Czech Battleground in the 1640's

Military developments in the final decade of the Thirty Years War can be seen as a
purposeful and systematic attempt by both sides for the "best peace" when viewed from a
historical perspective. Certain military successes did appear to have political importance
with useful diplomatic implications, but only in the short run. In reality, neither warring
party had the ability to achieve a decisive victory and the war effort depended mainly on
everyday routine and on where the armies managed to position themselves for battle. The
opponents fought first of all for existence. "War feeds on war" - violence had come to be an
accepted part of reality. As the foreign troops passed through the countryside, they
occupied and plundered towns. They attempted to get what they wanted through extortion;
they raided food supplies, and they confiscated crops, cattle and horses. The beleaguered
citizenry also had to help sustain the domestic troops by delivering supplies and
contributing goods and money. The demands of the invading forces, combined with the
domestic requirements, came close to beggaring the population. The exploitation of the
citizenry of the increasingly wretched Czech lands and the war of attrition on both sides
were the major characteristics of the conflict in Bohemia in the first half of the 17th
Century. Because military leaders were forced to accommodate thousands of troops in the
field for extended periods of time, they had to improve supply logistics (an example is the
creation of regional corn supply warehouses). The need to use existing buildings often
resulted in a major displacement of citizens. Whole towns were decimated, and left without
money to care for the wounded and sick. Also certain towns, including Cheb, Chomutov,
Litom ice, Slan, and Brands nad Labem, repeatedly were attacked by both sides, leaving
the afflicted citizens caught in the middle. Among the few ways out for these civilians was
to cross over to "the second side," and join one of the armies. Those managing to enter the
lower military ranks changed roles, becoming victimizers instead of victims. Many civilians
took the opportunity to switch sides when they were captured. Military leaders in both
camps more or less expected this lack of allegiance in the lower ranks. Each army naturally
had a stable corps of loyal and professional people.

From 1639 to 1648 the Czech lands were almost continually under siege, with relatively
consistent pressure from the Swedish army which resulted in a few spectacular successes
for the invading forces. The Swedes never managed to penetrate the center of the Austrian
empire, although they came close when they acquired a stronghold in the Czech lands
(1645 Frdland, 1646 Most, 1647 Cheb) and especially in Moravia (1642 Olomouc, 1643
Fulnek, 1645 Uni ov, Sovinec and Jihlava). As one might expect, the proximity of the front
lines to the emperor's residence greatly upset the strategists in the Catholic coalition. In
spite of the general exhaustion near the end of the war, the Swedish army regularly
increased its strength - at the end of 1647 its troops numbered between 50,000 and
60,000. The Swedish army also had the advantage of having a number of outstanding
military leaders. The Imperial army, on the other hand, had a noticeable lack of talented
commanders and thus often was forced into a defensive position. On the asset side of the
ledger, however, it had virtually inexhaustible resources close at hand. When the Swedes
made daring forays deep into the empire, time was on the side of the Imperial army.

The Swedish forays into the Czech lands began in 1639. While Bohemia was substantially
armed, and Prague students already had founded the academic legion that was to play a
major role in 1648, the Swedish army under the leadership of Gustav Banr managed to
penetrate northern Bohemia along the River Labe. The Swedish army included numerous
members of the aristocracy as well as Evangelical priests who were returning from exile.
DOCUMENTATION | Exhibi tions: 1648 - War and Peace i n Europe
Essay Volumes > Tome I: Politics, Religion, Law and Society
ZDENK HODJA
Battle over Prague 1648 and the End of the Thirty Years War in the Czech Lands
Initially, and for the only time in the conflict, Banr counted on the extensive support of
the local populace, to whom he addressed a proclamation on April 24 promising freedom
for the Evangelical religion. At the same time he tried to control looting, which was
commonplace among the soldiers. The proclamation drew little response, and Banr's army
returned to its customary practice of plundering by the time it reached Litom ice. On May
29 at Kostelec nad Labem near Prague, Banr defeated detachments led by Vav inec
Hofkirch, a former Saxon army officer who had participated in that army's occupation of
Prague in 1631. By May 30 Banr and his troops stood outside Prague. However, he lacked
the strength to conquer the town, and another attempt in October of the same year
likewise failed. From his camp near Brands n.L., the Swedish detachments made forays
into the whole region along the Labe River. One-third of Bohemia was completely
plundered. Even the returned emigrants, especially Zden k von Hodice, participated in
pillaging the eastern part of the region. The major offensive came to a close at the
beginning of 1640, when the Swedes were pushed out of the Czech lands. Banr left his
headquarters in Litom ice by the end of March 1640.

In the fall of that year Banr tried to dissolve the Imperial Diet in Regensburg. He lacked
the power to conquer the town, so he set up his own winter camp in Cham (Kouba), a town
in the Palatinate near the Czech border. He waited there for reinforcements from regiments
of the French military leader Jean Baptist Gubriant, who was operating in southern
Germany. The Imperial army thus had time to prepare for the new threat. On March 17 the
emperor's forces attacked Banr just outside Cham near Neunburg. In the ensuing battle,
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm celebrated one of the few victories of his military career. Banr's
army, with fewer troops and weakened by battle casualties, was forced to retreat by the
shortest route through Czech territory to Saxony, with the emperor's cavalry regiments in
close pursuit. On March 27 the Swedish army withdrew from Kada to the mountains, in the
direction of the village of P se nice, where heavy fighting continued until midnight. The
rear of Banr's numerically weakened army was protected by a heavily forested area to the
northwest of the village. At that point Banr used wagons as barricades. He placed behind
the wagons cannons aimed at the emperor's troops. Using the cannons as cover, the
Swedish forces retreated to Annaberk. Although the Swedish infantry, with its protective
artillery, had an edge over the emperor's heavy cavalry in the treacherous snow-covered
and marshy terrain, the emperor's forces had the upper hand because of their numerical
superiority. Banr lost perhaps 4,000 men - almost one-third of the troops remaining to
him following Neunburg - but he nevertheless managed to avoid total defeat. Shortly after
this battle Banr died in a camp at Halberstadt.

The skirmish at P se nick pass was not important in itself, but it marked the beginning of
an onerous border conflict. Even during periods when Bohemia faced no direct threat of
attack from the main Swedish forces, detachments operating out of Saxony pushed
through passes to the region near Kruln hory (Ore Mountains), exacting contributions,
threatening extortion and making off with cattle and horses. Efforts to protect mountain
passes failed. The P se nick pass along the old route from Saxon Annaberk to the Oh e
valley proved of strategic importance several times during the 1640's.

On May 31, 1642, Swedish General Lennart Torstenson gained a significant victory near
widnica in Silesia. Shortly afterwards he invaded eastern Bohemia and also Moravia, where
panic ensued. The more affluent burghers of Olomouc and other northern Moravian towns
fled toward Brno and Vienna. State records and the Moravian Tribunal were transferred to
Znojmo, because even Brno no longer was considered safe. Following a four-day siege,
Colonel Antonio Miniati, the Olomouc commander, surrendered to the Swedes under the
condition that his troops be released. His actions brought him a conviction of high treason
two years later. The Swedes acquired and held until the end of the war an extremely
important fortress in the Czech lands. They had strong support from the Moravian region of
Valalsko (Wallachia) during the first Moravian campaign and in a second initiative the
following year. After the Swedes departed, the region was punished severely for backing
the invading enemy.

The first half of 1643 in Bohemia and the second half of that year in Moravia saw new
destructive incursions by the Swedish army, although no battle was fought during that
period. General Gallas, who only halfheartedly pursued Torstenson, lost his position of
command as a result of his indecisiveness.

After a year's respite from fighting, there began in December 1644 - coincidentally
occurring simultaneously with the opening of peace talks in Westfalia - what in many ways
was the most dramatic year in the closing phase of the war in Bohemia. After reconquering
the P se nick pass, Torstenson's troops proceeded through Plze (Pilsen) and southwestern
Bohemia, as though in the direction of Moravia and Vienna. However, on March 6, 1645,
just south of Prague at Jankov, Imperial troops, under the command of Melchior Hatzfeld,
blocked their way. Hatzfeld had two advantages: the choice of his own battlefield and
numerical superiority. However, Torstenson made optimal use of the broken terrain,
surprising his opponents with a bombardment of light cannon, which had been stationed on
high ground at the southern edge of the town. Luck was with him in part because his
opponent, having consolidated his forces in a successful phase of the conflict, focused more
on plundering the Swedish supply wagons than on doing battle. Torstenson recouped his
losses and emerged the winner in the bloodiest conflict of the Thirty Years War in
Bohemian territory. In the battle, the Imperial forces counted 4,000 dead and another
2,000 captured and the Swedish casualties were scarcely lower. The battle had significant
political consequences, weakening the emperor's position at the Westfalian negotiations,
not only with the Swedish and French factions, but with the Imperial estates. After the
battle of Jankov, the Swedes launched an offensive in Moravia and in Lower Austria, where
for the first and last time they stood at the gates of Vienna (in Brigittenau). The empire
was saved partly because the Swedes had supply problems, but even more importantly
because the invaders failed in the siege of Brno, which lasted from May 3 to August 23,
1645. The successful defense of the town tested cooperation between the military and the
burgher and student militias, foreshadowing the similar joining of forces that routed the
enemy in Prague three years later. The Swedish commander was forced to accept a peace
settlement at Linz in August 1645 and to retreat to Silesia. However, the number of
Swedish garrisons in Moravia increased.

After ill health forced Torstenson to step down from his command, Carl Gustaf Wrangel
took command of the entire Swedish army. In January 1646, he launched a new offensive
in the empire's territory, seizing a chateau in the town of Most. Although the emperor's
army under Leopold Wilhelm forced the Swedes back through P se nick pass into Saxony,
the Imperial forces failed to recapture the castle at Most. The Swedish General of the
Artillery, Axel Lillie, even gained from Queen Kristina a deed of covenant for certain estates
near Kruln hory, and although his legal authority was illusory, he now and then was able
to use the threat of armed intervention to extract monies from the holdings. Such
curiosities were among the realities of the war.

Commencing early in 1647, Swedish detachments again harassed northern and eastern
Bohemia, although once Calvinist Petr Melander of Holzapfel took command of the
emperor's army in April, he succeeded in pushing through certain reforms. However, that
same year Wrangel's forces, strengthened in part through a truce with Bavaria, on July 17
conquered Cheb after heavy bombardment. The Swedish commander held the key to the
Czech kingdom in his hand. The Swedes gained rich booty in arms and provisions, and they
managed to persuade many of the conquered citizens to return to the Lutheran faith.
Following the failure of a 12-day siege in Cheb, in which the sovereign himself participated,
the Imperial army retreated to Pilsen, with enemy troops in pursuit. The Imperial faction
decidedly had the winning edge in an August 21 skirmish near T ebel, in the vicinity of
Plan. Wrangel avoided a second battle near Tepl and departed Bohemia, although he left
behind a garrison in Cheb. The not-too-impressive victory of the Imperial troops was of
diplomatic signficance, putting the emperor in position to sign a new alliance with Bavaria.

The last year of the war started unhappily for the Catholic coalition. Near Zusmarshausen
on May 17 the French brought a major defeat to the Imperial-Bavarian troops. Shortly
thereafter, Hans Christoph Knigsmark separated from the Swedish army and occupied
strategic positions in the Upper Palatinate. Top-secret preparations for a blitz attack on
Prague were under way. After a few preliminary sallies into western Bohemia, Knigsmark
on July 24 occupied the town of Rakovnk and left behind all his troops' heavy armaments.
Prague was only a day's march away.



Attack on Prague, Occupation of the Town of Hrad any and Lesser Town (Mal Strana)

In Innsbruck on July 25 the emperor celebrated his marriage to Maria Leopoldine von
Tyrol. Festivities also took place in Prague, with fireworks lasting until around midnight. At
2:30 the next morning, when the town was asleep, some 100 cavalrymen led by Arnolt
Ottovalsk, a former lieutenant colonel for the emperor who was now in the Swedish
service, approached the fortifications. They managed to penetrate the town of Hrad any at
a section of the wall behind the Capuchin monastery, which Ottovalsk earlier had deemed
to be vulnerable by dint of construction work on the site. The soldiers hurried to
Strahovsk gate, where they slaughtered the guards and opened the gate, allowing
Knigsmark and the other Swedish forces easy access to the town. By morning Knigsmark
had occupied the town of Hrad any and Prague Castle, together with Lesser Town,
including strategic sites near the town wall, at the gates and at the river, most importantly
at Mosteck tower, with its surrounding buildings. The residents of Star M sto (Old Town)
were spared from attack but only because of the numerical weakness of the Swedish forces
- Knigsmark had only 2,500 men. The shooting had awakened the citizens, and they also
were alerted by the standard bearer of Wallenstein's regiment, who in spite of being
injured had succeeded in running across the bridge. The leading Imperial general, Rudolf
Colloredo, also escaped the Swedes, crossing the Vltava River in a small boat even though
the docks were guarded.

The Old Town mayor and constable, Mikull Turek von Rozentl, rang the bells and called
the armed burghers' militia to the town square. The constable of Nov M sto (New Town),
the emperor's magistrate, Vclav Augustin Kavka, took similar action. Before daybreak,
students had gathered in the Karolinum and revived the legion, which had been set up in
1639. By 7 a.m. the defenders had taken over the Old Town tower. They also had barred
the bridge and put up a wooden structure as a blockade. Old Town was prepared to defend
itself.

Meanwhile, in Lesser Town, Knigsmark allowed his soldiers three days of plundering,
which especially in the first hours did not pass without violence. Anyone caught on the
street or carelessly looking out of a window faced the gravest danger. The total casualties
were estimated at between 100 and 200. The town, which previously had been considered
completely safe, yielded the Swedes vast booty (see below). The invaders also captured
more than 200 important people - mostly aristocrats, high ecclesiastics and bureaucrats -
from whom it was possible to obtain ransom, the most prominent of them being Prague
Archbishop Arnolt, count of Harrach. The homes of these hostages were thoroughly
plundered, as were the homes of metropolitan canons, and monasteries, particularly
Strahov. The owners of property in which the troops had been allotted quarters also were
not spared. The local riffraff and some servants probably also participated in the looting.
Among the valuable items plundered were wagons for hauling off the booty and weapons
from the arsenal of Prague Castle.

Colloredo meanwhile had organized the burghers' militia and student detachments and had
occupied a small (later known as St eleck) island in the Vltava. He also had taken steps to
safeguard the gates of New Town, because another Swedish contingent, led by General
Wittenberg, was approaching Prague from Pod brady. However, General Puchheim of the
Imperial army, got to Prague ahead of the Swedish reinforcements, arriving July 30, with
an additional 3,500 men, badly needed to strengthen the town garrison.

Wittenberg was not far behind, with between 3,000 and 6,000 troops. On the morning of
August 3, following some preliminary artillery fire, he tried but failed to penetrate the
town's defenses. He and 1,000 men then crossed the Vltava near Zbraslav, strengthening
the forces of Knigsmark, who meanwhile directed a heavy assault against Old Town. From
a site at the bridge where he had built a brick wall for protection, his forces bombarded the
Old Town shoreline. Wittenberg, however, decided to pull out of Prague to await the arrival
of the main army led by Count Palatinate Karl Gustav. He also wanted to make it possible
for his troops to gather booty in the countryside. The plundering, centered in the area just
to the south of Prague, continued until mid-August. Then Wittenberg pulled out of his camp
at Zbraslav heading toward Konopilt and on to Tbor, which he captured on August 23.

The relative ease with which the Swedish forces gained a stronghold on the left bank of
Prague is due partly to the element of surprise and to the condition of the fortifications,
which had been under repair since 1639, but with the work still far from completion. One
also must give Knigsmark credit for carefully preparing his assault, for perfectly
concealing his intentions, and for acting swiftly. Ottovalsk's services were necessary to
the military strategy. He had a first-hand knowledge of Prague, where he had lived for
almost six months while seeking compensation for losses suffered by the Swedes during
their 1647 occupation of Cheb. The action not only serves as a noteworthy example of a
"Nacht und Nebelaktion," it is interesting also because of its blatantly predatory character,
which resulted from Knigsmark's decision to launch an action independently of the other
elements of the Swedish army. Earlier correspondence between Knigsmark and Wrangel
shows that the assault on Prague had been in the planning stage for some time, suggesting
that it probably was intended as a tactic to divert attention from Wittenberg's preparations
for a campaign in Upper Austria that eventually could have reached all the way to Vienna.
After Knigmark's success the Swedish leadership fully concentrated its attention on
Prague. By the end of July, fresh Swedish troops, under the leadership of Karl Gustav, were
headed for the Bohemian capital.



Waiting

By August 30 Wittenberg was again outside Prague. In the meantime, though, the citizens
and troops had made good use of a month's lull in the hostilities to prepare for a long
siege. Police Chief Conti had overseen the work on the fortifications, with the help of
Prague carpenters, millers, and mill builders, strengthening particularly the section of wall
between Ko sk and Horsk gates. Supplies also had been brought to the town. The postal
connection with Vienna (Vde ) had been renewed at the end of August. The most
important development, however, was the full mobilization of the citizens of Old Town and
New Town. A total of eight military companies, with inhabitants from the various quarters
of the two towns, had been formed. They were to play a key role in the day-to-day
defense. Between 1642 and 1645 there arrived an additional six battalions of artisans and
three companies that included tenants, farm laborers and farm managers. By August 1648
four more battalions were on the scene, with bureaucrats and those in the service of the
monarchy joining the ranks. One detachment came from the nobility's private staffs.
Prague Jews provided permanent fire sentries and guards at the gates. If we add a cavalry
squadron from the nobility, three volunteer columns of clergy (especially monks and friars)
and a student "free company," we find that virtually all segments of the Prague population
took part in their own defense.

Wittenberg found no immediate reason to remain in position outside heavily fortified
Prague, since he still awaited the arrival of the troops of Karl Gustav. Around mid-
September Wittenberg again left for southern Bohemia, avoiding the well-equipped
opposing forces stationed at Bud jovice. and proceeding to Krumlov, which he conquered
September 21. From that location he sent out open letters to peasants in Upper Austria in
the hope of inducing them to insurrection. He also recruited additional men for his army
throughout southern Bohemia, but his efforts met with only limited success. Meanwhile,
Zikmund Myslk von Hirlov left Bud jovice and came up behind Wittenberg's army, while
General Puchheim came in the other direction from Prague. Wittenberg and Puchheim met
at Hlubok on September 24, where Wittenberg staged a surprise attack and captured his
opponent. He immediately took Puchheim to Prague and turned him over to Knigsmark. A
week later on October 4, 1648, Count Palatinate Karl Gustav, who held the top command
post in the Swedish army, arrived at Bl hora (White Mountain) near Prague. The Swedish
army was now united, and with troop strength the likes of which Prague had not yet seen.



The Most Difficult Month

The Swedish detachments took up positions around the New Town fortifications, but it
quickly became apparent that the main attack would come from the east and southeast,
where the adjoining slopes and vineyards offered a certain protective cover from which to
open fire. The Swedes also continued to threaten Old Town, aiming in that direction from
the river banks in Lesser Town, from the islands, and even from the bridge, where they
had set up movable barricades. The first attack occurred between October 11 and 13, with
the Swedes relying mainly on heavy cannonades, which badly damaged parts of the
fortifications. The defenders fought back by firing small weapons, and by throwing
grenades, torches and stones.

The worst battle took place at Horsk gate, where the defenders set off an explosion under
a tower, causing many deaths among the attacking Swedes. Prague inhabitants also
sustained heavy casualties. Over 180 soldiers and burghers were killed, the most
prominent of whom was Vclav Obyteck von Obytec, from the squadron of nobles. He was
ceremoniously buried in the Temple of Tn and has taken his place among the pantheon of
legendary heroes. On October 14 the opponents met for negotiations. The Prague leaders
offered so-called neutrality for the Swedes on the left bank of the river and for the Imperial
troops on the other side, supposedly creating a balance of power between the forces. They
also asked for the removal of excess troops from Prague, an arrangement that was to be
secured by hostages from both camps. With this, of course, Karl Gustav emphatically
disagreed. He counted on his opponent's capitulation, and was willing only to discuss
conditions for the other side's surrender.

While negotiations continued the Swedes occupied themselves with digging in the no-man's
land near the fortifications, creating underground corridors and trenches that extended to
the wall, and planting mines beneath the earthenwork. The defenders again built wooden
barriers, dug foxholes behind the wall, built traps that were camouflaged with straw, and
prepared straw and pitch for burning. The Swedes launched a new attack on the night of
Oct. 25, heading again for Horsk gate and its nearby granary. A student company fought
valiantly alongside the army during the attack. Although some 800 Swedish forces were
killed or wounded, the fighting continued a second day and the granary was destroyed. The
site behind the Sv. Jind ich (St. Henry) church where the Swedes broke through the
fortifications became the most vulnerable spot in the Prague defense. A series of attacks
culminated on October 30 with Count Palatinate again urging Prague to surrender. At
Colloredo's suggestion, however, towncriers responded to the Swedish proposal by saying
their leader was not in the town, but had gone to meet the emperor's troops who were
approaching Prague. The Swedes gradually retreated. Sporadic attacks originating in
Lesser Town and aimed at Old and New Towns continued until November 8, but basically
the fighting was finished.



Peace

So ended the third heavy offensive against the Prague towns. Like the earlier assaults, it
had taken place after the signing of the Westfalian treaty. News that peace had been
declared reached both sides several days before the fighting ended, but the Swedes only
stopped the siege when reinforcements of the Imperial army neared the town. The
temptation to take booty remained until the end. Once the Swedes decided to depart, they
acted quickly, completing the infantry pullout by November 3. Prague inhabitants finally
could go outside the walls, where they collected memorabilia and filled in the trenches. The
Imperial reinforcements, so long expected and now of so little use, arrived in Prague the
following day.

A definitive truce finally was arranged on November 29 by plenipotentiaries from both
sides. The negotiators met in a wooden barrack, constructed on the bridge between the
barricades. According to Pufendorf, the Swedish forces had lost around 500 soldiers and
had suffered some 700 injuries. Considering the source, this estimate is likely a minimum
( Prague sources claimed their opponents's losses were in the thousands). On the other
side, Prague citizens and the emperor's garrison documented 219 deaths and 475
wounded. The Swedish garrison stayed in Prague until the conditions of the peace
agreement were fulfilled. Knigsmark left the town on Christmas Eve in 1648, but Karel
Gustav, as well as Wittenberg, again celebrated Christmas at Prague Castle. The last
Swedish soldiers departed Prague on September 30, 1649. They finished the pullout from
garrisons in other areas of Bohemia and in Moravia only in July 1650.

The successful defense of Prague can be attributed in good part to the volunteers, who
compensated for their general lack of training and military experience with a strong
fighting spirit. The Swedes' battle tactics also aided the other side. Their offensives lasted
only between two and five days, and they never launched full-fledged attacks at several
locations simultaneously. Also, in the crucial period in August and September, the
defenders had ample time to stock up and to prepare for the war, since Wittenberg was not
in Prague. Still, even in the first weeks in October, the Swedish leadership, aiming to
influence the Westfalian negotiations, struggled for a last-minute success. It was not to
come. By the end of October, they occupied themselves with the quest for booty, but
declining morale, bad weather and a lack of infantry prevented them from enjoying even
that.



Prague Booty

The plunder of Lesser Town and the town of Hrad any commenced immediately after the
assault began on the left bank. We can hardly give a full accounting of the enormous
amounts of money, jewelry, and art objects that were stolen from private homes and
palaces. We are on firmer ground with the religious institutions, which recorded their losses
more accurately. We have the most definitive knowledge of the fate of collections in
Strahov monastery. The Finnish regiment that had camped in the monastery during the
conflict "took care" of most of the valuable religious objects, transferring also the
monastery library to bo. The biggest sensation, which caused the members of the
premonstrata much hardship, followed the revelation that the "treasure" of Count Jind ich
llik was hidden in the monastery. The riches were discovered five weeks after the
occupation, on the basis of an intercepted letter from llik himself. The value of the cache
was estimated at somewhere between 70,000 and 500,000 Imperial thaler. Not only
people but also relics were used for extortion, as can be seen in the case of the relics of St.
Norbert, which had been in the monastery church. The Swedes spread rumors that the
saint's remains had been removed to Saxony, and asked the monastery for a high ransom.
It turned out that St. Norbert's relics had been hidden in Prague during the entire period.

The greatest attention centered on the Kunstkammer and the Picture Gallery, which the
Swedes had seized after occupying Prague Castle and arresting Francesco Miseroni, the
custodian of the collection. Information on this is found at a different place in this catalog
(E. Fu kov). Of no less consequence, however, were the losses from the libraries, which
the Swedish army seized under the direct orders of the queen, who wanted the materials
not only for her personal collection, but more particularly for the newly-constructed
libraries of the Uppsala Academy and for high schools in Strngns, Vsterls and Linkping.
The most important booty came from the Ro_mbersk document collections. The Codex
argenteus, Ulfil's Gothic translation of the Bible, also wound up in the Swede's hands. In
addition, the archbishop's library of the Metropolitan Capital sustained losses, including the
Codex gigas. Several Olomouc libraries, including that of the university, were sacked in
their entirety, as was the most significant collection of religious documents in Moravia,
located in the library of Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein of Mikulov.

The actual removal of the booty was no small logistical matter, even though the Swedes
had assured the safety of the Labe River route through their September 16, 1648,
conquest of D n. However, the loading of the booty and its transport to northern Germany
had to wait for peacetime. Most of the stolen objects were removed in 1649, although not
all the items arrived in Stockholm. Ordinary soldiers made off with many things, as is
suggested in a note penned by burger Jan Fridrich lermer of Litom ice nad Labem, in a
book he said he had bought "from a quite ragged Swede in the year 1649, when the
Swedes took the lion by boat from Prague along the Labe." (Knigsmark had seized the
lion and ordered it brought to Sweden as a living heraldic symbol of the Czech kingdom,
probably causing a huge sensation). Other, much more valuable booty, was seized by
certain diplomats of Queen Kristina, including Alexander Erskein, and by military leaders
such as Carl Gustaf Wrangel.

The history of the attempts to have the seized treasures returned to Bohemia is a story in
itself. The Austrian ambassador who served in Stockholm from 1684 to 1689 bought 133
documents of Czech origin, which he then donated to the Estates (Stavovsk) archive. The
returned materials are proof that the Swedes looted the archives. Modern systematic
research of Swedish library collections began with Josef Dobrovsk in 1792 and continues
today. In addition to the scientific research there also arose imaginative depictions that
closely tied the Swedish booty to myths of the Rudolfinian era as a golden age.



Burgers and Students or Civilians against Soldiers

A key element in the battle over Prague - as earlier in the successful defense of Brno - is
the high percentage of nonprofessional defenders. These detachments, created for self-
defense, arose in the last phase of the Thirty Years War in part through the extension of
civilian militias and in part through the arming of Prague inhabitants who had no military
tradition: students, clerics, and non-property owners. The Jews also played a special
military role. The non-military groups who made possible the defense of Prague acted
partly because the numerical weakness of the military garrison necessitated it, and partly
because they distrusted the professional soldiers in the wake of the easy conquest of the
left bank of Prague by the Swedes. It is certain that these hastily armed "non-professional"
groups played an essential role, even though records suggest that they may have
exaggerated their achievements, hoping for immediate advantages and rewards or aiming
to build the tradition of the church during the Counterreformation (Jesuit legends).
Undoubtedly they also wished to encourage the continued tradition of student and guild
participation in the militia.

Though perhaps exaggerated, the legends of military success were based on real
achievements of the defenders. They included, for example, the confiscation of Swedish
cattle from pastures near Holelovice in September, before the beginning of a new phase
in the fighting; a student company's successful defense against a Swedish attack at the
Horsk gate, and the successful defense of the tower at the bridge in Old Town during a
lengthy siege. Oral tradition expanded on the basic reality, through living legends, such as
those depicted in Denopis, a diary from 1685 written by Jan Norbert Zato il von
Lwenburk, chancellor of Old Town Prague, who also was a musketeer of a student
company during the Swedish siege. His diary includes a description of the liquidation of a
dangerous Swedish sharpshooter, who was actually a gamekeeper at the Konopilt estate.
Also he wrote of the miraculous bravery of the deputy leader of the student company,
Father Ji Plach. The diarist records that the Swedes believed that Plach had handed
students a small paper to eat, which gave them the quality of "steadfastness." Another
story tells of Konigsmark's rage when he learned that his opponents in Prague had only one
box of gunpowder left just before the truce was to have been signed.

The citizens of Prague who had defended the city helped keep such legends alive. They
knew that even though the ancillary companies were subordinate to the military command,
these companies more often than not had to depend on their own initiative. The town could
not have been defended without the help of the volunteers. The Prague inhabitants gladly
accepted the new "post-Westfalian order" in Central Europe.



Rewards to the Winners

As soon as the fighting ended, participants filed petitions specifying their achievements and
listing their losses. Once the rewards and privileges were granted, they then were
considered as evidence of merit. What were the rewards? If we look at the "privilegium" for
Old Town inhabitants, issued by Ferdinand III on April 20, 1649, in Bratislava, we find that
an exquisite miniature featuring an improved heraldic shield had been created for the town
(an armed hand with a drawn sword had been added to the gate on the existing insignia;
from two new helmets grew a dozen banners of the companies that defended Prague; on
the middle helmet with the emperor's crown was placed a black eagle with a gold crown
and with the emperor's initials on the breast), surrounded by figures of Emperor Ferdinand
III, the Goddess of Victory and other allegorical figures. In the lower part of the miniature
we find a battle scene showing the defense of Horsk gate and two small angels with
military characteristics. For New Town inhabitants a similar "privilegium" was issued on
May 3, 1649, but that miniature was never completed.

The improved and enlarged heraldic shields were not the only "privilegia" granted to
residents of Old Town and New Town in Prague. Representatives of both towns also
received special dispensations. Council members, scriveners and royal magistrates were
elevated to the nobility and named as knights (it was not a matter of course - many
burghers already held titles but few had been knighted). Those so honored received the
title "slovutn," or "ehrenfest." The names of those who were elevated, as well as the
names of aldermen and all leaders of burgher militias - sheriffs, lieutenants, standard
bearers of the various companies were mentioned by name in the Majesty's Letter. So
those who participated in the defense of Prague became part of a new elite, whose
activities could be seen in both towns for several generations. Nobody had to remind the
inhabitants of these towns of their participation in the "abominable rebellion" of 1618 to
1620. The two towns received a special seat in the national Assembly with a rank just
below the "knight" class that gave them a status above other Bohemian towns. However,
the significance of this measure was practically null in the Czech political situation in the
second half of the 17th Century, as was the regulation prohibiting members of the nobility
from buying burghers' houses and conducting trade in them.

No less interesting were the privileges of the students. The Charles Academy received a
payment of 600 Imperial Tolars from Imperial funds for use in curing the sick and
wounded. The whole company got 5,000 Rhenish Gulden, amounting to three month's
salary. All freeborn students were elevated to the nobility, while non-freeborn students
were protected from their masters, at least until the next Imperial Diet could rule on their
release. Professors were now free to purchase country estates. They also gained certain
tax and custom privileges, indicating their elevation to a higher social class. However, a
new era for the Prague university began only with the issue of the so-called "Union Decree"
of Ferdinand III in 1654, uniting the four faculties to create Charles-Ferdinand University.



Rescuers and Heroes: Propaganda and Tradition

The battle of the Jesuit students became a solid part of university tradition, cited whenever
university privileges and freedoms were up for consideration. The tradition of student
involvement in the Thirty Years War came to the forefront particularly during the
celebration of the university Jubilee in 1848, and students' fight at the barricades that year
can be seen as a reconfirmation of the courage of the student legions. The traditions of the
Counterreformation paradoxically were revived in the fight for liberal ideals and freedom. A
monument to Prague students created at that time by Josef Max, and entitled "Prague or
also Swedish Student," was only unveiled in 1863 in the courtyard of the Klementinum.
The delay resulted form the reactionary convulsion that followed the 1848 revolution.

Prague Jews also had their traditions of the siege of 1648. War in Piece (Milchama-be-
lalom) by Jehuda Leb ben Jolua, written between 1650 and 1654, recounts the Jewish
role in that year's events. The book naturally focuses on what happened in the Jewish
quarter, but it also records instances of Jewish involvement in other parts of the town,
mainly in the repair of the fortifications and earthenworks and in firefighting. The Jews also
contributed greatly to the war effort by supplying armaments and equipment. The end of
the book describes a festive procession in July 1652, in which Jews marched carrying two
banners donated by previous kings and holding the Torah under a canopy. Their attempts
to call attention to their contributions undoubtedly were intended partly as self-defensive
measures.

Victory over the Swedes became a central chapter in the new heroic history of Prague. The
principles were spelled out in an anonymous work, Praga caput regni, studiis asperrima
belli 1649, which took its tone from the Counterreformation and had the aim of
"converting" Prague inhabitants who so bravely had defended their town. This new
"interpretation" of Prague was symbolized by the Marinsk column, placed in Old Town
Square in gratitude for the successful defense of the town (similar to a column in Munich).
The column, completed September 30, 1650, by sculptor Jan Ji Bendl, has four groups of
angels struggling with evil powers in the corners of a pedestal, and a gilt statue of the
Virgin Mary on the top. It was unveiled in the presence of the emperor at a July 13, 1652,
ceremony. Various ways were found to keep alive the memory of the events in Prague.
Students from the Klementinum along with the City Council organized regular processions
to the column on Marian holidays (days celebrating the Conception, the Birth, and
Assumption of Christ).

The magistrate of New Town, along with other town officials and the leaders of the
craftmen's guilds, organized memorial masses in the church of St. Henry, which had been
heavily bombarded in October 1648 by the Swedes. The Chapel of St. Barbora had special
significance. Built in 1673, it was dedicated to the woman reputed in legend to have saved
the church from destruction by catching a falling grenade. A wooden sphere in the vault
commemorates the event. On the high altar of the church a painting of St. Jind ich,
ordered on the 50th anniversary of the siege from the painter Jan Ji Heinsch,
commemorates his role as savior of the town from the Swedes. The painting shows the
burning town in the background, with St. Henry covering the church with his hand.
Additionally, a painting from 1658 in the Emaus-church memorializes the Prague siege,
portraying St. Wenceslas as a saviour of Prague against the invaders.

In Lesser Town the conflict was consecrated in the church of the Virgin Mary under the
Chain (Panna Marie pod et zem), of the Order of St. John. Rudolf Colloredo-Wallsee, the
military leader of Prague who also was Prior of the Knights of St. John, is buried in the
church. A tombstone of Carrara marble, featuring a sculpture of the Prior, was created in
1848 by Emanuel Max .

The Jesuits were particularly active in sustaining the traditions of 1648. In their Old Town
church of St. Salvtor in the chapel of Franz Xaversk, a wooden crucifix from Charles
Bridge, its feet blasted off during the Swedish bombardment, was an object of veneration.
Singled out for particular attention were the members of the religious order who
participated in the war, particularly Ji Plach, whose gloves the Jesuit students carried like
relics during processions to Marinsk column.

Ji Plach, the son of Pilsen's town scribe limon Plach of T ebnice, had not led the
student legion. Don Juan Arriaga was officially in charge, and the younger Plach was only
his adjutant. Attorney Jan Kauffer, the captain of the legion, had been the actual leader.
According to tradition, however, Plach had talked with members of the legion in the
courtyard of Klementinum immediately after the July 26 Swedish invasion. The "tall Father"
had a reputation for always being there when the students needed encouragement. The
Swedish opponents also contributed to the legend, as was shown earlier. Bohuslav Balbn's
elegy on Plach's portrait, preserved in the Klementinum refectory, includes these
lines:"This man, who towered above others, with a height exceeding three ell, called to
arms the academic volunteers, and routed the escaping enemies. (...) the Swedes claimed
that no one else scared them as much as this black pope." The portrait, preserved in Kutn
hora where Plach died, shows him holding a lance with a banner in his right hand, and
motioning with his left hand toward Prague in the background. The inscription says:
"...Armed Pallas put a spear into a hand accustomed to the pen, when she ordered him to
become a leader of the student cohort against Swedish detachments. Ferdinand III hung
on his stalwart chest a golden coin."

The Plach story is at the heart of the legends of 1648. In Bohemia in the first half of the
19th Century no fewer than four theatrical productions portrayed the defense of Prague as
a conflict between active patriotism (often represented by Plach) and betrayal
(represented by Ottovalsk). During that period the students put a strong liberal
interpretation on the events of 1648. The mood changed in the second half of the century,
when accounts of the defense against the Swedes mainly took the form of colorful tales,
passed down by authors of "the mysteries of Prague", including Josef Svtek. Or events
were depicted in crudely crafted art work with appeal for unsophisticated audiences (for
example, the diorama of the Brothers Liebscher shown in Prague's "Jubilee Exhibition" in
1891). Serious literature as well as press accounts avoided political interpretations of the
events of 1648. The Mariansk column ultimately became a symbol of national subjugation
and as time passed many people questioned whether Prague inhabitants really acted wisely
when they saved Prague "for the Habsburgs."


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2000-2003 Forschungsstelle / Research Centre "Westflischer Friede", Westflisches Landesmuseum fr Kunst
und Kulturgeschichte Mnster, Domplatz 10, 48143 Mnster, Deutschland/Germany. - Last update: September 25,
2002