3. Defending Religious Liberty

3.
Defending Religious Liberty

Apology of the Bohemian Estates (May 25, 1618)

Even as Henry IV worked to bring peace between French Catholics and Calvinists, an even bloodier chapter in European religious wars lay ahead. By the early 1600s, Calvinists had grown in numbers and political clout in the Holy Roman Empire; but unlike their French counterparts, they did not enjoy full legal recognition. The kingdom of Bohemia was a hotbed of Calvinist discontent within the empire. Bolstered by a long tradition of defending their religious liberty, in 1609 the nobles, knights, and city-dwellers who met in the local Bohemian legislature (estates) had gained a series of concessions, much to the outrage of the king-elect, Ferdinand II. Working in tandem with regents ruling in the name of the current king and Holy Roman Emperor, Matthias, Ferdinand moved to suppress both Protestantism and local estates under imperial rule. The Protestant leaders reacted angrily, hurling two representatives of the king and their secretary out a window during a meeting to protest Ferdinand’s demands. This event, the so-called defenestration of Prague, marked the first salvo in the Thirty Years’ War. The document below is an extract from the Protestant rebels’ Apology defending their actions in Prague. To garner support for their cause, they had the Apology published across Europe. Thus from its very onset, the war would be waged in battle and in the court of public opinion.

From The Thirty Years War: A Documentary History, ed. and trans. Tryntje Helfferich (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2009), 20–23, 29–30.

Apology, or Letter of Excuse, Concerning the Inevitable Causes That Forced All Three Estates of the Commendable Kingdom of Bohemia Who Receive the Body and Blood of the Lord Christ in Both Kinds1 to Act in Their Own Defense

We, the representatives of the lords, knights, and cities of Prague, Kuttenberg, and other places: all three estates of this kingdom of Bohemia who receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in both kinds, who confess to the Bohemian Confession,2 and who are now assembled at the castle of Prague, unanimously make it known, both in the name of those present and also on behalf of all those absent, that:

In previous years, all three estates and inhabitants of the kingdom have faced, suffered, and endured many and various kinds of terrible hardships and tribulations in both political and ecclesiastical affairs. These were instigated and provoked by evil and turbulent people, both clergy and laymen, but especially by members of the Jesuit sect, whose impetuses, writings, and endeavors have always been aimed primarily toward fraudulently subjugating not only His Majesty,3 but also all Protestant residents and estates of this entire kingdom under the lordship of the Roman See,4 a foreign authority. Hereafter, however, in the years 1609 and [16]10 a perfect peace was erected. The Letter of Majesty5 of His Imperial Majesty of blessed memory, Emperor Rudolph [II],6 as well as an accommodation7 made by both sides (Catholics and Protestants) and a general diet,8 all forcefully confirmed and approved that no side would molest the other; but rather, according to the accommodation that they had made and erected between them, both Catholics and Protestants might and ought freely and peacefully to serve the Lord God everywhere, in any place, and without any interruption by either ecclesiastic or temporal authority. And all of this and more was contained and indicated by the said Letter of Majesty, the accommodation, and the general diet.

At the assumption of his reign in this kingdom and following the customs of this land, His Imperial Majesty, now our most gracious king and lord, also admirably and powerfully approved and confirmed this—not only generally, but also specifically.

Yet nevertheless, the above-mentioned enemies of the king, land, and general peace spared no effort to find a way to negate the concord (which had been both desired and confirmed) and to carry out their evil, extremely dangerous, and pernicious intentions toward this kingdom and our successors. Thus even at the time when the above-mentioned peace and accommodation were being made and ratified, they advanced other persons who were, like them, Catholics; and they refused to subscribe to the Letter of Majesty and the erected accommodation, or to the amnesty.9 . . . Instead they strove to abolish completely all of this, truly proving their malicious disposition and intentions toward quite a few members of the estates. . . .

[The authors accuse these men, whom they call traitors, of attempting to block the proper line of royal succession in order to undermine Bohemian Protestantism.]

Then, using the Jesuits and other tools of theirs, [these enemies] once again began to issue a variety of abuse, slander, and denunciations against Protestants, giving people to understand, both in public writings and by word of mouth, that we were heretics, with whom (according to their teaching) one was not bound to keep any faith, either promised or proscribed, no matter its importance. They also dishonored us with all kinds of ignominious names and demonstrated great contempt for our teachings and the Protestant religion, and in their libelous publications also proclaimed that Protestants and all of those who were not Roman Catholic had rejected a life of honor: thereby animating the secular authorities to use fire and sword to eradicate Protestantism. And so that they could all the more easily deceive the people and provoke and bring about mistrust among the Protestant members of the estates, the enemies of this territory and of the common peace also tried to sow division among the Defenders10 (who, with the gracious approval and ratification of His Majesty, had for very good reasons been decreed by us to be protectors of our religion—something that the oft-mentioned Letter of Majesty had granted and approved), and thereby to abolish completely the Protestant consistory.11 . . .

Furthermore, it is more than sufficiently known and evident that, desiring to place honorable people under suspicion and cause them trouble, they [our enemies] brought everything to bear against them—even if it ran contrary to all right, equitableness, and every good order—and used both unusual and usual means to take numerous people’s belongings and subject them to great hardships. Especially when it came to Evangelicals, they withheld, at the very least, their rights and justice, and tried to make black seem white, white black, loyal and obedient subjects of His Imperial Majesty disloyal, and, on the contrary, the disloyal loyal. Meanwhile they honored and elevated frivolous and evil people while helping to belittle and bring into contempt those who were well behaved. At the same time, they badly plagued, on account of religion, not only their own subjects but also those of the entire land, including without distinction both those under His Imperial Majesty’s control and those who belonged to the ecclesiastical properties; and they used unheard-of atrocities to force people to convert to the Catholic religion against their will and against the clear language of the Letter of Majesty. Indeed, the royal judges’ threats against the royal free cities brought several of these cities to the point at which they were forced to agree no longer to stand with the estates [of Bohemia], nor to be counted among their number. [The enemies] planned to do even more evil things, and when we asked them if their advice [to the emperor] had not caused the above-mentioned letter and our denunciation, they neither could, nor did, deny it.

For these above-enumerated reasons, we proceeded against two of their members—namely, Wilhelm Slawata von Chlum und Kosumberg and Jaroslav Borsita von Martinitz, otherwise known as Smeczensky12—as destroyers of the law and the common peace, and also because they did not keep in mind the offices and positions in which they found themselves, but instead evilly misused them toward the belittlement of the authority of His Imperial Majesty, our king and lord, as well as toward the abolishment of the common peace in this kingdom of Bohemia. And after determining from their past publications that they were indeed such as they appeared to be, in accordance with the old custom we threw both of them, along with a secretary (their sycophant who had, among other things, caused great disruptions in the towns of Prague), out the window.13 And we shall proceed further against them (for they are still living) and their goods, as well as against all those whom they represent and defend, those who wish to persecute us or anyone else by whatever ways or means, and equally all who are destroyers of the Letter of Majesty and union, or who would perpetrate similar crimes. . . .

To which end, we, at this, our assembly at the castle of Prague, have established a kingdomwide system of defense for the good of His Imperial Majesty and this kingdom (our dear fatherland), and for the protection of our wives and children from all kinds of danger. And through this action we do not intend to do anything against His Imperial Majesty, our most gracious king and lord, nor desire to cause any inopportuneness for peaceable people or our dear Catholic friends (as long as they themselves desire to live in peace). For it is commonly recognized and known that by this action no further layperson or clergyman shall be harmed, nor any tumult result, but rather good peace shall be maintained everywhere—both in the cities of Prague and in the entire kingdom—except only for the above-listed unavoidable reasons, and then only when we neither should nor can do otherwise or any less.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Whom do the estates target as their enemies and why? How do they use the Apology as a means of justifying their actions against imperial authority?

    Question

    0srSRlIUFAdYN+qwhxrxx+MWeY2nc+LK0Gx75aFfcyhYpD3fxfXykJBJ8UHLfYh47De6mXhEk6WSAhBRSqskjvviIh2hurJqWDZGmZqg2aI6HEZpFRvuiNI7JNqenz0Hbqp43gYHQW/SYHJGTnniujOzG2anGG+UbL94mexWAZcM45oSW5tFRhilYkdPdSbul+5aHWRRLAYrQPsKbHa/AnXu7hgFp264o4+S+gQnJSNHhExRFPI3bhZ/YVlLS5StzMmXW8F4BZM=
    Whom do the estates target as their enemies and why? How do they use the Apology as a means of justifying their actions against imperial authority?
  2. Why do you think the estates chose not to target the king and Holy Roman Emperor, Matthias, for criticism? In what ways do you think this may have reflected their strategy to win support for their cause?

    Question

    KVkj97ymgOWuDNU/gps46/iLg8lwybfKMDubYI1JKaH/MuVgQdMPbImGCxCVY9zxwg3hZUa8FczEFhiu9grytlJ8xA95DjLz1+x/1nJaZuQnmNQ18e4gbsmNZCfYdPrlQ0wdNt99XHBMk1aDHE9wRLERwdsOyHV4IcLvBxiSMMq8ZaUafo5UeZpyQvjAZls5kP2jY1lvy/o+/qrIoTklw49Eekyr5R0Ty01eKsoZg683+wwrbtnwaiCDTMIr/pJfWdyzB6YXZSIXpfKa01bLJF0sYMO9LNtiWG6DOR8foy7Ow6wg7xlJUqwIqqwCMVYLwsc+O62056c=
    Why do you think the estates chose not to target the king and Holy Roman Emperor, Matthias, for criticism? In what ways do you think this may have reflected their strategy to win support for their cause?
  3. What does this document suggest about the religious causes of the Thirty Years’ War? How did politics come into play?

    Question

    mup+I9tC7vE5BE+q3tEvdjZ2lVUwjfZgLouq7p0vgU+Z7F2kkhoavD3FhryYpr5L1N65mKZ5f/q5NSvi2VzGTdgKB6v5J/TYcJNawKgKE+3wKAeVTXVKFMzZGgII5t2AXUTlZqpSJhj9KGnsVSA4InLenODteUxeQkYqgYinT8TqXuZhBSIYa8gW/7J08r0eg0z0rwEBoiB1YV37wiqXB4TBXFI=
    What does this document suggest about the religious causes of the Thirty Years’ War? How did politics come into play?