Renewed state order

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The Renewed State Order ( Czech. Obnovené zřízení zemské) was the new constitution for the Kingdom of Bohemia enacted on May 10, 1627 by Ferdinand II . Since the king had very far-reaching powers in this, traditional historiography speaks of an absolutist document.

History of origin

In 1618 the Protestant Bohemian estates rose up against their Catholic King Ferdinand II with the second lintel in Prague . The other countries of the Bohemian Crown - Moravia , Silesia and Upper and Lower Lusatia - also joined this class uprising . In 1619 the estates of these countries founded the Bohemian Confederation (Latin Confoederatio Bohemica) . This new state was dominated by the estates and one of its main tasks was to protect Protestantism against Catholic attacks. A pure electoral monarchy was introduced, Friedrich V of the Palatinate was elected as the new king, and the Catholic Ferdinand II was deposed.

Reformation patent from Ferdinand II, with which he ordered the expulsion of all Protestant preachers and schoolmasters from his empire in 1624.

The uprising of the estates failed with the victory of Ferdinand II in the battle of the White Mountain on November 8th, 1620. Bohemia was then militarily occupied and all privileges and political rights of the estates were revoked. The ringleaders of the uprising were executed in Prague in 1621, while the remaining Protestant nobles were expropriated and driven into exile. This is what happened to thousands of Protestant subjects. Only those who converted to the Catholic denom could hope for grace.

In the years that followed, Bohemia continued to be occupied by imperial troops like a hostile country and there was no legal order. The imperial governors and officials exercised their offices completely arbitrarily. The only law was the king's orders. This state of affairs was ended in Bohemia with the promulgation of the Renewed Regional Order on May 10, 1627. A similar constitution came into force in Moravia the following year.

content

In terms of content, the Renewed State Order was the counter-program to the Bohemian Confederation Act of 1619. While the power of the estates was very great in the Bohemian Confederation, it was severely restricted in the Renewed State Order. The elective monarchy was finally abolished and Bohemia declared an inheritance of the Habsburgs . From then on, Catholicism was the only denomination allowed in Bohemia. All state offices came under the power of disposal of the king and from now on the king alone could decide who received the Bohemian incolation and thus also the right to participate in the state parliament . In addition to Czech , German became the official language.

The Renewed State Order paved the way for the planned and often violent recatholicization of Bohemia. The extent to which the document laid the foundation for Habsburg absolutism in Bohemia is controversial, as recent historians have questioned the concept of absolutism in general.

literature

Primary sources :

  • The Rom. Quay. too hung. and Böhaimb [et] c. Royal Maj. Ferdinandi deß Andern [et] c. Reevaluated national order of the same inheritance. Kingdom of Bohaimb. Vienna 1627 ( digitized ).
  • Constitutiones Regni Bohemiae anno 1627 reformatae / ed. Hermenegildus Jireček . - Pragae: Tempsky [u. a.], 1888. - VI, 596 pp. ( Codex iuris Bohemici  ; 5.2) ( digitized version ).

Secondary literature :

  • Hans-Wolfgang Bergerhausen : The "Verneuerte Landesordnung" in Bohemia 1627. A basic document of the Habsburg absolutism. In: Historische Zeitschrift 272 (2001), pp. 327–351.
  • Lutz Rentzow: The history of the origins and effects of the Renewed State Order for the Kingdom of Bohemia from 1627. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin a. a. 1998. ISBN 3-631-32327-1