Editing Frederick V of the Palatinate (section)

===Reign===
[[File:Bohemia 1620, Coronation Medal of King Frederic Elector Palatine of the Rhine. Obverse.jpg|left|thumb|Bohemia 1620, retrospective coronation medal of King Frederic Elector Palatine of the Rhine. Obverse]]
[[File:Bohemia 1620, Coronation Medal of King Frederic Elector Palatine of the Rhine. Reverse.jpg|thumb|The reverse of this medallion: 5 hands holding the Bohemian royal crown over the Palatinate Lion lying with a scepter in his right paw, and his left paw lying on the orb]]
Frederick assumed a weak crown and a state torn with internal divisions. The state's finances had been disrupted for years, and, at any rate, Bohemian kings had only very limited ability to raise funds, being primarily dependent on the goodwill of the nobility and the tax allocations of the [[Diet (assembly)|diets]]. The Protestant nobles felt that higher taxes were necessary to pay for war against the [[Catholic League (German)|German Catholic League]], but the country already felt overburdened in the wake of the [[Long War (Ottoman wars)|Long War]]. Further limiting Frederick's ability to manoeuvre was the need to distribute royal bounty to supporters in order to ensure their loyalty to his regime.

In Prague, Frederick soon came to be alienated from a portion of the nobility and the clergy. Neither Frederick nor his wife spoke [[Czech language|Czech]], so court offices were staffed primarily with foreigners, while the administration of the localities was left to the local nobles. This made an alliance of the royal family with the corporate bodies of the realm difficult.

Further alienation was caused by Frederick V's court preacher, [[Abraham Scultetus]], who was determined to use his new post to advance the cause of [[Calvinism]] in Bohemia. The [[Utraquist]] churches had retained the use of [[relics]] and images in church, but Scultetus now launched an [[iconoclastic]] crusade against images: beginning on 21 December 1619, images were removed from [[St. Vitus Cathedral]], and on 27–28 December, the famous [[Prague Altarpiece of Lucas Cranach the Elder]] depicting the [[Virgin Mary]] was destroyed. There was even a rumour that the grave of [[St. Wenceslaus]] was to be desecrated. Scultetus' iconoclasm was deeply unpopular, and Frederick attempted to distance himself from it, claiming that his orders were not being carried out by his followers.
[[Image:Chronogramm Winterkönig C-L 032.jpg|thumb|left|200px|This 1619 Imperial pamphlet, containing a [[chronogram]], was the first to dub Frederick "The Winter King".]]
The nickname "The Winter King" appeared shortly after the beginning of Frederick's reign and our first printed reference using the term came in a 1619 Imperial pamphlet that presented the phrase in the context of a royal [[chronogram]]. Frederick's propagandists attempted to respond to the phrase by arguing that Frederick was in fact a "Winter Lion" who defended the crown of Bohemia against troublemakers and liars, and that he would also be a "Summer Lion."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newtopiamagazine.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/the-queen-of-hearts-and-the-rosicrucian-dawn/|title=The Queen of Hearts and the Rosicrucian Dawn|last=Nichols|first=Kimberly|date=2013-07-19|website=Newtopia Magazine|language=en|access-date=2019-08-17}}</ref>

Meanwhile, Ferdinand II rallied his forces against Frederick. On 21 October 1619, he signed a treaty with [[Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria|Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria]], leader of the [[Catholic League (German)|Catholic League]]. This treaty provided that Maximilian would be commander of the forces against Frederick, promised that Maximilian would retain all of the occupied Bohemian lands for himself, and that he would be granted Frederick's electoral title as well. The Emperor was also able to obtain the support of Elector John George I of Saxony; John George's court preacher, [[Matthias Hoe von Hoenegg]], encouraged the Emperor to smash Frederick and the Bohemians.<ref>Quoted by Wedgwood, p. 94</ref>

Frederick's chancellor, Christian of Anhalt, urged Frederick to call a meeting of Protestant princes at [[Nuremberg]] in December 1619. This conference was a fiasco, as few princes bothered to send representatives. John George of Saxony declined to send a representative. Those who did attend half-heartedly promised to secure Frederick's [[Rhineland]] territories during Frederick's absence in Bohemia.

In March 1620, during a meeting of the Imperial party at [[Mulhouse]], Frederick despatched a legal defense of his actions. He argued that he had not broken the [[public peace|imperial peace]] because Bohemia was located outside of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and there was not, therefore, a conflict between an imperial prince and the emperor. Frederick argued that it would therefore be illegal for Ferdinand to use imperial power against him. This meeting, which included John George of Saxony and Maximilian of Bavaria, rejected Frederick's argument, finding that Bohemia was an indivisible part of the Empire.
[[Image:Reiterbild Friedrichs V. C-J 171.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Frederick V on horseback with [[Prague]] in the background]]
On 1 April 1620, the Imperial party issued an ultimatum calling on Frederick to leave Bohemia by 1 June. If Frederick did not comply by this date, Ferdinand threatened to enforce his right as Holy Roman Emperor and rightful King of Bohemia to overthrow the [[usurper]].

A little later, John George of Saxony signed a treaty with Ferdinand in which Ferdinand guaranteed the practice of [[Lutheranism]] in Bohemia and recognized the secular areas in the Netherlands. Ferdinand also agreed to give John George [[Lusatia]], thus cementing John George's dominance of the [[Upper Saxon Circle]].

This was the context when the parliament of the Bohemian Confederacy met on 25 March 1620. Frederick called for massive tax increases and [[conscription]] to fight the impending Imperial threat. To raise money for the Bohemian forces, Frederick used his private funds, pawned his jewels and, in May 1620, drove the Palatinate into insolvency when he decided to move two tons of gold to Bohemia.

Bad news continued to arrive for Frederick. [[James VI of Scotland and I of England]] refused to support his son-in-law militarily. The Netherlands sent only a small force and promised only 50,000 [[Florin (Italian coin)|florins]] a month for Frederick. Worst of all for Frederick, on 3 July 1620, the [[Protestant Union]] signed the Treaty of Ulm (1620), thereby withdrawing their support for Frederick and declaring neutrality in the conflict between Frederick and the Catholic League.

====Battle of White Mountain, 8 November 1620====
With the signing of the Treaty of Ulm [[Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases]], began raising Imperial troops in the [[Spanish Netherlands]] and in the [[Alsace]] region.

In early August 1620, 25,000 troops, under the command of Spinola, marched into Bohemia. In the third week of August, they shifted their focus and marched into the nearly unarmed Electoral Palatinate, occupying [[Mainz]]. The Electoral Palatinate was defended by only 2,000 English volunteers and the country was easily taken. Imperial troops set up camp in [[Frankenthal]] and [[Mannheim]]. Spinola crossed the [[Rhine]] on 5 September 1620 and proceeded to capture [[Bad Kreuznach]] on 10 September and [[Oppenheim]] on 14 September. From Bohemia, Frederick was powerless to stop the occupation of his ancestral homeland.
[[Image:Schlacht am Weißen Berg C-K 063.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Depiction of the [[Battle of White Mountain]] by [[Peter Snayers]] (1592–1667), 1620]]
After capturing [[Linz]], [[Upper Austria]], [[Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria|Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria]] crossed the Bohemian border on 26 September 1620. At [[Rokycany]], Maximilian's forces first met with the 15,000 ragtag, poorly paid and poorly equipped troops that Frederick had managed to raise. Frederick visited his army on 28 September 1620, but, lacking a military background, left the conduct of the war to his generals. Frederick focused his attention on organizing supplies and preparing fortifications.

After a series of skirmishes, on 5 November 1620, Frederick drew his forces back towards Prague and Imperial troops followed them. On 7 November, Bohemian forces determined to make a stand at [[Battle of White Mountain|White Mountain]], just outside Prague. The day before, King Frederick had ridden down the lines and exhorted the soldiers. He then rushed to Prague to implore the Bohemian Estates to raise money for his troops and to receive the envoys of the English king. However, it was too late. When, on 8 November 1620, Frederick wanted to ride back to the troops, he was met at the gates of Prague by fleeing soldiers of his army and his chancellor, Anhalt, who informed him of the disaster: the Bohemian army had received a crushing defeat that morning in the [[Battle of White Mountain]].