Bohemian Confederation
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The Bohemian Confederation ( Latin Confoederatio Bohemica , Czech Česká konfederace ) was an alliance treaty of the non-Catholic estates of the Bohemian crown lands . It was formed on July 31, 1619 in Prague . The Confederation regulated the state order of the Crown of Bohemia in a new way. The king, as the monarchical head of the state union, was largely disempowered and government power was placed in the hands of the estates. Bohemia became an elective monarchy again (since the beginning of the Habsburg ruleIn 1526 the estates were no longer able to exercise their old right to vote). At the same time, the relationship between the estates was changed. The estates of the neighboring countries Moravia , Silesia , Upper and Lower Lusatia were put on an equal footing with those of Bohemia. From then on, they were allowed to participate in the election of the king. The Protestantism was practically declared a state religion.
prehistory
In 1575 the non-Catholic estates of the Kingdom of Bohemia had presented Emperor Maximilian II with a joint confession, the Confessio Bohemica . The emperor only accepted this orally. The status of the Protestants remained unclear and was not legally guaranteed.
About a decade later, the Counter Reformation began in Bohemia . The papal nuncio in Prague and some leading Catholic nobles had worked out concrete plans for how the country would be re-Catholicized. Emperor Rudolf II also took part in the recatholization measures.
At the same time, political tensions between the estates and the ruler intensified at the end of the 16th century. The estates did not want their power to be restricted by the absolutist Habsburgs. Weakened by disputes within the dynasty and an unfortunate Turkish war, Rudolf II had to grant religious freedom to the evangelical estates of Bohemia and Silesia in a letter of majesty in 1609.
Under his successor Matthias , the denominational and political conflicts continued unabated. The situation was pretty confusing. In 1617 the emperor succeeded in having the irreconcilable Catholic Ferdinand of Inner Austria crowned as his successor as King of Bohemia. Only a year later, however, the evangelical estates in Bohemia went into open rebellion. The second lintel in Prague in 1618 was an expression of this .
After the imperial governors had been driven out of Prague, an estate directory took over provisional power in Bohemia. In the months that followed, the directors tried successfully to get the estates of the other Bohemian crown lands to their side. In the meantime there had also been military clashes between the estate and imperial troops.
Emperor Matthias died in March 1619. The estates no longer wanted to accept the already crowned successor Ferdinand II as their king. In order to protect themselves against the expected invasion of the Habsburgs, the Protestant estates of the Bohemian countries negotiated an alliance for protection and defiance. The result was the Bohemian Confederation.
The content of the confederation
In over 100 articles, the constitutional treaty put the political system of the Crown of Bohemia on a new basis. Bohemia was transformed into an elective monarchy. All five crown lands were to take part in the election from now on. The king's power was severely restricted. At the coronation he had to swear an oath to strictly adhere to the Confederation Act. From then on, the king had to share supreme power with the general assembly, in which all countries were represented. Accordingly, all estates should pay taxes in proportion to their size and financial capacity and make a military contribution to national defense.
The Protestants were equated with the Catholics. Dominion over the church was granted to the Protestant estates. They could now establish regional churches and occupy the consistory on their own. In all crown lands the so-called defensors were to be chosen from the nobility. They were responsible for protecting the Protestant religion. They should oppose any intrusion by Catholics. A special oath on the Act of Confederation was required of the Catholic estates if they did not want to be excluded from the state community.
Some articles regulated the work of the central authorities in Prague. Far more numerous, however, were the special provisions that dealt with the affairs of individual countries. The autonomy and constitutions of the crown lands were not affected. The individual estates should be able to determine their own internal concerns.
effect
The concessions made by the Bohemian estates succeeded in integrating the neighboring countries into the alliance against the Habsburgs. The confederation could have been a sustainable balance of interests in peacetime. The parliamentarization of the Bohemian monarchy - albeit on the basis of class privileges - would have been an important step in modernization. The great weakness of the new constitution was that it did not succeed in setting up a strong government over all countries, and that the separate rights of the countries were not restricted, and consequently their parliamentary resolutions could not be repealed by the general parliament. Since consensus had to be established for all decisive decisions, Bohemia was unable to respond adequately to the external threat - it was at war with the emperor. Because of the egoism of the individual estates, not enough funds could be made available for national defense.
Follow and exit
After the confederation was over, the general assembly declared Ferdinand II forfeited the throne. According to the rules of the new constitution, the Elector Friedrich von der Pfalz was elected king. In the battle of the White Mountain (November 8, 1620), the estates were defeated and Emperor Ferdinand II took power again in Bohemia. The confederation he viewed as a conspiracy was immediately repealed. Instead of an evangelical estates republic, Bohemia became part of the absolutist system of the Habsburg monarchy and was completely re-Catholicized within a few decades.
literature
- Joachim Bahlcke : Modernization and state-building in an east-central European estates' system: the example of the Confoederatio Bohemica of 1619. In: Parliaments, Estates & Representation 17 (1997), pp. 61-73.
- Winfried Becker: Corporate State and Confession Formation Using the Example of the Bohemian Confederation Act of 1619. In: Dieter Albrecht (Hrsg.): Politics and Confession. Festschrift for Konrad Repgen on his 60th birthday. Berlin 1983. pp. 77-99.
- Rudolf Stanka: The Bohemian Confederation Act of 1619. Berlin 1932