The year 1602 put the Unity of the Brethren to a severe test. Three years before, the long and systematic efforts of the papal nuncio in Bohemia had resulted in the fall of Chancellor Charles Želinský, and the highest offices of the realm had passed into the hands of Catholics— representatives, for the most part, of the new aggressive generation, who made no secret of their intention to wipe out the evangelical faith in Bohemia, and who had indeed begun energetically to work in that direction. Zdeněk Lobkovic, more of a Spaniard than a Czech, had been put at the head of the government, and at his side were Jaroslav Martinic and the convert William Slavata.