Podíl české katolické šlechty při utváření náboženských poměrů v Čechách ve dvacátých letech 17. století

Abstract

This study analyses the role of the Czech nobility in the first years of the post-White Mountain counter-reformation in the Kingdom of Bohemia. It follows this from the end of 1620, when, soon after the Battle of White Mountain, the first proposals to adjust the situation in the rebel territory began to appear. The upper limit is the middle of 1627, not only for political reasons but with special reference to the issuing of a patent by Ferdinand II on 31 July 1627 in which he first proclaimed an attempt to catholicize the Czech nobility and at the same time reiterated that he did not intend to tolerate anyone in the country who would not be willing to align himself with his landlord in faith. The first part of the article deals with the ideas of certain Bohemian Catholic noblemen about the future religious development of the kingdom, which they embodied in proposals which came into being on the initiative of Ferdinand II or on their own initiative. Other passages focus on the efforts of the landowner and governor of Bohemia Charles of Liechtenstein to influence, through normative measures, the religious situation of the aristocratic estates before July 1627. In conclusion, attention is paid to the efforts of certain Bohemian Catholic lords who advocated a fight against non-Catholic beliefs on their own estates, which they justified by the requirement for their subjects to align themselves in faith with their landlords.