The Austrian Lands

chapter 3 The Austrian Lands

Astrid von Schlachta

In 1593 Francesco Barbaro, patriarch of Aquileia, visited the Carinthian regions of his diocese and characterized this area as the region in Inner Austria most infected by Lutheranism. He claimed that many nobles, citizens, and most of the peasants were “heretics”.1 Catholic clerics from other Habsburg regions made similar comments that seem to contradict the image of Austria as a devout Catholic territory, as a “Holy Land”, as Roman apologists later depicted the province of Tyrol for example. The Reformation story of the Habsburg lands, however, is not a simple and exceptional story of Catholic triumphalism. Major parts of the territory were Lutheran and Reformed. Approximately ninety per cent of nobles in the Donauländer and Inner Austria had been Lutheran, while in 1564 four-fifths of the Viennese population may have been Protestant.2

1 Rudolf Leeb, “Reformation in Kärnten,” in Glaubwürdig bleiben. 500 Jahre protestantisches Abenteuer, ed. Wilhelm Wadl (Klagenfurt, 2011), pp. 83–105, and here pp. 103f. 2 On the Reformation in the Austrian lands see Rudolf Leeb, “Der Streit um den wahren Glauben – Reformation und Gegenreformation in Österreich,” in Geschichte des Christentums in Österreich. Von der Spätantik bis zur Gegenwart, eds. Rudolf Leeb, Maximilian Liebmann, Georg Scheibelreiter, and Peter G. Tropper, Geschichte Österreichs (Vienna, 2003), pp. 145–279, here pp. 146f. Hans Krawarik, Exul Austriacus. Konfessionelle Migration aus Österreich in der Frühen Neuzeit (Vienna, 2010). Older but still fundamental studies are Peter Barton, Evangelisch in Österreich. Ein Überblick über die Geschichte der Evangelischen in Österreich (Vienna, 1987). Grete Mecenseffy, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Österreich (Graz, 1956). Georg Loesche, Geschichte des Protestantismus im vormaligen und im neuen Österreich (Vienna, 1930). In recent years research on Protestantism in Austria has made substantial strides. The empha- sis has generally been on the eastern parts of the Habsburg territory and on the era of confes- sionalization. See for example Rudolf Leeb, Susanne Claudine Pils, Thomas Winkelbauer, eds., Staatsmacht und Seelenheil. Gegenreformation und Geheimprotestantismus in der Habs burgermonarchie (Vienna, 2007). Other studies include Regina Pörtner, The Counter-Reformation in Central Europe. Styria 1580–1630 (Oxford, 2001). Joseph Patrouch, A Negotiated Settlement. The Counter-Reformation in Upper Austria under the Habsburgs (Boston, 2000). France M. Dolinar ed., Katholische Reform und Gegenreformation in Innerösterreich 1564–1628 (Klagenfurt, 1994). Jürgen Bücking, Frühabsolutismus und Kirchenreform in Tirol (1565–1665). Ein Beitrag zum Ringen zwischen “Staat” und “Kirche” in der Frühen Neuzeit (Wiesbaden, 1972). Arthur Stögmann, Die Konfessionalisierung im niederösterreichischen Weinviertel (1580–1700). Methoden, Erfolge, Widerstände (Saarbrücken, 2010). For more on religious demography see Karin

The Austrian Lands 69

Austria in the 16th century was a state composed of several provinces, each with its own traditions of sovereignty. Maximilian i, reigning monarch from the late 15th century, served both as the archduke of Austria and the Holy Roman Emperor. After his death in 1519, he was succeeded by his grandson Charles v (1500–1558) who gave control of the Habsburg hereditary lands (Erblande) to his younger brother Ferdinand i (1503–1564) in 1521.3 Ferdinand acceded to the Hungarian and Bohemian thrones in 1526 but did not become emperor until the abdication of his brother Charles in 1556. At Ferdinand’s death in 1564 control of Habsburg territory was partitioned. Emperor Maxi milian ii (1527–1576) was given Upper and Lower Austria, Hungary, and the Bohemian lands, Archduke Charles ii (1540–1590) the provinces of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Gorizia, and the regions around Trieste in Inner Austria, and Archduke Ferdinand ii (1529–1595) Tyrol and Further Austria. Lastly, the archbishopric of Salzburg remained directly subordinate to the emperor. The primary goal of the Habsburg dynasty after Maximilian i became the central- ization of power and the unification of government infrastructure and admin- istration within these imperial lands. With respect to the Reformation, certain areas of Habsburg territory main- tained close ties with important Protestant centres such as Wittenberg and Zurich. However, the impact of the Reformation varied throughout the differ- ent Habsburg provinces during the 16th century. Thus, this chapter will present a complex picture of Austria’s religious culture.4 Whereas the eastern and southern regions adopted the new ideas rapidly with Protestant nobles playing an influential role in local politics, in the western areas Lutheranism was only unofficially tolerated and always under pressure. Additionally, in Tyrol and Further Austria views on Lutheranism oscillated from limited acceptance to general condemnation. While possibilities arose for Lutheran and Reformed subjects to maintain their faith, these windows of opportunity could close sud- denly when local authorities were not strong enough to resist orders coming from above to expel Protestant adherents. In these situations the faith went underground and became an early form of crypto-Protestantism. The institutional entrenchment of Lutheranism consequently varied. In Inner and Upper Austria, the distinctive manorial system and the growing power of the nobility fostered the establishment of an independent confessional

MacHardy, War, Religion and Court Patronage in Habsburg Austria. The Social and Cultural Dimensions of Political Interaction, 1521–1622 (Basingstoke, 2003), p. 52. 3 On Ferdinand see Paula Fichtner, Ferdinand i of Austria (Boulder, co, 1982). 4 See Leeb, “Streit um den wahren Glauben”. Barton, Evangelisch in Österreich. Mecenseffy, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Österreich. Loesche, Geschichte des Protestantismus.