Ferdinand did not hesitate to accept the advice of his councillors, and he shortly afterwards issued the famed decree of July 31, 1627. The emperor had himself chosen this day, as it was the anniversary of the death of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Its principal and very simple enactment decreed that no one not belonging to the Church of Rome should be allowed to live in Bohemia, or even to enter the country. This decree applied equally to all—nobles, citizens and peasants, men and women. The nobles were granted a delay of six months, within which they were to conform to the Church of Rome. Those who refused to do so were then granted a further term of six months for the purpose of selling their estates. No exceptions were made. Even Charles of Žerotin, a firm adherent of the house of Habsburg, who had risked his life for that dynasty, was obliged to leave Bohemia. Though a few "heretics" still remained in hiding in Bohemia, the "Catholic Reformation" can after this decree be considered as having been accomplished. Bohemia, at least nominally, became an exclusively Romanist State.
Two measures of minor importance are in close connection with this great change in the condition of the land. One is the suppression of the university of Prague, at least as a free and scientific institution. The university had strongly favoured the national cause. Several of the most important meetings of the patriots had been held at the Carolinum, the principal building belonging to the university. The learned physician Jessenius, who had been rector in the year of the defenestration, a man of great talent and eloquence, had been employed by the "Directors" on several diplomatic missions. He was punished by the Imperialists with special cruelty. Before he was executed on the fateful 21st of June his tongue was cut out—as that of Cicero had once been—and was nailed to the scaffold. Some of the Spanish generals in the Imperial army, men such as Balthasar Marradas, Martin Huerta, Caretto del Grano,[1] who were noted for their excessive cruelty, suggested that in
- ↑ The names of these men, on whom vast estates in Bohemia were bestowed, were long preserved in the memory of the people. Hatred of the Spaniards long lingered in their minds, and even during the recent war between Spain and the United States many rejoiced over the defeats of the Spaniards.
parcatur conversis ut vexatio det intellectum et tamdiu graventur quoad escipiscant et officio satisfaciant."
