ABSTRACT
On the last day of March 1620 the royal pair celebrated the baptism of their fourth child and third son, and the King took advantage of the occasion to request a donative from the Estates of Bohemia and the incorporated lands. Ruprecht had been born on 17 December 1619, another sign of God's blessing on the reign of Frederick and Elizabeth. Throughout the 1620 campaigning season Frederick and his regime devoted themselves to meeting the new threats from Bavaria and Spain. Bereft of effective assistance, the Palatine-Bohemian regime could not protect itself against the combined powers of the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs, Electoral Saxony, Bavaria, and the Catholic League. Though the Estates General of the United Provinces and the House of Orange could have devoted themselves to the new King of Bohemia out of dynastic, political, and religious interest, the first concern for the Dutch was their own security.
