Maximilian succeeded his father as king of Bohemia without any
opposition. Circumstances were greatly in his favour; he had in his
youth mainly been educated by Protestant tutors, and for a time openly
avowed strong sympathy for the party of church reform. This fact, which
became known in Bohemia, secured for him the support of the Bohemian
church reformers, while the Romanists and retrograde Utraquists were
traditionally on the side of the house of Habsburg. The reign of
Maximilian did not fulfil the hopes that met it. Though he published new
decrees against the Bohemian Brethren, he generally refused to sanction
any measures against the Protestants, in spite of the advice of the
Jesuits, who were gradually obtaining great influence in Bohemia. He did
nothing, however, to satisfy the expectations of the partisans of church
reform, and indeed after a time began again to assist at the functions
of the Roman church, from which he had long absented himself.
Indifference, perhaps founded on religious scepticism, characterized the
king during the many ecclesiastical disputes that played so large a part
in his reign. In 1567 Maximilian, who had also succeeded his father as
king of Hungary and emperor, visited the Bohemians for the first time
since his accession to the throne. Like most princes of the Habsburg
dynasty, he was constantly confronted at this period by the difficulty
of raising funds for warfare against the Turks. When he asked the
Bohemians to grant him supplies for this purpose, they immediately
retorted by bringing forward their demands with regard to matters of
religion. Their principal demand appears somewhat strange in the light
of the events of the past. The estates expressed the wish that the
celebrated Compacts should cease to form part of the laws of the
country. These enactments had indeed granted freedom of worship to the
most moderate Utraquists--men who, except that they claimed the right to
receive the communion in both kinds, hardly differed in their faith from
the Roman church. On the other hand Ferdinand I. had used the Compacts
as an instrument which justified him in oppressing the Bohemian
Brethren, and the advanced Utraquists, whose teaching now differed but
little from that of Luther. He had argued that all those who professed
doctrines differing from the Church of Rome more widely than did the
retrograde Utraquists, were outside the pale of religious toleration.
Maximilian, indifferent as usual to matters of religious controversy,
consented to the abolition of the Compacts, and these enactments, which
had once been sacred to the Bohemian people, perished unregretted by all
parties. The Romanists had always hated them, believing them not to be
in accord with the general custom of the papal church, while the
Lutherans and Bohemian Brethren considered their suppression a guarantee
of their own liberty of worship.
Confessio Bohemica.
In 1575 Maximilian, who had long been absent from Bohemia, returned
there, as the estates refused to grant subsidies to an absentee monarch.
The sittings of the diet that met in 1575 were very prolonged. The king
maintained a vacillating attitude, influenced now by the threats of the
Bohemians, now by the advice of the papal nuncio, who had followed him
to Prague. The latter strongly represented to him how great would be the
difficulties that he would encounter in his other dominions, should he
make concessions to the Protestants of Bohemia. The principal demand of
the Bohemians was that the "Confession of Augsburg"--a summary of
Luther's teaching--should be recognized in Bohemia. They further renewed
the demand, which they had already expressed at the diet of 1567, that
the estates should have the right of appointing the members of the
consistory--the ecclesiastical body which ruled the Utraquist church;
for since the death of John of Rokycan that church had had no
archbishop. After long deliberations and the king's final refusal to
recognize the confession of Augsburg, the majority of the diet,
consisting of members of the Bohemian brotherhood and advanced
Utraquists, drew up a profession of faith that became known as the
_Confessio Bohemica_. It was in most points identical with the Augsburg
confession, but differed from it with regard to the doctrine of the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Here the Bohemian profession agreed with
the views of Calvin rather than with those of Luther. This is
undoubtedly due to the influence of the Bohemian Brethren. The
_Confessio Bohemica_ was presented to Maximilian, who verbally expressed
his approval, but would not consent to this being made public, and also
refused his consent to the inclusion of the _Confessio_ among the
charters of the kingdom. Maximilian rejected the demand of the Bohemian
estates, that they and not the king should in future appoint the members
of the consistory. He finally, however, consented to exempt the
Lutherans and advanced Utraquists from the jurisdiction of the
consistory, and allowed them to choose fifteen defenders--five of whom
were to belong to each of the estates--who were to have supreme control
over the Lutheran church. These defenders were to appoint for each
district a superintendent (moderator), who was to maintain order and
discipline among the clergy. As the Bohemian Brotherhood had never
recognized the consistory, that body now lost whatever influence it had
still possessed. It became, indeed, subservient to the Romanist
archbishopric of Prague, which had been re-established by Ferdinand I.
Its members henceforth were men who on almost all points agreed with
Rome, and sometimes even men who had joined the Roman church, but
continued by order of their superiors to remain members of the
consistory, where it was thought that their influence might be useful to
their new creed.
Rudolph.
The results of the diet of 1575 were on the whole favourable to the
estates, and they seem to have taken this view, for almost immediately
afterwards they recognized Maximilian's eldest son Rudolph as his
successor and consented to his being crowned king of Bohemia. Maximilian
died in the following year, and Rudolph succeeded him without any
opposition. The events of the last years of the reign of Rudolph have
the greatest importance for Bohemian history, but the earlier part of
his reign requires little notice. As Rudolph had been educated in Spain
it was at first thought that he would treat the Bohemian church
reformers with great severity. The new sovereign, however, showed with
regard to the unceasing religious controversy the same apathy and
indifference with which he also met matters of state. He had been from
his early youth subject to fits of melancholia, and during several short
periods was actually insane. Rudolph was a great patron of the arts, and
he greatly contributed to the embellishment of Prague, which, as it was
his favourite residence, became the centre of the vast Habsburg
dominions. In 1600 the mental condition of Rudolph became so seriously
impaired that the princes of the house of Habsburg thought it necessary
to consider the future of the state, particularly as Rudolph had no
legitimate descendants. Matthias, the eldest of his brothers, came to
Prague and pointed out to Rudolph the necessity of appointing a
coadjutor, should he be incapacitated from fulfilling his royal duties,
and also of making arrangements concerning the succession to the throne.
These suggestions were indignantly repelled by Rudolph, whose anger was
greatly increased by a letter of Pope Clement VIII. The pope in a
forcible though formally courteous manner pointed out to him the evil
results which his neglect of his royal duties would entail on his
subjects, and called on him to appoint one of the Habsburg princes his
successor both to the imperial crown and to the thrones of Bohemia and
Hungary. It is probable that the fear that the pope might make good the
threats contained in this letter induced Rudolph, who had hitherto been
indifferent to matters of religion, to become more subservient to the
Roman church. The papal nuncio at Prague, in particular, appears for a
time to have obtained great influence over the king. Under this
influence, Rudolph in 1602 issued a decree which renewed obsolete
enactments against the Bohemian Brethren that had been published by King
Vladislav in 1508. The royal decree was purposely worded in an obscure
manner. It referred to the Compacts that had been abolished, and was
liable to an interpretation excluding from tolerance all but the
Romanists and the retrograde Utraquists. It appeared therefore as a
menace to the Lutherans--and all the more advanced Utraquists had now
embraced that creed--as well as to the Bohemian Brethren. The estates of
Bohemia met at Prague in January 1603. The discussions were very stormy.
Budovec of Budova, a nobleman belonging to the community of the Bohemian
Brethren, became the leader of all those who were opposed to the Church
of Rome. He vigorously attacked the royal decree, which he declared to
be contrary to the promises made by King Maximilian. He, however,
advised the estates to vote the supplies that King Rudolph had demanded.
Immediately after this vote had been passed, the diet was closed by
order of the king. Though the royal power was at that period very weak
in Bohemia, the open partisanship of the king encouraged the Romanist
nobles, who were not numerous, but among whom were some owners of large
estates, to attempt to re-establish the Roman creed on their
territories. Some of these nobles committed great cruelties while
attempting to obtain these forcible conversions.
Strife again broke out between Rudolph and his treacherous younger
brother Matthias, who used the religious and political controversies of
the time for the purpose of supplanting his brother. The formal cause of
the rupture between the two princes was Rudolph's refusal to sanction a
treaty of peace with Turkey, which Matthias had concluded as his
brother's representative in Hungary. The Hungarians accepted Matthias as
their ruler, and when his forces entered Moravia the estates of that
country had, by Charles, lord of Zerotin, also renounced the allegiance
of Rudolph. Matthias then invaded Bohemia, and invited the estates of
the kingdom to meet him at Caslav (Ceslau). In consequence of a sudden
revolution of feeling for which it is difficult to account, the
Bohemians declined the overtures of Matthias. The estates met at Prague
in March 1608, and, though again submitting their demands concerning
ecclesiastical matters to Rudolph, authorized him to levy troops for the
defence of Bohemia. The forces of Matthias had meanwhile entered Bohemia
and had arrived at Liben, a small town near Prague now incorporated with
that city. Here Matthias, probably disappointed by the refusal of the
Bohemians to join his standard, came to an understanding with his
brother (June 25, 1608). Rudolph formally ceded to Matthias the
government of Hungary, Moravia, and Upper and Lower Austria, but
retained his rights as king of Bohemia.
Diet of 1609. Demand for religious liberty.
Soon after the conclusion of this temporary settlement, the estates of
Bohemia again brought their demands before their king. Rudolph had
declined to discuss all religious matters during the time that the
troops of his brother occupied part of Bohemia. The diet that met on the
20th of January 1609 is one of the most important in the history of
Bohemia. Here, as so frequently in the 17th century, the religious
controversies were largely influenced by personal enmities. Rudolph
never forgave the treachery of his brother, and was secretly negotiating
(at the time when he again appeared as champion of Catholicism) with
Christian of Anhalt, the leader of the German Protestants. This was
known to the court of Spain, and the Bohemians also knew that the king
could therefore rely on no aid from that quarter. They were therefore
not intimidated when Rudolph, vacillating as ever, suddenly assumed a
most truculent attitude. The estates had at their meeting in March of
the previous year drawn up a document consisting of twenty-five
so-called Articles, which formulated their demands with regard to
matters of religion. The king now demanded that this document, which he
considered illegal, should be delivered up to him for destruction. The
"articles" expressed the wish that the _Confessio Bohemica_ should be
recognized as one of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and that
complete religious liberty should be granted to all classes. They
further demanded that the Protestants--as it now became customary to
call jointly the Utraquists, Lutherans and Bohemian Brethren--and the
Roman Catholics should have an equal right to hold all the offices of
state, and that the power of the Jesuits to acquire land should be
limited. They finally asked for redress of several grievances caused by
the misrule of Rudolph. This document had remained in the hands of
Budova, who refused to deliver it to the king. The estates then chose
twelve of their number--among whom was Count Henry Matthias Thurn--who
were to negotiate with the king and his councillors. Protracted
discussions ensued, and the king finally stated, on the 31st of March,
that he could grant no concessions in matters of religion. On the
following day the estates met under the leadership of Budova. They
decided to arm for the defence of their rights, and when the king
immediately afterwards dissolved the diet, it was resolved to meet again
after a month, even without a royal summons. When they returned to
Prague, Adam of Sternberg, the burgrave, again informed Budova that the
king would grant no concessions in ecclesiastical matters. Bohemia
appeared to be on the verge of a revolution. It is unnecessary to record
the frequent and contradictory resolutions of the king, influenced now
by the extreme Romanists, now by those of his councillors who favoured a
peaceful solution. Finally--on the 9th of July 1609--Rudolph signed the
famed "Letter of Majesty" which gave satisfaction to all the legitimate
demands of the Bohemian Protestants. In the "Letter of Majesty" Rudolph
recognized the _Confessio Bohemica_. He further granted to the
Protestant estates the control over the university of Prague, and
authorized them to elect the members of the Utraquist consistory. They
were further empowered to elect "defenders" chosen in equal number from
the estates of the nobles, knights and citizens, who were to superintend
the execution of the enactments of the Letter of Majesty and generally
to uphold the rights of the Protestants. On the same day the Romanist
and the Protestant members of the diet also signed an agreement by which
they guaranteed to each other full liberty of religious worship and
declared that this liberty should be extended to all classes of the
population.
Matthias.
In 1611 the peace of Bohemia was again disturbed by the invasion of the
archduke Leopold of Austria, bishop of Passau, who probably acted in
connivance with his cousin King Rudolph. Leopold succeeded in obtaining
possession of part of the town of Prague, but his army was defeated by
the troops which the Bohemian estates had hurriedly raised, and he was
obliged to leave Bohemia. Matthias considered his hereditary rights
menaced by the raid of Leopold and again occupied Bohemia. Mainly at his
instigation the estates now formally deposed Rudolph, who survived his
dethronement only a few months, and died on the 20th of January 1612.
Though Matthias had allied himself with the Bohemian Protestants during
his prolonged struggle against his brother, he now adopted that policy
favourable to the Church of Rome which is traditional of the Habsburg
dynasty. His relations with the Bohemian Protestants, therefore, soon
became strained. In 1615 Matthias convoked a general diet, i.e. one that
besides the Bohemian representatives included also the representatives
of the "lands of the Bohemian crown." At the meeting of this diet the
question of nationality, which through the constant religious
controversies had receded to the background, again became predominant.
Former enactments enforcing the use of the national language were
reaffirmed, and it was decreed that Bohemian should be the "authorized"
(i.e. official) language of the country.
As Matthias was childless, the question as to the succession to the
Bohemian throne again arose. The king wished to secure the succession to
his cousin Ferdinand, duke of Styria. Ferdinand was known as a fanatical
adherent of the Church of Rome and as a cruel persecutor of the
Protestants of Styria. None the less the state officials of Bohemia, by
not very scrupulous means, succeeded in persuading the estates to accept
Ferdinand as heir to the throne and to consent to his coronation, which
took place at Prague on the 17th of June 1617. No doubt through the
influence of Ferdinand, the policy of Matthias henceforth assumed a yet
more pronouncedly ultramontane character. The king's councillors, all
adherents of the Church of Rome, openly expressed their hope that the
Catholic Church would soon recover its ancient hold over Bohemia. On the
other hand the Bohemian Protestants, led by Count Thurn, one of the few
nobles who had refused to vote for the recognition of Ferdinand as heir
to the throne, did not wish to defer what they considered an inevitable
conflict. It appeared to them more advantageous to encounter the weak
Matthias than his younger and more fanatical successor. A comparatively
unimportant incident precipitated matters. In December 1617, the
archbishop of Prague and the abbot of Brevnov (Braunau) ordered the
suppression of the Protestant religious services in churches that had
been built on their domains. This was a direct infringement of the
agreement concluded by the Romanist and Utraquist estates on the day on
which King Rudolph had signed the Letter of Majesty. The defenders took
immediate action, by inviting all Protestant members of the diet to meet
at Prague. They assembled there on 21st of May 1618, and decided to
proceed in full armour to the Hradcany palace to bring their complaints
to the knowledge of the councillors of Matthias. On the following day,
Thurn, Wenceslas of Ruppa, Ulrich of Kinsky, and other members of the
more advanced party held a secret meeting, at which it was decided to
put to death the most influential of Matthias's councillors. On the 23rd
the representatives of the Protestants of Bohemia proceeded to the
Hradcany. Violent accusations were brought forward, particularly against
Martinic and Slavata, the king's most trusted councillors, who were
accused of having advised him to oppose the wishes of the Bohemians.
Finally these two councillors, together with Fabricius, secretary of the
royal council, were thrown from the windows of the Hradcany into the
moat below--an event known in history as the Defenestration of Prague.
Both Martinic and Slavata were but little injured, and succeeded in
escaping from Prague. The Bohemians immediately established a
provisional government consisting of thirty "directors," ten of whom
were chosen by each of the estates. They also proceeded to raise an
armed force, the command of which was given to Count Thurn. Hostilities
with Austria began in July, when an imperial force entered Bohemia. The
troops of Matthias were, however, soon repulsed by the Bohemians, and in
November Thurn's army entered Austria, but was soon obliged to retire to
Bohemia because of the lateness of the season.
War with the emperor Ferdinand.
In the following March the Bohemian crown became vacant by the death of
Matthias. On the 31st of July the Bohemian estates pronounced the formal
deposition of Ferdinand, and on the 26th of August they elected as their
king Frederick, elector palatine. The new king and his queen, Elizabeth
of England, arrived in Bohemia in October, and were crowned somewhat
later at St Vitus's cathedral in Prague. Warfare with Austria continued
during this year--1619. Thurn occupied Moravia, which now threw in its
lot with Bohemia, and he even advanced on Vienna, but was soon obliged
to retreat. In the following year events took a fatal turn for Bohemia.
The powerful duke Maximilian of Bavaria joined his forces to those of
Ferdinand, who had become Matthias's successor as emperor, and who was
determined to reconquer Bohemia. Ferdinand also received aid from Spain,
Poland and several Italian states. Even the Lutheran elector of Saxony
espoused his cause. A large imperialist army, under the command of the
duke of Bavaria, Tilly and Bouquoi, entered Bohemia in September 1620.
After several skirmishes, in all of which the Bohemians were defeated,
the imperial forces arrived at the outskirts of Prague on the evening of
the 7th of November. On the following morning they attacked the Bohemian
army, which occupied a slightly fortified position on the plateau known
as the "Bila Hora" (White Hill). The Bohemians were defeated after a
struggle of only a few hours, and on the evening of battle the
imperialists already occupied the port of Prague, situated on the left
bank of the Vltava (Moldau). King Frederick, who had lost all courage,
hurriedly left Prague on the following morning.
Submission of Bohemia.
Bohemia itself, as well as the lands of the Bohemian crown, now
submitted to Ferdinand almost without resistance. The battle of the
White Hill marks an epoch in the history of Bohemia. The execution of
the principal leaders of the national movement (June 21, 1621) was
followed by a system of wholesale confiscation of the lands of all who
had in any way participated in the national movement. Almost the entire
ancient nobility of Bohemia was driven into exile, and adventurers from
all countries, mostly men who had served in the imperial army, shared
the spoils. Gradually all those who refused to recognize the creed of
the Roman church were expelled from Bohemia, and by the use of terrible
cruelty Catholicism was entirely re-established in the country. In 1627
Ferdinand published a decree, which formally suppressed the ancient free
constitution of Bohemia, though a semblance of representative government
was left to the country. The new constitution proclaimed the heredity of
the Bohemian crown in the house of Habsburg. It added a new "estate,"
that of the clergy, to the three already existing. This estate, which
was to take precedence of all the others, consisted of the Roman
archbishop of Prague and of all the ecclesiastics who were endowed with
landed estates. The diet was deprived of all legislative power, which
was exclusively vested in the sovereign. At its meetings the diet was to
discuss such matters only as were laid before it by the representatives
of the king. The estates continued to have the right of voting taxes,
but they were specially forbidden to attach any conditions to the grants
of money which they made to their sovereign. It was finally decreed that
the German language should have equal right with the Bohemian one in all
the government offices and law-courts of the kingdom. This had indeed
become a necessity, since, in consequence of the vast confiscations, the
greatest part of the land was in the hands of foreigners to whom the
national language was unknown. Though these enactments still left some
autonomy to Bohemia, the country gradually lost all individuality. Its
history from this moment to the beginning of the 19th century is but a
part of the history of Austria (q.v.).
Bohemia under Austrian domination.
Bohemia was the theatre of hostilities during a large part of the Thirty
Years' War, which had begun in its capital. In 1631 the Saxons for a
time occupied a large part of Bohemia, and even attempted to
re-establish Protestantism, During the later period of the Thirty Years'
War Bohemia was frequently pillaged by Swedish troops, and the taking of
part of Prague by the Swedish general Konigsmark in 1648 was the last
event of the great war. The attempts of the Swedish envoys to obtain a
certain amount of toleration for the Bohemian Protestants proved
fruitless, as the imperial representatives were inflexible on this
point. At the beginning of the 18th century the possibility of the
extinction of the male line of the house of Habsburg arose. The estates
of Bohemia, at a meeting that took place at Prague on the 16th of
October 1720, sanctioned the female succession to the Bohemian throne
and recognized the so-called Pragmatic Sanction which proclaimed the
indivisibility of the Habsburg realm. The archduchess Maria Theresa, in
whose favour these enactments were made, none the less met with great
opposition on the death of her father the emperor Charles VI. Charles,
elector of Bavaria, raised claims to the Bohemian throne and invaded the
country with a large army of Bavarian, French and Saxon troops. He
occupied Prague, and a large part of the nobles and knights of Bohemia
took the oath of allegiance to him (December 19, 1741). The fortune of
war, however, changed shortly afterwards. Maria Theresa recovered
Bohemia and the other lands that had been under the rule of the house of
Habsburg. During the reign of Maria Theresa, and to a greater extent
during that of her son Joseph II., many changes in the internal
administration of the Habsburg realm took place which all tended to
limit yet further the autonomy of Bohemia. A decree of 1749 abolished
the separate law-courts that still existed in Bohemia, and a few years
later an Austro-Bohemian chancellor was appointed who was to have the
control of the administration of Bohemia, as well as of the German
domains of the house of Habsburg. The power of the royal officials who
constituted the executive government of Bohemia was greatly curtailed,
and though the chief representative of the sovereign in Prague continued
to bear the ancient title of supreme burgrave, he was instructed to
conform in all matters to the orders of the central government of
Vienna. Yet more extreme measures tending to centralization were
introduced by the emperor Joseph, who refused to be crowned at Prague as
king of Bohemia. The powers of the Bohemian diet and of the royal
officials at Prague were yet further limited, and the German language
was introduced into all the upper schools of Bohemia. Some of the
reforms introduced by Joseph were, incidentally and contrary to the
wishes of their originator, favourable to the Bohemian nationality. Thus
the greater liberty which he granted to the press enabled the Bohemians
to publish a newspaper in the national language. After the death of
Joseph in 1790 the Bohemian estates, whose meetings had been suspended
during his reign, again assembled, but they at first made but scanty
attempts to reassert their former rights. During the long Napoleonic
wars, in which the house of Habsburg was almost continuously engaged,
Bohemia continued in its previous lethargic state. In 1804 a merely
formal change in the constitutional position of Bohemia took place when
Francis I. assumed the hereditary title of emperor of Austria. It was
stated in an imperial decree that the new title of the sovereign should
in no way prejudice the ancient rights of Bohemia and that the
sovereigns would continue to be crowned as kings of Bohemia.
Revival of national aspirations.
Collapse in 1848.
After the re-establishment of European peace in 1815 the long-suppressed
national aspirations of Bohemia began to revive. The national movement,
however, at first only found expression in the revival of Bohemian
literature. The arbitrary and absolutist government of Prince Metternich
rendered all political action impossible in the lands ruled by the house
of Habsburg. In spite of this pressure the estates of Bohemia began in
1845 to assume an attitude of opposition to the government of Vienna.
They affirmed their right of voting the taxes of the country--a right
that was due to them according to the constitution of 1627. To obtain
the support of the wider classes of the population, they determined in
1847 to propose at their session of the following year that the towns
should have a more extensive representation at the diet, that the
control of the estates over the finances of the country should be made
more stringent, and that the Bohemian language should be introduced into
all the higher schools of the country. The revolutionary outbreak of
1848 prevented this meeting of the estates. When the news of the
February revolution in Paris reached Prague the excitement there was
very great. On the 11th of March a vast public meeting voted a petition
to the government of Vienna which demanded that the Bohemian language
should enjoy equal rights with the German in all the government offices
of the country, that a general diet comprising all the Bohemian lands,
but elected on an extensive suffrage, should be convoked, and that
numerous liberal reforms should be introduced. The deputation which
presented these demands in Vienna received a somewhat equivocal answer.
In reply, however, to a second deputation, the emperor Ferdinand
declared on the 8th of April that equality of rights would be secured to
both nationalities in Bohemia, that the question of the reunion of
Moravia and Silesia to Bohemia should be left to a general meeting of
representatives of all parts of Austria, and that a new meeting of the
estates of Bohemia, which would include representatives of the principal
towns, would shortly be convoked. This assembly, which was to have had
full powers to create a new constitution, and which would have
established complete autonomy, never met, though the election of its
members took place on the 17th of May. In consequence of the general
national movement which is so characteristic of the year 1848, it was
decided to hold at Prague a "Slavic congress" to which Slavs of all
parts of the Austrian empire, as well as those belonging to other
countries, were invited. The deliberations were interrupted by the
serious riots that broke out in the streets of Prague on the 12th of
June. They were suppressed after prolonged fighting and considerable
bloodshed. The Austrian commander, Prince Windischgratz, bombarded the
city, which finally capitulated unconditionally. The nationalist and
liberal movement in Bohemia was thus suddenly checked, though the
Bohemians took part in the Austrian constituent assembly that met at
Vienna, and afterwards at Kromeriz (Kremsier).
By the end of the year 1849 all constitutional government had ceased in
Bohemia, as in all parts of the Habsburg empire. The reaction that now
ensued was felt more severely than in any other part of the monarchy;
for not only were all attempts to obtain self-government and liberty
ruthlessly suppressed, but a determined attempt was made to exterminate
the national language. The German language was again exclusively used in
all schools and government offices, all Bohemian newspapers were
suppressed, and even the society of the Bohemian museum--a society
composed of Bohemian noblemen and scholars--was for a time only allowed
to hold its meetings under the supervision of the police.
Austrian constitutional changes.
The events of the Italian campaign of 1859 rendered the continuation of
absolutism in the Austrian empire impossible. It was attempted to
establish a constitutional system which, while maintaining to a certain
extent the unity of the empire, should yet recognize the ancient
constitutional rights of some of the countries united under the rule of
the house of Habsburg. A decree published on the 20th of October 1860
established diets with limited powers. The composition of these
parliamentary assemblies was to a certain extent modelled on that of the
ancient diets of Bohemia and other parts of the empire. This decree was
favourably received in Bohemia, but the hopes which it raised in the
country fell when a new imperial decree appeared on the 26th of February
1861. This established a central parliament at Vienna with very
extensive powers, and introduced an electoral system which was grossly
partial to the Germans. The Bohemians indeed consented to send their
representatives to Vienna, but they left the parliament in 1863, stating
that the assembly had encroached on the power which constitutionally
belonged to the diet of Prague. Two years later the central parliament
of Vienna was suspended, and in the following year--1866--the
Austro-Prussian war caused a complete change in the constitutional
position of Bohemia. The congress of Vienna in 1815 had declared that
that country should form part of the newly formed Germanic
Confederation; this was done without consulting the estates of the
country, as had been customary even after the battle of the White Hill
on the occasion of serious constitutional changes. The treaty with
Prussia, signed at Prague on the 23rd of August 1866, excluded from
Germany all lands ruled by the house of Habsburg. As a natural
consequence German influence declined in the Austrian empire, and in
Bohemia in particular. While Hungary now obtained complete independence,
the new constitution of 1867, which applied only to the German and
Slavic parts of the Habsburg empire, maintained the system of
centralization and attempted to maintain the waning German influence.
The Bohemians energetically opposed this new constitution and refused to
send representatives to Vienna.
Renewed struggles of Bohemian nationalism.
In 1871 it appeared probable for a moment that the wishes of the
Bohemians, who desired that their ancient constitution should be
re-established in a modernized form, would be realized. The new Austrian
prime minister, Count Karl Hohenwart, took office with the firm
intention of accomplishing an agreement between Bohemia and the other
parts of the Habsburg empire. Prolonged negotiations ensued, and an
attempt was made to establish a constitutional system which, while
satisfying the claims of the Bohemians, would yet have firmly connected
them with the other lands ruled by the house of Habsburg. An imperial
message addressed to the diet of Prague (September 14, 1871) stated that
the sovereign "in consideration of the former constitutional position of
Bohemia and remembering the power and glory which its crown had given to
his ancestors, and the constant fidelity of its population, gladly
recognized the rights of the kingdom of Bohemia, and was willing to
confirm this assurance by taking the coronation oath." Various
influences caused the failure of this attempt to reconcile Bohemia with
Austria. In 1872 a government with a pronounced German tendency took
office in Vienna, and the Bohemians for a time again refused to attend
the parliamentary assemblies of Vienna and Prague. In 1879 Count Eduard
Taaffe became Austrian prime minister, and he succeeded in persuading
the representatives of Bohemia to take part in the deliberations of the
parliament of Vienna. They did so, after stating that they took this
step without prejudice to their view that Bohemia with Moravia and
Silesia constituted a separate state under the rule of the same
sovereign as Austria and Hungary. The government of Count Taaffe, in
recognition of this concession by the Bohemians, consented to remove
some of the grossest anomalies connected with the electoral system of
Bohemia, which had hitherto been grossly partial to the German minority
of the population. The government of Count Taaffe also consented to the
foundation of a Bohemian university at Prague, which greatly contributed
to the intellectual development of the country. On the fall of the
government of Count Taaffe, Prince Alfred Windischgratz became prime
minister. The policy of his short-lived government was hostile to
Bohemia and he was soon replaced by Count Badeni.
The language question.
Badeni again attempted to conciliate Bohemia. He did not indeed consider
it feasible to reopen the question of its autonomy, but he endeavoured
to remedy some of the most serious grievances of the country. In the
beginning of 1897 Count Badeni issued a decree which stated that after a
certain date all government officials who wished to be employed in
Bohemia would have to prove a certain knowledge of the Bohemian as well
as of the German language. This decree met with violent opposition on
the part of the German inhabitants of Austria, and caused the fall of
Count Badeni's cabinet at the end of the year 1897. After a brief
interval he was succeeded by Count Thun and then by Count Clary, whose
government repealed the decrees that had to a certain extent granted
equal rights to the Bohemian language. In consequence troubles broke out
in Prague, and were severely repressed by the Austrian authorities.
During the subsequent ministries of Korber and Gautsch the Bohemians
continued to oppose the central government of Vienna, and to assert
their national rights.
See generally Count Lutzow, _Bohemia, a Historical Sketch_ (London,
1896). The valuable collection of historical documents entitled
_Fontes Rerum Bohemicarum_, published at Prague in the latter part of
the 19th century, has superseded earlier ones such as Freherus
(Marquard Freher), _Rerum Bohemicarum Antiqui Scriptores_. Similarly,
the earlier historical works of Pubitschka, Pelzl and De Florgy are
superseded by Frantisek Palacky's _Geschichte von Bohmen_ (Prague,
1844-1867), which, however, ends with the year 1526. Rezek, Gindely
and others have dealt with the history of Bohemia posterior to the
year 1526. Professor Adolf Bachmann published (vol. i. in 1899, vol.
ii. 1905) a _Geschichte Bohmens_ up to 1526, which has a strongly
marked German tendency. Of French works Professor Ernest Denis's _Jean
Hus, et la guerre des Hussites_ (Paris, 1878), _Fin de l'independance
boheme_ (2 vols., 1890), and _La Boheme depuis la Montagne Blanche_ (2
vols., 1903), give a continuous account of Bohemian history from the
beginning of the 15th century. (L.)