At the beginning the Thirty Years' War may be called a religious quarrel, but it soon became for the house of Hapsburg a scramble for personal aggrandizement. Ferdinand II. fought for territory, power and money, and he hoped, by recovering all the property which had belonged to the Catholic Church before the Reformation, he would attain these three objects. He followed this idea, although the formal edict was not announced for several years. It was his intention to break down all princes, both Catholic and Protestant, of the smaller German States, to incorporate Denmark, Holland and Italy (the old dream of Charles V.) into one great empire, and thus restore the old German-Roman Empire. It was a fine opportunity for self-aggrandizement under the guise of fighting for his church. It was not to the interest of France to have the house of Hapsburg further aggrandized. God used this jealousy and ambition to further the work of the Reformation, so that France, through Cardinal Richelieu, became the ally of Gustavus Adolphus, and furnished a monthly stipend for paying Protestant soldiers, but even more valuable to the cause was the information and advice of this great Catholic ally. It was now believed that Richelieu[2] even hoped for a confederacy of the smaller German States and free cities under the protectorate of France. Footnote 2: See Cambridge Modern History, Vol. IV. Reviewing for a moment the past, we shall remember that Charles V. was succeeded by his brother, Ferdinand I., who reigned from 1556 to 1564. Maximilian II., his son, was lenient to the Protestants, and ruled from 1564 to 1576. It was during his reign, in 1572, the St. Bartholomew massacre occurred in Paris, in which Catherine de Medicis and her son, Charles IX., caused the murder of over fifty thousand Huguenots, as the Protestants were called in France. The massacre continued three days and nights. Pope Gregory XIII., on hearing the news, openly expressed his joy at "the glorious event," caused public thanksgiving to be made, and had a coin struck in commemoration of this vile sin. This event gave warning to the Protestants that Rome would take advantage of whatever opportunity offered to destroy Protestantism. During the great war Rudolph II. ruled Germany from 1576 to 1612, Mathias from 1612 to 1619, followed now by Ferdinand II. Louis XIII., the creature of his minister, Cardinal Richelieu, who, though a churchman, always put the State before the Church, was the ruler of France. He was followed by Louis XIV., whose mother, Queen Anne of Austria, and Cardinal Mazarin ruled till the majority of Louis XIV. The kings of England were James I., from 1603 to 1625, and Charles I., from 1625 to 1649. The Popes were Paul V., Gregory XV., Urban VIII. and Innocent X. The Catholics now formed a strong league. The Protestants already had a weak union.