A History of Bohemian LiteratureLützow, Francis, hrabe
History
A History of Bohemian Literature
Lützow, Francis, hrabe
Czech literature -- History and criticism
"Berka then declared that the House of Austria had always been the
ruin of Bohemia, because by its false Spanish practices it had sold
the kingdom, his beloved fatherland, into perpetual servitude and made
slaves and serfs of the Bohemians. Therefore the kind Lord God would
not allow this any longer, nor permit that such tyranny and cruelty
should be practised against them; but He in His great mercy had opened
their eyes, and they had therefore taken up arms against Ferdinand
and began war against the House of Austria. And rather than succumb
to Spanish tyranny they would a thousand times rather submit to the
rule and government of the Turkish emperor, their powerful lord....
Venceslas of Budova, then president of the court of appeal, who was
attached to the Turkish ambassador as special commissioner, declared
that the lords and other members of the Estates of Bohemia belonging
to the Utraquist creed had arrived at this resolution and decision,
that they would rather be cut to pieces together with their wives
and children than submit to the rule and domination of Ferdinand, or
of any other member of the House of Austria.... Peter Miller, then
vice-chancellor of the Bohemian kingdom, said to Budova: 'My kind
lord father, we Bohemians have resolved, rather than that the Emperor
Ferdinand should be our king--and supposing that the Turkish emperor is
not able to help us sufficiently--we will seek refuge with the devil in
hell and supplicate him to help us.'
"At last Count Thurn spoke, saying that the Lord God was his witness
how truly he regretted with his whole heart that the Emperor Ferdinand
should have been spoken of in such a manner; but that Ferdinand had
been misled by listening to the counsels of the Jesuits; neither he nor
the other Bohemians were responsible for his fall; rather should he
attribute it to himself. Then Thurn ordered three small glasses of wine
and one larger glass that was empty, and said, addressing the Turkish
ambassador: 'I drink these three glasses with you, one to the health
of his Majesty the Emperor (of Turkey), one to the health of our own
most gracious King, and one to that of the Prince of Transylvania.'
And raising the three glasses he poured their contents into the large
empty glass, and then continued: 'As with wine mixed out of three
glasses it cannot be known what wine was in the first, what in the
second, and what in the third glass, and only one sort of wine appears
in this full glass, thus I begin to drink this glass full of wine in
the name of the most Holy Trinity, consisting of three persons, but one
Divinity, in the hope that these three potentates to whose health I am
drinking will be of one accord, of one heart, and of one will; so that
they may triumph over and defeat all their enemies.' Then he emptied
the full glass of wine. The Turkish ambassador answered that he had
great pleasure in emptying his glass to this toast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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