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In 1618, a comet appeared in the sky, so bright that it could even be seen during the day. Its fiery tail was like a whip which God used to punish people. This is the year that saw the start of the 30 Years War. It was the bloodiest war the world had ever seen and the first modern war in history. It claimed the lives of onethird of Germany's population. It started with Catholics and Protestants fighting each other over the true faith. In the end, nations were fighting for power.
The 30 Years War shattered the old world. It created a new Europe. We can still experience its immediiacy today through the reports of soldiers and generals, bishops and peasants, rulers and [__] This war left the letters of an eerie monk, a man in the shadow of the powerful, and the first known diary of a simple soldier for hire who miraculously survived. It made a princess into a queen, and after only one winter, it plunged her into the abyss. It turned a poor orphan into the richest woman in Europe, and a respectable hostess into an alleged witch.
This war turned the most famous painter of his time into a spy. At the beginning of the 17th century, Europe is a powder keg. Denmark, Sweden, and Poland are fighting for supremacy in the north. France feels threatened by Spain and its ally, the Holy Roman Empire. Dominated by Austrian emperors from the House of Habsburg, the Holy Roman Empire forms the center of Europe. The empire encompasses Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, as well as parts of today's Italy and France. The Kingdom of Bohemia with its capital Prague is regarded as the jewel of the empire. It is here of all places that an uprising against the emperor begins in 1618 and reres havoc on Europe. In 1618, Prague is a Protestant city
ruled by Catholics. Freedom of belief is only an empty promise. Several Protestant churches are closed in Bohemia. Catholic priests are calling for conversion. The citizens patience has run out. Outraged subjects throw the governors of the Catholic emperor out of a window of Prague Castle on May the 23rd. It is the prelude to an armed uprising throughout Bohemia. [screaming] The following year, 1619, a provocation never seen before occurs. Endorsed by knights, nobles, priests, and citizens, Bohemia deposes its ruler.
The country is now looking for a new king and a new queen. Fore! Elizabeth Stewart is the daughter of the king of England and Scotland. The 23-year-old combines beauty and intelligence. She writes letters in perfect French. The most prominent royal houses in Europe have asked for her hand in marriage. Instead, she marries a young prince from Germany, Frederick of the Palatinate. In 1619, Bohemia unexpectedly offers the throne to the Protestant couple.
Her letter of 14th of September 1619 is written at the same time as Frederick V's letter and the content is practically identical. Elizabeth Stewart as Frederick V's wife thanks the Bohemian estates for allowing her husband to take the Bohemian throne. Frederick and Elizabeth's acceptance of the throne triggers a political earthquake throughout the Holy Roman Empire because the position of the emperor has been newly filled as well. This title is not inherited. It is decided on in the traditional way through a vote by German princes and the king of Bohemia.
Bohemia plays a major part in the German imperial elections. In the year 1619, the emperor's name is Ferdinand II. He comes from the house of Habsburg. The German emperor is chosen by seven princes from the countries of the German Empire. Since the reformation in the 16th century and the subsequent religious conflicts, the German Empire is split into two different religious fractions. Protestants and Catholics. The main Catholic cities, you could say, are mines and Tria. Difficult to see on this map. Should be around here somewhere. And then there is Cologne.
[clears throat] Protestant. Then we also have the Protestant regions. Here we have fals, we have saxony and we have brandenburgg. These have the same number of votes in the imperial elections. And this is where Bohemia comes in because Bohemia's vote is decisive. There is a tradition, a rule that the German emperor is also the king of Bohemia. He can therefore vote for himself. But the situation is that in Bohemia nine out of 10 subjects are Protestants which creates enormous disagreements and conflicts.
Frederick as Protestant king in Bohemia threatens the power of the Catholic emperor throughout the empire. This means war. Bohemia hopes that Frederick will secure support from the German Protestants for the belleaguered country and will also find help from outside the empire. What was also important and maybe decisive was his marriage to Elizabeth, the daughter of James Stewart, the king of England. But Elizabeth's father does not want to upset the powerful Habsburgs. He wants peace in Europe.
Since ancient times, the kings of Bohemia have been consecrated in the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. The ceremony takes a full day. We are standing in the St. Wesless Chapel, the most sacred space in the entire St. Fetus Cathedral. Shortly before the coronation took place, the entire castle and cathedral were carefully searched. In part because they were afraid an explosive charge of gunpowder would be placed there and all of the participants at the coronation would be blown to bits. This of course did not occur and the coronation passed off without incident.
Momento This oath is also a promise to protect Bohemia from the emperor's revenge. A diary from the Berlin State Library manuscript collection uniquely describes how ordinary people experienced the 30 Years War. It was written by the son of a miller who later became a mercenary or soldier for hire. The book is puzzling. The first and last pages are missing. Nowhere does the writer mention his name, but recent research has unraveled this particular mystery. The author comes from the city of Debt near Magdabborg. His name is Peter Harendorf with many books here, including numerous personal documents from the time of the 30 years war. Most of them written by rulers, generals, and clergy. But there is one journal written by a
mercenary of the 30 years old. Doesn't lose mention inside. fun. My father [panting] So to me in this day and age, people are a valuable resource because there is no compulsory military service. For every new man enlisted, the recruiters collect plenty of money. The best argument for a military career is the misery of ordinary people. Even the dangerous life of a mercenary seems to be a better option. It probably took years of practice to manage a musket well. in order to be able to load musketss and fire them so fast. That is the difference between the new recruits who join the regiments and the veterans who had fought for years in the 30 years war.
In the 17th century, firearms proved to be crucial in battle. At the same time, the demands on the soldiers are increasing. Musketeers have to master more than a 100 moves, all practiced on the drill ground. The cavalry is often as heavily armored as it has been in the past, but now also commands firepower. Pikemen, with their long spears, require little training, but a lot of courage and discipline. They must withstand cavalry attacks. Cannons are no longer used only for besieging fortresses. As mobile units, they support the musketeers in field battles.
Soldiers were recruited from across Europe. Emperor Ferdinand II could not under any circumstances accept a loss of Bohemia because then Protestantism would dominate the German Empire. But did he have any support? Well, naturally he could count on support from the Catholic parts of the empire such as Bavaria. But he could also gain support from Spain since in Spain there was also a Habsburg. Spain was one of the world's most powerful military nations. The new Bohemian royal couple could count on support from many places. They could count on support from Sweden, but also from Denmark and the Netherlands, the northern parts of the Netherlands, which was also known as the
Dutch Republic. Then naturally, they had support from the Protestant parts of the country. In addition, they also counted on James I of England. However, this was all only true on paper since the other countries had their own interests. These were more important than cooperating with the Bohemian royal couple. For now, however, it was best to simply rely on the support of the Bohemian subjects. The royal couple must first win the hearts of their new subjects. The German prince and the Scottish princess have a lot in their favor.
They were popular. They were liked. They were likable. Frederick Palentatine was a handsome young man. Elizabeth was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time in Europe. When she arrived in Prague, she was already a mother. She was pregnant through most of the winter reign, which of course made the people, especially women, more sympathetic towards this young queen and mother. In December 1619, Elizabeth and Frederick celebrate the birth of their third son. The carefree couple consider the affection of Bohemians eternal and disregard the cultural and religious characteristics of the country.
The Bohemians want a Protestant king to escape the Catholic rule. But there is not one single Protestant faith, but rather many splinter groups that are enemies. Most Bohemians are descendants of Hassites or Lutheran. Frederick on the other hand is a Calvinist. Elizabeth Anglican. A painting shows preachers of different denominations as fishermen who snatch human souls away from each other. The famous doctor Yan Yasenius is recctor of Prague University. He supported the uprising in Bohemia and advises the royal couple.
Many Bohemian Protestants consider pictorial representations in the churches to be important in explaining the Bible to the illiterate. As a professed and strict Calvinist, King Frederick bans all pictures. He ignores the will of his subjects and using drastic measures enforces his religious beliefs on them. The Kashbar Bashtella relief shows very realistically and with a number of picturesque details what happened in St. Vitus Cathedral just before Christmas in 1619. We see the so-called Calvinist iconoclasm which was meant to purify the temple of monuments to Catholicism.
Here is a wooden altarpiece being cut into pieces with a saw. Maybe it is the famous Kanak Marian alterpiece. Fore! Foreign! Among the images destroyed in the St. Vitus Cathedral is the famous Maran Altar by Lucas Kranak. Brave Prague citizens save fragments of the altar from destruction. Peter Paul Rubin's the most famous painter of his time. The rich and powerful fight over his paintings. The religious struggles of the epoch also affected the artist's home, Anverp in Flanders, a part of the southern Netherlands.
Not only that, the struggles influenced his life story as well. His parents were persecuted as suspected Protestants. Reuben's on the other hand is a committed Catholic. The churches in Anverb are proud of his monumental works. Protestants. During the rise of Protestantism and the Reformation, Protestants turned against the Catholic images and paintings so that quite a number of artworks disappeared from the churches. concern. Years ago, a devastating religious purge similar to the one in Prague took place in Anferb. Since then, the city has returned to Catholic hands.
New orders were placed for religious works, for churches, promoting the Catholic Church and the Catholic faith. and the saints and the virgin Mary were given a very important and triumphant role in those paintings. Reuben's played a prominent role in this revolution. He received many important commissions. for [snorts] in paintings and letters, Reuben's has immortalized Isabella Brandt, the first love of his life and his first wife. He was originally married to Isabella Brandt and together they had three children. He wrote in a letter about her that she was one of the best wives that everybody loved her and that you couldn't help loving her because she was such a good
wife compared to other women who were maybe more capricious. She was an honest, good wife and everybody would love her. Of course, this also shows us how women were viewed in the 17th century. The letter can be interpreted as a little sexist, but more importantly, it shows how much he loved his wife Isabella Brandt. Isabella. The age of Reubins is the Barack. Grief over the transients of things meets lust for life. For the people of this era, love is an experience equally as intense as things such as misery and pain. And separation from one's beloved is perceived by some to be as terrible as death. That's what happens to Elizabeth. for her. Just a few weeks after her coronation, Prague becomes above all a place of loneliness.
Elizabeth was not happy in Bohemia. She felt very out of touch. She did not know the language, not a single one of the languages spoken in the Czech Kingdom. It was cold, cold weather. In comparison with England, the ways of this country's people seemed somewhat provincial and barbaric and socially backward to her. And this is reflected in her relationship with this strange country which she never learned to love and with its people. King Frederick seeks the assistance of his subjects all over Bohemia, but the nobles follow their own interests and citizens have lost confidence in their king.
Between 1618 and 1619, the fortunes of war were volatile and for a while favored the emperor's troops and for a while those of the estates. But the situation began to change in 1620 to the detriment of the Bohemian insurgents. Only Elizabeth's father, the King of England, can help. Desperate, Elizabeth turns to his adviser. When English ambassadors arrive in Prague, a huge imperial army already threatens the city. Nearby White Mountain will be the scene of the battle. World history considers the Battle of White Mountain to be the first battle of the 30 Years War, or at least the first major battle, which it truly was since it was the first decisive confrontation. name was Schling It is November the 8th, 1620.
The Bohemian army has entrenched itself on a ridge of hills. An attack seems futile. Shortly before the battle, a priest finds a desecrated image of Mary in a Bohemian church. He carries this icon to the front line of the Imperial troops. The Imperial Army is supported by Spanish troops and is three times stronger than the Bohemian army. The defenders trust in their strong position, but the Bohemians seem less than ready to lose their lives for their king. On the other hand, the Catholic aggressors throw themselves into battle with courage. According to legend, the Virgin Mary herself inspires their will to fight.
The Catholic army was significantly better paid and provided for than the troops of the Bohemian estates who after long months were still owed a lot of pay. Maybe that had a greater impact. [snorts] This is the majority of the Bohemian Estates army did not fight. There are documented cases of regiments who fired one shot as their military honor required and then left the battlefield in a more or less orderly fashion. For Bohemia and its allies, the Battle of White Mountain is a catastrophic defeat. It was over in an hour. The Imperial Army loses only a few hundred soldiers during the assault.
The defenders mourn thousands of victims. The survivors beat a hasty retreat towards Prague. It is a well-known fact that when the battle was taking place, Frederick Palatine sat here at Prague Castle and attended a banquet in honor of the English ambassadors. When he went to the battlefield, it was too late. A wooden relief in Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral shows the royal couple leaving the capital in panic after the battle has been lost. In the middle of the Charles Bridge, Frederick loses the Bohemian Crown jewels. They become loot for the victors. The fleeing couple will never reclaim either these symbols of power nor the royal throne itself.
The victorious Catholic's revenge is terrible. In just one day in Prague in 1621, dozens of rebels are publicly beheaded. The executioner dulls four swords. The emperor intends to visit a particularly cruel fate on the physician Yan Yenius. the executioner decapitated him, Yanius's tongue was torn out while he was still alive precisely because he used his tongue to speak very skillfully against the house of Habsburg. After he was executed, his body was quartered and the individual parts were placed on a scaffold at the city gates as an example. where the royal couple is granted exile.
In 1632, she loses her beloved husband forever. She survives Frederick by three decades. Only shortly before her death in 1662 will Elizabeth see her British homeland one last time. Frederick of the Palatinate is known to history as the unfortunate winter king. His Bohemian adventure through Europe into a 30 years war. A leaflet shows Frederick climbing the wheel of fortune and becoming king. After that, however, he plunges into the sea where he is in danger of drowning.
Fishermen pull him ashore. They represent the Protestant part of the Netherlands. Because they take refuge in the Hague, the royal couple carry their conflict with the emperor into the Netherlands. The country is in a state of great uncertainty anyway. In 1621, the Netherlands is a divided country. In the southern parts of the country, for example, Antworp, the home of the Reubens, and here and there, it is Catholic and it is under Spanish influence and is also called the Spanish Netherlands. On the other hand, the northern parts of the country are Calvinist and are known as the Dutch Republic.
These two parts are opposed to each other and have been in conflict for decades. The same month that Frederick and Elizabeth arrive in the Hague to seek military help to regain their kingdom, a 12-year-old truce is ending. together with her husband Alrech Spanish Queen Isabella rules the southern Netherlands. Both come from the house of Habsburg. Most of her portraits were painted by Peter Paul Reuben's Alrech and Isabella offered him the position of royal painter. It was rather unusual that he did not have to move to Brussels but was allowed to stay in Antworp where he also enjoyed other exceptional liberties. the freed. We know he had enormous social ambitions.
The fact that he was involved in the war and state affairs only added to his status. Of course, that was probably one of the main reasons why Reuben's became involved in diplomacy. Soldier for hire Peter Handorf reveals a completely different world in his diary. You won't find reports of high politics or the course of the war there. Hagenorf writes about the everyday life and horror of being a soldier through his own experience. He does not fabricate battle myths and does not try to understand the plans of the generals.
He is concerned with the endless marches, the hunger and dirt, and also with friendship and betrayal. The diary tells us in very simple language what was important to this mercenary, food, wine, or the conditions in his regiment. And these are things that we do not hear from anyone else. He marched through Italy, all over Germany, through France, partly on the Baltic and the Baltic states. In total, he marched about 24,000 kilometers with his regiment on foot. His next adventure will lead Peter Hagenorf beyond the Alps. The Miller son started out as young and inexperienced, but the war has not yet shown its true face.
