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 putting Catholic priests in their places. Thus within a short time he succeeded in changing his almost Protestant dominion into a Catholic one, where the most favored class of people were the Jesuits. Having this example before them, the more zealous Catholics resolved to secure the same results in their own land; but as Bohemia did not seem quite ripe for any radical measures, they decided to begin the work of reform, or rather persecution, in Silesia and Hungary.

The Hungarians were especially unfortunate in being the object of the king’s persecution. Not content that he had encroached so much upon their liberties as to divide their kingdom into three parts, he called a Diet at Pressburg, where he had the audacity to ask that they all come back to the Catholic faith, drive their clergymen out of the country, and replace them by Catholic priests. This unreasonable demand drove them into revolt. They chose as their leader Stephen Boskay, a wealthy noble of Transylvania, who had sought redress in Prague, but in vain. An alliance was made with the Turks, and a new war began, more cruel than those that had preceded it. As Rudolph could not withstand the united power of the Turks and the Hungarians, he gave his brother Matthias authority to make peace, which when the latter with great difficulty succeeded in securing, the king refused to confirm it, objecting to the clause granting religious liberty.

In the danger that threatened the country unless the treaty of peace were ratified, Matthias called all the members of the house of Austria to a consultation in Vienna. They elected him their head, giving him full authority to take such measures as he saw fit to ward off the coming storm.