free passage into upper Alsace. On 24 October, the Protestant Union and the Catholic League agreed to withdraw their forces and to disband them until the end of the year. The war severely depleted the coffers of all the involved parties, leading to increased taxes, which in turn triggered the 1612 Tirol Peasant Revolt. Possessors Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Joachim Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach took over the duchy by military might without having been able to secure official recognition. In 1611, Protestantism spread to the villages of Stolberg and Weiden, in the vicinity of Aachen. In response, the city council of Aachen imposed a fine on those inhabitants who attended Protestant services. Five citizens were detained for ignoring the town's decree banished and were as they refused to pay the fine. That caused a riot against the council on 5 July. The Catholic councillors were expelled, and many Catholic buildings were sacked. The rebels assaulted the church and the College of the Jesuits, smashed the altars and images and held a mock mass by being dressed in confiscated priestly garments. A new Protestant council was established and appealed for support to the Possessors. In 1612, Rudolf ordered the Possessors to reinstate Catholicism in the city of Aachen under the menace of a ban. The city's Protestants, however, ignored the command and seriously wounded an Imperial commissary sent to implement the Emperor's edict. Upon Rudolf's death, Emperor Matthias confirmed Saxony's rights to the fief, which rekindled the dispute. Furthermore, the conversions of Ernst and Wolfgang Wilhelm to Calvinism and Catholicism respectively completely restructured their past alliances. Brandenburg and Neuburg officials ceased communicating with each other by early 1614. In May 1614, 300 Dutch troops ejected the Neuburg garrison from Jülich, in an attempt by the Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt to prevent a Brandenburg plot against the former. Wolfgang Wilhelm interpreted it as a declaration of war, raised 900 troops and took Düsseldorf. The new Brandenburg possessor, George William, was indeed plotting a coup, but his financial dependence on the Dutch prevented him from fulfilling his plans. Another misunderstanding took place when Spain and Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, interpreted the Dutch military buildup as a violation of the Twelve Years' Truce and mobilised 13,300 infantry and 1,300 cavalry under Spanish General Ambrogio Spinola. On 20 February 1614, Emperor Matthias ordered the restoration of the Catholic rule in