. His brother Ferdinand received the government of Tyrol, and Charles that of Switzerland and Carinthia.

From Maximilian’s known inclination to Protestantism, the the Evangelicals, as well as the other Protestant sects, expected great things, but they were disappointed in their hopes. The Hapsburg rulers were so hemmed in by outside powers that they could show no favor to the Protestants, even if they had desired to do so. The elder branch of the house ruled in Spain, where they often were obliged to seek aid against the Turks and the neighboring German princes; and the support gained from the Pope could not, at this early day, be despised. Maximilian, therefore, could not become a Protestant; but he determined to grant as much liberty of conscience as he dared without incurring the displeasure of the Pope. He tried to establish unity