Jan Bedřich z Valdštejna – pražským arcibiskupem v těžkých časech. In Města a epidemie v českých zemích – od středověku na práh 19. století, (edd.) Hrdina, Jan – Jíšová, Kateřina
| Title in English | Jan Bedřich of Valdštejn – Prague Archbishop in Troubled Times. In Town and Epidemics in the Czech Lands from the Middle Ages to the Threshold of the 19th Century, (edd.) Hrdina, Jan – Jíšová, Kateřina |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Documenta Pragensia Supplementa |
| Citation | |
| web | Documenta Pragensia Supplementa 11 |
| Keywords | Early Modern period, Prague, Olšany – Chapel of St Roch, Jan Bedřich of Valdštejn, Leopold I, Jean Baptiste Mathey, plague epidemic, cemeteries, death |
| Description | The paper addresses the fate of Prague Archbishop Jan Bedřich of Valdštejn against the backdrop of the tumultuous late 17th century. The precipitous rise of the count, secured through powerful patronage in church and court circles, was replaced soon after his appointment as archbishop of Prague in 1675 by years of political struggles against tax increases as a result of the protracted Ottoman-Habsburg war. When, in 1679–1680, fears of a plague epidemic brought the Viennese court from Austria to Prague, Jan Bedřich repeatedly met with Emperor Leopold I there. The construction of the Chapel of St Roch near the plague burial ground in Olšany outside the Prague walls, which was built with the archbishop's permission probably directly according to the design of his court artist Jean Baptiste Mathey, dates to this same period. Valdštejn himself succumbed to smallpox in 1694, which is evidenced by a remarkable written report worthy of the ideal of his time on the archbishop's exemplary death. |