224 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
Most of the more prominent were not so adroit, but they remained
at liberty for over three months after the capture of Prague. Dur-
ing this period Ferdinand first appointed a commission to deal with
the rebels, and this in turn made its preparations. At its head was
Liechtenstein, who had by then been appointed to the new post of
governor of Bohemia, and there were several Bohemians among the
number, although some of the former regents declined to serve. As a
first step the commission acted against any who had been involved but
were already dead, declaring their property forfeit to the crown, while
all those who had fled abroad were sentenced to deathin absentioand
likewise expropriated. However it was not until 20 February 1621 that
Liechtenstein finally received Ferdinand’s order to arrest all the mem-
bers of the directorate who remained within reach, together with some
thirty others. To apprehend so many without any escaping was poten-
tially problematic, so instead they were all ordered to report to Prague
castle at a specific time in order be informed of an Imperial decree.
They duly did so, with fine irony assembling in the same room from
which Martinitz and Slavata had been thrown, where they were arrested
without difficulty.
Legal preparations occupied another month, during which a care-
fully chronological 236-point questionnaire was drawn up, covering
events from the assembly of the defensors before the defenestration
through to the actions of Friedrich’s government during the final stages
of the revolt. This was to form the basis of the subsequent proceed-
ings, although these seem to have constituted little more than extended
interrogations rather than full trials in accordance with established
Bohemian legal practice. The court was opened formally on 29 March,
with hearings following during April, and the answers to the list of ques-
tions given by each of the individual accused were summarised and
recorded. All were found guilty.
The great majority, more than thirty, were condemned to death, but
the full sentences were punctiliously differentiated by the addition of
further tortures and degradations, betraying the medieval attitude to
punishment which persisted in the Habsburg empire. Most were to be
beheaded, but a few of the lower orders were to be hanged. Some of
those to be beheaded were to be quartered or to have their right hands,
or in one case his tongue, cut off beforehand, with the respective body
parts to be put on public display afterwards. Others were only to be
beheaded, but in some cases their heads were likewise to be put on dis-
play, whereas in others the execution itself was deemed to suffice. As a
bizarre and supposedly lesser punishment one man was to be nailed to