The Habsburg emperors and their counter-reformation crusade: 1618 – 48
Lucas Dawson
‘ I would rather die than grant any concessions to the sectarians when it comes to religion ’ declared the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand in 1596, soon to be Emperor Ferdinand II, who became a leading figure within the global conflict of the Thirty Years War. 1 The Habsburg Emperor’s pursuit of Catholic ized religious uniformity, centred upon the reactionary Counter-Reformation movement, arguably produced the catalyst for the conflict within the Habsburg territories and eruption into the Holy Roman Empire. Yet, to a substantial extent the conflict is pervaded by an underlying geopolitical desire among Habsburg rulers to restore the pre-eminence and prestige of their dynasty. Moreover, the amenability of Ferdinand II towards his rebelling subjects, through his willingness to negotiate, illustrates that religious fervour was not wholly motivating within his administration. In addition, his successor, Ferdinand III, was decisively less fanatical in his piety, preferring to negotiate a settlement to the belated conflict which had produced 6 million casualties within the Empire. 2 One could argue Ferdina nd II’s principal desire was to invoke the Counter -Reformation within the Empire, thereby purging both the German and Habsburg lands of heretics and securing the bygone pre- eminence of Catholicism within continental Europe. Indeed, Kissinger asserts that Ferdinand II was attempting to revive Catholic universality within Europe and to ‘crush Protestantism’, despite the apparent political benefit of some accommodation with his Protestant subjects. 3 Undoubtedly, Ferdinand’s upbringing within Jesuit education instilled within him the spirit of counter-reformation which fostered a desire to eliminate Protestantism, illustrated by his systematic persecution of Protestants as Duke of Styria from 1595. 4 Styrian towns had their Lutheran preachers harassed and exiled, followed by the closure of Lutheran schools. 5 Moreover, the Lutheran nobility were hounded by reform commissions backed by troops, despite the 1578 religious privilege granted by his father to secure their financial support. 6 Thus, even prior to his ascendance as Emperor, Ferdinand II displayed a tenacious desire to destroy Protestantism and restore Catholic universality. Furthermore, Ferdinand’s predecessors had displayed precaution in pursuing the Counter - Reformation within Bohemia, conveyed throug h the 1609 ‘Letter of Majesty’ which granted Protestant freedom of worship and construction of Protestant churches. Yet, Ferdinand II once again persisted in inflaming the tenuous stability of the Habsburg dominions to pursue the Counter-Reformation. His assent to the persecution of Bohemian Protestants by the Council of Imperial regents in 1618, including the closure of Protestant churches, was the immediate catalyst for the Second Defenestration of Prague and thereby the outbreak of the Thirty Years War. 7 In addition, following the Imperial victory at White Mountain (1620), Ferdinand II’s punitive suppression of the Bohemian revolt further portrays his
1 Kissinger 1994: 61. 2 Sturdy 2002: 75. 3 Kissinger 1994: 61. 4 Sturdy 2002: 95. 5 Rady 2020. 6 Ibid. 7 Sturdy 2002: 35.
83
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software