thirty years war Essay

thirty years war Essay thirty years war Essay Why did the Thirty-Years War start in the Czech Lands? Background: The Peace of Augsburg Not stabilized the religious structure of Germany Failure to recognize Calvinists, the ecclesiastical reservation The Bohemian Crisis Two-thirds of the population of Bohemia was Protestant and a mere one-tenth Roman Catholic Letter of Majesty of July 1609 Freedom of conscience for all Bohemian subjects Liberty of worship for the nobles and those towns which belonged to the crown Control of ecclesiastical organization within the kingdom to rest with the Estates Matthias, later became the emperor, confirmed the Letter of Majesty and was crowned king of Bohemia In 1617 the Archduke Ferdinand of Styria, a hard-line Catholic, had been designated heir to the thrones of Bohemia and Hungary Initially Ferdinand consented that he guaranteed the Letter of Majesty Of the ten Deputies Ferdinand appointed to rule Bohemia, only three were Protestant Later, Ferdinand asserted two new Protestant churches at Klostergrab and Brunau were illegal in the sense of being on royal land The Defenestration of Prague In May 1618, the Protestant nobles decided to confront the Deputies in person. They singled out two Catholic regents, Jaroslav Vorstia von Martinitz and Wilhelm Slawata in Prague Castleln, accused them of plotting to subvert Bohemian religious liberty, and then threw them and a secretary out of a window . The rebellion grew as the Bohemian estates, controlled by Hussites and Protestants, formed a provisional government They began canvassing Protestant Europe for allies and initiated a program of repression against Catholicism The conflict moved toward war, after the death of Emperor Matthias in May 1619 and the Imperial and Bohemian succession of Crown Prince Ferdinand as Emperor Ferdinand II The