Resolutio Carolina

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The Resolutio Carolina was a decree of Emperor Charles VI. (as King of Hungary Charles III. ) of March 21, 1731, who was supposed to regulate the rights of Protestants in the Kingdom of Hungary .

prehistory

On April 3, 1707 - under the patronage of Franz II. Rákóczi (1676–1735) - the synod of the Evangelical Church AB in Rosenberg (Slov. Ružomberok, Hungarian Rózsahegy) was convened and a solemn service was held by Samuel Mikoviny d . Ä. was held, opened. In this synod the church law consisting of 25 articles was passed, which regulated the internal order of the old "Hungarian Evangelical Church AB" for over 200 years - until the disintegration of the Danube monarchy . Old Hungary was now divided into four church districts, each headed by a superintendent (from 1883 bishop). The districts in question were:

I. Cisdanubia (inter alia with the Preßburg seniorate ),

Kingdom of Hungary in 1880

II. Transdanubia (with the Seniorat Ödenburg ),

III. Mining district,

IV. Theiss district (including the senior councils Spiš / City, Spiš / Land and the senior council of the royal free cities).

This division was made in 1734 by the "Resolutio Carolina secunda" of the Emperor Charles VI. (1685–1740) approved and legally sanctioned.

The structure laid down in the First Synod of Sillein (Slov. Žilina, Hungarian Zsolna) in 1610, in which there were still several superintendencies , was abolished. The Synod of Rosenberg was the first in which the interests of the areas liberated from the Turks were taken up and thus included the entire Kingdom of Hungary - with only minimal changes to the district boundaries - until 1918. Even if the resolutions of the Synod were not immediately recognized by the authorities at the beginning, they proved to be forward-looking, were later sanctioned again and de facto remained valid until 1918.

Content of the resolution

The rights of Protestants were significantly restricted by the resolution and the statutory ordinances contained therein. A selection of the points contained therein had serious consequences for the religious life of Protestants in Hungary:

  • The Protestants were obliged to externally observe the holidays of the Catholic Church.
  • The Protestant members of the guilds had to take part in the processions of the Catholic Church
  • The officials of Hungary had to take the oath according to the legally prescribed oath formula, that is, they also had to swear on the saints of the Catholic Church and the Virgin Mary ( expressis verlbis Deipare Virginis ac Sanctorum ).
  • The skills of the evangelical clergy were tested by Catholic archdeans , which ultimately meant subordination to the Catholic Church.
  • Marriages, including mixed marriages, may only be carried out by Catholic clergymen.
  • Catholics who convert to the evangelical faith should be punished.
  • Evangelical clergymen are only allowed to hold church services outside the boundaries of cities.

Effects

The Catholic clergy received the resolution with dismay. The Bishop of Waitzen , Cardinal Michael Friedrich von Althann, who was one of the sharpest critics of the imperial house and its policies, lamented in Resolution Carolina the "pathetic concessions" made to Protestants in this ordinance. He lodged a "solemn protest" against Resolution Carolina, declaring that he considered the decree to be invalid and would appeal against it to the Pope. This reaction from the Catholic side triggered a violent wave of protests in the Protestant-led countries. The ambassadors from Prussia , England , Denmark and Sweden presented to the Viennese court and handed over notes of protest from their governments. Thereupon the emperor decided to summon Althann to Vienna and after he did not appear, the emperor sent the protest note back to Pest county with the stipulation that it had to be publicly destroyed. In addition, in 1732 the imperial family ordered the confiscation of Althann's Hungarian goods as a punishment.

The Resolutio Carolina came into effect and was only replaced with the tolerance patent of October 13, 1781 of Emperor Joseph II .

In the following 19th century, church life in the Kingdom of Hungary developed very quickly. In 1850 the Lutherans numbered about 180,000 Hungarians, 200,000 Germans and 450,000 Slovaks. In the churches, preaching was carried out in three languages ​​according to the respective national characteristics.

Administrative structure

The Resolutio Carolina also regulated the administrative structure of the Evangelical Lutheran congregations. The territory of the Kingdom of Hungary was divided into four church districts:

  • Structure of the church districts
    District for Cisdanubia ( Hungarian Dunáninneni Egyházkerület)
  • District for Transdanubia (Hungarian Dunántúli Egyházkerület)
  • The mining district (ung.Bányai Egyházkerület)
  • District for the Tisza region (ung.Tiszai Egyházkerület)

These four districts were subordinated to the individual parishes, which were united in seniorates . At the head of each district was a superintendent (Protestant bishop), whose election, however, had to be confirmed by the king. This division of the Hungarian Evangelical Church AB (that is the official name) continued in its full expansion until the end of the First World War . According to the 1910 census, it comprised more than 900 parishes with approximately 1.4 million members in a total of 48 senior citizens.

As a result of the Treaty of Trianon , the former Kingdom of Hungary lost around two thirds of its territory, which had to be surrendered to the successor states. This also had an impact on the size of the individual church districts. The districts for Cisdanubia and the Tisza region were particularly affected. Nevertheless, the original structure was retained for the time being. It was not until the Synod of 1952 that this structure was abandoned and a new division was created. Only the Evangelical Church AB of Transylvania did not belong to the Hungarian Evangelical Church AB , since the Transylvanian Saxons had formed their own church (today Evangelical Church AB in Romania ).

The Evangelical Reformed Church in Hungary had a similar structure, it was also divided into four districts.

literature

Web links

References and comments

  1. ^ Pastor Samuel Mikoviny was the father of the important cartographer and engineer Samuel Mikoviny the Elder. J. (1700-1750).
  2. ↑ The ordinance referred to the Evangelical Lutheran as well as the Evangelical Reformed fellow believers.
  3. ↑ a b History of the Protestant Parish of Preßburg ... Vol. 1, p. 327f (see literature)
  4. ↑ Waitzen (ung. Vác) is a town in Pest County and is located about 30 km north of Budapest .
  5. ↑ Pope Clement XII.
  6. ↑ a b Schwarz, p. 161f (see literature)
  7. ↑ Source: Tibor Fabiny: History of the Lutheran Church in Hungary
  8. ^ Czechoslovakia , Romania , Yugoslavia .