5. The Rise of Albrecht von Wallenstein

Between 1618 and 1628, Albrecht von Wallenstein had the opportunity to put his military skills and his undeniably great intellect to good use.

THE RISE OF WALLENSTEIN

In the meantime, the Estates' Revolt broke out in Bohemia. In July 1618, Emperor Ferdinand asked the Moravians to allow half of their Estates to fight alongside the imperial army. However, the Moravian Estates refused and only allowed the passage of the imperial troops through Moravia. Wallenstein therefore did not get to fight, but offered the emperor to hire a regiment of cuirassiers in the Netherlands at his own expense. Along with others, he protested in June 1618 against the expulsion of the Jesuits from the country, for which he was punished by the directors with house arrest. After Thurn invaded Moravia, Wallenstein was transferred with the regiment he commanded to Olomouc. There, on 30 April 1619, he attempted to convert the soldiers to the imperial side by marching to Vienna of his own accord. His chief constable opposed the decision, but Wallenstein killed him in cold blood. That very night, at the head of forty musketeers, he stormed the house of the Moravian Provincial Collector in Ostružnická Street and forced the keys to the chests with the money of the Moravian Estates (i.e. the Provincial Government). The Moravian provincial cavalry, which went to pursue Wallenstein's regiment, forced six hundredths of the regiment to return. Wallenstein brought the remaining four hundredths and the wagons with the stolen Estates' treasury to Vienna and handed them over to the Emperor. The Moravians declared Wallenstein "a shameless outlaw who must never return to the Moravian Margraviate". His property was forfeited to the Estates.

The Emperor returned the Moravian money and the rest of the regiment back to Moravia in view of the difficult military-political situation, but Wallenstein, as a loyal and brave imperial colonel and commander, had to be reckoned with in the future. In the following years Wallenstein proved himself in the imperial service, but the mark of a traitor or schemer, which may have been the reason for the later distrust of the Habsburgs, remained on his name.
Wallenstein's soldiers (those from the Netherlands) took part in the so-called Bohemian War in the Battle of Zablat, in the defence of Vienna and also in the Battle of White Mountain. Although he himself did not take part in the fighting, his regiment performed admirably and Albrecht was appointed imperial commissioner in north-west Bohemia, where he fiercely enforced the reimbursements. His regiment also participated in the arrest of Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice before the execution of 27 Bohemian lords in Old Town Square.

"I care little and almost nothing for the economy, but I am thinking how I can put a large army in the field in the service of the emperor.There are enough rich people in Bohemia, whose estates I shall attain one day by the generosity of the King of Bohemia and my bravery, without having to worry about economic matters." 

Albrecht von Wallenstein

When the victory of the imperial party was complete, he took part in the association formed by Prince Liechtenstein, the governor of the province, the Jewish banker Jakub Bashevi from Treuenburg, the Dutch merchant Hans de Witte and Pavel Michna from Vacinov. Together they founded a coin consortium that minted devalued coins - the so-called long coins. The whole venture ended in bankruptcy, but he made a fortune from the venture. However, he made far greater profits by buying confiscations between 1621 and 1625, among which the inheritance of the Smiřickýs and Röderns stood out. The volume of profits from these speculations is estimated at up to 6 million rhineland gold pieces.

ČESKOLIPSKO

In 1623 Wallenstein acquired the New Castle estate and with it the town of Česká Lípa. He granted numerous privileges to the local townspeople and brought Augustinians from Prague to the town in 1624 to begin teaching children. In 1625, he started the construction of a monastery in Česká Lípa. In 1627 he issued its foundation charter, in which he established a Latin church school. He named it Kolej u All Saints. The monastery was completed in 1631.

FRYDLANT

In June 1623, he married Isabella Katherine of Harrach (1601-1656). With his second marriage, Wallenstein needed to consolidate his position and chose the young daughter of Charles of Harrach, one of the Emperor's advisors, which gave Wallenstein the necessary connections and support at the Emperor's court. Together they had two children, a daughter, Maria Elisabeth (1625 - 1662), married to Count Rudolf Kounice, and a son, Albrecht Karl (1627), who died of congenital syphilis after three weeks.

In 1625 the Frýdlant manor was promoted to a principality and in 1627 to the Duchy of Frýdlant. Its territory was excluded from the Land Plate of the Kingdom of Bohemia and thus became a kind of state within a state. The capital of Frýdlant became Jičín, it also touched the border of Silesia, and could thus break away from the rest of the kingdom. Among Wallenstein's plans were to establish a bishopric, a university and his own Diet in Jičín. He even planned to grow silkworms to produce silk that would be used in the manufacture of uniforms and army equipment. From 1628 onwards, he had the right to appoint nobles, to promote estates to towns and to mint coins bearing the motto INVITA-INVIDIA! = In spite of envy! With this motto, which Wallenstein had minted not only on coins, but also on cords, spurs, etc., and which he acknowledged as his new family motto, he wanted to make it clear to the court and his opponents that he was unbreakable.

JIČÍN

He invited the Jesuits to Jičín, who founded a college there. The region was not burdened with taxes and was therefore also called terra felix, a happy land, because Wallenstein also won from the emperor the exemption of his duchy from the army wintering fees, which always mercilessly burdened the region.