The use of political forces

chapter one by F. Schiller translated by J.M. Rakotolahy

Chapter one: The use of political forces

 

 

The whole use which the House of Spain made of its impressive political forces was directed almost exclusively against the new religions or their partisans. Through Reformation, would be started a civil war which shook in its foundations the Kingdom of France, under four successive belligerent governments; pulled foreign weapons into the heart of this kingdom and made of it, for half a century, the battle scene of the saddest upheaval. Reformation made unbearable to the Netherlands the Spanish yoke and awaked in this people the need and the courage to tear down this yoke, the same way as it also gave its people, mostly, the strength for this emancipation.

 

Anything malevolent which Philip the Second decided against Queen Elisabeth of England was motivated by a revenge which was caused by the fact that she took under her protection, against his interest, his protestant subjects and has put herself at the head of a religious party against which he was fighting. The prospect of independence, the rich plunder of the spiritual founder must have made the regents craving for a religious conversion and the weight of the inner conviction must have not less strengthened this attraction in them; however, state reason alone could press them to that end. Had not Charles the Fifth, overenthusiastic about his luck, attacked the imperial freedom of the German foundations, hardly would a Protestant coalition have taken the arms to defend the freedom of their religion.

 

Without the thirst for dominance of the Guise would the Protestants in France never have chosen a Condé or a Coligny at their head; without the levy of the tenth and twentieth Pfennig would the Holy See in Rome never have lost the united Netherlands. The Regents fought for their own self-defence or territory enlargement; the new enthusiasm for religion gave them armies and opened to them the treasures of their people. The great number of people, when they were not attracted under their flags by the prospect of a good loot, believed to give its blood for truth, while it gave it only for the advantage of its princes.

 

Now, for the first time, the teachings of Luther enjoyed really a positive sanction and even if it was disparaged in Bavaria and in Austria; hence, it could console itself that it had the favour in the throne in Saxony and in Thuringia. To the regent it was now left to choose which religion was prevailing in his country and which one should be brought down; for the subjects who did not have any representative in the parliament, there was nothing cared for in the terms of this peace treaty. Alone in the spiritual countries in which the catholic religion remained irremediably the dominant one, would the protestant subjects (who were already so previously) really be affected the free practice of religion, however, this only through a personal assurance from the roman King Ferdinand who brought into stand this peace; an assurance which, from the catholic part of the Empire was contradicted and with this contradiction included in the peace treaty, it had not any legal binding.

 

However, while the Catholics were admiring the hero and the knight of their church in him, the Protestants began to equip themselves military against him, as their most dangerous enemy. Nevertheless, the request of Mathias, to turn to him the succession, found in the electing states of Austria none or only a very little opposition and even the people in Bohemia crowned him, among very pleasant conditions, as their future King. Only later on, after they have experienced the bad influence of his counsellors on the government of the Emperor, awakened their worries and various manuscript sentences from him, which were used for a malignant purposes in their hands and which betrayed only very distinctively his sentiments, funnelled their fear utmost. Particularly, they concluded a secret familial pact with Spain, in which Ferdinand has prescribed the kingdom of Bohemia to this crown, in case of male inheritors absence, without hearing first the nation, without considering the freedom of choice of their crown.

 

The many enemies who, in general, this Prince has made through his reformation in Steiermark among the Protestants, did to him the worst service to the people of Bohemia and some emigrants who have flown there have particularly shown, what a heart full of revenge they have brought into their new fatherland, were busy feeding the fire of outrage. In such a contradicting mood found King Ferdinand the nation of Bohemia, as Emperor Mathias made a place for him.

Author's Note

Copy and paste the passage that is not clear to you

Reviews

[Malenkov]

I liked the translation here, it seemed more fluid than other things I read of Schiller. I must say, reacting to the title of the essay I was trying to understand some political theory in there, maybe along the line of clausweitz, say war being a "continuation of policy by other means" or machiveallian style state craft, perhaps from schillers (pacificist?) orientation. I guess I was trying to see the point in the religious machinations between the protestants and the catholics whihch at that time were part of all the bloody power politic wars of that period. I believe it was based on some theory (I forget the name - was it balance of power? ) but it basically meant you never let any one power get too dominant and if they did the other nations ganged up on you. It did lead however to a kind of perpetual war, and the bloody wars under Frederich the Great. In any case, bloody and terrible as they were they werent the kind of "total wars" that I suppose came in with Frederich the Great and the doctrines of Clausweitz which we saw with the Blitzkreig and now of course in the Middle East - with its concomitant foreign policy of concentration of force (both military and now economic) at the decisive point.

But very possible I didnt understand where Schiller is going here, or am not familiar enough with Schillers thought (and I know hardly anything of him). But that is not a fault of the translator, or the translation but rather the reader .-).

[Tony]

I can understand this okay. And though I am not nearly as well read as you obviously are, I am a fan of history and or the repetition thereof throughout the ages. The end of the third paragraph is a good example, wherein you said...believed they were bleeding for truth, in fact they were bleeding for the advantage of the princes. This phrase is easily adaptable to a variety of things that are occurring as we speak.

I believe that people like yourself have sufficient data and knowledge to make a real difference in peoples awareness levels. Unfortunately, most people are not going to clearly understand what you say and probably will not finish reading what you have to say. This is because the writing is tedious. Even for me. Ultimately, this voids your dream.
Do not be discouraged, instead, take a good look at writers or people you know who create interesting and provocative works. You will find that they write in a fashion that is more simplified, and tending to have viewpoints that cater to the readers life and situation. For purposes of clarity, understanding, and for provoking real activity.
For example your poem, The Gate. A few words, having gravity, and lots of room for debate. And, very simple and to the point.
I am not quite finished here.
I know through reading your poems and translations you have the imagination and the capacity to be a strong activist and writer. Just make it interesting and easy to understand. Then you can sell it. Or give it away whatever is your method.
I found a couple of grammatical errors:
Awaked should be Awakened.
Must not have less strengthened should read 'must not have weakened'
Finally, you are a very well read historian, and it shows.

[E. M. Murren]

This is really well written, but, if I may, it would be easier to read if it were separated into paragraphs. Also, so you know, your chapter 5 is the first chapter listed and your one is the last. You can alter that in edit mode on the book entry. I did it with my own. Those are simple editing hints that might make it more salable for you. There were a few direct objects out of place, but that is easy to fix as well. As a student of history, much of this was not new information, but the stance Schiller took is an interesting one.

If I may make a suggestion for when this gets into print... a short introduction helping some people to understand who some of these people were. Of course the Guise are well known to me, but there are many who might not know their relationship with the French crown. The Hapsburgs throughout Europe were strongly alied with the Vatican... in fact it took a great deal of effort on the Duke of Saxony's part to keep the Vatican at bay over the Luther challenge to its authority in Europe.

Anyway... fascinating topic. Interesting read. Well done.