Tea at Trianon: Ferdinand II and the Counter-reformation

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, July 31, 2023

Ferdinand II and the Counter-reformation

From The Collector:

When Ferdinand returned to Styria, he was shocked. For him, the place seemed to be swarming with heretics. Thus, true to his promise, he set about his counter-reformation work. In 1596 he became the official ruler of Styria and installed himself in Graz. Technically, the prince could decide the religious question for all his subjects based on the Augsburg religious peace of 1555. In practice, the 17th-century state could not enforce the law overnight.

But Ferdinand was persistent. He started by ordering the burghers in regal cities to convert or leave the country. Those who refused felt his harsh measures, from a ban on their trade to incarceration. Only Catholic priests remained in Styria; the Lutheran and Calvinist clergy were banished. That meant that only Catholic rites were available for people who wanted to get married, have children baptized, or perform the last rites and bury their dead. Some Catholic priests had mercy on their flock and performed religious services for Catholics and Protestants alike. But by law, this was prohibited, and they risked punishment.

Then came the nobles. They had also been given a chance to either convert or leave the country, while the Catholic nobles had to take care of the conversion of their subjects. By 1617 when the next stage of Ferdinand’s career started, there were almost no Protestants left in Styria. (Read more.)