History of Bohemia During Baroque Age
As a historical period, the 17th century in Bohemia is characterized by prosperity of Baroque architecture and Jesuit cultural influences.
Jesuits’ influences have continued to strengthen during the 17th century. In 1622, Ferdinand II issued a special act, which granted Jesuits the absolute control of the education system of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. In 1654, the Jesuit College Clementinum had been merged with Charles University, and many Jesuit baroque churches were built and reconstructed during this period, examples are:
· St. Ignatus church - the Jesuits College baroque church that was built in Nové Mesto in 1670.
· St. Nicolas church - the Jesuits College baroque church that replaced the old Protestant service house in Malá Strana.
· Bethlehem chapel. It was an original 14-th century church, where Jan Hus preached in Czech. In 1627 Bethlehem chapel was transferred to the Jesuits ownership.
Up to 1757, the Jesuits had continued to hold all the professorship positions in the theological and philosophical faculties. The famous Czech Jesuit and evangelist Antonín Koniáš (1691 - 1760) issued the index of forbidden anti-catholic (“heretic”) books and promoted elimination of these books by confiscating and burning them.
Whereas the Jesuit community enjoys its great influence and prosperity – the Jewish community, which experienced its golden age by the end of 16th century, suffered from various disasters. In 1680, a plague killed about 3,000 inhabitants of the overcrowded ghetto, and in 1689 a fire destroyed over 300 houses and 11 synagogues.
The years 1740 – 1780 were the period of Maria Theresa reign. She was the only female Empress of Habsburgs, and had functioned as Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary as well. When her husband was elected as the Holy Roman Emperor, she had been announced as the Holy Roman Empress.
Maria Theresa belonged to a school of Enlightened absolutism (benevolent despotism/ enlightened despotism). This school represented absolute rulers who embraced the principles of the Enlightenment (18th – 19th centuries), such as rationality, religious toleration, freedom of speech and the press, and the respect to private property. During Maria Theresa’s reign, the Jesuit’s exclusive control over education had been broken and a Dominican and an Augustinian were also allowed to give theological instruction. In 1773 Clementinum was expanded to an observatory, library, and university. On the other hand, Jews had continued to suffer from repressions.
In 1740, Frederick II of Prussia had started the War of the Austrian Succession, invaded and occupyied Silesia. In 1744, he had also occupyied Prague. Maria Theresa, whos army suffered from sugnificant weakness comparing to the Austrian army, spend many years and resources trying to develop her military strength. She increased the number of troops by 200%, changed the tax system to ensure a permanent support to the military, and initiated reforms that strengthened the economy. In 1757, when Maria Theresa’s army was strong enough, she attacked Frederick II. The war lasted 7 years and led to Prussian withdrawal from Prague and remaining ownership of Silesia.
Maria Theresa died in 1780 and was succeded by her son, the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, who refused to announce himself as a King of Prague. Just like his mother, Joseph II was an enlightened despot. He promoted education values, opened academic offices to non Catholics, appointed Protestants to professorship positions in the theological and philosophical faculties, permitted Jews to study in public Christian schools and at the university (1781), and to receive degrees (1790). In 1711, Joseph II also issued “the Toleration Edict”, that abolished an old law that had been in effect since the 11th century and had required Jews to wear distinctive caps or the yellow Star of David. The Jews received permission to live outside the ghetto that named now after the Emperor “Josefov”.
The teaching staff at the University had been enlarged and German became the prevalent teaching language. In 1781, The National Czech Library was founded. In 1782, the Clementinum became a legal deposit library.
