Editing Frederick V of the Palatinate (section)

===Background and plans===
The [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] was an [[elective monarchy]], and despite being a kingdom, was a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Since 1526, the kings of Bohemia had all been members of the [[House of Habsburg]]; since 1555, these kings had also been emperors. In the early seventeenth century, however, Bohemia faced a political crisis. The [[Estates of the realm]] of Bohemia became worried that the Habsburgs were planning to transform Bohemia into an [[absolute monarchy]]. A large number of Bohemian nobles were Protestant and feared that a Catholic emperor would attempt to impose Catholicism on Bohemia. Thus, a substantial opposition movement developed to the rule of [[Emperor Rudolf II]]. Rudolf had waged the [[Long War (Ottoman wars)|Long War]] against the [[Ottoman Empire]] from 1593 to 1606. Dissatisfied with the outcome, Rudolf sought to launch a new war against the Ottomans. To gain Bohemian support, Rudolf agreed to guarantee Bohemia's [[religious liberty]], issuing his so-called [[Letter of Majesty]] in 1609. Still, the Bohemian nobles remained suspicious of Rudolf and in contact with the [[Protestant Union]].

The Bohemian Estates elected the Habsburg [[Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor|Matthias]] as Rudolf's heir, and Matthias became king of Bohemia in 1611 and emperor in 1612. Yet in the latter year there was discussion within the Protestant Union about fielding a Protestant candidate to supplant Matthias as king of Bohemia, and Frederick's name was discussed in this regard. Strategists in the Palatinate believed that if Frederick became king, this would lead [[John George I, Elector of Saxony]], to break his alliance with the Habsburgs and come fully to the Protestant cause. This assumption proved unfounded.
[[Image:Christian I Anhalt Bernburg.jpg|thumb|left|Frederick's chancellor [[Christian I, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg]] (1568–1630)]]
Meanwhile, the sectarian conflicts in Bohemia continued. In 1617, Matthias prevailed on the Bohemian Estates to elect the Habsburg [[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand, Duke of Styria]], as heir to the throne of Bohemia. Ferdinand was an intensely loyal Catholic, and many Protestant noblemen believed that Ferdinand intended to withdraw the protections of Rudolf II's Letter of Majesty. These suspicions were further aroused when Imperial officials ordered Protestants to stop erecting Protestant churches on the "''Stifts''", lands held by [[prince bishop|ecclesiastical lords]] who were not subject to the Bohemian Estates. The Protestants claimed the status of these lands fell under the term "royal land", and thus were subject to Bohemia's authority by the Letter of Majesty – a very disputed legal interpretation which the Habsburg government rejected. On 23 May 1618, an assembly of Protestant noblemen, led by Count [[Jindřich Matyáš Thurn]], stormed [[Prague Castle]], and seized two Imperial governors, [[Vilem Slavata of Chlum]] and [[Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice]]. The rebels charged them with violating the Letter of Majesty, found them guilty, and threw them and their scribe Philip Fabricius out of the windows of the Bohemian Chancellery. This event – known as the [[Second Defenestration of Prague]] – marked the beginning of the [[Bohemian Revolt]], and with it, the beginning of the [[Thirty Years' War]].

In these circumstances [[Christian I, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg]], Frederick V's governor of the Upper Palatinate, moved to intervene in Bohemia. He did not initially propose nominating Frederick as king because the young elector was still seen as politically inexperienced, and was a Calvinist, while there were virtually no Calvinists in Bohemia. At any rate, Frederick was not initially eager to defy the Emperor, who had praised Frederick's loyalty. Frederick did not publicly break with the Emperor, but in a letter to his father-in-law, [[James I of England]], he placed the blame for the Bohemian vote on the [[Jesuits]] and the Spanish party at the Habsburg court. This was a questionable evasion of the role played by Frederick's own agents.

The first mention in [[Prague]] of Frederick's name as a possible candidate as king of Bohemia came in November 1618. It is not known if Frederick's agents played a role in talking up his possible candidacy. Palatine diplomat [[Christoph von Dohna]] approached [[James I of England]] with the possibility of Frederick becoming king, but James reacted negatively to this idea. The princes of the [[Protestant Union]] similarly rejected the idea, fearing it might lead to religious war and the Elector of Saxony was staunchly opposed.

Behind the scenes, Frederick authorised sending a force under Count [[Ernst von Mansfeld]] to support the Bohemian rebels. In August 1618, forces under Mansfeld entered Bohemia and led the [[Siege of Pilsen]], which saw Pilsen fall to rebel forces on 21 November 1618, leaving the entire kingdom in Protestant hands.
[[Image:Justus Sustermans 028.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor]] (1578–1637), who was elected [[King of Bohemia]] in 1617 and who would later claim that Frederick had usurped his rightful claim to the throne of Bohemia]]
[[Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor]] died on 20 March 1619. Although his successor, the future Emperor [[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand II]], had previously been crowned King of Bohemia, the Estates of Bohemia now refused to recognise him as their king. Fearing an invasion by Imperial forces, the Estates sought an alliance with the other members of the [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown]] ([[Silesia]], [[Lusatia]], [[Moravia]]) and on 31 July 1619 at Prague, these states formed the Bohemian Confederacy, dedicated to opposing the Habsburgs; under the terms of this agreement, Protestantism became virtually the state religion of the Bohemian lands. In August 1619, the general parliament of all the Bohemian lands declared that Ferdinand had forfeited the Bohemian throne. This formally severed all ties between Bohemia and the Habsburgs and made war inevitable. [[Ferdinand of Bavaria (bishop)|Ferdinand of Bavaria]], [[Archbishop of Cologne]] predicted this decision would lead to twenty, forty, or sixty years of war.<ref>Zitiert nach Golo Mann: ''Wallenstein'', S. 146M</ref>

The preferred candidate of Bohemians as their new king was the Elector of Saxony, but he let it be known he would not accept the throne. This left Frederick as the most senior Protestant prince available, since no one else was willing to risk conflict with the emperor. In August 1619, the chances of Frederick becoming King of Bohemia became greater when [[Gabriel Bethlen]] launched an anti-Habsburg revolt in [[Royal Hungary]]. This was also precisely the period when Ferdinand was travelling to [[Frankfurt]] for his coronation.