During the reign of Rudolf II, the Emperor expressed tolerance for Protestantism in the Holy Roman Empire as a part of his goal of unifying the disparate Christian factions. As part of this, Rudolf II issued the Letter of Majesty in 1609, which effectively guaranteed the religious freedoms of those living in Bohemia and allowed for the creation of a Bohemian Protestant State Church. When Matthias, Rudolf II’s brother, usurped his position as King of Bohemia and later as Emperor, he too had to oblige the Protestants, as they had aided him in his rise to power. Despite any uneasy conciliations, Emperor Matthias’s decision to establish his successor would lead to a conflict that would spark the Thirty Years’ War.

In 1617, Ferdinand of Styria was elected as the king of Bohemia at the behest of Emperor Matthias of the Holy Roman Empire, as he was growing old and had no heirs himself. As the new king of Protestant Bohemia, the Catholic Ferdinand II –who wished to exert greater control– sent two representatives to Prague to rule in his absence in 1618.

Responding to this and the threat of the Letter of Majesty being revoked, the Protestant leaders threw the two representatives out of a 70-foot-high window in what was known as the Defenestration of Prague. Both Catholic and Protestant sides began gathering allies for the coming war between Bohemia and Emperor Ferdinand II, who had replaced Matthias after his death.

The Protestant Bohemians deposed Ferdinand from their throne and offered the crown instead to Frederick V, the Elector Palatine of the Rhine, should he allow them to join the Protestant Union. They also made this same offer to others, such as the Savoy, Saxony, and Transylvania. Frederick V was ultimately made King of Bohemia in 1619, and with Upper and Lower Austria also revolting, the Bohemian Revolt had begun.

Unfortunately for the Protestants, their letters were intercepted and the duplicates made public, which harmed their relations with potential allies, particularly Saxony. This came to hurt them during the conflict, as Emperor Ferdinand II’s Spanish allies successfully convinced the Saxons to turn against their fellow Protestants in Bohemian in order to gain control of the region of Lusatia for themselves. Furthermore, their choice to depose a rightfully elected king did not win the Bohemian Protestants any allies abroad.

Regardless of these shortcomings, the revolt initially started off in favor of the Bohemians. Winning the Battle of Pilsen, Lomnice, and Wisternitz helped advance their efforts, though their decision to not pursue the Habsburg armies in the aftermath of Lomnice could be seen as a tactical blunder. Under the command of the Count of Tilly, the Imperial armies defeated the revolts in Upper and Lower Austria and captured the western parts of Bohemia. This proved to be a setback, and victory for either side in this conflict hinged on the battle that took place at White Mountain.

Written by James Travis

Sources:

Gutmann, Myron P. “The Origins of the Thirty Years’ War.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18, no. 4 (1988): 749–70. https://doi.org/10.2307/204823.

Jütte, Daniel. “Defenestration as Ritual Punishment: Windows, Power, and Political Culture in Early Modern Europe.” The Journal of Modern History 89, no. 1 (2017): 1–38. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26548390.

Palmitessa, James R. “The Prague Uprising of 1611: Property, Politics, and Catholic Renewal in the Early Years of Habsburg Rule.” Central European History 31, no. 4 (1998): 299–328. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4546814.

Panek, Jaroslave and Oldrich Tuma. A History of the Czech Lands. 2nd ed. Prague: Charles University Karolinum Press, 2020.

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Czechoslovak History.” Encyclopedia Britannica, September 15, 2000. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Czechoslovak-history.

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. "Defenestration of Prague." Encyclopedia Britannica, May 16, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/event/Defenestration-of-Prague-1618.