A violent quarrel ensued, and finally the Protestant deputies seized the councillors Martinitz and Slavata, and their secretary, and hurled them from the window into the dry ditch, fifty feet below.

Fortunately for the councillors the ditch contained a quantity of light rubbish, and they and their secretary escaped without serious damage.

The incident, however, was the commencement of war.
Bohemia was almost independent of Austria, administering its own internal affairs.

The Estates invested Count Thurn with the command of the army.

The Protestant Union supported Bohemia in its action.