!!!Reformationszeitalter 1522-1620
Reformation Era 1522-1620: Considerable territorial changes occurred
during this epoch in the Habsburg Empire: In 1493, after the death of
Friedrich III, his son Maximilian I, who had received Tirol
and the Vorlande from his cousin Sigmund in 1490, united under his
rule all of the Habsburg possessions. Owing to his son Philipp's
marriage to Joan of Castile the realm of the Habsburgs comprised after
1516 not only large parts of western Europe (Netherlands, Burgundy,
Spain) but also the gradually acquired American continent and the
significance of the German-speaking lands diminished in relation to
this territorial expansion. Maximilian's grandson Karl V shared
these vast possessions with his brother Ferdinand. Karl retained Spain
and Burgundy and the emperorship, while Ferdinand I received the
German hereditary lands and the Vorlande. Ferdinand's marriage to Anna
of Hungary (d. 1547) was of decisive importance to the further
development of this part of the realm, since he became heir apparent
to the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary, so that Central Europe became
the focal area of his rule. However, the death of King Ludwig II
in 1526 at the same time marked the beginning of the centuries-long
conflict with the Ottoman Empire, which had extended its realm to
Hungary. From then on, wars with the Turks and the apprehension of
further Ottoman inroads tied down the Austrian Habsburg' military
potential; at first they merely succeeded in holding western Hungary
and Slovakia but had to resign themselves to the establishment of a
Turkish pashalik in central Hungary and of an Ottoman satellite state
in Transylvania.
\\
This situation not only influenced the development of the
Reformation, which also gained considerable momentum in the Austrian
lands, but also favoured efforts of the Estates to gain autonomy.
\\
Since the princes of the realm had to rely on the aristocracy for
financing defence efforts, the politics of these decades was
characterised by the need to make a large number of concessions, often
with negative results. Ferdinand I earnestly but unsuccessfully
tried to overcome denominational barriers, and his son
Maximilian II was even said to have Protestant leanings.
Maximilian remained, however, faithful to Catholicism and even laid
the foundation for the emerging Counter-Reformation by granting the
nobility and their subjects freedom of religion (1568-1571). As a
condition for this, however, the Catholic Church had to be reformed,
and a number of measures were taken to this end, in particular by
inviting the Jesuits, into the country.
\\
The situation varied considerably in the different lands of the
Habsburgs that were divided among his sons after Ferdinand's death.
Maximilian II was made Emperor and retained, alongside Austria,
the Bohemian lands and Hungary. Karl II received Inneroesterreich
and access to the Mediterranean and was entrusted with the defence of
the Croat border against the Turks. He took residence at Graz, where
his court and governmental institutions were established. He was
pressured by the Protestants to grant religious freedom, but sought to
work for a renewal of the Catholic Church. In 1572 he invited the
Jesuits into the country, to whom he entrusted the University of Graz
(founded in 1585), but was forced in 1578 by the Brucker Pazifikation
(Peace Agreement of Bruck) to make major concessions to the
Protestants. Archduke Ferdinand II was marginalised in the family
on account of his morganatic marriage to Philippine Welser; he
received Tirol and the Vorlande and led the life of a Renaissance
prince, to whose cultural interests and achievements Ambras Palace
and its collection of works of art and curiosities (wunderkammer) bear
witness. Since his offspring were excluded from succession, Tirol was
ruled by Duke Maximilian III from 1602 to 1618. He was followed
in 1619 by Leopold V, who founded a collateral line of the
Habsburgs in Tirol which existed until 1665.
\\
However, the 16th century was also fraught with economic problems.
Apart from the feudal system, whose exploitative policies caused a
number of peasants' revolts (1525 in Tirol and Salzburg, 1595-1597 in
Upper and Lower Austria), crafts and trades and the early capitalist
enterprises of the Gewerke were steadily gaining importance. The
latter processed the iron mined in various places and in particular on
Erzberg mountain in Styria. This required large-scale organisation in
order to ensure the supply of foodstuffs to the mining and
metallurgical region and the distribution and sale of iron and iron
products. The area around Leoben, the city of Steyr and the area of
Kirchdorf in Upper Austria and the region of Waidhofen an der Ybbs in
Lower Austria became the chief areas of iron processing. Other
important activities were livestock and wine transport and trading
along the Danube and the transport of salt from the mines at
Duerrnberg in Salzburg and the Salzkammergut region to Lower Austria
and Bohemia.
\\
16th century architecture was increasingly marked by Renaissance
influences. The new style was in particular adopted for the
construction of palaces, of which the arcaded court of Schallaburg
Castle near Melk, Lower Austria, is an outstanding example. The
Renaissance has also left its mark in various cities (town halls,
façades decorated with sgrafitti).
\\
Even though hostilities continued in relations with the Turkish
Empire, decorative plants such as tulips and lilac were introduced
from countries under its rule; under Maximilian II an elephant
was for the first time brought from Spain to Vienna, where it was
displayed in the menagerie of Kaiserebersdorf.
\\
Under Ferdinand I the fortifications of Vienna were renovated to
fend off a possible Turkish attack. His grandson Rudolf II, who
moved his residence to Hradčany Castle in Prague, brought the
cultural development of the city to unprecedented heights, but was not
as successful at the political level. He sought to enforce the
Counter-Reformation in the Austrian lands by violent means; demolished
and damaged Catholic institutions were restored. In the Austrian
regions along the Danube, Cardinal Melchior Klesl was the chief
helpmate of Duke Ernst and later adviser to Emperor Matthias. When a
new Turkish War broke out in 1593 and threatened to involve the
hereditary lands after 1600, Rudolf II in Prague failed to react.
Accordingly the other Archdukes recognised Matthias as head of the
family, and Matthias proceeded to systematically deprive
Rudolf II of his power ("Habsburg Brothers' Conflict"). When
Rudolf died in 1612, Matthias succeeded him but in turn failed to take
action in the interest of the country. Hopes focused on his successor,
Ferdinand II from the Styrian line. Ferdinand was a strict
Catholic who forcefully promoted the Counter-Reformation in
Inneroesterreich. Maximilian III then intervened in Austrian
affairs from Tirol. He is remembered as the donor of the Austrian
Erzherzogshut, the archducal crown which is now kept in Klosterneuburg
Abbey.).
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Even before Emperor Matthias' death the defenestration of Prague on
May 23, 1618 triggered the Thirty Years' War. Initially,
Ferdinand II had to ward off massive demands on the part of the
Protestant Estates of Lower Austria. They refused to swear allegiance
unless he conceded them religious freedom. He kept his promise, but
when he also asserted himself in Austria after his victory in the
Battle of the White Mountain on November 8, 1620, he seized the
possessions of the leading Protestants, even though their
expropriation was carried through less relentlessly than they were in
Bohemia and Moravia. The Estates lost their political influence, and
the year 1620 marked the beginning of the era of the absolute rule of
princes ( Absolutism) and thus a new historical era.
!Literature
A. Novotny and B. Sutter (eds.), Inneroesterreich
1564-1619, 1967; Renaissance in Oesterreich, 1974; G. Heiss,
Reformation und Gegenreformation (1519-1620), Die Quellen der
Geschichte Oesterreichs, Schriften des Instituts fuer
Oesterreich-Kunde 40, 1982; R. J. Evans, Das Werden der
Habsburgermonarchie, %%sup 2/%1989; K. Vocelka, Kaiser Rudolf II.
und seine Zeit, 1985.
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