After the defeat Conquering of the Spanish Armada in 1588 , the king called Name_conferral the Estates-General in the midst of intrigue and plotting .

Germany and the Baltic nobility added Cause_to_be_included another level of intrigue , initially being nominally allied Collaboration to the Nationalist/Allied force Hostile_encounter but attempting to jockey for German domination of Latvia .

The Roman Catholic Church did everything in its power to sow controversy and intrigue between the two major Protestant factions .