Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

"the constant and unalterable will of His Sacred
Majesty Ferdinand II."[11]
In the same year (1624) all the citizens of
Prague who had not renounced their Protestant
faith, and entered the Roman communion, were
informed by public edict that they had forfeited
their estates by rebellion.
Nevertheless, their gracious monarch was
willing to admit them to pardon. Each citizen was
required to declare on oath the amount of goods
which he possessed, and his pardon-money was
fixed accordingly. The "ransom" varied from 100
up to 6,000 guilders. The next "thunderbolt" that
fell on the non-Catholics was the deprivation of the
rights of citizenship. No one, if not in communion
with the Church of Rome, could carry on a trade or
business in Prague. Hundreds were sunk at once by
this decree into poverty. It was next resolved to
banish the more considerable of those citizens who
still remained "unconverted." First four leading
men had sentence of exile recorded against them;
then seventy others were expatriated. Soon
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