Századok – 2016
2016 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Bagi Zoltán Péter: Az 1594. évi regensburgi birodalmi gyűlés. A török segély kérdésének tárgyalása
AZ 1594. ÉVI REGENSBURGI BIRODALMI GYŰLÉS 889 NEGOTIATING THE OTTOMAN AID AT THE REGENSBURG REICHSTAG OF 1594 by Zoltán Bagi Abstract The Ottoman-Habsburg war, which had menaced to erupt since 1591, and finally broke out in 1593 in full, took emperor Rudolf II totally unprepared, and came in a most unfavourable moment from the perspective of both the financial and the domestic political situation. Most importantly, the last instalment of the fourty Römermonate of anti-Ottoman monetary aid, which had been voted at the Augsburg Reichstag of 1582, was due in the autumn of 1587. Thereafter the imperial paymaster could only collect the arrears due from earlier imperial aids: in 1589 somewhat more than 59 000 Rhenish florins could thus be gathered, some ten per cent of which were arrears due from the aid voted back in 1576. Naturally, this sum was anything but enough for the financing of military operations, and only covered the interest payments on previous loans. Although the ruler, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, refused to convoke an imperial Reichstag for several years, finally he had to yield. On 2 June 1594, the imperial proposition was read out in front of the estates at Regensburg. After two months of bargaining, the estates voted an aid of eighty Römermonate for the financing of the war. The present study examines the compilation of the imperial proposition for the Regensburg Reichstag of 1594, the ensuing negotioations, and the final decision.
