Z dziejów kontrreformacji na Śląsku Cieszyńskim albo jak Suchankowie z Brzezówki w XVII i XVIII wieku wiarę zmieniali

In 1653, the Habsburgs took direct control of the Duchy of Těšín and in the following year, they launched decisive Counter-Reformation efforts. The Treaty of Altranstädt (1707) brought some relief to the Protestant population. The treaty allowed them to build a church in Cieszyn. But it was not until 1781 that Emperor Joseph II issued the Patent of Toleration, thus putting an end to the Counter-Reformation in the region. This article examines the denominational choices of representatives of the Suchanek family who resided in the village of Brzezówka (now in the Cieszyn district), belonged to the Teschener Kammer (Komora Cieszyńska, Těšínská komora), a princely state under the control of the Habsburg family. The family’s genealogy was reconstructed thanks to parish registries and land registries, and includes 82 persons (not including spouses). At the end of the 17th century, it was a purely Protestant family. The frst documented case of conversion took place in 1696. By 1781, a total of 9 people converted to Catholicism. Contrary to existing claims made in literature, research has failed to indicate any relationship between property status (possession of a farm) and the religious choices of the Suchanek family. Choosing a spouse of the same denomination guaranteed raising children in the Protestant faith (even despite signing a document obliging a Catholic to raise their offspring as Catholics). An analysis of the religious choices of the peasant Suchanek family from Brzezówka allows us to hypothesize that the people living in the Cieszyn area during the Counter-Reformation – although subjected to various pressures to convert to Catholicism – defed those pressures and chose to decide their denomination for themselves