Chapter VIII.
FROM MATTHIAS TO THE CLOSE OF THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR.
Matthias.
The reign of Matthias is memorable as the time when Bohemia was plunged into a series of disturbances that ultimately deprived her of her independence, and, indeed, almost of her existence. Before entering on the political history of the time, it will be well to look upon the condition of the country at the beginning of this reign.
In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the kingdom of Bohemia included Moravia, Silesia, and both Upper and Lower Lusatia. Thus, although the kingdom in regard to territorial extent was not to be despised, its political importance was greatly augmented by its being the center of government of the Austrian rulers, who, as kings of Bohemia, generally made Prague their capital, especially as most of them were also Kings of Hungary, and some Emperors of Germany.
In the early history of the country, there were four ruling classes or States in the kingdom, consisting of the lords, knights, citizens and clergy; but after the Hussite wars the clergy were excluded, although this was contrary to the custom in all the neighboring States.
There were some 254 families of the nobility, 1,128 knights. These, together with the representative citizens, had the privilege of attending the Diet; but the number that embraced this privilege generally did not exceed 200. The voting was done by the States. A measure, to become a law, needed the signature of the king and the agreement of the three States. To them also belonged the exclusive right of raising troops and voting taxes. The king’s income consisted of revenue derived from the royal cities, which, at their foundation, agreed to pay certain duties and taxes for the special privileges that they enjoyed. Whenever the king needed more money to carry on war, or for some other purpose, he asked the States to vote a subsidy, which was generally done, unless he himself refused to grant requests which they made. These special requests were generally made at the Diet, which was called whenever it seemed necessary. The usual time of the sittings of the Diet was two weeks; but in times of war or during civil troubles it lasted much longer, and sometimes was called three times a year. During the reign of the rulers of the house of Hapsburg there was a continual struggle between the rulers and the Diets as to which should be supreme, and gradually the royal power increased in strength, to the great detriment of the States.
The condition of the peasantry at this time was better than two centuries later. The amount of service due their lords was not excessive, Condition of the Peasants.so that they had time to till their own fields and attend to other tasks. That their condition was not so wretched as during the reign of Vladislav can be judged from the fact that in all the villages there were public baths, and on Saturdays the hours of labor were shortened, so that the people could avail themselves of these privileges against the coming Sunday.
The peasants had their own local government. They held two courts annually, the judges being composed partly of peasants and partly of citizens. These courts were opened with great honor and formality. It must be admitted that these courts had jurisdiction only in unimportant cases, the more important ones coming under the authority of the nobility, or lords of the estates upon which the peasants lived.
Among the various sects the Brethren were more respected than the others, on account of their consistent lives and the integrity of their character. The other sects constantly quarreled among themselves because of difference in belief; but the Brethren avoided empty discussions, their chief aim being to cultivate brotherly love, peace, and mutual helpfulness.
In regard to the question of marriage, there did not seem to be any uniformity of practice. In some parishes the people insisted that their ministers marry, while in others they were forbidden to do so.
The Protestant sects, however, agreed in one thing; there was no promotion among the clergy; all were equal, and had an equal voice in determining questions arising in the Church government.
It has been estimated that, during the reign of Rudolph, about nineteen-twentieths of the population was Protestant and the rest Catholics.
THE REIGN OF MATTHIAS.
The Bohemians, in accepting the government of Matthias in place of that of his brother, expected to improye their condition, but in this they were greatly disappointed. They soon found to their sorrow that he had no more independence of character than Rudolph; and was, moreover, under the same Jesuit-Spanish influence. The energy he had displayed in usurping his brother’s throne was not so much the result of his own will, but was due to the ability of his advisers, who hoped by a change in the government to serve their own ends. It was true that some of the Protestant lords obtained positions in the government; for example, Count Thurn was appointed to fill the office of Burggrave of Carlstein; but their united power was no match for that of their more numerous, crafty, and unscrupulous enemies, at whose head was the chief chancellor, Zdenek Popel of Lobkovic. As soon as Matthias found that he no longer needed the Protestant lords, he was easily convinced that they were the main obstacle to his carrying on the government in his own way. Thus, in a short time after his accession to the throne, matters glided into the old channels, and the anti-Protestant party managed matters as they had done before.
The Catholic prelates and authorities constantly aimed to provoke the Protestants to some open act of violence, so as to give the king a pretext for depriving them of the Letter of Majesty. This was not only the case in Bohemia, but in other countries as well. As might be expected, having common grievances, the more prominent men of Bohemia, Austria, and Hungary sought to come to some understanding as to the remedy. There was also much secret correspondence between the lords of Bohemia and the Protestant princes of Germany. The hopes of the Protestants that some change would be made received considerable encouragement from Savoy and Holland, which countries were waging war against the Spanish branch of the house of Hapsburg.
The war with the Turks having again broken out, Matthias convoked a Diet of all the Austrian States to meet at Linz in 1614. The Diet of 1615.This Diet failed of its object; for the king, refusing to allow the members to discuss any other question than the Turkish war, was obliged to adjourn it without having received any subsidy.
The following year a General Diet was held in Prague, which in some respects was quite noteworthy. Here also the question of subsidies came up, and the advisability of forming a union between the States for the protection of common interests; but neither question was settled, owing to the jealousy between the crown and the States. Several measures, however, were passed that are worthy of notice, since they were the beginning of the struggle in the country between the Slavonic and Teutonic elements. A law was passed prohibiting any one from becoming a citizen who was not able to speak the Bohemian language—by citizen meaning any one who enjoyed all the privileges of the land, especially the right of holding real estate. A foreigner learning the language and obtaining citizenship was still debarred from holding office until in the third generation. Germans were forbidden from becoming teachers and pastors in Bohemian parishes. Any one knowing the language of the country and being ashamed to use it in public, was to be exiled as a disturber of the public peace. German settlements or colonies in the cities, having special privileges, were to be prohibited.
At this Diet of 1615 an event occurred that shows how powerful the States were when they dared assert themselves. Václav Vchynsky, a certain nobleman, received from the king the estates of Chlumec and Kolin as a reward for helping him to win the crown of Bohemia. One of the laws of the land provided that, should any one help a candidate to win the crown of Bohemia before he had been elected by the States, he was to lose his honor, life, and property. Vchynsky was tried for this offense, and, being found guilty, was condemned to imprisonment for life and the confiscation of his estates. Matthias was obliged to see this sentence carried out without being able to give his friend any assistance.
Matthias, marrying at a late age, was without heirs, and the crown would have fallen to his brothers, Maximilian and Albert; Ferdinand, the Successor of Matthias.but these also being childless, were willing to resign their rights in favor of the nearest kin, Ferdinand of Styria, which proposition was willingly received by the king. But the Protestants, remembering his cruelty in extirpating their brethren from his dominions, were not so eager to crown him King of Bohemia. The chief opponent of Ferdinand was Count Thurn, who insisted that, before this important question be settled, a Diet be called, composed of delegates from all the lands belonging to the Kingdom of Bohemia. Some of the States being won over by fair promises, this proposition was rejected, and after some delay Ferdinand was named the successor of Matthias, haying first taken an oath to support and keep all the liberties of the country, and also promising not to interfere in the government during the life of Matthias.
Count Thurn, the opponent of Ferdinand, was immediately chastised by being deprived of the high office of Burggrave of Carlstein, that honor being conferred upon the arch enemy of the Protestants, William Slavata, thus giving the people a hint as to what they might expect from their new ruler.
The question of succession being settled, Matthias gathered together his treasures, took his court, and moved to Vienna, making that city the capital of his dominions.
The government in Bohemia was left in the hands of ten regents, seven of whom were Catholic and three Protestant. This was an ill omen, since among the seven were found the chief enemies of Protestantism; viz., Popel Lobkovic, William Slavata, and Jaroslav Martinec.
Having the example of Styria before them, and the “Most Catholic Prince” crowned as their future sovereign, Trouble in Regard to the Building of Churchesthe Jesuits and fanatical Catholics felt greatly encouraged, and at once began the work of anti-reformation. The Catholic lords and prelates compelled their peasants to attend mass, droye away their Protestant pastors, and inflicted all manner of evils upon them. The persecution reached its climax in the treatment of the people of Broumov and Hrob. These were German cities, on the borders of Bohemia, the former under the jurisdiction of the Abbot of Braunau, and the latter under that of the Archbishop of Prague. The people of these towns being Protestants, had constant troubles with their authorities, who did all they could to oppose them in their religious services. After the passage of the Letter of Majesty, they raised funds and built their own churches, claiming that they had the tight todo so. But the authorities denied this, saying that the privilege was granted only to royal cities, although the people claimed that lands under the jurisdiction of the Church were also royal. The Abbot of Braunau finally drove away the pastor, and ordered the church to be closed; but the people refused to give up the keys, and sent a deputation to the authorities in Prague. The messengers were cast into the White Tower as disturbers of the public peace, and word was sent to the people to submit to their masters, and shut the church. Another deputation was fitted out, but it fared no better than the first; and finally gens d’armes were sent to Broumoy to compel the people to obey. But although the aldermen of the town were convinced that all their efforts to keep their church would prove futile, and were willing to obey the order, coming as it did from the king himself, they found themselves powerless in presence of the angry people. Men, women, and children rushed to the church, seizing stones and such weapons as they could find, and, posting themselves at the door, were ready to die in defense of their rights. The soldiers, not wishing to shed blood, withdrew, and thus the church remained in the hands of the people until the breaking out of the revolution.
Not so successful, however, were the people of Hrob. In this town they were fined, imprisoned, refused the nuptial ceremony, and, indeed, so harassed that, out of sheer weariness, they consented to attend the Catholic Church. But in order to destroy all remembrance of former happier days, the archbishop, after having driven their pastor out of town, ordered the church to be pulled down. Thus the people were openly robbed of what they had built at their own expense. The work of destruction lasted three days, and, as Gindely says: “The rumbling of the walls of the church of Hrob resounded throughout all Europe; for no act of this drama in Bohemian history became so well known as this, and no act made such an impression, unless it be the throwing out of the window of the regents. It was regarded, not only as an insult to the Bohemians, but to all Protestants. This seemed a convincing proof that the Letter of Majesty of Rudolph had failed to bring the expected results, and that the sword must decide about the existence of Protestantism in Bohemia.”
Roused by these acts of violence, the Defenders called upon the Protestant States to meet at Prague to devise some plan whereby redress could be obtained. They assembled in the Carolinum, and drew up an earnest appeal to the king, begging that the people of Hrob and Broumoy be permitted to enjoy the liberties guaranteed by the Letter of Majesty.
Matthias replied by sending a letter to his regents, saying that the closing of the churches in Broumov and Hrob had been done at his orders, and that the meeting of the States, without his royal permission, was contrary to the customs of the land, and that its originators would be visited with due punishment.
Receiving this letter, the regents sent word to the Assembly at Carolinum to come to the citadel at Hradschin to hear what was the pleasure of their king. The States, hearing the ungracious reply of the king, became filled with indignation, and declared that the contents of the letter had not originated in Vienna, but in Prague, and immediately pointed to the three regents who had before refused to sign the amnesty when the Letter of Majesty had been granted, as the true authors of the message. A copy of the letter having been secured for the consideration of the States, their anger, instead of abating, increased, until they resolved to take fearful vengeance upon the three traitors, as they called the regents.
On the morning of May 23, 1618, the States, among whom the leaders were Henry, Count of Thurn, Linhard of Fels, and Joachimslick, met at the Carolinum, and, arming themselves, proceeded with a large number of attendants to the citadel of Hradschin, where they were received by the four regents then in Prague, Adam of Sternberg, William Slavata, Jaroslay Martinec, and Depold of Lobkovic. The speaker of the States, Paul of Ricany, demanded to know who had put up the king to sending them such an ungracious reply; and when the regents refused to give any satisfactory reply, he began to reproach them bitterly as being the disturbers of the public peace, the cause of all the trouble, and that they aimed at nothing less than to deprive the country of Rudolph’s Letter of Majesty. At this point the chief burggrave, Adam of Sternberg, warned them not to resort to any acts of violence; upon which Linhard of Fels replied that they had nothing against him, nor against any one else except these two,—pointing to Slavata and Martinec.
Some one then cried out that it were best to throw these two traitors out of the window. Some of the party then took Adam of Sternberg and Depold of Lobkovie, and led them out of the room, while others seized Martinec, dragged him to the nearest window, and hurled him down into the trench below. Then there was a moment of silence, when Count Thurn, pointing to Slavata, encouraged them to finish the work by saying: “Honorable lords, here is the second one!” The unfortunate regent was immediately seized, and, in spite of his piteous cries and protestations of his innocence, was thrown down after his colleague. His secretary, Fabricius, drawing attention to himself by some derogatory remark, at once shared the fate of his master.
By some strange accident none of the three men were killed, although they fell from a height of some sixty feet. The story that they fell upon a heap of rubbish is now discredited. The secretary, for services rendered afterwards to the government, was knighted, assuming the name of Knight von Hohenfall. The secretary, being the least injured, escaped, and hurried to Vienna to tell the news to the king. The two lords sought refuge at the house of Zdenek of Lobkovic, whose wife, Polyxene, took them under her protection. Count Thurn, indeed, came to demand the fugitives; but the lady persuaded him to leave the wounded men in her care.
On the same day that the regents had been thrown out of the window, the States reassembled and elected thirty Directors, ten out of each State,Directors. who were to take charge of the government in the place of the regents. Then they began to collect troops, naming Count Thurn the commander-in-chief. Messengers were then sent to the other Bohemian States, asking them to unite with them for the defense of their liberties, and also to the German princes, asking for their assistance. The Jesuits were ordered to leave the country, and with them also the Abbot of Braunau and the Archbishop of Prague, and signal punishment was to be visited upon any one refusing obedience to the Directors. Moravia also began to raise troops, but only for self-defense. That country offered to act as mediator between the king and the insurgents; but her good-will led to no results, owing to the obstinacy of both parties.
By the unfortunate act of violence against the persons of the regents, the Protestant States unwittingly placed themselves in the false position that the Jesuit-Spanish party wished to have them. They had stepped from the legal foundation upon which their opposition had thus far been based, and by this impolitic step gave their enemies a reasonable pretext for depriving them, if possible, of the jealously-guarded Letter of Majesty. Indeed, the whole course of the following struggle shows the utmost lack of political wisdom, patriotism, and strength of character. In looking over the history of the leaders of this movement, it would seem that all high virtues had been exhausted in the long previous wars, and that now there was utter demoralization of character both among the nobility and the wealthier classes of citizens.
The first mistake made by the States was that of choosing a king whom they knew to be the deadly enemy of their religion. Then they permitted their wrath to get the better of their reason, and committed an act of violence against the regents of their king—an act that could not be overlooked by any ruler without compromising his royal dignity. And again the foolish magnanimity of Count Thurn, in not putting the regents under strict guard after they had sought refuge at the house of Lobkovic, showed a confidence in his enemies that was almost childish. Slavata repaid this magnanimity by spying out the doings of the Directors, and reporting them in Vienna, thus storing up material out of which the government obtained evidence that afterwards cost some of them their lives.
After the tragedy of May 23d, the indignation of the States began to cool, until finally it gave place to fear; and although the preparations for self-defense were continued, they sent a humble apology to King Matthias begging his pardon, and saying that what they had done had been done to the disturbers of the public good, and that, as far as he was concerned, they wished to remain his loyal subjects. Matthias, being influenced by his favorite, Cardinal Khlesl, the Bishop of Vienna, entered into peaceful negotiations with the Bohemian lords. By this means they gained time for more extensive preparations, and soon their example was followed by other countries of the dominions of Matthias. The Diet of Hungary, which had not yet accepted Ferdinand for their king, now refused to do so, unless he first subscribed to very hard conditions. Upper Austria and Moravia would not allow any troops to be raised in their territory against Bohemia. The people of Silesia and Lusatia, taking advantage of the straits in which the emperor was found, made demands for certain rights and privileges. Count Thurn besieged Budweis.
As soon as the revolution broke out, Ferdinand, the elected King of Bohemia, War Begins.advised Matthias to embrace the opportunity to take away the Lefter of Majesty and other liberties and privileges of the kingdom, and establish an absolute monarchy. He was much disturbed to see the king letting slip the favorable moment by peaceful negotiations, and, seeing that Cardinal Khlesl was the chief cause of this mild policy, he had that prelate kidnaped and carried away to a fortress in Tyrol. The king, naturally indolent, and now further weakened by illness, had not energy enough to resent this indignity to his favorite. Indeed, he was finally convinced that Khlesl was a hypocrite, who cared nothing for the interests of the crown. The obnoxious prelate being out of the way, the Jesuit-Spanish party now surrounded the king, and soon he was convinced that the difficulty in Bohemia could be settled in no other way than by the sword. Accordingly troops began to be collected upon all sides, until there was a large army ready to march against Bohemia. The conduct of the war was given to Ferdinand, who soon sent a force of 10,000 men to Bohemia under the command of Henry Dampierre. Thurn was compelled to raise the siege of Budweis; but he defeated the Imperial army in two small battles, so that it was obliged to retire to Austria. Here it was re-enforced, partly by recruits, and partly by Spanish troops under the command of General Buguoi, a renowned Spanish officer who had distinguished himself in the war against the Netherlands.
The insurrection in Bohemia was welcomed with joy by the neighboring countries that were not friendly to the house of Hapsburg; for they saw in it an opportunity for a general attack upon Spain and Austria, and so hastened to offer their aid to Bohemia. This aid, however, was not given without certain conditions. The leaders in the insurrection were obliged to bind themselves never again to accept the government of Austria. They then obtained aid from Charles Emanuel, the Duke of Savoy, and from the princes of the German League. The League sent an army of 14,000 men, under the command of Ernest, the Count of Mansfield. He besieged and took Pilsen, a city notorious in Bohemian history for its loyalty to the enemies of the country. This alliance with the German princes soon brought about a union with Silesia and Lusatia, and for a while all seemed to promise a successful issue to the struggle. General Buquoi was shut up in Budweis, while some of his troops were pursued into Austria.
The winter put an end to active warfare, and negotiations were entered into in regard to peace. Several of the German princes, not belonging to the League, offered their services as mediators, and even went so far as to threaten to join their armies with those of the emperor, unless the Bohemians accepted his terms and ended the war. But before anything could be accomplished, Matthias died, March 20, 1619, and affairs immediately assumed a more serious aspect.
FERDINAND II.
Ferdinand II, as crowned Kjng of Bohemia, announced the death of his predecessor by a letter addressed to the former regents, thus confirming them in their office, and at the same time disclaiming the authority of the Directors. He, however, promised to preserve the liberties of the realm as he had agreed in his coronation oath, also the Letter of Majesty, and to make every effort to restore peace and order to the land. But the Protestants, having lost faith in him, refused to acknowledge him as their king, and as an excuse charged him with breaking that part of his coronation oath that said that he was to take no part in the government during the life of Matthias.
Early in the spring of 1619, General Buquoi left Budweis and attacked many small towns of Bohemia; but Count Thurn, regardless of this, entered into Moravia, where the people were divided into two factions, one favoring the cause of Bohemia, and the other, led by the celebrated Charles of Zerotin, advising complete neutrality. The arrival of Thurn into the country soon had the effect of changing the current of public opinion, and the States not only joined the confederation, but induced those of Lusatia and Silesia to do likewise. A temporary government was also formed consisting of twenty-four Directors.
With his army re-enforced, Thurn then marched into Lower Austria, and took his stand at the very gates of Vienna. At the same time the Protestants of Vienna had risen in revolt, forced their way into the palace of the king, demanding of him liberty to worship God according to their own ritual. The States of Austria asked of him that he dismiss the troops raised against Bohemia, and give Lower Austria permission to join the confederation, as Upper Austria had already done. For some time Ferdinand was in great peril; but just at the critical moment, General Dampierre appeared before the gates of the city with a small army, which so alarmed the insurgents that they betook themselves to flight, and the king was saved.
In Bohemia, General Buquoi won some brilliant victories over Count Mansfield, which alarmed the Directors, so that they called Thurn back to defend their kingdom.
In the meantime the all-absorbing question in Bohemia was the election of a new king. There were three candidates,—Charles Emanuel, the Duke of Savoy; John George, the Elector of Saxony; and Frederick, the Elector of Palatinate. The Duke of Savoy was soon dropped from the canvass, the States giving their attention to the last two; those favoring the Lutheran teaching wishing to choose the Elector of Saxony; those the Calvinistic, Frederick. Then, too, Frederick was the head of the Protestant League, formed by the princes of the empire, and by his election it was hoped that considerable aid might be secured from Germany. Another consideration that led the Bohemians to favor Frederick was the fact of his relationship to King James of England, the States imagining that so powerful a sovereign would not leave his son-in-law without assistance, when, by his accepting the proffered prize, a princess of England would become the Queen of Bohemia. Taking all these things into consideration, the Bohemian States elected Frederick, August 26, 1619.
The two disappointed candidates immediately forsook the Bohemian cause; and, indeed, John George went so far as to make friendly overtures to Ferdinand.
In the election of Frederick, the Catholic lords stood aloof, refusing to take any part, but persisting in their loyalty to Ferdinand. All of them were deprived of their offices, and ordered to leave the country. Some went to Passau, some to Vienna, and some entered the army of Ferdinand.
The day following the election of Frederick, there was also an election in Frankfort, in which Ferdinand was unanimously elected Pies of Germany, and immediately after crowned.
Although Frederick had exerted all his powers to secure the election, now that the crown was offered him, he hesitated to accept it, being discouraged by many of his counselors. Finally, at the urgent appeal of his wife, who was a very spirited woman and greatly superior to her husband in courage, he accepted the election, and immediately took his departure to his kingdom, where he was received with great honor, and immediately crowned in the cathedral at Hradschin. The coronation oath was such that henceforth the royal power was subordinate to that of the States or Diet.
Shortly after his coronation, Frederick went to Moravia, where all the lords did him homage, except Charles of Zerotin. This nobleman, who possessed both the ability and the influence to be the leader in this great movement for civil and religious liberty, for some unaccountable reason, chose to stand aloof, remain loyal to a cause that was diametrically opposed to his own views, and thus sink into insignificance and oblivion.
The cause of the Bohemians was unexpectedly strengthened by Bethlen Gabor, the Prince of Transylvania. Help from the South.This prince, seeing the difficulties surrounding Ferdinand, determined to grasp this opportunity to increase his own power. He invaded Hungary, and in a short time subdued the whole country to the borders of Austria and Moravia. General Buquoi was thus compelled to leave Bohemia and go to the defense of Austria.
General Thurn, with an army of 30,000 men, joined the forces of Bethlen Gabor, and the great army marched directly to Vienna. General Buquoi met the army at the long bridge across the Danube, and a bloody battle was fought that lasted till night, when the Imperialists retreated to the other side of the river, burning the bridge behind them. Before anything further could be done, Ferdinand returned to Vienna, and himself took command of the troops.
About this time a confederation was formed at Pressburg between Bohemia, Hungary, and Transylvania, and messengers were sent to Constantinople to negotiate an alliance with the Sultan of Turkey. The Vienna campaign, that had promised so much, was given up without any advantage to the besiegers. This was due partly to the inclemency of the weather, but mostly to the disorders arising among the troops on account of a lack of provisions and the non-payment of their dues. The reverses that the armies of Bethlen Gabor met in Hungary, while he was besieging Vienna, led him to enter into a truce with Ferdinand, and so both he and Thurn raised the siege and departed from Vienna.
The coming winter gave Ferdinand an opportunity to strengthen himself by seeking help from other Catholic princes. Help for Ferdinand.Philip III of Spain, seeing the danger threatening the house of Hapsburg, sent his kinsman both money and troops; the Pope, knowing that the cause was his own, did the same; Maximilian, the Duke of Bavaria, was won over by the promise of the whole of Upper Austria, and John George by the promise of both Upper and Lower Lusatia. The King of Poland, on account of his Catholic faith and his friendship for the house of Hapsburg, also joined the League, although it was contrary to the wishes of his nobles.
The League of Protestant princes, seeing these preparations, also began to collect troops to prevent Maximilian from invading Bohemia. But at the critical moment, the Spanish army, greatly re-enforced, threatened to invade the territory of the princes of the League from the Netherlands, which so alarmed them that they entered into a truce with Maximilian in such a way that Bohemia was not taken into consideration at all, and thus that prince was free to go on with his preparations for the intended invasion.
By the treacherous act of the princes of the Protestant League, Bohemia was left entirely alone, forsaken by all from whom she had reason to expect sympathy and assistance. Frederick’s Unhappy Reign.This in itself was a grievous misfortune; but a still greater one was the fact that Frederick proved to be totally unfit for the position to which he had been chosen. He not only possessed no political insight, but knew not how to adapt himself to circumstances. Upon his arrival in the country he offended many of his best friends by a foolish partiality towards the Moravian Brethren, since their inclination to Calvinism was more in harmony with his own views than the creed of the Evangelicals. Much to the disgust of the people of Prague, he ordered all pictures, relics, and ornaments, to be removed from the cathedral, so that that magnificent church was transformed into a “meeting-house,” with walls as bare as those of a barn. The queen also caused not a little scandal by appearing with her court ladies at public receptions in gowns whose make was not regarded decent by the Bohemian ladies. The chief cause for disaffection, however, was that Frederick, instead of choosing for his counselors the best and ablest men of the nation, brought with him his old favorites—foreigners—who neither understood nor cared for the best interests of the country. Among these may be mentioned Christian, the Prince of Anhalt, and George, the Count of Hohenloh. Placing these in command of the army, he greatly offended the able and tried generals, Mansfield and Thurn.
Nevertheless, the chief cause of the downfall of Bohemia was the character of her own sons. Never in the whole previous history of the nation was there such a scarcity of able and patriotic men. During the Hussite war, when one great leader fell, another immediately arose to fill his place; but in this period of moral decline, there was not a man found in the whole nation that possessed the qualities of a great leader. Thus it was that the management of affairs fell into the hands of strangers; and the natives, instead of helping them with their co operation and sympathy, looked upon them with jealousy, and even refused to contribute to the support of soldiers that were hired to do their fighting for them. They looked to the peasants and middle class to do this; but these, thinking that the nobles began the war and had far more to lose by its unsucessful ending than themselves, contributed a mere pittance. The emptiness of the war treasury, time and again, was the source of great embarrassment to the officers; for it often happened that the ragged and half-starved soldiers, on the very eve of some battle, refused to fight unless their rations were first paid them. And yet, at this time, the wealth of the nobility and the citizens of Prague was enormous; and had they devoted a reasonable part of it to the national cause, it would doubtless have been brought to a successful issue, and they might have lived to enjoy the rest in peace. But in their blind selfishness and perversity, they could not, or would not, see this, and the price they afterward paid for their obstinacy was fearful.
The moral degradation and weakness into which the people had sunk is one of the saddest things to contemplate in the whole eventful history of Bohemia. Not that they were criminally depraved, but that, in their selfish love of ease and luxury, they had sunk into a sort of moral imbecility. As Rome had fallen long before the Northern barbarians invaded and overcame the country, so Bohemia had fallen long before the Catholic barbarians of Europe turned against her, in deadly hatred seeking her ruin.
In the spring of 1620 the Bohemian army, under Hohenloh and Mansfield, invaded Austria, but were repulsed by Buquoi, The War Continued. whose army had been re-enforced by Spanish troops. Shortly after, Bethlen Gabor, having closed the truce with Ferdinand, again renewed his alliance with the Bohemians. Osman, the Sultan of Turkey, sent his congratulations, and promised some assistance to Frederick.
On the other hand, several princes came to aid Ferdinand. Maximilian of Bavaria entered Upper Austria with a large and splendidly-equipped army, commanded by himself and Count Tilly. This so alarmed the people that they submitted to his authority without a struggle. The Elector of Saxony gained possession of Lusatia; and an army of Cossacks, fitted out by the King of Poland, succeeded in marching through Silesia and Moravia as far as Lower Austria, which country was thus compelled to swear fealty to Ferdinand, up to this time having refused to do so.
Maximilian and Buquoi joined their forces, and commenced a vigorous campaign against the Bohemians. Their army, amounting to 50,000 men, consisted of Spaniards, Italians, Germans, and other nationalities, and exceeded in strength that of Frederick.
Pressed on by this overwhelming force, the Bohemians were compelled to fall back, the Imperialists gaining possession of the towns of Krumlov, Budweis, Prachatic, and several other places. Pisek, defending itself valiantly, was finally overpowered, and, as a warning to other cities, was razed to the ground, and the people, without regard to age or sex, all massacred. As a result of this, many other towns surrendered without attempting any defense. The Bohemian forces, under the command of Anhalt, kept falling back until King Frederick himself repaired to the army, intending to retrieve some of the disasters; but it was already too late; the army was utterly demoralized, and nothing of importance could be done.
The Imperial army now besieged Pilsen, where Mansfield had shut himself up, and tried in vain to get that general to give them battle. The Bohemian army was at Rokycan, and Thurn, Hohenloh, and Anhalt advised immediate attack upon the Imperialists while they were still weary from the march; but this advice was overruled by the older Anhalt, who feared the superior ability of the emperor’s commanders. Thus the favorable moment was allowed to slip by unimproved, and the army then compelled to fall back until it took its stand upon the White Mountain near Prague.
We have now reached the saddest period in Bohemian history. The battle of White Mountain, although insignificant when compared with some of the great battles that the Bohemians had been engaged in during other wars, still in its results proved to be more disastrous than that of Lipan, two centuries earlier. The latter marked the fall of Bohemian democracy; the former the fall of the nation itself.
The Bohemian army, under the command of Hohenloh and Anhalt, numbered about 20,000 men, half of whom were cavalry, the rest infantry. The Imperial army, under Buquoi and Maximilian numbered 25,000 men, their numbers having been considerably reduced by sickness and death, and by the garrisons left in the various towns that had been taken.
When the armies had taken their stand upon the White Mountain, the Bohemian leaders advised an immediate attack upon the army of Maximilian before it was joined by that of Buquoi; but General Hohenloh objected to this, laying great stress upon the strength of their position, and claiming that if the attack should not prove successful, it might involve the loss of the crown. This opinion being accepted by the council of war, the army remained upon the White Mountain, both privates and officers beginning to act in a most heedless manner. Many of the officers went to Prague to visit their wives and relatives; and, indeed, such recklessness was shown by all, that some of the more thoughtful citizens thought that both Frederick and the nation were sold to the enemy by Anhalt and Hohenloh.
November 8th, the army under Buquoi also reached the field of battle. A council of war was held, wherein Maximilian, flushed with recent victories, was eager for an immediate attack, while Buquoi, more wary, counseled delay. Just at this moment there entered into the room a certain monk, whom the Duke of Bavaria had obtained from Rome for the purpose of encouraging his troops with his prayers and exhortations. This monk, called Dominicus a Jesu Maria, began a fiery harangue, and flourishing a picture of the Virgin, that he claimed had been desecrated by the Protestant soldiers, he called upon all faithful Catholics to avenge the insult done to the Mother of God. His words acted like magic, and, with “Mary” as the watchword, preparations were at once commenced for the battle.
The battle was begun by the Imperialists with great flourish of trumpets, music, and shouting. The enemy attacked the right wing of the Bohemian army, gaining possession of several pieces of artillery. But the younger Anhalt came to the assistance of this division, and soon drove back the enemy in great confusion. But this victory was of short duration, for, assistance coming to the Imperialists, the division of Anhalt was defeated and he taken prisoner. On the left wing the Hungarian allies were more successful, putting to flight the cavalry of Maximilian; but letting their cupidity get the better of their judgment, instead of following up the advantage gained, they began to plunder the camp of the Imperialists, thus giving them time to collect and put in order the disorganized army and turn it against the over-secure victors, who soon lost all they had shortly before gained. The cavalry of Hohenloh was sent to aid the Hungarians, but was defeated and put to flight at the first onset. Both they and the Hungarians, burdened with the spoils, fled to the Moldau, in whose waters many of them perished. The rest of the army was also defeated and put to flight, all except the division of Moravians, who took their stand by the fortress of Hvezda,[1] choosing rather to die than follow the example of their panic-stricken comrades.
The whole action hardly lasted an hour, and ended in the total defeat of the Bohemians. Owing to the fearful confusion that followed, it was never ascertained how great was the loss in slain and wounded, but it has been estimated that about 10,000 men of the Bohemian army, and probably 4,000 of the Imperial, were left upon the field of battle.
When the battle began, King Frederick was seated with his lords and ladies at a banquet in his palace in Hradschin. A messenger arrived from the field of action urging him to repair at once to the army to encourage his troops by his presence. But Frederick refused, and remained seated at the table till the dinner was over. When, finally, he started for the army, he met at the city gate his troops rushing towards the city in the wildest confusion. No sooner did this headlong flight meet his eyes than he became as panic-stricken as the rest, and thought of no further defense. He asked Maximilian to grant him a truce of twenty-four hours; but he would give him only eight, with the condition that he immediately abdicate the Bohemian crown.
Frederick left the palace, seeking refuge in the old town of Prague, and at once prepared to leave the country. The Bohemian leaders in vain remonstrated with him that all was not yet lost, that General Thurn had still a large army of Hungarians, that General Mansfield was ready to attack the enemy from the rear, that many cities were still in their possession, and Moravia and Silesia were still unconquered. It was all in vain; the cowardly king would not listen to them, and the very next day started for Breslau, accompanied by his generals, Anhalt and Hohenloh, and also by Thurn, who, although the chief instigator of the rebellion, was the first to desert the cause of the Bohemians.
Frederick, having ruled in Bohemia one short winter, became known in history as the “Winter King.”
The city, thus ignominiously forsaken by its king and leaders, was compelled to surrender. Five lords were sent to receive the victorious general and ask him what terms he offered; but he gave them to understand that the day of terms was past, that now nothing would be accepted but unconditional surrender. As soon as the army took possession of the city, a manifesto was issued declaring Ferdinand the lawful King of Bohemia, Silesia, and Moravia. Maximilian assured the States that Ferdinand would pardon them, and, leaving Tilly in command of the garrison, he took his departure for Bavaria, carrying with him immense quantities of spoils.
In the defeat of the Bohemians on the White Mountain, the Spanish-Jesuit party finally gained its aim, which was utterly to root Protestantism out of the land, and to establish a despotic form of government in place of the ancient self-rule. Prudence, however, dictated that great care should be exercised so as not to alarm the country by a premature disclosure of these plans.
Before Maximilian took his departure to Bavaria, Prince Charles of Lichtenstein came to Prague, having been appointed by Ferdinand viceroy of the kingdom. As soon as he assumed control of the government, all those that had been sent into exile by the Directors now returned, the chief among these being the Jesuits, who again took possession of their college.
Meanwhile Buquoi marched into Moravia, where the authorities, encouraged by the presence of Bethlen Gabor, still remained in rebellion. Before the end of the year they, too, were compelled to surrender. At the same time the Elector of Saxony induced the Silesians to make a treaty of peace, promising to secure for them the confirmation of their political and religious liberties. As a result of this, Frederick, who had taken refuge in their capital, was obliged to leave the country.
Of all those that had taken part in the rebellion, General Mansfield alone remained in the field. He had his army in the western part of Bohemia; and while he remained in the land, it was sound policy for the emperor not to interfere in matters of religion; and this the more so since it was only on that condition that the Elector of Saxony was lending him his aid. Neither were there any preparations made to bring to trial the leaders of the rebellion; so that, depending upon the assurance of the Duke of Bavaria, many of those that had fled now returned, while others remained at home, trusting in this false security.
The leaders of the rebellion found to their sorrow that the confidence placed in the magnanimity of the victors had been fearfully misplaced.The Punishment of Bohemia. February 20, 1621, three months after the battle of the White Mountain, an order came from Vienna commanding the arrest of all the leaders of the insurrection. All those that were found in Prague were immediately seized and cast into prison; those living out of Prague were sought out, and also brought to Prague, to be tried before the court organized for this purpose by the viceroy, Charles of Lichtenstein. Shortly after this, a manifesto was given out by the emperor, ordering the exile of all Calvinistic ministers, and also those of the Moravian Brethren; for these sects were not included among those having the protection of the Elector of Saxony. As this blow struck but a small part of the population, the Lutherans or Evangelicals still deluded themselves with the hope that no such severe measures would be taken against them.
While the preparations for trial were made at Prague, the emperor tried by various methods to induce Mansfield to surrender Pilsen. A truce was finally made, during which Mansfield left the country, going to Palatine to the assistance of Frederick. During his absence, his unworthy lieutenant surrendered the city to the enemy, and thus the whole of Bohemia was in the power of Ferdinand.
The court for the trial of the rebels being composed entirely of the enemies of the country, little hopes were entertained that justice would be tempered with mercy; and yet the decisions were far more severe than had been expected. Twenty-seven of the insurgents were condemned to death, and many others to various grievous and disgraceful punishments. The execution of the prisoners was appointed for the 21st of June, 1621. As the 7th of November, the time of the battle of the White Mountain, may be regarded as the day of death of Bohemia as a nation, so the 21st of June was the day of her funeral. To make the scene of the execution so impressive as to strike terror into the hearts of the people, the rink of the Old Town was especially fitted out for the occasion. A platform was erected upon the side of the Town Hall next to the rink, so that the prisoners stepping from the hall upon the place of execution could be seen by vast crowds of people. The platform thus erected was covered with black broadcloth, and surrounded on all sides by troops, so as to prevent any disturbance among the people. The condemned men were led out to execution according to their rank, and any effort made by them to address the people was drowned by the beating of drums and the blowing of trumpets. All went to death bravely, regarding themselves martyrs for the national cause. The first one that was beheaded was Andrew Slik, whose right hand was cut off after his death, as further punishment for having signed the articles of revolt; the second was Václav Budovec, famed for his learning; after him came Christopher Harant of Polzic, who was famous for his books of travel; then the aged Caspar Kaplir of Sulevic; and the rest in their order. Doctor John Jesinsky, a celebrated physician and at that time rector of the university, had his tongue torn out before his execution; and, after being beheaded, his body was quartered beneath the gallows, and stuck up on poles in different parts of the city. John Kutnauer, the mayor of the city, and Simon Susicky, were hanged upon a beam that was put up in one of the windows of the Town Hall. Nathanael Vodnansky was hanged upon the public gibbet in the rink; and Sixtus of Ottendorf was pardoned just as he was stepping to the place of execution. The heads of the executed were put in iron cages, and set up upon the tower of the bridge in Old Town as a warning to all passers-by; the bodies were left to the widows and orphans for burial.
On the day following this fearful tragedy, penalties were meted out to those who had not been condemned to death. Some were publicly whipped and then exiled from the country; others cast into prison for life or for a term of years; those that had not made their appearance for the trial, had their names nailed to the gibbet by the headsman, and their estates confiscated.
When such distinguished men were so severely dealt with, the rest of the people that had participated in the uprising had not much to hope for. The court then proceeded to punish the Protestant clergy; that is, the members of the Utraquist Consistory, the Evangelical ministers of the city of Prague, and those of other royal cities. Some time after, the university was taken out of the hands of the Protestants and placed under the control of the Jesuits.
Some time after the great trial, a decree was issued by the emperor, styled a “general pardon,” wherein it was announced that, although all those who had taken part in the “abominable rebellion” against him had forfeited their estates, their honor, and their lives, nevertheless, in regard to their honor and their lives, he would show them mercy, if they themselves should acknowledge their guilt in a certain specified time; but if they refused to do so, they would suffer the extreme penalty of the law. At the appointed time many persons made their appearance at court, where they were assured that their lives and honor should not be touched, but only their estates. Still the penalty was far mote grievous than they had reason to expect. Some were deprived of all their possessions; some, the half; while others lost a third. The value of the estates thus confiscated, was estimated at 1,440,000,000 Meissen coins. This confiscation of the estates proved a most disastrous blow to the Bohemian nation. By this means, a large part of the old nobility was reduced to penury; their estates fell into the hands of foreigners—Germans, Italians, Spaniards, and others who not only cared nothing for the country or the people, but willingly lent their aid to all manner of cruel persecutions. What the poor peasants endured from these foreign masters, who often were nothing but wild, heartless adventurers, is a story that could be written in blood.
In the year 1622 Ferdinand visited Prague, and promised to call a Diet; but he delayed to do so, although he imposed heavy taxes upon the country, receiving permission to do so, not from the States, according to the ancient laws of the land, but from officers of his own appointing.
Ferdinand, a pupil of the Jesuits, consequently a most zealous Catholic, Compulsory Conversions.cherished no higher aim than to convert the Bohemian people back to the “true faith.” At first he was restrained somewhat by his agreement with the Elector of Saxony; but having satisfied that ruler by the payment of six millions of thalers, and the cession of both Lusatias, he was free to act according to his own wishes.
In 1624 a decree was passed ordering all priests non-Catholic to leave the country, and the Catholic reformation to be carried into effect in all the cities and villages; this meaning nothing less than that all Churches, no matter of what creed, were to be placed immediately under the supervision of Catholic priests and bishops. As the number of Catholic priests was far from sufficient to fill all the vacancies caused by the exile of the Protestant clergy, they were imported from other countries, especially from Poland. The people then were ordered, by various compulsory methods, to take part in the Catholic service. The work of conversion making slow progress, more severe measures were adopted. The priests were forbidden to marry couples not professing the Catholic faith, nor to perform the burial service to persons that had died not Catholic. The keeping of holy-days, fast-days, and attending mass was made obligatory under heavy fines. As a species of servitude was general in Bohemia at this time, the Catholic lords themselves undertook the conversion of the peasants living upon their estates. This was accomplished by driving them to church in crowds like cattle, by beating them, locking them up, and by various other rough usages.
With all these violent measures, the work of conversion still lagged far behind the zeal of the victors; consequently still more severe methods were resorted to. In Prague, when the greater part of the population refused to be converted, four of the most prominent citizens were sent into exile as a warning to the others. This failing of the desired effect, fifty more suffered the same fate, and then seventy. The fiendish malignity of these would-be missionaries devised a method of conversion that proved very effective. Small bands of dragoons were sent out and quartered in the houses of the heretics. They tormented them in all the ways that their brutality could devise, until the wretched people either joined the Catholic Church, or ran away from their homes. This method of conversion so filled the land with terror, that often, when the news was brought that the dragoons were coming, the people picked up what they could carry, set fire to their houses, and fled into the forests or into exile. In some villages the peasants, driven to despair, rose in rebellion against their lords, burned their castles, and committed other acts of violence. But they gained nothing by this, for they were always overpowed by the troops sent against them. Those that survived were then subjected to fearful punishments. Some were hanged, some beheaded, some broken on the wheel, and some horribly mutilated.
Thus far the violent measures were mostly directed against the lower classes; but in 1627 the emperor gave out a decree announcing The General Exile.that he would tolerate no one in the kingdom that did not agree with him in matters of faith. Those that refused to become Catholics were given six months time to sell their estates and leave the country. By this ruthless step the climax of suffering was reached; for, as there were no buyers, the people were given the alternative either to give up their religion, or choose exile and beggary in a strange land. Thirty-six thousand families, to whom their religion was dearer than all else, left their native land, seeking refuge in other countries. Among these were many of the old nobility, many professors, and other learned men. In fact, the best part of the nation, as regards culture and character, was thus driven into exile.
Many of the exiles sought homes in Germany; some went to Holland, and others to Norway and Sweden. As most of them were very poor, they were obliged to resort to various methods of obtaining a livelihood. .jpg)
John Amos Komensky (Comenius).The noblemen generally became officers in foreign armies; the educated men became teachers, scribes, and authors. Among those who became celebrated were Paul Skála of Zhore, and Paul Stránský, both of whom wrote able and trustworthy histories of their times; and John Amos Comenius, renowned throughout the world for his works on pedagogy.
This fearful persecution of the Bohemians, although ostensibly directed against their religion, was, in fact, an attempt to root out their nationality. At this very time, Silesia, whose population was mostly German, was left to enjoy so much religious liberty that many of the Bohemian exiles sought and obtained refuge in that country. This work of denationalization was especially furthered by the aid of the foreign nobility, who, obtaining possession of vast estates by their power and influence, succeeded in corrupting the native Catholic nobles. Still the chief factors in this evil work were the Jesuits. They prowled around like sleuthhounds, seeking out and destroying every vestige of the nation’s former glory. They collected and burned in the public market-place all Bohemian books, without the least regard as to their contents. Indeed, it came to such a pass that whatever was Bohemian was proscribed and doomed to destruction.
In the same year that the Protestants were exiled, the emperor declared the government reorganized. Reconstruction in the Government.The crown was declared hereditary in the house of Hapsburg, even to the furthest collateral issue, either male or female. The Diet was deprived of its legislative power, its discussions being limited to those questions proposed by the emperor himself. The power of granting subsidies was left to the Diet, but under such regulations that it was practically according to the will of the ruler. In place of the old open courts, there were established courts whose sessions were held with closed doors, and most of the proceedings were carried on in writing, instead of viva voce; and since many Germans were settled in the country, their language, as well as Bohemian, was used in the proceedings. Finally, Ferdinand abolished the General Diets that the countries composing the Kingdom of Bohemia had been wont to hold, thus severing asunder the main bond that had united these provinces.
The humiliation of the country was so great that even the Catholic lords that had helped to establish the government of Ferdinand, now regretted the step, and in vain remonstrated with the emperor, saying that since the instigators of the insurrection had been duly punished, the others ought to be left in the enjoyment of the liberties that they had never forfeited.
To show his unlimited power, Ferdinand called a Diet, and, without asking its leave, had his son crowned King of Bohemia as Ferdinand III. Ferdinand remained in Prague for eight months, after which he moved to Vienna with his whole court, leaving the government of the country in the hands of the highest officials as his regents.
THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR.
The uprising of the Bohemians against Ferdinand II was the beginning of that long and bloody struggle known in history as the Thirty Years’ War. Although the emperor had conquered Bohemia, King Frederick was still at large, enlisting in his cause, or perhaps more in the cause of Protestantism, the various German princes, and also the great warrior Christian, the King of Denmark. This brought on a war in which almost the whole of Europe was involved.
At this time, one of the most powerful noblemen in the emperor’s dominions was Albert of Wallenstein. Wallenstein.He came from a Protestant Bohemian family; but having received his education from the Jesuits, he became a traitor to both his nation and his Church. As a reward for services done the emperor against the Venetians, Hungarians, and Bohemians, he was endowed with vast estates, and granted the title of the Duke of Friedland.
In 1625, when so many of the German princes had taken up arms against Ferdinand, so that his position was most critical, Wallenstein in a few months raised and equipped an army at his own expense, and came to the rescue of his sovereign. He defeated the German princes, drove the Danish king out of Germany, and conquered the countries as far as the Baltic, including Mecklenburg, which principality was ceded to him as a reward for these services. These brilliant victories filled him with pride, so that he carried himself very arrogantly before the other princes of the realm, at whose instigation he finally lost his position. He retired-to Prague, where he had built himself a beautiful palace, and there lived in princely magnificence.
The emperor, however, soon had cause to regret this ill-advised step. At the removal of their leader, the large armies of Wallenstein soon scattered, and when, soon after, the German princes, under the leadership of the Swedish king, Gustavus Adolphus, rose up against him, he was in no condition to cope with them, his best general, Tilly, sustaining a terrible defeat not far from Leipsic. The Saxons then invaded Bohemia, and obtained possession of Prague.
This proved a time of great rejoicing to the exiled Protestants, who returned to their native land in great numbers. The Utraquist Consistory was re-established, the Jesuits in their turn exiled, and the university restored to Protestant professors. The skulls of the martyrs of 1621, that were still bleaching in their iron cages, were taken down and buried with solemn ceremonies in the old Teyn church.
The Saxon conquest, however, did not prove an unmixed good; for the foreign soldiers were guilty of many acts of cruelty and violence, which were directed especially against the Catholics. The Elector of Saxony, John George himself, came into the country; but his coming was productive of more harm than good. He collected and carried off to Dresden many rare works of art that had in former times been brought to Prague by King Rudolph. As this had likewise been done by Maximilian of Bavaria at the defeat of the Bohemians on the White Mountain, it follows that the rarest and costliest treasures, that had formerly been the glory of Prague, must be sought for, even at the present time, in the museums and art galleries of Munich and Dresden.
The Saxons having possession of Bohemia, and the Swedes winning victories elsewhere, in this extremity of danger, Ferdinand again turned to Wallenstein, begging him to assume command of the army; which he finally did, but only on condition that he should possess the supreme command, being subject to no one, not even to the emperor.
Taking the field, he soon had an army of 50,000 men; for adventurers from all lands flocked to his standard, knowing that they would be richly rewarded for their services by plundering the nations that they conquered.
As soon as Wallenstein had his army ready for action, he invaded Bohemia, and the Saxons were compelled to leave the country with as great speed as they had before entered it. The Protestants were again driven from the country, never to return, unless they came in disguise as beggars or traveling artisans.
Having conquered Bohemia, Wallenstein turned his victorious army against the Swedes; but although they lost their great leader, Gustavus Adolphus, they nevertheless gained a decisive victory at the battle of Lutzen in Saxony, and Wallenstein was obliged to fall back to Bohemia. In Prague he ordered the execution of eighteen of his generals, charging them with cowardice in that fatal battle. The following year he made good these losses, winning many battles in Silesia, Lusatia, and Brandenburg.
While winning so many battles for the emperor, Wallenstein did something that by no means pleased his sovereign. Without his consent, indeed without his knowledge, he entered into negotiations with the Swedes, and Saxons, and often held confidential discourses with Arnim, the Saxon general, who formerly had served in his army. These actions gave rise to the report that Wallenstein aspired to the crown of Bohemia, which he meant to gain through the help of his army. This coming to the ears of Richelieu, the prime minister of the French king, Louis XIII, who had formed an alliance with the Swedes for the destruction of the house of Hapsburg, he at once offered his services to Wallenstein to aid him in securing the Bohemian crown. These negotiations led to no purpose; but they roused the suspicions of Ferdinand, and ultimately brought the downfall of the great general.
While Wallenstein was carrying on a successful war in Saxony and Brandenburg, the Swedes invaded the dominions of the Duke of Bavaria, and besieged Ratisbon. Maximilian appealed to the emperor for aid, who at once requested Wallenstein to go to the assistance of the duke. The great general was loath to cut short his campaign to go to the aid of the duke, who before had been the chief cause of his removal from the command; consequently he was somewhat dilatory in his movements, and did not reach Ratisbon until it was too late, it having already fallen into the hands of the enemy.
Being late in the season, Wallenstein put his troops into winter quarters in various places in Bohemia, himself setting up his camp in the city of Pilsen. This gave rise to new suspicions against him, which filled him with such indignation that he determined to resign his command, and was only hindered from so doing by the earnest remonstrance of his generals, who would have lost much by his withdrawal from the army. Knowing that there were spies in the camp, he called the chief officers to his headquarters, and, laying the case before them, showing them that his life was in danger, he had them sign an agreement, swearing loyalty to him as long as he remained in the service of the emperor.
The news of these proceedings reaching Vienna, Ferdinand became greatly alarmed, interpreting this special act of allegiance to Wallenstein as treachery to himself. To avert the threatening danger, he gave the chief command of the army to Count Gallas, declaring Wallenstein and the generals that had signed the fatal document traitors, and gave secret orders that the guilty general should be put to death wherever found.
Wallenstein learning in what peril his life was, sought refuge in Eger, where he intended to join the Swedes, with whom he had come to some agreement. But he was not safe there. February 25, 1634, he was treacherously murdered, together with several of his most faithful generals. Some time after this, twenty-four more were beheaded at Pilsen.
The vast estates of Wallenstein were confiscated, and divided among the favorites of Ferdinand. As Wallenstein’s guilt was never proved, and as he desired to appear before the emperor to justify his actions, his death and the confiscation of his estates were acts of willful murder and robbery. His own life being full of violence and cruelty, his end may be regarded as a just retribution for his crimes; but this in no way excuses Ferdinand’s precipitate and cruel action toward one who had done him so many inestimable services.
After the death of Wallenstein, the emperor placed the chief command of the army into the hands of his son Ferdinand III, who at once marched to Bavaria against the Swedes. In the meantime the Swedes, under General Banner, had joined the Saxons, and the united armies again invaded Bohemia, reaching the city of Prague. But Colloredo, the commander of the forces in that city, receiving re-enforcements, finally succeeded in driving them out of the country.
Ferdinand III, obtaining a decisive victory over the Swedes, and the emperor agreeing to grant some concessions, the Elector of Saxony, as well as several other German princes, made peace, and thus a short respite was granted to Bohemia. This, however, was not for long; for France, the ancient enemy of the house of Hapsburg, commenced a new war.
In 1637, Ferdinand II died, being in his fifty-fifth year. His son, Ferdinand III, assumed the government, inheriting all his father’s provinces, as well as the war with the French and the Swedes.
FERDINAND III.
In the year 1638, the Swedes, under Banner, again invaded Bohemia, and, meeting with little resistance, took city after city, devastating the country in a most frightful manner. As has already been remarked, their rage was turned against everything that was Catholic. The War Continued.Priests, monks, and especially Jesuits, were seized and put to death without mercy; churches were desecrated, and pictures and other decorations destroyed. Whatever was of value and movable was loaded upon vessels, and sent out of the country by the river Elbe. Several thousand villages and towns were plundered and burned, and the grain in the fields utterly destroyed. The unfortunate inhabitants, seeing the bloodthirsty hordes approaching, fled into the forests, where many of them perished from cold and hunger.
After the death of Banner (1641), General Torstenson assumed the command, and again won so many victories over the Imperial forces that they again fell back to Bohemia.
So many defeats having been sustained by the Catholic armies, the government began to consider as to the cause of such disasters. As the generals did not lack in ability, and the troops generally were superior in numbers to the enemy, it was decided that the cause of the misfortune was cowardice among both officers and privates. It was therefore decided to make a notable example of the most guilty regiment. In 1642 a trial was held in Rokycan, in which the Madlonsky regiment was doomed to serve as a warning to the other divisions in the army. Its flags were torn, its officers beheaded, and every tenth man of the private soldiers was shot.
Three years after this, the Swedes, making their headquarters in Silesia, again made frightful inroads into Bohemia and Moravia. They also gained a signal victory over Generals Hatzfield and Goetz at Jankov, of whom the former was killed and the latter taken prisoner. The Swedes then advanced as far as Vienna, but did not venture to cross the Danube, which was guarded upon the other side by artillery and a strong garrison.
In 1646, the war being carried on outside of Bohemia, Ferdinand III embraced the opportunity to come to Prague to have his fourteen-year-old son, also Ferdinand, crowned King of Bohemia.
In 1648 the terrible Thirty Years’ War was drawing to its close; but before it ended, the Swedes again visited the country with fearful devastations. Coming to Prague, through the treachery of some of the inhabitants, they entered the city on the Small Side, and immediately began the work of destruction. The houses were broken into and pillaged, and the people murdered without mercy. Some of the fugitives, escaping to the Old Town, gave the alarm, and the city at once made preparations for a stout defense. The whole city was up in arms, and resisted the attacks of the besiegers with so much valor that they were kept at bay, when the joyful tidings were brought to the city that peace had been made at Westphalia. But before the news came, the Swedes had plundered the palace at Hradschin, sending off many loads of treasures down the Moldau and the Elbe.
At the close of the war, Ferdinand visited Prague, thanked the citizens for so ably defending the city, and rewarded them with a gift of 300,000 guilders. Then, as an act of devotional thanksgiving, he ordered a pillar with the Virgin and Child, still standing, to be put up in the large rink of the Old Town.
THE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY AFTER THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR.
There is scarcely a parallel where a nation was plunged into such depths of misery as Bohemia during the Thirty Years’ War. War is a frightful evil in modern times, when some regard is paid to the rights of individuals, and soldiers are regularly recruited troops belonging to the respective nations; but in those days the individual did not seem to have any rights, and the soldiers, being hordes of bloodthirsty mercenaries, were equally a terror to the people across whose territory they marched, whether they belonged to the enemy or to their own sovereign. With such barbaric hordes crossing and recrossing the country in all directions. Bohemia was left in a condition most pitiable.
Thousands of villages[2] were plundered and destroyed, so that they disappeared from the face of the earth, and never again were rebuilt. The larger towns, either in part or entirely, were reduced to cinders, and long years passed before they were even partially rebuilt. Vast tracts of land lay waste for lack of hands to cultivate them. The wretched peasants, deprived of their tools, cattle, and all other means of cultivating the soil, eked out a miserable existence by aiding each other as best they could, hitching themselves to the plow, and other unnatural methods of labor. The cities, deprived of their population, not only by the war, but also by the exile of the Protestants, languished for long years in poverty, which the close of the war did not relieve, as the Peace of Westphalia made no provision for the return of the exiles, Indeed, the country suffered such a fearful loss in population that, out of the 3,000,000 before the war, barely 800,000 remained. And, as if the cup of bitterness were not overflowing to the wretched people, they were left entirely to the tender mercies of the new nobility that settled upon the confiscated estates of the exiled Protestants. These new lords themselves were cruel enough, but that was as nothing when compared with the brutal tyranny of the swarms of officials that surrounded them. It was not surprising that at times the downtrodden people thought that “God had forsaken the earth, and given Satan permission to torment its inhabitants according to his own pleasure.”
As for religion, it seemed that all had become devout Catholics; but, in truth, this was not the case. Bibles were still held by some families, who kept them hidden in secret places, in the walls or under the floors. Protestant ministers traveled through the country in disguise, held services in the depths of dark forests, mountains, and caves, and administered the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
This method of worship was accompanied with great danger, as the country was filled with mendicant monks, whose chief aim was to ferret out and bring to punishment the feast act of unfaithfulness to the Catholic Church. These monks also sought out all Bohemian books, and burned them in the public marketplace. Thus a certain monk named Konias boasted that he had burned 60,000 Bohemian books. In place of the reading thus ruthlessly destroyed, they distributed among the people their own pietistic productions, whose aim was not to instruct the mind and open the understanding, but to fill the soul with superstitious fears, and teach the people to practice innumerable petty ceremonies. Instead of teaching sound morals, they told the people empty and often immoral legends about the lives of the saints.
It was at this time that John of Nepomuk was canonized, and some of the legends related about this bogus saint are truly scandalous. The land was filled with shrines, at which false miracles were performed by the crafty and depraved monks, and the people deluded to make pilgrimages and offerings. It is worthy of remark that the truly great and good men in the nation’s history, that deserved to be enshrined in the hearts of the people as saints, were entirely overshadowed by new saints, that had nothing to recommend them but some stupid miracle invented by an equally stupid monk. Their pietistic teachings extended into all the relations of life, and it was due to these same monks that the simple greeting common among European nations was exchanged for the long one of “Praised be Jesus Christ.’
How well the monks succeeded in inculcating their superstitious teachings is proved by the numerous laws passed at this time against witchcraft. Indeed, the fearful demoralization that followed in the intellectual condition of the people may be laid at the door of these same monks. After the war, the university also came under the control of the Jesuits; and as an illustration of how they hindered all free thought, even among the faculty, may he given the following: Every professor, before being permitted to give lectures, was obliged to take an oath that he believed in the immaculate conception of the Virgin.
As to the general tenor of their education, it was mostly scholastic—empty discussions about empty and useless subjects. While Comenius was publishing books and establishing schools in foreign countries, wherein were to be trained men and women having their observation cultivated, their intellect quickened, and the whole world of real objects opened to them, his countrymen were doomed for several more generations to chew the dry leaves of monkish scholasticism.
With all these evils to cope with, it was not surprising that the nation’s spirit was broken, that they lost their patriotic sentiments, and to a great extent became Germanized. Indeed, so many forces were brought to bear upon them, that if it were not for their proverbial tenacity, they would have become completely denationalized, adopting, like Scotland and Ireland, the language of their conquerors. The language was mostly preserved among the lower classes of people; for the upper classes, and especially the nobility, gloried in their foreign customs and speech. It was at this time that the old simple title “sir,” used among the nobility, was gradually dropped, the nobles adopting such titles as count, duke, baron, prince—titles before unknown in Bohemia.
As for native literature, that became entirely neglected, and what few authors there were, wrote mostly in the Latin tongue. Among these, the most noteworthy was the Jesuit Balbinus, who produced some valuable historical works; the second to him in rank was the Moravian Pesina, also a historian; and in connection with him may be mentioned Hamersmid Karamuel of Lobkovic, who lived during the reign of Ferdinand III, and was renowned for his learning.
The great evil brought upon the country by being conquered by the Hapsburgs was the total destruction of all home rule. The government was entirely reorganized, but all in such a way as to render it entirely subservient to the officials in Vienna. Gradually, according to the good-will of the monarch, some of the lost rights were restored; but, in general, it may be said that the country is groaning to-day under the oppression of an unfriendly and almost absolute monarchy.