The Revolt Defeated 229of reversall voyde, and if a new establishmente shoulde be obtained by
petition, it will bee only the lawe of the conquerour’.^68
Ferdinand’s first target was the Bohemian Brethren, followed by the
Lutherans and then by the remaining elements of Hussite Utraquism,
but although the process of reversing the Reformation had to proceed
step by step in view of the political and military situation its progress
was nevertheless inexorable.^69 This did not affect Silesia and Lusatia, as
the elector of Saxony took steps to protect the confessional rights of the
Protestants, while Hungary was also exempted due to the continuing
military threat from Bethlen Gabor. Nevertheless Ferdinand’s recatholi-
cisation in Bohemia and Moravia, together with similar polices applied
in Austria itself, effectively eliminated a major source of dissension and
created a high degree of confessional unity within most of the Habsburg
hereditary lands, as well as largely removing the pressure for Estates
rights.
Political reform was also on the agenda, and here Ferdinand did not
neglect Maximilian’s advice ‘to take back the forfeit privileges from
which all this trouble sprang’. It was no longer a matter of arguing
over traditional rights, but of Ferdinand dictating by right of conquest,
and he and his advisers were determined that such privileges should be
retained only insofar as they did not diminish his own authority as king.
The new political order was not finally formalised until the Renewed
State Ordinance of 1627, but this document then took Bohemia away
from any concept of Estates government and well on the way towards
the monarchic absolutism of the following century. The reforms were
not restricted to Bohemia, and similar measures were adopted in the
other Habsburg hereditary lands, although on an individual basis which
took account of their pre-existing structures. Only Hungary retained
essentially its old form of government.^70