his greatest political success. His efforts to settle the conflicts among the confessional associations, Protestant Union and Catholic League, were much less successful. His attempts to dissolve the confessional alliances in order to create a party of the emperor faced insurmountable resistance. Since the coronation of Matthias as Emperor, the question of succession immediately became an important political issue because Matthias had in his marriage with Anna of Tyrol no male heir to succeed him. The King of Spain wanted to make his son Emperor and beforehand King of Bohemia and Hungary. Archduke Ferdinand of Inner Austria also claimed these crowns and found with Maximilian III a scheming supporter. The negotiations with Philip III lasted until a treaty between Philip and Ferdinand, the Oñate treaty in the spring of 1617. The archdukes Maximilian III and Ferdinand urged the election of Ferdinand as Roman-German King before the Habsburgs reached any agreement about the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary. But Khlesl first wanted negotiations with the Calvinist Electors to save the election. Maximilian III and the catholic camp saw this as a tactic for protracting the election. So Khlesl needed protection against his enemies in the House of Austria (Casa de Austria) and the catholic camp. The device was the promotion to cardinal. Emperor Matthias pleased the pope to make Khlesl cardinal. On December 2 1615 Pope Paul V made Melchior Khlesl in pectore Cardinal, and had it proclaimed on the April 11 1616. He received Santa Maria degli Angeli as his titular church, but 1623 switched to San Silvestro in Capite. Maximilian III had already in 1616 planned to murder Cardinal Khlesl, but his cousin Ferdinand held him back. The uprising in Bohemia (The “Fenstersturz”) which ultimately led to the beginning of the Thirty Years War, brought about the end of Khlesl’s position as minister-favourite. Reason was his preferential treatment of a moderate reaction because the emperor lacked the money for a military answer and Phillip III didn’t signal any strong assistance. On July 20, 1618 Maximilian III, Ferdinand II, now King of Bohemia and Hungary, and the Spanish ambassador Inigo Velez de Guevara, Conde de Oñate arrested Khlesl and held him prisoner in Tyrol. The Pope sent a special envoy, Cardinal Fabrizio Verospi, to investigate Khlesl’s case. Verospi urged in the name of Paul V that the cardinal be placed under ecclesiastical arrest. In 1619 Khlesl was brought to the