Part 8

“This unprecedented act of authority excited general indignation, and the three towns of Prague were the foremost to resist its execution. When the deputies presented their remonstrance, Ferdinand indignantly replied, ‘What we have commanded is for your advantage, and ye are culpable in acting contrary to our orders. We declare that you are guilty of all the former and present misfortunes in this war. God will punish your disobedience.’ The deputies excusing themselves, by replying that they could not control the inclinations of the people, the king rejoined, ‘We have told you our opinion, and we will give you no other answer, since we have commanded nothing that is unjust. This is not the first time that you have been disobedient.’ When the deputies presented a memorial, stating that the levy of troops ought to be approved by a general diet, he endeavoured to stimulate their pride by reproaches of disobedience and pusillanimity, and by recalling to their recollection the heroic courage of their ancestors. He concluded by saying, ‘We are determined to prosecute this warfare, whether you will go with us or not. If you accompany us, you do us a favour, and we shall be inclined to treat you with kindness; but, if you persist in your disobedience, you are alone accountable for all the misfortunes which may overwhelm you.’ These reproaches, being attended with no effect, Ferdinand quitted the city, full of indignation, and repaired to Leutmeritz. Here he found a numerous assembly of nobles, knights, and deputies of the towns who formed the states of that province which he had convoked. But from them he was assailed with the same remonstrances as had been made by the burghers of Prague. When the proposal for raising troops was laid before the meeting, they requested him to convoke a general diet, which could alone authorise the levy, and promised to support the proposition, if made according to custom and law; and they declared that the mandate of the 12th of January was contrary to their privileges and liberties. This remonstrance, conveyed in mild but firm expressions, convinced the king that it was necessary to have recourse to soothing measures. Having summoned the principal deputies into his presence, he condescended to inform them that the danger was too pressing to admit of delay, or to allow time for the convocation of a diet. He had promised assistance, he said, to Maurice of Saxony, who was encamped within only four miles of the enemy; he had already begun his march, and could not retreat without forfeiting his honour. He therefore entreated them not to forsake him, or compel him to disgrace himself by a breach of his promise. He engaged to recall the mandate of the 12th of January, and offered to give full security that no violation of their privileges should in future result from this step, and to declare that they took the field not from obligation, but from compliance with the request of their sovereign. The assembly, overcome by these professions, fulfilled his wishes as far as was consistent with the laws of their country. They gave to every baron, knight, and burgher, liberty to follow, or not to follow the king to the field, freely and uncompelled, not for the purpose of succouring prince Maurice, not in obedience to the mandate of the 12th of January, nor in virtue of the recent compact with Maurice, but solely to defend the person of the king, and to protect him from danger. They also promised to persuade the other states of the kingdom to follow their example; and Ferdinand, after tendering his acknowledgments for these resolutions, continued his march to Dresden.

“During these transactions, the capital was the scene of tumult and alarm. The Calixtine members of nine circles, as well nobles and knights as deputies from the towns, flocking to Prague, united themselves with the citizens in a solemn confederacy, to defend those rights and privileges, ancient laws and customs, which had been granted by their sovereigns, and recently confirmed by Ferdinand. They also signed a memorial to the king, in which they earnestly requested him to convoke a diet at Prague, for the purpose of laying before all the states the affair of the levies; and they concluded by observing, that if he did not himself summon the diet, the states would of their own authority assemble on that day, and deliberate on the business.

“To their memorial the king made the same reply as to the states assembled at Leutmeritz; he promised to hold a diet in person at Prague, eight days after Easter; forbade them in the interim to assemble, and at the same time issued his summons to all the circles and towns.

“This measure might have pacified the states, had not the elector of Saxony gained a considerable advantage over the margrave of Brandenburgh, who was marching to the assistance of prince Maurice. The victory encouraged the Bohemians to persist in their opposition, while it filled Ferdinand with new apprehensions. He instantly despatched general Wertmuhle to Commotau, and ordered all the states of the kingdom to send troops under his command, and to supply with provisions the army of the emperor, who was advancing to Egra to protect Bohemia, and succour prince Maurice. But this mandate was not obeyed; the states, which had assembled at Prague, declared the summons of the king and Wertmuhle illegal, and expressed their resolution to maintain the hereditary compact with the elector of Saxony; they dispersed a printed letter through all the circles, exhorting the nobles, knights, and towns, to join in their confederacy, and declared that those who did not present themselves before Easter should not be admitted. ‘As numerous bodies of men were collecting in the neighbouring countries,’ they gave directions for assembling an army to defend Bohemia, their native land, from all foreign attacks; to protect their wives and children, property and vassals, from the hand of violence, and to support each other against all aggressors. They even imposed a tax on all property for the maintenance of the national army, appointed a commander-in-chief, and made arrangements according to ancient custom. In case of extreme necessity, they summoned all who were capable of bearing arms into the field, and denounced confiscation of property and banishment against all who should refuse to serve. They moreover named a committee consisting of four nobles, four knights, and the magistrates of Prague, to act as delegates, with full powers, in the name of the three estates.

“Notice being brought that prince Maurice and his brother Augustus of Saxony had marched with more than 7000 troops to Brix, they issued instant orders throughout all the circles, to assemble levies for the purpose of resisting this invasion. They sent a remonstrance to the king, in which they expressed their surprise that foreign troops had entered Bohemia without the knowledge and approbation of the states, and with an implied threat of resistance, they exhorted him to induce the two dukes of Saxony to return. They also despatched messengers to the states of Moravia and Lusatia, announcing their common danger, and requesting succours.

“Ferdinand, in reply to these remonstrances, informed them that he was arrived at Brix, and in company with the two dukes of Saxony, was marching through Bohemia, to join the army of the emperor. His object, he declared, was to protect the kingdom against the elector of Saxony, who had been put under the ban of the empire, and who had not only occupied Joachimsthal and Presnitz, but had extorted an oath from the inhabitants to arm in his defence. The irruption of the emperor, with 20,000 Spanish veterans, into the province of Egra, excited general indignation and alarm; and the committee circulated their mandates, ordering all persons to repair to Prague for the purpose of marching against the enemy, while the burghers of the capital flocked in crowds to offer their personal services.

“Ferdinand, informed of these movements, testified his surprise and dissatisfaction that troops should be levied when no enemy was at hand, and when he himself was marching to join the emperor at Egra. He promised to prevail on the emperor not to pass through the kingdom, assured the states that he had no inclination to infringe their liberties, and again exhorted them to lay down their arms, and to wait in tranquillity his arrival at Prague. These representations from a sovereign who had excited the jealousy of his subjects by his innovations, were attended with no effect; the delegates justified their proceedings, and declared that they had taken up arms because the states had certain information of a design to overturn the constitution, destroy the kingdom, and extirpate the language of Bohemia. And, as the king and the chief burgrave to whom the defence of the crown belonged, were absent, they were compelled for their own security to levy an army, and appoint a commander, not to act against the king, but for the purpose of protecting his daughter, the archduchess, who was consigned to their care, and to secure their country from the invasion of foreign troops. They could not, they observed, revoke the summons, and prevent the levies; they therefore entreated his majesty to divert the emperor from the effusion of Christian blood, and to return to the capital without delay. At the same time the delegates assured the elector of Saxony of their fixed resolution to maintain and renew the ancient compact, summoned the states to come forward in defence of the crown, of their liberties, and native tongue; and earnestly exhorted them to remain true to the electoral house of Saxony, since the hereditary compact was a principal prerogative of the crown, and a rock of defence to the subjects. To the emperor, who remonstrated against their taking up arms, they replied they did not rise against him or their king, but in defence of their privileges, and in support of their ancient alliances. They exhorted him, as the head of Christendom, to spare the effusion of Christian blood, to be reconciled to the elector, and lead his own forces, with those of the Christian world, against the Turks, the inveterate enemies of the Christian faith.

“In the midst of these transactions the diet assembled at Prague, and the importance of the occasion drew such numbers of deputies, that they overflowed the place of assembly, and crowded in the square before the palace. The hereditary compact between George Podiebrad and the elector of Saxony was read, and the public discontents were inflamed by the complaints of several officers, that the king had threatened to punish them with death if they refused to pass the frontiers.

“Two days afterwards, the royal commissaries being introduced, required the states in the king’s name to dismiss their troops, and dissolve their confederacy. These commands were enforced by an embassy from the emperor, who exhorted the states to lay down their arms, and pay due obedience to their lawful sovereign.

“Instead, however, of paying attention to these representations, the states drew up an apology for their conduct, and appointed ambassadors to the king and the emperor, who were commissioned to represent that the state of Bohemia had been, from time immemorial, accustomed for the sake of peace and unanimity, to contract confederacies with each other, of which the documents had been recently destroyed by fire. In regard to the levy of forces, their forefathers, they said, had always raised troops whenever a foreign army approached the frontiers, and they themselves had only acted in conformity with this ancient custom without the least intention of injuring the emperor or the king, their sovereign. They concluded by observing, that as the states had prorogued their meeting till the ensuing Whitsuntide, they hoped the ambassadors would, in the interim, obtain the king’s approbation, and induce him to mediate a peace between the emperor and the elector of Saxony, and then to lead an army against the Turks.

“Before the departure of the ambassadors, a messenger from Ferdinand announced the total defeat and capture of the elector of Saxony at Muhlberg; and, to discourage the states, the intelligence was publicly read before the diet. On this occasion, this numerous assembly evinced all the versatility of a popular body, easily roused, and as suddenly depressed. Those very men, who, with the hope of foreign assistance, had displayed such resolution to assert their liberties, the descendants of those who under Ziska had singly resisted or deposed their sovereigns, and spread terror throughout Germany, no sooner saw themselves deprived of foreign support, than they sank into a servility and despondency as degrading as their former presumption and petulance were imprudent. Many of the members hastened from Prague, others who had unwillingly united in the confederacy, rejoiced, and all affected to join the royalists in their eager demonstrations of loyalty. The states congratulated the king on the victory, and represented, that as the war was now concluded, and as they fully confided in his gracious promise not to introduce foreign troops into Bohemia, they were willing to dismiss their levies, and permit the free transport of provisions to the imperial army. On the following day orders were issued to their commander-in-chief to disband their forces.

“Ferdinand made no other reply to these tardy offers of submission than threats and reproaches; and without a moment’s delay prepared to avail himself of the advantages which he possessed over his humiliated subjects. He took his departure from Wittemberg with a considerable body of troops and heavy artillery, and on the 3rd of June reached Leutmeritz, where he received the submission of the inhabitants. Here he issued a circular letter to the towns of Prague and the provincial states, in which he reproached them for their recent misconduct, commanded them to renounce their confederacy, summoned those who were well affected to repair to Leutmeritz, under the promise of pardon, and threatened those with punishment who persisted in their contumacy.

“In consequence of these letters, nobles, knights, and deputies flocked in great numbers to Leutmeritz. The citizens of Prague alone gave symptoms of their former resolution; they proposed to occupy the castle, and fortify the White Mountain; and were not, without much difficulty, prevailed upon to renounce their fruitless opposition, and to dispatch their deputies. The states assembled at Leutmeritz, presented to the king a memorial, in which they declared that their only object in joining the confederacy was to promote the advantage of their country, and protect the prerogatives of the crown; and they promised that they would the next day erase their signatures, tear off their seals, and defend their king against all his enemies with their lives and fortunes. The king thanked them for this proof of returning loyalty, and granted them his pardon, but reserved his severest vengeance against the contumacious citizens of Prague. He refused to admit their deputies into his presence; he announced his intention to give an answer in person, on the Sunday following, in the palace; he commanded the magistrates to prepare quarters for his troops, and, before the departure of the deputies, despatched a corps of Germans, who, entering Prague by night, anticipated the design of the citizens by occupying the castle.

“On the 2d of July, Ferdinand himself made his public entry, at the head of a numerous army. His troops occupied the gates and the bridge, quartered themselves in different parts of the city, and encamped on the banks of the Moldau. But even his own presence, and the awe inspired by so great a force, could not repress the indignation of the citizens. A wanton insult of the Germans, who fired on the burghers of the old town, and the sacking of a neighbouring village by the hussars, provoked the populace into a tumult, which nearly occasioned the renewal of the civil war. The burghers dislodged the royal troops from the bridge, and drew cannon to the banks of the Moldau to batter the castle where the king resided; they even prepared to renew the national confederacy, and sent letters to their adherents in the different circles, exhorting them to furnish speedy and effectual succours. But the revival of a contest which would have deluged the kingdom in blood, was prevented by the intervention of those leaders who were inclined to more moderate measures, and by the policy and affected mildness of the king, who disavowed the perpetrators of the outrages, and promised redress.

“The whole conduct of Ferdinand was calculated to increase the terror of the inhabitants; he prohibited the usual demonstrations of joy paid to the sovereign on his arrival, and forbade the magistrates to approach his person. On the 3rd, he summoned to the palace, the mayor, burgomasters, magistrates, councillors, jurors, elders, and two hundred and forty of the most distinguished citizens of the three towns. On the day appointed, these persons, amounting to more than six hundred, repaired to the palace, and had no sooner entered than the gates were closed and guarded. The king being thus master of the principal members of the three towns, and those who by their talents or influence might have roused the people to a desperate resistance, was enabled to impose his own terms. To impress them with additional terror, he appeared in all the parade of majesty, and with all the pomp of justice. He was habited in his royal robes, and seated on a lofty throne; beneath him was his second son the archduke Ferdinand; and he was surrounded by the magnates of Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia, who bore the highest offices of state, the duke of Teschen, the bishops of Olmutz and Troppau; the count of Lobcowitz stood before him with a drawn sword. Silence being proclaimed, numerous charges against the prisoners were read, after which the king expatiated on their rebellious proceedings, and commanded them to give an answer to each article of accusation.

“Unable to justify themselves against the abrupt and heavy charge, Sixtus of Ottersdorf, secretary of the old town, humbly replied, in the name of all, that they would not presume to enter into any defence of their conduct with their king and master; but submitted themselves to his royal mercy, beseeching the intercession of the nobles, bishops, and counsellors, who were present; and the whole body falling on their knees, entreated pardon for their disobedience. They were suffered to continue for some time in this posture, and at length commanded by one of the officers of state to retire into the hall of justice, and therein remain imprisoned until the king had taken the advice of his judges. They retired, and, after several hours of suspense and agitation, the same officer of state informed them that the king, at the intercession of the archduke, princes, and lords, and of his own natural clemency, graciously pardoned their offences under certain conditions. They were to renounce their confederacy with the other states, and at the next diet to break their seals, erase their signatures, and to deliver up their letters and writings relating to their confederacy; to surrender without exception all the acts of their privileges and immunities, and to be satisfied with whatever the king should ordain or graciously restore; to bring all their artillery and ammunition to the palace, and the burghers their muskets, and all other arms except swords to the town house; to resign all their vassals and property to the king, and to his heirs the sovereigns of Bohemia; to cede all the tolls of the three towns, and to bind themselves to pay his majesty and his successors for ever a certain tax on beer and malt. They were informed, that if they would agree to these conditions, the king would pardon the whole people, and would punish none except a few persons who had behaved disrespectfully, and whom he had determined to chastise for the sake of justice and the welfare of the kingdom.

“On the recital of these hard terms, the prisoners required a short interval to obtain the consent of their fellow burghers. But it was too dangerous and too critical a moment for Ferdinand to permit the terror which he had impressed on their minds to subside, or allow men driven to despair, an opportunity of rousing the people by a public discussion of these rigorous articles. He therefore sternly rejected their request, and extorted from them an immediate ratification. Several of the least dangerous were then deputed to conciliate the burghers, and the remainder closely guarded in the apartments and vaults of the palace.

“On the following morning some of the prisoners were restored to liberty, on the condition of not retiring from Prague, and others released in the ensuing days. At length the remainder were all liberated, except forty of the most tumultuous and most dangerous, who were reserved as objects of public punishment.

“During this period, Ferdinand had sent a similar summons to all the towns of the kingdom, except the loyal towns of Pilsen, Budweiss, and Aussig. The chief burgomasters, counsellors, and elders were compelled to repair to the palace, and, like those of Prague, were imprisoned until they had surrendered all their estates, tolls, revenues, and privileges, and paid considerable penalties. But so rigorous was the confinement experienced by these unfortunate victims, and so deeply were their minds affected by the terrors of their situation, that many died, and others became frantic. Many of the nobles were also summoned before a court of justice to be tried for the crimes of which they were accused. Some flying from the terrors of such a tribunal, their goods were confiscated, and they were condemned to death; others appearing and surrendering themselves, twenty-six were selected and imprisoned; of these some were deprived of their possessions, others were compelled to pay heavy fines and to hold their estates as fiefs from the king; and two only were sentenced to public execution.

“As a close to these proceedings, a diet was summoned by the king, to meet at the palace of Prague on the 22d of August, 1547, and was attended by a numerous assembly, as all were now eager to give proofs of their loyalty. With a view to strike additional terror, Ferdinand opened the diet with the execution of four of his principal prisoners, two of whom were knights, and the others of the third estate, of whom one Jacob Fikar, high judge of the kingdom, and burgrave of the old town, was in the seventieth year of his age.

“At the close of this tragedy, the assembly, which, from these executions, was stigmatised with the name of the _Bloody Diet_, was opened, and the king experienced the fullest submission to his decrees. The burgrave, or president, declared in the name of the lords and knights, that they had entered into the confederacy with no other view than to maintain peace and union in the kingdom; and as it was the pleasure of their sovereign that the confederacy should be dissolved, they were ready to obey his commands. Instantly a committee of nobles tore the seals from the acts of the confederacy, which contained the signatures of one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six lords and knights, besides those of the towns. The high chancellor then declared, in the king’s name, to the deputies of the towns, that on account of their disobedience they deserved to be deprived of their seat at the diet, but, as a particular mark of favour, they were allowed to retain that right. All their privileges were to be examined, and those only restored which the king thought proper to confirm. The artillery, arms, and ammunition, which had been delivered up, were sent in thirty wagons to Vienna, and an additional fine was laid on the corporation of Prague.