his approval, but would not consent to this being made public, and also refused his consent to the inclusion of the _Confessio_ among the charters of the kingdom. Maximilian rejected the demand of the Bohemian estates, that they and not the king should in future appoint the members of the consistory. He finally, however, consented to exempt the Lutherans and advanced Utraquists from the jurisdiction of the consistory, and allowed them to choose fifteen defenders--five of whom were to belong to each of the estates--who were to have supreme control over the Lutheran church. These defenders were to appoint for each district a superintendent (moderator), who was to maintain order and discipline among the clergy. As the Bohemian Brotherhood had never recognized the consistory, that body now lost whatever influence it had still possessed. It became, indeed, subservient to the Romanist archbishopric of Prague, which had been re-established by Ferdinand I. Its members henceforth were men who on almost all points agreed with Rome, and sometimes even men who had joined the Roman church, but continued by order of their superiors to remain members of the consistory, where it was thought that their influence might be useful to their new creed. Rudolph. The results of the diet of 1575 were on the whole favourable to the estates, and they seem to have taken this view, for almost immediately afterwards they recognized Maximilian's eldest son Rudolph as his successor and consented to his being crowned king of Bohemia. Maximilian died in the following year, and Rudolph succeeded him without any opposition. The events of the last years of the reign of Rudolph have the greatest importance for Bohemian history, but the earlier part of his reign requires little notice. As Rudolph had been educated in Spain it was at first thought that he would treat the Bohemian church reformers with great severity. The new sovereign, however, showed with regard to the unceasing religious controversy the same apathy and indifference with which he also met matters of state. He had been from his early youth subject to fits of melancholia, and during several short periods was actually insane. Rudolph was a great patron of the arts, and he greatly contributed to the embellishment of Prague, which, as it was his favourite residence, became the centre of the vast Habsburg dominions. In 1600 the mental condition of Rudolph became so seriously impaired that the princes of the house of Habsburg thought it necessary to consider the future of the state, particularly as Rudolph had no legitimate descendants. Matthias, the eldest of his brothers, came to Prague and pointed out to Rudolph the necessity of appointing a coadjutor, should he be incapacitated from fulfilling his royal duties, and also of making arrangements concerning the succession to the throne. These suggestions were indignantly repelled by Rudolph, whose anger was greatly increased by a letter of Pope Clement VIII.