The Jesuits and the Thirty Years War

309 Pages·53.793 MB·english

by  Robert Bireley

War
1 The Jesuits and the Thirty Years
KINGS, COURTS. AND CONFESSORS
:
THE JESUITS AND THE
THIRTY YEARS WAR
From 1618 to 1648Christianprinces wagedthefirstpan-European war.
Brought about in part by the entrenched passions of the Reformation
and CounterReformation, theThirtyYears Warinevitably drew inthe
Society ofJesus, or Jesuits, who stood at the vanguard of Catholic re-
form.Thisbookinvestigatesforthe firsttimetheJesuits'roleduringthe
war at the four Catholic courts of Vienna, Munich, Paris, and Madrid
and thechaltenge to theJesuitsuperior generalinRometo lead atruly
internationalorganizationthroughaperiodofrisingnationalconflict.
Wargoalsvariedandchangedatthecourtsastheconflictprogressed.
Advocatesof"holywar" contendedwith moderates, orpoliticjues. This
book brings to light the extent to which the Thirty Years War was a
religious war, and it shows how ideas about the proper relationship
between religionandpoliticsshifted under thepressureofevents.
RobertBireley,SJ„isProfessorofHistoryatLoyolaUniversityChicago.
He is the author of four previous books, including The Counter-
m
Reformation Prince: Artthnachiavrflianis or Catholic Statecraft in Early
ModernEuropeandReligionandPoliticsintheAgeoftheCounterrefommHon
ituperorFerdinandII,WilliamUtmormaini,SJ*,andtheFormationofImperial
Policy.
THE JESUITS AND THE
THIRTY YEARS WAR
KINGS, COURTS, AND CONFESSORS
ROBERT BIRELEY
Loyola UniversityChicago
Cambridge
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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:
©
Robert Bireiey 2003
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2003
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
Typeface Palatino 10/12 pt System [TB]
A
catalog recordfor this book is availablefrom the British Library.
Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bireiey, Robert,
The Jesuits and the Thirty Years War kings, courts, and confessors / Robert Bireiey.
:
cm.
p.
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-521-82017-0
1. Jesuits - Europe - History - 17th century, 2* Thirty' Years' War, 1618-1648.
3. Europe - History - 17th century. 4. Europe - Church history' - 17th century.
Title*
1.
BX3715.B57 2003
27r.53'09032-dc21 2002073686
ISBN 0 521 82017 0 hardback
Contents
Abbreviations pagevii
Preface ix
1 SettingtheScene 1
2 TheBohemianRebellionand ftsAftermath, 1618-1624 33
3 TheTriumph ofMilitance, 1624-1629 63
4 TireClash ofCatholic Interests, 1629-1631 100
3 Collapseand Recoveryin Germany, 1631-1635 139
6 FranceandSpain until the Demise ofRichelieuand
Olivares,1635-1642/43 167
7 TheEmpireafter the PeaceofPrague, 1635-1645 204
5 Carafa and theStruggleoverthe PeaceofWestphalia,
1645-1649 234
9 Conclusion 267
BibliographyandSources 277
Index 289
A map ofthe Holy Roman Empireappearsonpage8 and
a series ofillustrationsappearsonpages 129-38.
Abbreviations
AHSJ ArchivumHistoricum Societalisjesu
APW
Acta Pads Westphaiicae
ARS] Archivum RomanumSorietatisJesu, Rome
Aust. Austriae Pmvincia
Boh. BohemiaeFrovinda
Cong. Congregahones
Epist, Ext. EpistolaeExternorum
Epist. Gen. EpistolaeGeneralium
Francia EraneiaeFrovinda
Gallia GalLiaeAssistentia
Germ, GermaniaeAssistentia
Germ. Sup, Germaniae Superioris Frovinda
Hisp. HispaniaeAssistentia
Rheni Inf. Rheni TnferiorisFrovinda
Rheni Sup, Rheni SuperiorisFrovinda
To], ToletanaProvincia
ASV ArchivioSegretoVaticano, Rome
BA BriefundAktenzurGeschielitedes Dreissigjahrigen
Krieges
BL Barberini Latini, Biblioteca Apostolka Vaticana,
Rome
BN
Biblioth&que National, Manuscrits Fran^ais, Paris
HHStA Haas-, Hof-und Staatsarchiv,Vienna
HStA BayerischesHauptstaatsarchiv,Munich
Krfegsakten Akten zurGeschichte des DreissigjahrigenKrieges
KSchw hasten Schwarz
vii
Preface
FromI618to1648Christianprinceswaged thefirstpan-Europeanwar,
and thedevastatingThirtyYearsWarhassincegeneratedan enormous
literature. The Society ofJesus, or Jesuits, has regularly attracted the
attention of historians and writers, not to mention polemicists. Tn the
early seventeenth century itstood in the vanguard ofCatholic Reform
and Counter Reformation. Yet very little has appeared recently about
theroleoftheJesuitsinthewarand especiallyaboutthepartplayedby
Jesuitconfessorsofrulersduring theprotractedconflict. Tobesure,my
earlier studies investigated the activitiesoftwo ofthe most prominent
JesuitcourtconfessorsinGermanyduringthecentralperiodofthewar,
from 1624 to 1635,AdamContzenin Munich and William Lamonnaini
in Vienna. This present book, however, steps back to lookat theJesuit
confessorsatthefourcourtsofVienna,Munich,Paris,and Madriddur-
ingthewholecourseofthewar,and itdoessofrom thevantagepointof
theJesuit superior general in Rome. Itattempts a synthesisthatviews
the long conflictfrom a peculiarly Romanperspective, often similar to
but by no means identical to the papacy's. Indeed, as one of its top-
ics the book investigates therelationship between the superiorgeneral
and the papacy
Thevaryingconceptionsofthewarandofwargoalsatthecourtsand
among the Jesuits and especially the changes that these conceptions
underwentas theconflictprogressed arebroughtto lightandanalyzed
in the narrative. Advocates of"holywar" contended with moderates,
or politique#, in princely councils. We see here the mutual interaction
of religion and concrete policy, and we cometo understand better the
extent to which the war was a religious conflict, in addition, multiple
conceptionsofwhattherelationshipbetweenreligionandpoliticsought
tobewereatwork,andwewatchasthese,too,shiftedunderthepressure
ofevents.
1*
PXreface
Three basic, interrelated questions emerge to govern the narrative.
First,whatinfluenceonpolicyinthewardidtheJesuitshaveatthefour
courts?Second,was therea "Jesuit" policy toward the warand aJesuit
position on the desirable relationship between religion and politics?
Third,whatprinciplesandpoliciescharacterizedthesuperiorgeneralas
heguided theSociety througha conflictthatfoundJesuitsatcourtsthat
wereoftenatoddswithoneanother?Itwasanageofnascent national
spirit,"atermthatfrequentlyturnedupinofficialJesuitcorrespondence.
As I attempt to answer these questions, 1 compare the situations at the
variouscourtsand thedifferent attitudeofthesuperiorgeneraltoward
eachofthem.
Watching the Jesuit superior general can prove to be fascinating as
he attempted to administer a truly internadonal organization of about
16,000 men in the face of pressures from rival courts and from Jesuits
who closely identified with the interests of the courts and who often
wrote in their support. Muzio Vitelieschi filled the office of superior
generaloftheJesuitsfrom1615to1645.HestemmedfromanoldRoman
family and was the first superior general who was not a subjectof the
KingofSpain.ThereexistsvirtuallynoscholarshiponVitelieschidespite
his position and his massive correspondence, which can be found in
the Roman Archives of the Society ofJesus. In a report dated April 8,
1626, the French ambassador atthepapal court referred to him as "un
hommeadviseetleplussagepolitiquequij'ayejamaistraitd"Vincenzo
Carafa,ofthe famous Neapolitanfamilythatproduced onepopeand a
numberofcardinals,succeeded Vitelieschi.Carafa governedtheSociety
for only three years, from 1646 until his death in 1649. but these were
the critical years of the Congress of Westphalia, and they saw a bitter
strugglewithin theSociety in Germanybetweenthosewhofavoredthe
concessionsmadetotheProtestantsand those who rejected them.
This book is based largely on primary sources, published and un-
published, above allin the RomanArchivesoftheSociety ofJesus, but
also inotherarchivesand librariesin Rome,Munich,Vienna,Paris,and
Madridwhere haveworkedovertheyears.Thematerialin the Roman
1
Archivesof theSocietyconsistschiefly oftheoutgoingcorrespondence
ofthesuperiorgeneral withJesuitsand otherfiguressecularandeccle-
siastical at thevariouscourts. Theletters for thisperiodhavegenerally
survivedandhavebeenreasonablywellpreserved.Thesameisnottrue
oftheincomingmail,which,toalargeextent,hasbeen lost. Yetonecan
often glean the content ofanincoming letter from the summary found
in the response to itor fromotherdocumentation.
A few remarks about procedure and usage are in order. All trans-
lations are my own unless otherwise noted. In citing documents and
.
Preface xi
especially letters,Ihavenotindicated whether a document is an origi-
nal, aregistercopy (as which thefinaldraftusuallyserved), oranother
copy unless this seemed significant. Often it is evident from the text.
NorhaveIindicatedtheplaceoforiginoflettersunlessthiswaspartic-
ularlynoteworthyandnotdearfrom thetext. Withregard to thenames
of persons and places, my chief concern hasbeen to employ the form
thatseemed most natural inthe context. Usually this meantthe angli-
cized form for rulers and major figures of the narrative, for example,
Williamnot Wilhelm or GuillaumeLamormaini, butHeinrichratherthan
Henry Philippi. Ranks, titles, and place names are given in the English
form.
Manyfolkshaveassistedandencouragedmeinthewritingofthisbook,
Tamgratefultoallofthem,but,unfortunately,Icannotmentionthemall
TheNationalEndowmentfortheHumanitiesgenerouslysupportedmy
fellowship at the National Humanities Center (NHC) in North
Carolina for the academic year 1998-99, when 1 wrote die first draft
NHC
of the manuscript. At the amid the pines ofNorth Carolina, the
director, W, Robert Connor, and his deputy director, Kent Mullikin,
provided an idyllic atmosphere for study and writing. It was a year
that 1 will long fondly remember, also for the stimulating conversa-
tion with my "classmates" for the year, especially if I may single
out three of many, Melissa Bullard, Edward Friedman, and Michael
Lienisch. Afurtherprivilegethatyearwasparticipationin theCenter's
Colloquium on Religion and Humanities,which was sponsored by the
LillyEndowment
A paid leave from Loyola University enabled me to spend the
spring and summer of 1995 on thebook, and the Istituto Storico della
Compagnia di Gesu in Romeprovided me with a three-month fellow-
ship thatspringso thatT mightfill ingapsin my researchintheRoman
Archives of the Society of Jesus. Laszl6 Szilas, S.J„ facilitated this ar-
rangement. A Loyola University research grant then made possible a
researchtripinthesummerof2000toParisandMunich,whereIchecked
further materials in a number ofarchives and libraries, not least of all
the wonderful new RibliothequeNational in Paris.
Eliza Robertson, Alan Tuttle, and jean Houston of the library staff
at the Nl 1C showed great efficiency and patience in assisting me as
did Linda Morgan with her computer skills. At Loyola University
Interlibrary Loan Librarian Ursula Scholz andherstaffdeservespecial
mention fortheirconstantpromptand efficientservice.
John Patrick Donnelly, SJ,, and John Headley both read the whole
manuscript. 1 am grateful to them and to the three anonymousreaders
xii Preface
of Cambridge University Press for their encouragement and helpful
suggestions.Theircommentsledtorevisionsthathavemadethisabetter
book.ThelateMichaelGrace,SJ.,andSimoneZurawskikindlyassisted
me with the selection of illustrations, Lewis Bateman of Cambridge
University Press has encouraged me from the start, and Alia Winters
andJenniferCareyhaveguided mewithskillandpatienceinpreparing
themanuscriptforpublication.
Finally, T am grateful to my fellowJesuits at Ignatius House and the
GonzagaHouseofLoyolaUniversityChicagofortheirconstantsupport.