Zahájení "české války" v kontextu vládního bankrotu roku 1615:

• Authors: Petr Vorel

Title variants

EN

The beginning of the "Bohemian war" in the context of the government bankruptcy of 1615:

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

This study deals with the issue of the new tax law, which was adopted by the Bohemian Provincial Assembly in 1615. In the older literature, this is interpreted as a strategic mistake and weakness of the Bohemian estate opposition, which voluntarily gave in to the emperor’s request and approved the collection of high taxes to repay the monarch’s debts for 5 years (1616– 1620). Based on the preserved sources, the author arrives at a different interpretation and considers the decision of the Provincial Assembly a form of state bankruptcy, which devalued part of the credit assets of a wide range of the monarch’s creditors who did not have Bohemian citizenship. The Provincial Assembly, as the state body controlled by the estates, seized the monarch’s land and established its own central tax office, whose task was to collect current taxes and older arrears (since 1597) and subsequently to use this money independently of the monarch’s financial institutions in accordance with budget appropriation of taxes. As a result, the royal court was cut off from most revenues from Bohemian taxes, which until then formed a decisive part of the court’s income. The author considers these circumstances to be one of the main reasons that led the elected heir to the throne, Ferdinand of Styria, to begin a military campaign in Bohemia in the summer of 1618. His main goal was to control financial resources; the religious-political crisis and the defenestration of the Bohemian governors in May were a suitable pretext for this intervention aimed at the control of economic resources of the Czech Lands.

Keywords

EN

kingdom of Bohemia; 1615; tax system; state bankruptcy; indebtedness; Thirty Years War; 1618

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Český časopis historický (The Czech Historical Review)
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 118
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 893-963
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Petr Vorel

• Český časopis historický, redakce, Historický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Prosecká 76, 190 00 Praha 9, Czech Republic