Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17234/RadoviZHP.57.09
Invocation of the Virgin as Protector against the Ottomans: Its Partisans and Critics in the Age of Confessionalization
Marina Schumann
; University Centre for Protestant Theology Matthias Flacius Illyricus University of Zagreb
Abstract
This paper examines the transformation of Marian devotion in the Habsburg borderlands during the age of confessionalization, transforming traditional medieval piety into an instrument of confessional consolidation and political legitimation. In territories where Catholic populations faced both the Ottoman military threat and the Protestant religious challenge, the Virgin Mary was reimagined as an active military protector. Through miraculous icons like the weeping Maria Pötsch, votive images commissioned by rescued captives, pilgrimage sites, and devotional literature, Catholic elites – including the Jesuits, the Franciscans, and noble patrons like the Esterházy family – mobilized Marian devotion to resist both Ottoman conquest and Protestant influence. This study demonstrates how religious practices and political power constitute mutually reinforcing systems in contested frontier zones, with material objects and devotional rituals serving as active participants in struggles over territory, confession, and identity.
Keywords
Marian piety; age of confessionalization; Ottoman threat; Catholic-Protestant conflict; devotional literature; Pál Eszterházy; Battle of Lepanto; Battle of White Mountain; Siege of Vienna; Battle of Zenta
Hrčak ID:
352374
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2025.
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