The Past and Present Society

The Thirty Years' War Author(s): J. V. Poliensk Source: Past & Present, No. 6 (Nov., 1954), pp. 31-43 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/649813 . Accessed: 01/09/2013 10:43
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The ThirtyYears' War

In his stimulatingwork on the seventeenthcentury,G. N. Clark writes: "Somewhereabout the middleof theseventeenth century Europeanlife thatwe commonly in many ofits aspects transformed was so completely ofmodern watersheds ofthisas one of thegreat think history."' Mr. Clark's introductory Even if we cannot accept all his statements, thesis is a workable one. The English Revolution and the Treaties of Westphalia mark the end of a long period of transitionand rapid change. This period has so many similaritieswith the world we live in that more than one contemporarywriterhas been induced to say " we are living in the seventeenthcentury." It is not our aim to discover historicalparallels, but to understand how change was brought about. But, unless we share W. Nif's descriptionof the Thirty Years' War as the last of the religiouswars and one of the many " Kabinettkriege,"2we must admit that its outcome was vitallyimportantfor the whole of ContinentalEurope; and we may thereforehope that a closer study of the change in society in the seventeenthcenturymay improve our understanding of both the past and presenttroublesof the European Community. I have an unfortunate Traditional interpretations tendencytowardsa and therebyinhibit historiansfrom conservative oversimplification, using new methods, as well as new sources. The Thirty Years' War is traditionally pictured as a religious conflictwhich " degenerated " into a political one, or as a political conflictcamouflaged by religious ideologies. Traditionally it is limited in space and time, of Germany and her to the years 1618-i648 and to the territory neighbours.3 does not explain whythe Dutch see the conflict This interpretation as but a part of their Eighty Years' War, why the Pope sided with the Lutheran Swedes, why their victory at Breitenfeld over the Imperial Army was celebrated in Moscow with the ringingof bells, with divine services and a militaryparade. Italians like Romolo Quazza and Soviet historianslike B. F. Porshnevand 0. L. Vainstein4 doubt that the conflictwas a predominantlyGerman affair. Czech historiansare also unsatisfiedthat a war which startedwith the coup

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of23rdMay, I618) and endedwiththe in Prague(thedefenestration on the Old Bridgein Prague in October I648 has much fighting Germanaboutit. specifically to examinethe originof the traditional The most recentwriter has stressed that itis basedon twogroups ofdocuments interpretation - the official propagandaof the victoriouspowers, especially and on unwittingly one-sidedprivate Sweden and Brandenburg, recordsof middle class writers, who, in this author'sview, are " those who suffered most."5 His conclusion, thatthe traditional of the latter view was createdby the Brandenburg propagandists andaccepted half oftheseventeenth bytheGerman century bourgeois be accepted. ofthenineteenth century, can,in general, historians thatthe defeated side also had their But it mustnot be forgotten and propagandists, historians strong enoughto make theirversion and one that one in Central an official Europeforat leasta century, Catholic writers. The middle lingerseven today among strictly a group that suffered class writers much, but certainly represent most. The worstsufferers were the " Boors, theydid not suffer the rabble,the commonpeople." They foundbut fewapologists, chanceto challenge theofficial view. and thesehad little of the " Great GermanWar," popularisedby The conception fromGrimmelshausen and Moscherosch to Gustav men of letters of Germany lost much of its appeal afterthe unification Freytag, of the presentcentury, Professor by Prussia. At the beginning of the war R. Hoenigerand his pupilstriedto showthatthe results became than hadbeenasserted before lessdisastrous werefar Germany H. Preuss, and especially militarised a highly power. R. Hoeniger, the decline of the view thatthe war onlycompleted representatives of Germanywere severelycriticised by G. Franz,6the historian Franz held thatthe direct of the greatPeasant War in Germany; crisiswhich resultsof the war were less seriousthanthe agrarian was a its conclusion. He showedthatthe crisis cameto a head after aboutitsorigins.7 one,but said nothing prolonged BeforeI933 most Germanhistorians, especiallyW. Goetz and abandoned theconception oftheThirty Years' Waras W. Mommsen, war in favour of a view thatits causes were manyand a religious Hitler'saccession and W. Wostry to power,G. Ritter varied.8 After " of a " belatedecho of confessional to thepicture reverted struggles intoa struggle forpower. To this,rather whichchanged illogically, added the " national Ritter Professor passionsof the Czech people" as one of the causes of the war.9 K. Brandialso emphasisedthe the and it is his workwhichhas deeplyinfluenced motives, religious

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Miss Wedgwood approached the difficult subject with great was courage; her book reads well. But in her view the conflict and seemsalmost meaningless. She claims unnecessary, impartiality, is heavily indebted to thewriters of the Imperial but herstandpoint cites worksin nearlya dozen different party. Her bibliography to producean adequate and, indeed,it wouldbe difficult languages, at least a reading of the languages of the knowledge studywithout involved. But a look at her scantyCzech titles peoples actively thattheywere drawneitherfromotherbibliographies, or suggests fromworksin German,or even in Spanish. The sectionof her in Bohemiaappearsto be based book whichdeals withthe conflict in German. She has missedmodern on writings almostexclusively writers like V. L. Tapie,10who is well acquaintedwiththe Czech overfacts and arguments and has gonewrong in theolder literature, works. It is not true that " the Estatesof Bohemiaconsistedof and peasants," threedivisions, forthe structure of nobles,burghers Czech societywas solidly feudal before i6i8.11 Her authority, A. Gindely, says thatCount Thurn,one of the leadersof the antiwas fromhis youtha Protestant who spoke poor Habsburgrevolt, makes hima Catholic whoturned Czech. Miss Wedgwood Lutheran, and knewno Czech."2 Whenshe callsthe Counta " mereknight," the significance of titles. When one wondersif she understands in chargeof ten Gindelysays that the Emperorleftthe country Miss Wedgwood reduces them to five. Her deputy-governors, character of the country is at fault. knowledgeof the linguistic of the Imperialist case, it Though her workis a bravepresentation it can claimto remain" the standard whether is doubtful authority on thesubject."13 in I939, did not represent The late GeorgesPages, also writing as the centreof everything.He saw the ThirtyYears' Germany directed War as a Europeanconflict, subtly by Frenchdiplomacy.14 the This is moreor less the viewof EdwardMcCabe, who regards ofa " scramble for waras theresult power" between existing political eachofthem. and within units, This " scramblefor power" has been put into perspective by 0. L. Vainstein. " In point of fact,"he writes," the European 15 ofthefighting thebeginning in Germany." crisis existed longbefore of this crisis in the sixteenth Hie seeksthe beginning very century, of and specifically in thethird muchas does S. T. Bindoff,16 quarter in the struggle of the United Provincesagainstthe the century,

in 1939.

most recentEnglish study,publishedby Miss C. V. Wedgwood

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therevolt oftheDutchas the regards SpanishHabsburgs. Vainstein firstblow to the Halsburg claims to hegemony. " The signal was forthe crisisof European(and inner German)contradictions in Bohemia." revolution givenby thenational and Bindoff But, thoughVainstein agreethatthe ThirtyYears' War was thelogicaloutcomeof a long politicalcrisis,they payvery to thebackground ofthiscrisis. attention little II was was of European dimensions The belief that the conflict writers. Thus two of the fairlycommon among contemporary " Unpartial in theanonymous Discussion . . . ofthe three speakers " Dutchman" combat the assertionof a German nobleman(a " Juncker ") that the preliminary part of the long conflict (the revoltof the Estates of Bohemia againstthe Habsburgs,or the trivialrevolt. In their opinion,the Bohemiannobilityacted in self-defence, tryingto stave off the coming onslaughtof their adversaries. of the period,JohnAmos The most famousof Czech writers Comenius,addressedan eloquentplea to the Swedish Chancellor thefactthathis countryin Octoberi648. He stressed Oxenstierna all, one after men, " when latelythe enemieswantedto destroy so thatby their ruintheygave of theattack, borethe brunt another, is repeated themselves."17This argument a chanceto defend others
again and again in the diplomatic correspondence of I618-I620. Bohemian War 1618-I620) was the outcome of an unnecessary and Causes of the Bohemian War" of I632, a " Bohemian" and a

in letterssent by the King-electof Bohemia, It occurs frquently to the States General.18 Again and of the Palatinate, Frederick of the againsta " dangerand commotion again we hear of a fight of the comingattackof the Habsburgs whole of Christendom," against " the whole West and these lands," of " nostre comun party." In the diplomaticdealings betweenPrague, London and the were stressed;the importance Hague otheraspectsof the struggle between therevolt affinities factor and therecurring oftheeconomic of the United ProvincesagainstSpain and that of the Bohemian Estates. From Februaryto October I620 Sir Dudley Carleton, English Ambassadorat the Hague, reportedback home on the entangled problemof Dutch subsidiesforBohemiaand the Dutch thefishing with settlement for a prompt London,concerning requests thathe " saw no community Sir Dudleyprotested rights. Although

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of Germanyand Bohemia) had . . . with the they (the affairs fishing upon the coastsof England,Scotlandand Ireland,"he had to repeat similarrequestsfor the settlement of the Anglo-Dutch in the East Indies and upon the coastof Greenland.19The rivalry to stress mosteloquentattempt theparallels between thebeginnings of the revoltin the Netherlands and in Bohemiais foundin the of the Czech exile Paul Skala.20 Sir Dudley Ecclesiastical History at the Hague knewhis Dutch hostsbetter, Carleton their explaining to aid the Bohemianrebels" as that,whichdothmuch willingness them to keepthehouseofAustria nowtowards import busyelsewhere There were many people at the beginning of the seventeenth who wereof theopinionthat" the revolutions of theworld century before willin all likelihood manydayspass overour heads,forcibly revolt carryus out of thispeaceabletime."22 Since the successful of the Dutch bourgeoisieagainst its feudal ruler, the United Provinces was the nucleusof a loose " party,"of a predominantly Protestant group, enemiesboth of the CatholicChurch and the states: Habsburgs. It includedthe following Spanishand Austrian the Swiss cantons England,France, the Scandinavian kingdoms, sometimes and the Germanprinces, withsympathVenice,together isers in Centraland EasternEurope, amongthemthe Protestant Estatesof Bohemiaand Hungary. Their opponents a more formed and moreformidable defined thecombined clearly group, comprising " the two branches of the " Casa d'Austria of the Habsburg might the Papal Curia,mostof the Italianstatesand the " Spain dynasty, oftheNorth" - Poland. Not evenTurkey and Russiawereoutside thesetwo systems. differences There were considerable among the member-states commonto each. of both groups,but therewere some features " powersand the " unsatisfied Thus the Protestant comprised party " powersof the sixteenth the Catholicparty the " satisfied century. after in the And whileSpain,especially i580, had a vitualmonopoly of colonies,the Protestants soughtto breakdown this exploitation Catholic monopoly. At thesametimeSpanishclaimsto a universal, weresupported ofinnumerable monarchy by theauthors pamphlets, known suchas Campenella, whowas muchbetter byhis" Monarchia Ispanica" thanbyhis " CityoftheSun." The Spanish monarchy was synonymous with the government in Castileafter of the whichthe Habsburgs introduced theirdefeat " absolutum Communeros. The Spanish model of a " dominium reservations of the Austrian was acceptedwithout by the members
the time of the expiration of the truce (with Spain in I62I)."21

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branch of the Habsburg dynasty, as well as a numberof other of the " Spanish" group. The characteristic monarchs feature of this type of feudal absolute monarchy was total disregard of the interestsof the smaller dependantsof the feudal ruling class, theburgesses oftheroyal towns. This disregard, especially together with the burden of taxation,cost the Spaniards dear in the wherea rich,rising knewthatthe NetherNetherlands, bourgeoisie lands had a key positionin the realmof the Spanish Habsburgs. oftheregime ofPhilipII23 Thoughwe havetodaya better knowledge thefactremains thattheHabsburgs from their differed on colleagues the Frenchand Englishthrones in theirattempt to eliminate the influence of the Estates. It is not enoughto say that" the general progressof time was towards absolutism."24The trend to it co-existedat the beginning of the seventeenth with the century trend towards therepresentation oftheeconomically activemembers and bourgeoisie. We must not forget of the lower nobility that had to comeinto a fierce withthe absolutist theseelements conflict northe" imperium state. Neither theabsolute mixtum," monarchy in whichthemonarchy had to shareits powerswithan assembly of " or " retrogressive." " progressive was in itself Whatwas estates, was the relation of one or the otherform of stateto the important different social groups. The old landed class was on the defensive and the " pricerevolution." in an age of expanding money economy of the feudalism A. F. Pollardonce statedthatthe break-up of the Middle Ages was the cause of the social unrestof the sixteenth We can go further; it certainly led to an intensified century.25 forpowerin the state,forwell paid jobs, forthe control of struggle forthe reintegraresources of the country in question, theeconomic intothe old order. tion of burgher and peasantcommunities in England,and temporarily in France, Onlyin the Netherlands, was the bourgeoisie powerful enoughto hold its own. In these of commerce and industry, centres townswereflourishing countries, wherebig capitalwas accumulated. In Poland, easternGermany also in the South of Europe, the townswere being and partially ofbig estates intotheeconomy incorporated (demesnes). The result or at least of was the declineof townsand a new wave of serfdom of the subjugation of the conditions to legalizethe serf-like attempts population. peasant countries In most Continental politicalpower was still in the to study hands of a feudal aristocracy.It is therefore necessary used to overcome theireconomic closelythe devicesits members This could be done effectively eitherin and through difficulties.

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or the monarchy theabsolutemonarchy of theestates. A considerof landholders able majority the older system of estates. preferred On theother it easierto groupat their found hand,feudalmonarchs courts the members of thehighnobility. To their amazement they in CentralEurope,thattheirstruggle discovered, especially against the opposition of the estatescoincided withtheirattempts to defeat the religiousideology they had learned to hate, Protestantism, form of it, Calvinism. Thus thefight themilitant especially against the defenders of estateswenthand in hand withthe of the system Protestant and Protestant fight against nobility burghers. called the Thus, it appearsthatthe politicalconflict, commonly ThirtyYears' War, was the logicaloutcomeof the crisisof policy of the old feudalrulingclass. This political crisisof the declining sixteenthand the commencing seventeenth centurieshad deep social and economic roots. Economicand political changesdid not resultedin a develop evenly. The law of uneven development in those countries whose economicand political peculiarsituation " interests werein a violent contradiction.These " buffer-countries regarded as lay in a disputedno-man'sland and were necessarily naturaldangerzones. The case of Bohemia,wherethe conflict brokeout in the end material thecontradictions suppliesus withillustrative concerning of the economicbasis of a given insideand uneven development its ideas and institutions. society, III ofthecase ofBohemia, Before we should we launchuponthestudy thereis enoughnew material perhapsanswerthe questionwhether forsucha task. Thereis first, muchmaterial still unusedin normally accessible in Miss Wedgwood's archives. A glanceat thereferences book shows that her study,just like that of her predecessors 250 based on narrative sources, chronicles, memoirs, yearsago, is mainly biographiesand the printedpart of diplomaticcorrespondence. material of this kindin all major There is a mass of unpublished CentralEuropeanarchives. But if we wantto explainthe causes, the course and the consequencesof a phenomenon such as the ThirtyYears' War we shall have to study sources,hitherto landand taxregisters, account muster books,tollregisters, neglected, and the like. These are now being studied rolls,parishregisters workers; extensively by groupsof research thoughthe task is far fromcompletion, the partialresultsof this research can be used. The archives of Central also vastpossibilities Europehave,however,

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to enrichwhat Fernand Braudel calls " histoireevenementielle." of former landlords In the last decade, some 650 privatearchives into public hands. They have been organized and were brought timein their forthefirst history openedto scholars. They contain of the military and Bouquoy, of Wallenstein the remnants chancery withpapersof otherprominent such as Verdugo, generals together the younger Anhalt,Coloredo,Gallas and Piccolomini. It would alonecan yielda newpicture thatthisnewmaterial be rashto pretend butitcertainly one. oftheconflict, givesa solidbasisfor to explainwhy If we wantto elucidatethe causes of the conflict, had started and notin the Rhineland or in in Bohemia, the conflict the the Danubian area, we musthave in mindthe actual situation lands of the Crownof Bohemia(Bohemiaproper, Moravia,Silesia of the seventeenth and Lusatia) werein at the beginning century. realmoftheAustrian From 1526theywerepartofthemultinational these lands had a key position. Habsburgs. In that monarchy theTurksthan against They paid moretaxesand sentmoresoldiers of the Habsburgs. At the time,whenthree any otherpossessions and the three of the Electorsof the EmpirewerestaunchCatholics the Bohemianvote securedthe othersequallystaunchProtestants, fortheHabsburgs. dignity Imperial This important positionfound Bohemia (we will thus referto ofBohemia) thefour landsoftheCrown extraordinarily ill-equipped. ofthelate of Bohemiain thechanging Whatwas theposition society ? sixteenth century had up ofthefifthteenth the Hussitemovement century Although it did blowthefeudal order eversuffered, to thattimebeentheworst of the old feudalrulingclass not destroy thatorder. The position had been seriously impairedbut it was not destroyed. On the to contrary, verysoon the landlordsbegan a swiftcounter-attack werein a better lostpositions. Peasants position regainmostoftheir elsein Central thananywhere in theBohemiaofthefifteenth century to subdue the peasant Europe. When the landlordsattempted " old liberties." Theylostmost their thepeasants defended masses, but the process of of the I7th century, of themby the beginning rentwas stillgoingon of thelabourrentintoa money commutation few. on servile labourwererelatively and feudaldemesnes dependent Much greaterwas the numberof demesnesusing wage labour. areaswerenotyet excluded from The peasants in thegrain-growing between conflicts werenumerous themarket. Thoughthere peasants or risingswere relatively and theiroverlords, collective resistance fewbefore 16I8.

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the townsalso gainedmanyvaluableprivileges Bohemian during of offensive the renewed from Hussite Wars,but theytoo suffered the feudal forcesof society. A glance at the Bohemianregisters withlet us and a comparison of the sixteenth of taxation century say,the" StateofEngland" by Sir ThomasWilsonshowshowmuch fromthatin England. In both in Bohemiadiffered the situation but was precarious, of the nobility situation the economic countries Bohemian nobles were more successfulin gainingnew ground. were eitherjoiningthe ranksof the noblesor rapidly The knights the backboneof losingtheirland. They were usuallyconsidered betweenthem had because the old difference the lower nobility, long since disappeared. Their numberwas rapidlydiminishing, of and many of them were in a dependentpositionas stewards of the Crown. Whatis even moreimportant, big lordsor officers therewere hardlyany yeomenleftin Bohemia,and such as there moneyand influence. Withsmalllandwere,theywere without in lords disapearingand hardly a nucleus of ruralbourgeoisie ruledin the countryside. the magnates existence, the more active of the feudal stimulated General uncertainty incomesrather economicactivity. Diminishing lordsto a feverish else were its cause.26 This was also the source of than anything whichled the nobles to their animosity againstthe townspeople, failed in I547, whena risingagainstthe Habsburgs actual betrayal and the townswere made to pay dearlyfortheirtemerity. They and could and theireconomic influence losttheirpolitical privileges againstruthlessexploitation by the King not defendthemselves and *the aristocracy.The heavy burden of taxationand forced of capital loans bled thetownswhite. There was a severeshortage had been legal since wherea io per cent.interest in the country, the the end of the fifteenth century. This meantthat whenever of merchants the this amount fell below Prague, trade from gains rate was falling Olomouc etc. ceased theiractivities. The profit clothtrade becauseof the Turkishwarswhichmadethe Hungarian " whichmade cloth and becauseofthe" Price Revolution too risky, to Poland too expensive. On the otherhand, finecloth exported - by English fromEngland and the Netherlands was imported and factors their and of London the Prague merchants, Jacksons William Farrington, John Oldfield. English,and other partners, Vienna fromNuremberg, merchants foreign (especiallymerchants trade of branches the most hands in their had and Italy) important took and industry. Even the Prague patriciate only exceptionally linenindustry zinc,tin)whilethedeveloping partin mining (copper,

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in I618-1620, if they were at the same time active as bankers and

with its elementsof dispersedmanufacture was in the hands of foreigners.Thus the exportof manufactured goods fellat a time when the old basis of the country's wealth,the Bohemiansilver in view of cheaperAmericansilver.27 mines,lost theirimportance The old mining and Kutna Hora centres, (Joachimsthal) Jachymov in Bohemia,Rychleby in Silesia declined, whilethe era of ironhad not yet started. Here, too, the initiative was in the handsof the and the foreigners, fromthe NetherCrown,the magnates mostly lands. Thus theeconomic lifeofBohemia roundI6oo showsserious of production and markets. signsof shrinkage Bohemia,the economicbackboneof the power of the Austrian a weak country with the dangerous Habsburgswas economically ofbeinga richcountry. Aspects oftheeconomic malaise reputation of the struggle forpower. Together explainthe growing intensity ninetenths ofthepopulation, with a largemajority of thenobility and all thetownspeople wereProtestant ofdifferent shades. They nearly " againstthe were also defenders of the old political " liberties The oftheruling classformed the" Spanish" Habsburgs. minority of the partyat the court. Their hope lay in a speedy victory Habsburgruler. In thesame yearI609, whenthe Dutch signed a twelve theBohemian Estatesgaineda years'trucewiththe Spaniard, over theiropponentsin the famousLetter of temporary victory theirreligious liberties. A new constitution Majesty,guaranteeing forthe country was also prepared, but it was never agreedto by the in I617 the combinedstrength of Habsburgs. On the contrary, the Spanish and the Austrianbranchesof the Habsburg family theEstatesto acceptFerdinand forced II as their future King. The " Spanish" party, now in power,started a campaignagainsttheir on the approaching renewalof opponents,and these, reckoning hostilities on the Netherlands triedto anticipate the coming front, " and the onslaught. This led to the " Defenestration openingof hostilities. In the lightof the new sourcesthe courseof the conflict can also be corrected. With Germanyand Bohemia as principalbattlewithEnglandleavingthe conflict the outbreak grounds, longbefore of the Civil War, with Sweden,fighting withDutch, Frenchand Russian subsidies,and France waitingfor her chance, only the Netherlands and the Habsburgsstayedon as permanent dramatis personae. Brussels and the Hague formedfor the most part in the earlier the axis of all diplo(especially stagesof the conflict) matic to helptheBohemian Estates activity. AndiftheDutchfailed

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in both Swedenand Denmark, if theydeserted industrial organizers in January the coalition by theinner I648, all thiscan be explained of the model capitalistcountry of the seventeenth development the finalabandonment of the Bohemiancause century. Similarly in Sweden. withthe situation by the Allieswas closelyconnected wherever The economic interests oftheDe Geerfamily are visible copperwas knownto be buriedunderthe ground.28But neither the generals, nor the diplomatic agents,not even early capitalists like De Geer, are the heroesof the war. These are to be seen in murdered robbed and wantonly the commonpeople, tortured, by " observers," of both sides. As earlyas 1620, the foreign soldiery withthe Bohemianarmy,the Dutch van Mario, the then present Venetian agent Carlo Antoniniand the English agent Francis in the wrote in thesameveinofthe greatpeasantrisings Nethersole rear of both armies. In the end, theysay, one cannotblame the suffered too much. And thatwas poor " boers,"theyhave already only the beginningof the war!29 These popular movements, whetherin Moravia, southern Italy, Germany or Normandy, the risings of the Clubmenof the West Country during resembling oftheconflict.30 to a realistic theCivilWar,are indispensable picture ofthewar. The Thereis a lot to be said abouttheconsequences Treatiesof WestphaliafoundEnglandtoo busy withher internal and the affairs. The Dutch had their independence guaranteed " disappeared,but danger of the Spanish " universalmonarchy the Austrian pushedout of Germany, thoughvirtually Habsburgs, got a carteblanchein Centraland South EasternEurope. In this area the consequences of the Treatieswerefatal. It meantvictory of the Habsburgs, for the political and ideological programme feudalorder. In most withthe programme of a restored together parts of Central Europe, especiallyin Bohemia, this meant an of and a wholesaledestruction of former development interruption materialand culturalassets accumulated by generations. Ilussite Bohemiaceased to existin the middleof the seventeenth century which and was followed by the Bohemiaof the " secondserfdom," would towards decidedthateventhe future capitalism development and thepeople. fewpositive assetsto thecountry bring IV at the A historian, back overthe space of threecenturies looking Years' War, called the Thirty of powerpolitics, peculiarexhibition and the disease cannotbut concludethatthiswar,like the poverty

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thataccompanied a breakit,was a morbid phenomenon signalizing down in the process of civilization. It would be utterly falseto this military caused by a politicalcrisis,whichwas conflict, glorify itself the outcomeof social and economicchangestaking place in a oftransition. period
Prague. J. V. Polisensky.

NOTES
1 G. N. Clark, The Seventeenth Oxford, I947, p. IX. Century, 2 W. Nif, Die Epochen der neuerenGeschichte, Staat und Staatsgemeinschaft vom Ausgangedes Mlittelalters bis zur Gegenwart, Aaran, I945. Cf. also S. H. Steinberg,The ThirtyYears' War: A new interpretation, History,Vol. XXXII, 1947, pp. 89-102. 3 See e.g. E. Preclin-V. L. Tapi6, Le XVIIe sidcle , Monarchies centralisees (1610-I715), Clio, Paris, I949, pp. 66-70. 4 R. Quazza, II periodo italiano della guerra de Trenta Anni, in: Miscell. Carlo Emanuele I, Torino, I930. The same, Storia Politica d'Italia, PreMilano, 1950. B. F. Porshnev, Russkie ponderanza spagnuola (I557-I700), subsidii Shevetsii vo vremya Tridsatyilyetnoy-voyni, Izvestiya Akademii nauk SSSR II, I945 No. 5 (Russian Subsidies to Sweden duringthe Thirty Years' War, Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR II, I945, No. 5). 0. L. Vainstein, Rossiya i Tridsatyilyetnyaya Voyna I618-I648 gg. (Russia and the ThirtyYears' War I618-i648), Moscow-Leningrad I947. A. Gindely, Geschichte des Dreissigjahrigen Krieges, Prag, 3 vols, I869-78. On the other oC Bohemia in his: Spainzand the hand, B. Chudoba tries to diminishthe r6ole EmpireI519-1643, Chicago, I952. 5 S. H. Steinberg, op. cit.,p. 90-92. 6 R. Hoeniger, Der Dreissigjdhrihe Kultur,Preussische Krieg und die deutsche des deutschen JahrbucherI38, I909, pp. 403-450. H. Preuss, Die Entwicklung StddtewesensI, I906, p. I29. W. Giunther, Grundzige der sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungin Deutschland im Zeitalter des Dreissigjdhrigen Krieg Krieges, doctoral thesis, Berlin, I93I. G. Franz, Der Dreissigjdhrige und das deutsche Volk,Jena, I940. 7 Compare in this connection W. Abel, Die Wiistungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters, Jena,I943. 8 W. Goetz, Die Gegenreformation in Deutschland,Propylaen Weltgeschichte V, I930, pp. 386-394. W. Mommsen, Vier Jahrzehnteeuropdischer Krieg I618-I648, Propylaen-Weltgeschichte V, I930, pp. 395 sq. 9 G. Ritter,Die kirchliche imjahrhundert und staatliche Neugestaltung Eutropas der Reformation und Gegenrefornation, Die neue Propylaen Weltgeschichte, III, I94I. W. Wostry, Deutschland und die europdischeWelt zur Zeit des Dreissigjahrigen Krieges,in the same volume of the N.P.W. Cf. now A. Meusel, der Geschichte des deutsehen Volkes Disposition des Hochschullehrsbuches I 15, Berlin,I953, p. 771-773. fuir Geschichtswissenschaft (I400-I648), Zeitschrift 10V. L. Tapie, La politiqueetrangere de la France et le debutde la guerrede Trente ans. Paris, I934. 11C. V. Wedgwood, op. cit., p. 71-72. Cf. J. Polisensky,Anglie a Bild hora(The Bohemian War and BritishPolicy 1618-1620), Prague, 1949,pp. I4-15. 12 C. V. Wedgwood, op. cit., p. 74 and A. Gindel]y,op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 90-92.

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THE THIRTYYEARS'WAR

43

13K. Brandix, Deutsche Geschichte und Gegenimn Zeitalter der Reformation reformation, Leipzig, I941. C. V. Wedgwood, The Thirty Years' War, 2nd ed., London, I939. The quotation is from A. L. Rowse's review in the Spectator, printedon the flapof the reviewedbook. "4 Georges Pages, La Guerre de Trente ans 1618-1648, Paris, I939. The same, La Naissance de Grandsi&cle, Paris, I948. 15E. Mc Cabe, England's Foreign Policy in 1619, Mitteilungendes Instituts fur Oesterreichische Geschichte LVIII, Graz, 1950, pp. 457-477. 0. L. Vainstein,op. cit., p. 6. 16 S. T. Bindoff,The Netherlands and England; The Parting of the Ways, Utrecht,I949. 17Jana Amosa KomenskehoKorespondence . . . (J. A. Comenius, Letters), ed. by A. Patera, Prague, I891, pp. I44-145. 18E.g. Frederickofthe Palatinateto the States General,Prague,27th October, I620, Staaten Generaal, n. 5982, the Hague, photostats in the Historical Instituteof the Academy, Prague. 19 Sir Dudley Carleton to S. R. Naunton, the Hague, 8th February, I620, in: Letters fromand to Sir D. C. during his Embassy in Holland, London, I780, pp. 437-440. See also Carleton's letter of i6th March, I620 (pp. 447-450). S. R. Naunton to D. Carleton,Hampton Court, ioth October, Holland. Cf. also Carleton's Letters,. 1620, P.R.O. London, S.P. Foreign, PP. 503-504. 20 Paval Skala ze Zhore, Historiexeskd (Historv of Bohemia), Vol. IV, ed. by K. Tieftrunk, Prague, I868, p. i86.

between England and Germany. . . Vol. II, London i868, p. 7. 23Fernand Braudel, La Mfditerran6e & l'epoque et ie monde mnditerraneen de PhilippeII, Paris, I949. 24 G. N. Clark, op. cit., pp. 83-90. sA. F. Pollard, Factors in Modern History,3rd ed., London, 1948, p. 117. In the followingI have used the argumentsof my studyon the Bohemian War and British Policy (cf. note 12) and its so far unpublished sequel" Bohemia and the Netherlands 1618-i620." 26Thereforeit will be necessaryto revise the argumentsof W. Stark in his in den Grossbetriebs book Ursprung und Aufstieg des landzwirtschaftlichen bdhmischen Landern Prague, I934. 27 See B. Mendl, Les Grandes Decouvertes et l'argentde Boheme,Bulletin of the International Committeeof Historical Sciences VII, I935, pp. 484-495. 28 On the De Geer familyand its many-sided activitiessee bibliographical in the Seventeenth notes in: V. Barbour, Capitalism in Amsterdam Century, Baltimore, I95o, esp. p. 37. Cf. also I. Andersson, SchwedischeGeschichte, der holldndMiinchen I95o, p. 250 and finallyJ. and A. Rome in, Ahnherren ischen Kultur, Bern, I946, pp. 178-205. 29F. Nethersole to S. R. Naunton, Prague, 5th November, 1620, P.R.O. London, S.P. 8i /i9, I29-158; Conway and Weston to Naunton, Prague, November, i620, P.R.O., S.P. 8i /I9, I25-I26. 5th 30Their impact in I648 was re-consideredby B. F. Porshnev,Angliyskaya mir (The English Republic, respublika,frantsuzskayaFronda i Vestfalskiy the French Fronde and the Treaty of Westphaiia), Srednie veka III, Moscow
i95i, pp. 180-216.

21 Letters, p. 314. 22 S. R. Gardiner, Letters and other Documentsillustratingthe Relations

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