The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618 Geoff Mortimer St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, UK
Geoff Mortimer 2015 Reprint of the original edition 2015 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-57689-0 ISBN 978-1-137-54385-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137543851 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Contents List of Images Acknowledgements Conventions Notes and References viii ix ix ix 1 The Origins of the Thirty Years War? 1 The international situation 2 Imperial institutions 8 The Empire before 1580 10 The Empire, 1580 to 1603 16 The Empire, 1604 to 1618 21 2 An Inevitable War? 31 The key institutions of the Empire 32 The Imperial courts 32 The Reichstag 36 The free Imperial cities 41 Calvinists, the Palatinate, and Christian of Anhalt 43 The Calvinists 43 The Palatinate 46 Christian of Anhalt 49 League and Union 51 The Catholic League 52 The Protestant Union 56 The state of Germany in 1617 60 Internationalist views 64 3 The Bohemian Context 68 The Hussite revolt 71 Habsburg Bohemia 75 The other Habsburg lands 77 4 Counter-Reformation 80 The early years 80 Ferdinand of Styria 82 v
vi Contents Rudolf II 86 Troubles in Austria 89 Discord in Bohemia, revolt in Hungary 92 5 The Habsburg Brothers Feud 95 The march on Prague, 1608 98 Strife in Austria 103 The Letter of Majesty, 1609 105 The Passau army, 1611 110 6 Matthias s Reign, Ferdinand s Succession 118 Matthias s early years, 1612 to 1616 118 Ferdinand s succession in Bohemia 125 7 Insurrection 132 Prelude 132 The defenestration 137 A defenestration plot? 143 8 No Way Back 156 From revolt to war 156 A king for Bohemia 165 A new emperor 176 9 The Search for Allies 178 Bohemian disappointments 178 Germany Union and League 182 The Protestant Union 182 The Catholic League 187 Maximilian of Bavaria 190 Bethlen Gabor 194 Saxony 195 Difficulties and delays 199 10 The Revolt Defeated 203 The Ulm treaty 203 The conquest of Bohemia 210 The invasion of the Palatinate 221 Aftermath 223 11 From Bohemia to the Thirty Years War 230 The Palatine question 230 Bethlen Gabor again 235
Contents vii The war in Germany 238 Into the Thirty Years War 248 12 Epilogue 260 References 265 Bibliography 276 Index 284
Images 1 The defenestration of Prague, 23 May 1618 (19th-century painting) Photo: akg.images 136 2 Bohemian chancellor Zdenĕk Lobkowitz s note of the trial findings against Wenzel Budowetz Lobkowicz Library and Archives, Nelahozeves Castle, Czech Republic 146 3 Record of the testimony of Martin Fruewein at his trial in Prague, April 1621 (first page) National Archives, Prague. SM, In. Nr. 1580, Sign. K 1/138, Karton Nr. 1074, fol. 13r. 150 viii
Acknowledgements The author would particularly like to thank Dr Alena Pazderová of the Czech National Archive, and Sona Cernocka of the Lobkowicz Library and Archives, for their help in locating the original documents concerning the trials of the leading Bohemian rebels which are referred to in Chapter 7. Thanks also go to Professor Ceri Davies, Emeritus Professor of Classics at Swansea University, for his assistance in translating the Latin text. Conventions Dates given in this book are new style according to the Gregorian calendar. Germanic name forms are used throughout for Germanic people. Where recognised Germanic forms for Czech names exist these are also used. Standard anglicisations are employed where relevant for the names of other people. The German aristocratic titles of Markgraf (margrave), Landgraf (landgrave), and Pfalzgraf (palgrave) were higher than simply Graf (count), and as they were almost equivalent to duke this is sometimes used for convenience, particularly collectively. All ranks above count were also entitled to be called Fürst (prince). Estates can refer either to assemblies, or to the individuals, classes of individuals, or corporate bodies (i.e. cities) entitled to sit in or to be represented in them. To limit the potential confusion a capital E is used for the former and lower case for the latter. All translations are the author s own. Notes and References There are no notes, but source references are given throughout the text in the form of author names and page numbers. Details are given in the bibliography, where works by the same author are distinguished by the abbreviations shown. ix
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