Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City (50 page)
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Authors: Peter Demetz
BOOK: Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City
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After the cabinet changes of 1599-1600, the Catholic nobility dominated the administration of Bohemia and, as long as the war against the Turks went well, Prague Protestants had reasons to fear the worst. In many Austrian lands, including Styria and Upper Austria, Rudolf’s brothers brutally persecuted Evangelicals; in Prague, the emperor renewed the mandate against the Czech Brethren in 1602 and closed down many of their schools and chapels. The situation rapidly changed in 1604, mostly because the imperial army and Italian Catholic generals indiscriminately terrorized Slovakia and Hungary, and the Hungarian Protestant nobles rose in anger against the empire and appointed István Bocskay as their efficient leader of the revolt; his light cavalry devastated Moravia and threatened Vienna too. It was Matthias, Rudolf’s ambitious brother (by now officially head of the Austrian Hapsburg family), who, fully confirming the privileges of the Hungarian Estates, concluded a peace agreement with the Bocskay rebels as well as an armistice with the Turks and created a confederation of the Austrian and Hungarian Estates to protect the peace. Brother stood against brother; Matthias, commanding a confederate army, quickly marched on Prague to make certain that Rudolf and the Bohemians did not sabotage the peace arrangements and did recognize his privilege of being heir to the throne. Rudolf, appearing sick and pale, came to a meeting of the Bohemian Estates for the first time in years; they decided to fight the invaders and mobilized an army of their own. This military stalemate prompted Matthias, a political realist, to sign an agreement in 1608 in the village of Libe
(now an industrial suburb of Prague on the west bank) according to which Matthias was to rule most of Austria, Hungary, and Moravia, while Rudolf was left with Bohemia, Silesia,
Lusatia, and the imperial crown. Rudolf had been saved by the Bohemian Estates, but now they wanted a reward for their support, and immediately.
(now an industrial suburb of Prague on the west bank) according to which Matthias was to rule most of Austria, Hungary, and Moravia, while Rudolf was left with Bohemia, Silesia,Lusatia, and the imperial crown. Rudolf had been saved by the Bohemian Estates, but now they wanted a reward for their support, and immediately.
The Estates presented the first draft of their demands while Matthias was still close to Prague, but Catholics—including the papal nuncio, the Spanish ambassador, Zden
k of Lobkovic, and his Catholic friends—convinced the emperor that he should postpone discussion to a later date. The final document (actually written by Václav Budova, of the Czech Brethren) was ready for signature on the eve of July 9, 1609. It was basically the earlier draft with a few changes (the Estates wanted to call themselves “evangelical,” but the emperor insisted on the more traditional terms of
sub utraque specie
); fortunately, the internal tensions between Lutherans, or Neo-Utraquists, and Czech Brethren, who by now were closer to John Calvin, were calmed by the diplomacy of two German Protestants, Joachim Schlick and Matthias Thum, and did not endanger the unity of the Estates. The trouble was that the intransigent Catholics refused to sign ex officio as they should have, especially Bohemia’s high chancellor, but the declaration was signed after all by the Prague burgrave Adam of Sternberg and deposited in the state archives at Karlštejn Castle. The “Letter of Majesty” of 1609, as it is called, was the most advanced and enlightened statement of Bohemian religious tolerance yet, at least as far as Christian groups were concerned, and the fulfillment of many Renaissance dreams about the interdependence of all religious beliefs. The document guaranteed freedom of religious belief and practice to all Christian groups of the
Confessio Bohemica
(as it had been defined in 1575) and stated that the old university would be administered by the Estates, who were responsible for the appropriate appointments; a number of
defensores
, totally independent of imperial authority, would see that all groups respected each other’s rituals, possessions, and claims. New schools and churches were to be built freely, and not even peasants could be forced by barons or any other authorities to change their personal religious beliefs. Bohemian Protestants, even the heirs of the radical Hussites, could take a deep breath but, unfortunately, not for long.
k of Lobkovic, and his Catholic friends—convinced the emperor that he should postpone discussion to a later date. The final document (actually written by Václav Budova, of the Czech Brethren) was ready for signature on the eve of July 9, 1609. It was basically the earlier draft with a few changes (the Estates wanted to call themselves “evangelical,” but the emperor insisted on the more traditional terms ofsub utraque specie
); fortunately, the internal tensions between Lutherans, or Neo-Utraquists, and Czech Brethren, who by now were closer to John Calvin, were calmed by the diplomacy of two German Protestants, Joachim Schlick and Matthias Thum, and did not endanger the unity of the Estates. The trouble was that the intransigent Catholics refused to sign ex officio as they should have, especially Bohemia’s high chancellor, but the declaration was signed after all by the Prague burgrave Adam of Sternberg and deposited in the state archives at Karlštejn Castle. The “Letter of Majesty” of 1609, as it is called, was the most advanced and enlightened statement of Bohemian religious tolerance yet, at least as far as Christian groups were concerned, and the fulfillment of many Renaissance dreams about the interdependence of all religious beliefs. The document guaranteed freedom of religious belief and practice to all Christian groups of the
Confessio Bohemica
(as it had been defined in 1575) and stated that the old university would be administered by the Estates, who were responsible for the appropriate appointments; a number of
defensores
, totally independent of imperial authority, would see that all groups respected each other’s rituals, possessions, and claims. New schools and churches were to be built freely, and not even peasants could be forced by barons or any other authorities to change their personal religious beliefs. Bohemian Protestants, even the heirs of the radical Hussites, could take a deep breath but, unfortunately, not for long.
In his earlier years Rudolf certainly wanted to establish a Society of the Wise (as the Czech pedagogue and philosopher Comenius believed), but in his later years an unquenchable thirst for revenge destroyed the last noble gifts of his unbalanced mind. He wanted to strike back at the Estates, who had forced his hand, as he believed, and at his brother Matthias, but lacking substantial support and possibly against his better judgment, Rudolf involved himself with an irresponsible adventurer of high
birth and a colonel of mercenaries. Only a madman would have entrusted his future, and that of the kingdom, to his twenty-three-year-old nephew, Archduke Leopold, hungry for glory but devoid of political and military experience. Leopold had gathered at his residence in Passau, in Bavaria, a force of ten thousand men, under the command of one Colonel Ramée, allegedly to fight the Protestants in western Germany but actually poised to march on Prague to fight the Estates and force Matthias to return power to Rudolf. This was to be a banana-republic putsch, and even the papal nuncio and Spanish ambassador in Prague recoiled from the idea that the Catholic cause might be won by such a haphazard band of mercenaries. Nonetheless, the Passau soldiers wended their way through Upper Austria, turned suddenly north to Bohemia, took Bud
jovice and Tábor easily, and on February 15, 1611, occupied the Minor Town despite the bloody resistance of the local citizens (many stories were told of resident Italians firing at Protestants from the windows). Prague plunged into a brutal war again.
birth and a colonel of mercenaries. Only a madman would have entrusted his future, and that of the kingdom, to his twenty-three-year-old nephew, Archduke Leopold, hungry for glory but devoid of political and military experience. Leopold had gathered at his residence in Passau, in Bavaria, a force of ten thousand men, under the command of one Colonel Ramée, allegedly to fight the Protestants in western Germany but actually poised to march on Prague to fight the Estates and force Matthias to return power to Rudolf. This was to be a banana-republic putsch, and even the papal nuncio and Spanish ambassador in Prague recoiled from the idea that the Catholic cause might be won by such a haphazard band of mercenaries. Nonetheless, the Passau soldiers wended their way through Upper Austria, turned suddenly north to Bohemia, took Bud
jovice and Tábor easily, and on February 15, 1611, occupied the Minor Town despite the bloody resistance of the local citizens (many stories were told of resident Italians firing at Protestants from the windows). Prague plunged into a brutal war again.The first action of the Passau soldiers was, of course, to plunder the rich palaces of the nobles and town houses of the patriciate. The Passauers held the Minor Town but in vain tried to cross the stone bridge to take the Old and New Towns; when a Passauer cavalry fought its way across the bridge to the Old Town Square, the soldiers were pulled off their horses and killed, man by man. Protestant defenders of the Old Town proceeded to set fire to monasteries; they killed many monks, though the Jesuits were saved by their noble patrons; the Jewish Town was promptly invaded and pillaged.
Time went against the Passau army; Matthias and his forces were near, the Estates consolidated their defenses, using artillery, and on the night of March 10 the Passauers left town, taking with them irresponsible Archduke Leopold. Hrad
any Castle was occupied by armies of the Estates and Matthias, a criminal investigation was started against local allies of the Passauer mercenaries, and Matthias was crowned king of Bohemia on May 23, with the full support of both Catholic and Protestant Estates. Matthias agreed that Rudolf was to go on living at Hrad
any Castle, receive an appanage of one hundred thousand taler a year, and remain emperor as long as he lived. Nothing was to disturb the solitude that Rudolf had craved for so long, but in January 1612 his physician found his lungs seriously damaged, his liver inflamed, and putrefying wounds appearing on his body. He died, peacefully, on January 20, and his burial was a very decorous and quiet affair.
any Castle was occupied by armies of the Estates and Matthias, a criminal investigation was started against local allies of the Passauer mercenaries, and Matthias was crowned king of Bohemia on May 23, with the full support of both Catholic and Protestant Estates. Matthias agreed that Rudolf was to go on living at Hradany Castle, receive an appanage of one hundred thousand taler a year, and remain emperor as long as he lived. Nothing was to disturb the solitude that Rudolf had craved for so long, but in January 1612 his physician found his lungs seriously damaged, his liver inflamed, and putrefying wounds appearing on his body. He died, peacefully, on January 20, and his burial was a very decorous and quiet affair.Rudolf has not left us any stately buildings for posterity to admire,
and the citizens of Prague have never thought of erecting a monument to his memory; his collections are gone, and there is nothing tangible in the city to hold on to his moment in its history. Many Czech, German, and Jewish writers have told colorful legends about him, but among poets and playwrights it was only the sober and irritable Franz Grillparzer, that untiring Viennese student of Bohemian history, who in the last years before the revolution of 1848 deeply sympathized with Rudolf’s desire for solitude and tried to understand his self-destruction. Unfortunately, Grillparzer’s
Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg
(
A Conflict of Hapsburg Brothers
), first performed in Vienna in 1872, in the habit of the post-Schiller historical play spreads out a vast canvas of events extending from the Hungarian plains to Hrad
any Castle; only in its most magnificent scenes, in the second and fourth acts, in which Rudolf bares his soul to Duke Heinrich Julius, do we come close to the heart of the matter. Rudolf calls himself “a weak, ungifted man,” but he adores the order of nature manifesting the divine will to people who boast of their spirituality while brutally “cleansing” entire populations for religious reasons. Foreign tribes have not destroyed what is most noble in the world but, rather, the “barbarians in ourselves who push down everything” to the level of our own vulgarity. Rudolf even comes to have ambivalent feelings about his beloved Prague, that “malicious city” (
die arge Stadt
), and though he has long tried to protect Prague from murder and fire, he speaks of the savageries of the coming war that will engulf all of Europe, and utters a prophetic and merciless curse upon treacherous Bohemia and Prague. Grillparzer has not sketched a historical portrait but rather defined the Platonic idea of a ruler who believes that in a world in which spiritual conflict has turned into a battle for political power, procrastination is better than action. In a note in the margins of his manuscript, Grillparzer expressed a view of Rudolf’s age that did not lack either precision or insight. Rudolf’s “inertia,” he wrote, “would have created happiness but the actions of the others destroyed everything.”
and the citizens of Prague have never thought of erecting a monument to his memory; his collections are gone, and there is nothing tangible in the city to hold on to his moment in its history. Many Czech, German, and Jewish writers have told colorful legends about him, but among poets and playwrights it was only the sober and irritable Franz Grillparzer, that untiring Viennese student of Bohemian history, who in the last years before the revolution of 1848 deeply sympathized with Rudolf’s desire for solitude and tried to understand his self-destruction. Unfortunately, Grillparzer’s
Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg
(
A Conflict of Hapsburg Brothers
), first performed in Vienna in 1872, in the habit of the post-Schiller historical play spreads out a vast canvas of events extending from the Hungarian plains to Hrad
any Castle; only in its most magnificent scenes, in the second and fourth acts, in which Rudolf bares his soul to Duke Heinrich Julius, do we come close to the heart of the matter. Rudolf calls himself “a weak, ungifted man,” but he adores the order of nature manifesting the divine will to people who boast of their spirituality while brutally “cleansing” entire populations for religious reasons. Foreign tribes have not destroyed what is most noble in the world but, rather, the “barbarians in ourselves who push down everything” to the level of our own vulgarity. Rudolf even comes to have ambivalent feelings about his beloved Prague, that “malicious city” (die arge Stadt
), and though he has long tried to protect Prague from murder and fire, he speaks of the savageries of the coming war that will engulf all of Europe, and utters a prophetic and merciless curse upon treacherous Bohemia and Prague. Grillparzer has not sketched a historical portrait but rather defined the Platonic idea of a ruler who believes that in a world in which spiritual conflict has turned into a battle for political power, procrastination is better than action. In a note in the margins of his manuscript, Grillparzer expressed a view of Rudolf’s age that did not lack either precision or insight. Rudolf’s “inertia,” he wrote, “would have created happiness but the actions of the others destroyed everything.”
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