Giovanni Botero and his Relationi universali. Looking at the religious situation in the lands of the Bohemian Crown at the end of the 16th century
2020
Abstract
The article introduces a translation and interpretation of a part of Relationi universali written by Giovanni Botero (1544-1617). In this work, Botero presents his perspective on the course of the Catholic Reformation in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and he also touches on the issues of religious tolerance and coexistence of various Christian creeds.
Botero's evaluation of believers under both kinds is relatively positive whereas his perception of other religiously nonconformist groups is strongly critical. According to him, the process of re-Catholization can be perceived as a positive one and his main actors are higher clergy, Catholic nobility, ruling monarchs and the Jesuit Order.