St. Jacob's Mandate
The St. Jacob's mandate of July 25, 1508 ( Jacob's Day ) was a mandate of King Wladislaw II against the Brethren Union in Bohemia . The mandate ordered all Bohemian brothers to convert either to the Catholic Church or to the Utraquists . It did not end the activities of the Brethren, but it placed them outside the law. The members of the brotherhood worked in succession on the property of the nobles who supported and protected them. Only through the majesty letter of Emperor Rudolf II in 1609 was the brotherhood in the Kingdom of Bohemia legalized for a short time.