Converting Bohemia: Force and Persuasion in the Catholic Reformation

Abstract

Execution of rebels in Prague's town square in 1621; the confiscation, forced sale, and redistribution of the estates of Protestant nobles; legislation requiring emigration or conversion; censorship and book burnings; force and intimidation; and one last wave of persecution early in the eighteenth century: all of these were part of the process by which Bohemia became again Catholic. In these, the focus is upon the creation of a holy past through antiquarian efforts; using images and confessional art; extending into the countryside, if not doctrinal literacy, then outward signs and public actions through catechisms, lectures, sermons, music, song, and drama; creating a Catholic literature; developing a network of pilgrimage sites and practices for both town and country; and raising to sainthood someone like John Nepomuk, whose cult could reflect the concerns of a variety of social groups, have broad geographic appeal, and be nearly ubiquitous in Bohemia, thus reflecting ''the extent to which the holy could mark virtually every aspect of life in the Czech lands'' (300). [...]he seeks to place Bohemia in a wider context where ''issues of authority and confessional identity were pressing matters of state'' (9) throughout Europe in this period.