As to Kaiser Ferdinand II., the situation he found himself in wasn`t all that different from the plight the Kings of France had experienced during the French wars of religion five decades earlier: Being CATHOLIC rulers, the last Valois Kings found themselves torn asunder by the conflicting obligations of their kingly office: Being the "most Catholic Kings of France", they were, by virtue of their title, required to be DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH; Since it was their holy duty to stamp out heresy and restore religious unity in their realm, the Kings of France should have had a staunch unequivocal ally in the "Catholic League", but far from it...
Not unlike its arch-enemies, the Huguenots, the "Holy League" was lead by great feudal lords many of whom, considering the King of France a mere "primus inter pares", meant to impose limitations on the royal prerogative. The conflict between the central authority of the Crown and the residual "liberties“ of the feudal nobilitiy was – in France as well as anywhere else in Europe - the defining characteristic of the early modern age. Whilst in Germany some of the great princes had embraced the Reformation as a means to gain independence from both Emperor and Pope, the feudal opposition to the French crown was evenly distributed to both sides of the religious divide. The Huguenots - the Calvinist Protestants of France - were political as well as religious opponents of the reigning House of Valois, whereas the Holy League, despite being the Crown`s ally in the struggle against Protestantism, posed no less formidable a political challenge to the successors of Francis I.: Its leaders were the powerful and well-connected House of Guise who held the Duchy of Lorraine. The way matters stood, the Valois were reliant on the League`s support in keeping the Huguenots at bay, knowing full well that the Duke of Guise had ambitions on the throne.
