Editing Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (section)

==Consolidation of power in Bohemia==
{{main|The Estates Revolt in 1547}}
[[File:Workshop of Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen - Portrait of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor at bust-length.jpg|thumb|Ferdinand in 1531, the year of his election as [[King of the Romans]]]]

When he took control of the [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Bohemian lands]] in the 1520s, their religious situation was complex. Its German population was composed of Catholics and Lutherans. Some Czechs were receptive to Lutheranism, but most of them adhered to [[Utraquist]] [[Hussitism]], while a minority of them adhered to [[Roman Catholicism]]. A significant number of Utraquists favoured an alliance with the Protestants.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Between Lipany and White Mountain'', Palmitessa</ref> At first, Ferdinand accepted this situation and he gave considerable freedom to the Bohemian estates. In the 1540s, the situation changed. In Germany, while most Protestant princes had hitherto favored negotiation with the emperor and while many had supported him in his wars, they became increasingly confrontational during this decade. Some of them even went to war against the emperor, and many Bohemian (German or Czech) Protestants or Utraquists sympathized with them.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Ferdinand and his son [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian]] participated in the [[Schmalkaldic War|victorious campaign]] of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] against the German Protestants in 1547. The same year, he also defeated a [[The Estates Revolt in 1547|Protestant revolt in Bohemia]], where the estates and a large part of the nobility had denied him support in the German campaign. This allowed him to increase his power in this realm. He centralized his administration, revoked many urban privileges and confiscated properties.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Ferdinand also sought to strengthen the position of the Catholic Church in the Bohemian lands, and favoured the installation of the [[Jesuits]] there.