Page:Lectures on The Historians of Bohemia by Count Lutzow (1905).djvu/90

 great hopes on the aid of Louis of France, as the Electors Palatine had been allies of Henry IV, Skála writes: ‘But all these hopes proved vain, principally through the fault of his (Frederick’s) father-in-law, James, King of Great Britain; for the latter doing in this matter nothing or next to nothing, the neighbouring kings and potentates felt induced to follow his example, and, as it were, watching the events through their fingers, took up the cause of the son of the King of England, but carelessly and sleepily. Therefore it was no wonder that at last this young prince (Frederick) was necessarily defeated, and lost not only the Bohemian crown but also all his lands, and even the hereditary dignity of elector.

‘Now this King James was in this matter exceedingly indifferent, and evidently knew not how to take a final decision; for the matter on one side certainly touched his son-in-law and his own flesh and blood, and on the other the emperor and the King of Spain. He therefore neither wished to forsake his son-in-law, nor to incense those sovereigns with whom he lived on terms of peace. He greatly hoped that through his sagacity he could, by means of embassies and friendly letters, allay these misunderstandings. He was greatly strengthened and confirmed in these views by the Spanish agents and envoys who were constantly around him, and who wished to keep him to the resolution not to take up arms to help his son-in-law, the Elector Palatine.’

Skála naturally gives a detailed account of the battle of the White Mountain, which was the death-bed of Bohemian independence. Conscientious and rather lengthy historian as he always is, he has incorporated