Saxon correspondents and diplomats in rebellious Prague in the winter of 1618/1619

Abstract

This study presents the activities of Saxon correspondents and diplomats in Prague during the Bohemian Revolt. It focuses in particular on Friedrich Lebzelter, who was sent to the Kingdom of Bohemia at the beginning of December 1618 to send reliable messages to the Elector of Saxony, Johann Georg I, directly from the centre of the uprising. Friedrich Lebzelter quickly managed to integrate himself into the Bohemian milieu. As early as mid-December 1618, he supplied the Dresden court with relatively extensive reports. To these he attached descriptions of many confidential documents provided to him by Counts Jáchym Ondřej and Jan Albín Šlik. Even before the end of 1619, the official envoy Jacob von Grünthal had also arrived in Prague. He was supposed to force the Bohemian Estates into a conciliatory meeting with Emperor Matthias. The key members of the directory rejected this solution, but at the same time they did not want to be quick to anger the Elector of Saxony, who promoted the meeting (interposition). A complex situation consequently resulted. On the one hand, Jacob von Grünthal was assured that the Bohemian Estates were willing to negotiate with the Habsburgs. At the same time, however, there were reports about the irreconcilable attitude of certain persons and other military preparations. At the beginning of 1619 the Saxon diplomats were definitely not united. Friedrich Lebzelter took the opportunity to leave Prague and visit the military encampment near České Budějovice, an action which did not meet with understanding at the Dresden court. Jacob von Grünthal obviously did not get along with those reporting from Prague. In the end, everyone involved was forced into some kind of reconciliation. However, this apparently blunted their critical judgment, as in March 1619 they unanimously declared that the Bohemian statesmen would be happy to negotiate a peace.