ABSTRACT
In the years after 1620 the combination of Hapsburg power with Counter Reformation Catholicism came near to absolute victory. The Reformation seemed on the verge of extinction in Europe, and there seemed little place in the world for a failed Lion, for the ex-King of Bohemia who had lost all his lands, been deprived of his electorate, and lived in poverty-stricken dependence as a refugee at The Hague. The Eagle had indeed triumphed. Frederick continued to take part in campaigns for the recovery of the Palatinate and continued to be a failure. Yet this man represented something. In his failure and despair he represented the failure and despair of Protestant Europe. And in the eyes of many Englishmen he represented disgrace and shame, shame for the abandonment by her Stuart successors of Queen Elizabeth's role of protector of Protestant Europe.
