The Counter-Reformation in Horn, 1620-1670

This research project will essentially study methods, mechanisms and success of "Catholic Confessionalization" in the Habsburg lands at a specific example (a small town and one or two neighbouring villages). While the role of Catholic rulers and their authorities (in Austria for instance the "Klosterrat" which was founded in 1568) and that of the institutions of the Catholic church (pope, nuntius, bishops and their officials, religious orders like the Jesuits and Capuchins) represents one of the topics most studied in Austrian and international historical research of the "early modern times", the various ways of acting of the local lords and the "agents" of the Catholic authorities among the subjects that pushed ahead "Confessionalization" in the communities both in towns and in the countryside like mayors, other members of the councils, rich peasants etc. hardly attracted the attention of historians until now, especially in Austria. The same can be stated about the retarding moments that hindered and obstructed the advancement of Catholicism in regions that were strongly influenced by Protestantism. To counter this historiographical gap a microhistorical approach seems to be very productive. As a base for the interpretation and the analysis of "Catholic Confessionalization" in Horn a databank shall be set up, by which information that is found in the various archives on all persons, who appear in the very context, shall be collected and "centralized". This includes the kinship and the social relations of such persons like lords, lordly officials, parsons, citizens and peasants. Especially the position of the parson and the other members of the parish clergy, the dimension of their support by inhabitants, who had embraced a non-Catholic faith seven decades ago and continued to adhere to that faith at least to a specific degree during the years after 1620, and the concrete allies of the Catholic authorities will automatically move into the field of the investigation. The microhistorical approach seems applicable to a town like Horn, which consisted of about 100 houses in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and to one or more villages that belonged to the lordship of Horn. The project shall comprise the decades following 1620 until about 1700. This long perspective in chronological regard seems meaningful in view of the fact that this investigation shall essentially deal with the development of piety - under the particular political, social and economic conditions and changes in seventeenth century Horn. Horn was chosen for this study because of it`s importance for the history of Austrian Reformation, especially during the first decades of the seventeenth century, when it became the center of political acting of the rebellious Protestant estates of Lower Austria and so was strongly involved in the struggles that culminated in the outbreak of Thirty Years War. Moreover there can be stated a continuity of Protestant piety during 70 years, when neither a governmental nor an ecclesiastical authority was able to counter this "dangerous" situation. Reformation had been introduced in a peaceful manner by the Protestant lord and willingly adopted by the citizens (by 1550) and nearly never met resistance. This peaceful development was interrupted by the defeat of the rebellious estates in 1620 (one of the participants of this rebellion was the lord of Fluchheim, who possessed Horn) and the following confiscation of the lordship of Horn. This constellation created enormous problems for the Counter-Reformation, which began also in 1620. Moreover there exists a wide field of activity especially for microhistorically orientated research.