It is difficult to understand how it was that, in June, 1617, the Catholic party seem to have gained a power in Bohemia greater than they possessed either in the previous or the following year; though no doubt the surprise at Matthias’s decision, and the absence of any possible successor, had placed the Estates in a position of great difficulty. At any rate, so it was, that Count Thurn and Colonna von Fels were the only members of the Assembly who ventured to oppose Ferdinand’s election; while the majority not only raised no objection, but even abandoned that right of free election on which they had insisted in the time of Ferdinand I.; and they “accepted” their new sovereign as the necessary heir to the kingdom. Some little remnant of spirit, however, was shown in the demand that Ferdinand should confirm the privileges of the Estates before he was crowned; and, after consulting with his Jesuit advisers, he gave his approval, even to Rudolf’s Letter of Majesty. But no sooner was Ferdinand seated on the throne, than he proceeded to violate the principle, if not the letter, of the promises which he had just made. He directed the judges of his chief tribunal to preside at the meetings of the Church Congregations in Prague; to inquire into all their accounts, and to allow no decision to be passed by them which the judges had not approved. Further they were to examine all the institutions connected with each church; to find out if they carried out the purposes of their founders and, if not, to compel them to do so. This decree was intended as a step towards the restoration to the Catholics of all the churches which had passed into Utraquist hands. At the same time, the Archbishop of Prague, who had already demanded the closing of a Protestant church at Hroby, now insisted that that church should be pulled down. Sometimes, as in the case of the monastery of Braunau, the encroachments of the Catholics were defended on the ground of some peculiar interpretation of Rudolf’s Letter of Majesty; but it was evident that the attacks on the Protestants would not long be limited by any legal pretences. The Defenders of the Protestants, who had been chosen during the struggle against Rudolf, still retained their offices; and they now summoned a Protestant Assembly to meet in Prague on March 5, 1618. The towns, however, would not venture to send representatives to this Assembly; and the nobles who did come decided to defer action until the Estates of all the Crown Lands could meet on the 21st of May.