Heinrich Bühler, for example, experienced the persecution of the Swiss Reformed Church first-hand when in mid-1614 he spent fourteen weeks (or at least some time) in Zurich’s Wellenberg tower. Just a few years later, Heinrich’s life was upset and uprooted again by a more wide-ranging development: the Thirty Years’ War of 1618–1648.
This is neither the place nor the time to attempt to summarize such a complex historical period and series of events. Those who wish to dig deeper may consult the abbreviated Encyclopaedia Britannica article here or the History Channel summary here.
Instead of trying to teach about the Thirty Years’ War, the rest of this post will rather step into, as it were, the events of that time by allowing the anonymous Hutterite Chroniclers recount what they, or at least their co-religionists, went through during the early years of the war. We begin in 1618 with the outbreak of the war.
[633] This same year, 1618, fierce agitation and revolt broke out in the kingdom of Bohemia, developing into terrible war and bloodshed between the [Roman Catholic] emperor and the Lutheran Estates in Bohemia. [The Bohemian Revolt of May 1618, which was to develop into the Thirty Years War. Count Heinrich von Thurn (1567–1640), a prominent leader of the Protestant Estates, had succeeded in forcing Emperor Rudolf II in 1609 to issue the Letter of Majesty granting religious freedom in Bohemia. In May 1618 Count von Thurn called a meeting of Protestant Estates at Prague University to discuss threats to that freedom. … Complaints made to Emperor Matthias were denounced as rebellion. The meetings ended on May 23 with the famous Defenestration of Prague, when von Thurn himself threw two Catholic councillors, Jaroslav of Martinitz and William of Slavata, and their secretary, Fabricius, from a window of the Hradschin [Bohemian Chancellery] into the moat. This act of violence marks the beginning of the Thirty Years War. Under the leadership of Count Matthias von Thurn, the Bohemian Protestants (by far the majority in the country) set up their own council and appointed thirty Directors.] Because of this, on John the Baptist’s Day [June 24], the Provincial Diet at Olmütz decided to recruit 5,000 men—cavalry and foot soldiers—for the defense of Moravia. … As a consequence, on top of the heavy annual tax of one hundred gulden on each community, a tax of fifty gulden was added on every house. … [634] In many places livestock, grain, wine, and other goods were taken in lieu of the tax at a much lower valuation than our selling price. In addition, several communities had to quarter soldiers for many weeks in summer and winter. On their marches back and forth, the soldiers often overran our communities, and we had to give them food—as much as they wanted. … Through this heavy consumption, our food supply was greatly diminished.
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| The area of the Thirty Years’s War. Bohemia and Moravia are underlined in red, as are Prague just below Bohemia and Vienna somewhat south of Moravia. Heinrich’s city of residence, Wessely, is marked by a small x. |
In the year 1619 we still had the hope and the great longing that the war between the Holy Roman Emperor Matthias and the Bohemian Protestants would come to an end, not only to save the church community and the whole country from further harm, but also to bring relief from the heavy taxes which … were imposed on us in the year 1618. On March 20, 1619, however, the emperor Matthias I died, and King Ferdinand continued the Bohemian War that had started under Emperor Matthias. Through his generals … he acted with a brutality never known before in the kingdom of Bohemia—the war only continued all the more intense and widespread—and the Bohemian Estates tried to get the Moravians to support their side (while the king thought Moravia was on his side).
[635] As a consequence, Count Heinrich Matthias von Thurn, lieutenant general to the Crown of Bohemia, marched into Moravia in early spring with a large number of cavalry and infantry. He succeeded—although not without opposition—in convincing the Moravian Estates to support Bohemia as allies. … The Catholic lords, who held the power and the chief positions in Moravia at that time, were deposed from office, and the most important ones were imprisoned. Just as in Bohemia at that time, directors or provincial governors were elected from the three remaining Estates.… All of this gave rise to Ferdinand’s hatred toward this country.
Now Count von Thurn…, who had marched from Moravia to Vienna in Austria with his Bohemian troops and a good number of Moravian forces, had to leave Vienna and return to Bohemia because enemies were vandalizing his country. As Moravia was now without soldiers, King Ferdinand sent in several thousand men under General Dampierre to force Moravia to submit to his rule again.
This terrible and remorseless punishment … fell most heavily on the church communities of the Lord, although they were innocent of all that was going on. They suffered incalculable damage and unspeakably great sorrow, trouble, and anxiety from robbery, murder, and fire at the hands of Dampierre’s soldiers, and even more from the ungodly Hungarians. …
[646] In the year 1620 the terrible war continued to spread. … [I]t grew worse and worse until nearly all kingdoms and countries were in revolt. The emperor Ferdinand II, who had come to power on the death of Emperor Matthias, grew more and more hostile because the Bohemians, Moravians, Silesians, Upper and Lower Lusatians, with the help of the Hungarians, had chosen and crowned Frederick, the elector palatine of the Rhine, as king of Bohemia. In order to crush this rebellion, Emperor Ferdinand II recruited bands of cruel men from distant countries: Poles, Croatians, Frenchmen, Walloons, Spaniards, and Italians. He enlisted them to fight against Frederick and his allies, who were relying too heavily on their own strength and good fortune. …
In 1620, because of this terrible war, the communities again suffered incalculable grief and misery—worse than anything the church had endured before.
[657] The distress and misery already described continued into the year 1621. It was an evil year, full of anguish. … On January 23, as the imperial army reached the Hungarian frontier and the Hungarian army made its way over the Little Carpathians, our two coummunities at Wessely and Neudorf were burned to the ground. There were a few at Wessely who [658] were too sick to flee, and with no one able to help them, they died an agonizing death in the fire.
Wessely was rebuilt several decades later, but Heinrich and family were not part of that rebuilding. We do not know where they fled before the fury of the forces of the Holy Roman Empire. We know that many Hutterites fled east to Hungary, while others tried to stay out of sight in Moravia. In time they were impelled by more than the ravages of war to leave Moravia, for 1622 saw the proclamation of an imperial decree:[635] As a consequence, Count Heinrich Matthias von Thurn, lieutenant general to the Crown of Bohemia, marched into Moravia in early spring with a large number of cavalry and infantry. He succeeded—although not without opposition—in convincing the Moravian Estates to support Bohemia as allies. … The Catholic lords, who held the power and the chief positions in Moravia at that time, were deposed from office, and the most important ones were imprisoned. Just as in Bohemia at that time, directors or provincial governors were elected from the three remaining Estates.… All of this gave rise to Ferdinand’s hatred toward this country.
Now Count von Thurn…, who had marched from Moravia to Vienna in Austria with his Bohemian troops and a good number of Moravian forces, had to leave Vienna and return to Bohemia because enemies were vandalizing his country. As Moravia was now without soldiers, King Ferdinand sent in several thousand men under General Dampierre to force Moravia to submit to his rule again.
This terrible and remorseless punishment … fell most heavily on the church communities of the Lord, although they were innocent of all that was going on. They suffered incalculable damage and unspeakably great sorrow, trouble, and anxiety from robbery, murder, and fire at the hands of Dampierre’s soldiers, and even more from the ungodly Hungarians. …
[646] In the year 1620 the terrible war continued to spread. … [I]t grew worse and worse until nearly all kingdoms and countries were in revolt. The emperor Ferdinand II, who had come to power on the death of Emperor Matthias, grew more and more hostile because the Bohemians, Moravians, Silesians, Upper and Lower Lusatians, with the help of the Hungarians, had chosen and crowned Frederick, the elector palatine of the Rhine, as king of Bohemia. In order to crush this rebellion, Emperor Ferdinand II recruited bands of cruel men from distant countries: Poles, Croatians, Frenchmen, Walloons, Spaniards, and Italians. He enlisted them to fight against Frederick and his allies, who were relying too heavily on their own strength and good fortune. …
In 1620, because of this terrible war, the communities again suffered incalculable grief and misery—worse than anything the church had endured before.
[657] The distress and misery already described continued into the year 1621. It was an evil year, full of anguish. … On January 23, as the imperial army reached the Hungarian frontier and the Hungarian army made its way over the Little Carpathians, our two coummunities at Wessely and Neudorf were burned to the ground. There were a few at Wessely who [658] were too sick to flee, and with no one able to help them, they died an agonizing death in the fire.
Neither they nor their fellows in faith were to be tolerated any longer, not only in Moravia but in any country under the emperor’s power. Even in Transylvania [to the east of of Moravia] they would not be safe but would be a people marked for death. (Hutterian Brethren 1987, 670)
If Heinrich had not already left Moravia by this point (I suspect that he left after the 1621 razing of Wessely), he most certainly did so now. Interestingly, however, the next we know of Heinrich, he is no longer in a Hutterite Bruderhof (allow that to sink in for a moment: Heinrich left both his home and his community of faith). Rather, he is now living in a Mennonite community on the banks of another river 400 miles to the north of Wessely. That journey will be the subject of our next post in the series From Brüttisellen to Lushton
Source
Hutterian Brethren. 1987. The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren. Vol. 1. Rifton, N.Y.: Plough.
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