Majesty's letter
Two documents issued by Emperor Rudolf II in 1609, which granted the Protestant estates of the Kingdom of Bohemia and Silesia, respectively , freedom of religion, were designated as letters of majesty . The letter of majesty from Bohemia was issued on July 9th, 1609, the Silesian on August 20th.
prehistory
The two estates had taken advantage of the extremely difficult political situation of the actually counter - Reformation -minded emperor to wrest the issue of the two majesty letters from him. At that time Rudolf II was in a dispute with his brothers who wanted to oust him from the Bohemian throne. Moravia and Hungary had already passed to Archduke Matthias . In this situation the emperor had no choice but to give in to the evangelical classes of his two most important countries, if he did not want to lose the support of the Bohemians and Silesians as well.
content
In addition to the free exercise of religion by all residents of the country, the majesty letters also allowed the establishment of a Protestant church organization and the building of Protestant churches, not only on the possessions of the nobility, but also in the area of the royal chambers . Because of the last provision, there were serious conflicts between Bohemian Catholics and Protestants in the following years. It was disputed whether the possessions of the Catholic monasteries - these did not belong to the estates in Bohemia - were to be regarded as royal chamber goods and therefore they had to allow Protestant churches to be built in their villages. The destruction of a Protestant church in a monastery grave , the construction of which the Catholics considered illegal, triggered the second lintel in Prague in 1618 .
When the Evangelical Upper Lusatian estates heard of the success of the Bohemian and Silesian Protestants, they too wanted to acquire a letter of majesty for themselves. However, their ambassadors sent to Rudolf II in Prague in 1610/1611 were rejected by the emperor. The Upper Lusatians had to be content with a religious assassination issued by Emperor Matthias in 1612 , which merely confirmed the status quo.
Whereabouts
After the Imperial victorious Battle of White Mountain on 8 November 1620, the royal charter of emperor was Ferdinand II. Personally cut in two. The only certified copy of the letter of majesty that exists after the cut original (in the National Archives in Prague) is now kept in the Christian Weise Library in Zittau .
See also: Confessio Bohemica and Confoederatio Bohemica
literature
- Anton Gindely : History of the distribution of the Bohemian majesty letter from 1609. Tempsky, Prague 1858.
- Hermann Knothe : The efforts of Upper Lusatia for a letter of majesty, 1609–1611. In: New Lusatian Magazine . Volume 56, 1880, pp. 96-117. (Digitized version)
- Paul Konrad: The Silesian Majesty Letter of Emperor Rudolf II from 1609 in its meaning for the municipal consistory and the Protestant parishes of Wroclaw. Festschrift for the 300th anniversary celebration. Kauffmann, Breslau 1909. (digitized version)
- Kamil Krofta : Majestát Rudolfa II. Nákladem Historického Klubu, Praha 1909 (The majesty letter of Rudolf II. With facsimile of the original).
- Uwe Kahl: Treasures from the old holdings of the Christian-Weise library in Zittau: The majesty letter from Emperor Rudolph II from 1609. In: Library journal of the Christian-Weise library in Zittau . 9, 1999, pp. 36-38.
- Milan Svoboda: Majestát Rudolfa II. Ve sbírkách Christian Wise Library v Zitave. In: Fontes Nissae. Volume 3, 2002, ISSN 1213-5097 , pp. 160-168.
- Jaroslava Hausenblasová, Jiří Mikulec, Martina Thomsen (eds.): Religion and politics in early modern Bohemia: Emperor Rudolf II's letter of majesty from 1609 (= research on the history and culture of Eastern Central Europe. Volume 46). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-515-10609-2 .