Count Thurn, who held the office of Burgrave of the Karlstein, they all accepted the invitation. Sternberg read to them the royal message, requesting the recognition of Ferdinand's right of succession to the throne; he added that the king was firmly resolved to enforce the succession of Ferdinand, and it would therefore be better for them to accept the royal decision peacefully and willingly, and thus secure their future king's favour, rather than exasperate him by futile opposition.[1]
The officials, and subsequently the whole body of the Estates, for the moment fell in with Sternberg's views, and Thurn was almost alone in opposing King Matthew's project. He asserted that the Estates had the right of electing the future king, and suggested that Ferdinand should be "elected," instead of "recognized" as King of Bohemia; he further contested the validity of any vote as to the succession which was taken in the absence of delegates from Moravia and Silesia. Finally, the Estates, against the two votes of Thurn and Colonna of Fels, "recognized" Ferdinand as King of Bohemia. Ferdinand then confirmed all the privileges of the land—among which the Letter of Majesty was specially mentioned—and he was crowned as king with great solemnity on June 19, 1617.
After Ferdinand's election, and under his influence, the policy of Matthew became more aggressive towards the Protestants; in fact, his object was now undoubtedly the extirpation of Protestantism. Immediately after they had secured temporary freedom by the Letter of Majesty, the Lutherans and Bohemian Brethren had come to an agreement by which the new appointments to the Consistory Council were equitably divided between the two sections of the party. This agreement on so important a matter naturally strengthened the Protestants, and therefore greatly disappointed the Romanist clergy. The Jesuits in particular had previously stated that "the Calvinists and Lutherans were so opposed to one another that the Roman Catholics had good hope to see their devilish craft perish through their own machinations, and to see the heretics destroy each other."[2]
The Jesuit advisers of Ferdinand openly declared that the present moment was a "golden opportunity for extirpating the heretics." The menacing tone of the Roman clergy
