Battle of White Mountain - Prelude

Prelude

In the early 17th Century most of the Bohemian estates, though under the dominion of the Catholic Holy Roman Empire, had large Protestant populations, and had been granted rights and protections allowing them varying degrees of religious and political freedom. In 1617, as Emperor Matthias lay dying, his cousin Ferdinand - a fiercely devout Catholic and proponent of the Counter-reformation - was named his successor as Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. This led to deep consternation among many Bohemian Protestants, who feared not only the loss of their religious freedom, but also of their traditional semi-autonomy, under which many of the estates had separate, individual constitutions governing their relationship with the Empire, and where the King was elected by the local leaders.

Ferdinand (who would become Emperor Ferdinand II following Matthias' death in 1619) saw Protestantism as inimical to the Empire, and wanted to impose absolutist rule on Bohemia while forcefully encouraging conversion to the Catholic faith. He also hoped to reclaim church properties which had been seized by Protestants at the start of the Reformation decades earlier, and to do away with the Electorate - the body of noblemen, both Catholic and Protestant, which had considerable power over Imperial policy.

Particularly galling to Protestants were perceived violations of Emperor Rudolf II's 1609 Letter of Majesty, which had ensured religious freedom throughout Bohemia. Wanting to air their grievances over this and other issues, a group of Bohemian nobles met with representatives of the Emperor at the royal castle in Prague in May, 1618; the meeting ended with two of the representatives and their scribe being thrown out a high window and seriously injured. This incident - the so-called Second Defenestration of Prague - triggered the Bohemian Revolt.

In November 1619, Elector Palatine Frederick V - like many of the rebels, a Calvinist - was named King of Bohemia by the Bohemian Electorate.