Fraternity-Testvériség, 1959 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1959-07-01 / 7. szám
10 FRATERNITY exercise of religion for his people and the upholding of the laws of the land. So to this end he turned to the Habsburg ruler and sought from him cooperation rather than opposition. In 1606 the Peace of Vienna was signed after much bargaining, but produced little result. It made no specific reference to the Protestant faith but only promised general freedom for the exercise of religion. This freedom was evidently not meant to extend to all citizens of the land; specific reference was made to the nobility, the inhabitants of the cities and to the soldiers in the border fortresses. The villages were not specified in the articles of agreement. Moreover, instead of guaranteeing freedom to the Protestants, the Peace of Vienna only promised that they should not be molested by the Roman Catholic Church. Naturally the parliament, composed of a Protestant majority, was not satisfied with such an agreement, and refused at first to place the Peace of Vienna on the statute books; but with the crowning in 1608 of a new king, Matthias, they finally agreed to do so. Now it was that for the first time freedom was granted to the poor peasantry of Roman Catholic nobles to make their own choice of faith, and now, too, at long last, were Protestants permitted in the kingdom to appoint their own superintendents. Rocskai did not live to see this result of his endeavours, as he died in 1606 at the hands of a poisoner, it is said. No one was more lamented by the whole Hungarian people than he was; Stephen Telegdi uttered a heart-searching oration at his graveside which reflected the feelings of all. Bocskai had been instrumental in securing for the two Protestant Churches of Hungary—the Reformed and the Lutheran—a guaranteed position in the land. For the maintenance and upholding of this position they had, indeed, to struggle later, but the struggle was only for what Bocskai had already gained for them in fact. (To be continued)
