HUNGARY
554
HUNGARY
bishops, but the death (1564) of Ferdinand I put an
end for a time to the efforts for reform in the Church.
The religious indifference of Ferdinand's successor,
Maximilian II (1564-76), worked great injury to the
Church. In his earlier years Maximilian had been
strongly inclined to the new creed, a fact of which the
preachers of these doctrines took advantage, so that
towards the end of his reign a majority of the great
nobles of Hungary had become Protestants, thereby
greatly encouraging the spread of the new doctrines.
Maximilian's failure to fill the archiepiscopal See of
Gran, which fell vacant in 1573, caused a further de-
cline of the Catholic religion, nor did his successor,
Rudolf II, fill the vacancy until some time after as-
cending the throne. In the first years of the reign of
Rudolf II (1576-1608) religious conditions changed
but little; later, the position of the Catholic clergy
improved after the entrance of the Jesuits, who im-
proved the education of the clerg>-. Thus, at the end
of the seventeenth century the Catholic clergj- were
ready to carry on the struggle against Protestantism
in public disputations.
In this reign liegan the reclaiming of the churches, foiinded by Catholics, which had been occupied by Protestants. At the same time also began, although slowly, the conversion of the Protestant nobility, but the revolt of Stephen Bocskay again led to a de- cline of Catholicism. The Treaty of Vienna, of 1606, secured freedom for the Lutheran and Reformed faiths, as well as for the Catholics. In the reign of Matthias II (1608-19) the Treaty of Vienna of 1606 was confirmed by the Diet of 160S, and religious free- dom was extended to the cities and villages. The Diet also granted the Protestants the right to elect their own administrative heads, so that the Protes- tants could now organize as an ecclesiastical body. The highest political honour of Hungary, the dignity of Palatine (president of the Diet and representative of the king) was in this era held by Protestants. Stephen Illeshazy and George Thurzo followed each other in this office and, as was natural, defended their religion.
To this period also belong the taking of a more determined position by the Catholic Church against Protestantism and the beginning of the Counter- Reformation. Francis Forgach, Bishop of Nyitra (Neutra), later Archbishop of Gran, took up the struggle against Protestantism. Together with his clergy, he protested, although in vain, against the ordinances of the Diet of 1608; the Diet of 1609 re- jected his protest. It also opposed Peter Piizmdny, later Archbishop of Gran, who, as a member of the Society of .lesus, had developed a remarkable activity. In 1613 appeared his chief work, " Hode- gus", that is, " Guide to Divine Faith", to which for a long time no reply was made by Protestantism (see Paz.\i.(ny. Peter). Through the efforts of Pazmany and his fellow-Jesuits, the (.'atholics formed a major- ity in the Diet of 161S. At this Diet the Protestants endeavoured to get control of the village churches also, and tried to have an enactment passed giving a Protestant village the right to the church against the will of the lonl of the manor, but they did not succeed. In 1619 a revolt for the preservation of Protestant interests broke out ; it was led by Gabriel Bethlen, ruler of Transylvania, whose cause was espoused by the Protestant nobles of Hungary. The insurrection spread rapidly; Kassa (Kaschau), the chief town of upper Hungary, was captured by Beth- len, who by the end of 1619 w'as seeking to become King of Hungary. A threatened attack by the Turks forced Bethlen in 1620 to agree to an armistice with the king. A Diet was held at Beszterczebanya (Neusohl) bv Bethlen in July and .\ugust, 16'20, which elected him'King of Hungary. The Diet confiscated the domains of the Church and suppressed all dioceses except three. Bethlen, however, was not able to
maintain himself long and was obhged, by the end of
1621, to agree to peace with Ferdinand II (1619-35)
at Nikolsburg. In religious affairs the treaty was
based on the Treaty of Vierma of 1606 and the enact-
ments of the Diet of 1608.
The Catholic Church now steadily increased. Thou- sands of those who had fallen away returned to the Faith. This at times led to renewed struggles when the Protestants were not willing to consent to the return of the churches. Their efforts at the Diets to retain the churches when the lord of the manor was converted, and the serfs remained Protestant, failed, as what they desired was contrary to the pro\'ision of the civil law. During the reign of Ferdinand III (1635-57) occurred, in 1644, the insurrection for the defence of the rights of the Protestants, led liy George RAkoczy I ; the war came to an end with the Peace of Linz (1645). This treaty secured complete religious freedom even to the serfs, anil contained ordinances concerning the use of the churches, cemeteries, and bells; the expulsion of the Protestant ministers from the towns and villages was forbidden, etc. The Diet of 1646 went thoroughly into the rehgious question. The final decision of the king gave the Protestants 90 of the 400 churches they claimed; where they were not given the church they obtained suitable land for building. To carry out these ordinances, however, proved very difficult; strong opposition was mani- fested, and conditions remained verj- much the .same up to 1670. A great change in religious affairs was caused by the discovery of the conspiracy' of Francis Wessel^nT,-! and his companions, to make Hungary independent of Austria. A large number of the con- spirators were Protestant; thus it came about that the civil war that broke out after the discovery of the conspiracy soon became a religious war. The Gov- ernment succeeded in suppressing the rebellion and erected at Pozsony (Presburg) a special court for the conviction of the Protestants. The revolt of Emeric Thokijly, in 1678, once more injured the Catholic cause; up to 16S4 Thokoly had control of a large part of the country, and the Protestants took up arms against the Catholics. In 1681 the Diet was sum- moned to put an end to these disordered conditions. The Protestants, however, laid before it a list of de- mands; some of them were conceded by the king, but the Protestants were not satisfied, and the struggle between Catholics and Protestants diil not cease for a long time. These continual dissensions brought in- ternal affairs into great disorder, the tension between the two religions showed itself also in social life, and the decline in moral character was evident among the population. The Catholic Church suffered great losses, churches and .schools fell into decay, the regular clergy were driven away, their possessions and lands confiscated, etc. The judgments pronounced by the courts against the Protestants gave foreign Protestant princes the opportunity to interfere in the internal affairs of the country, which naturally brought incon- venience with it.
The recovery of Buda (Ofen) from the Turks led to a change very favourable to the Church. There were no longer Protestant revolts, and, as the Turks were driven out, the Church regained possession of its lost territories. Ecclesiastical affairs in these districts were now reorganized, new churches were built, new clergy sent, etc. In claiming its former property the Church met with the opposition of the Government, which would not consent to the restoration of eccle- siastical lands without legal proof. The relations of the denominations were settled by the Diet of 1687 on the l):(sis of the enactments of the Diet of lt)8I; freedom of conscience was granted, with safeguards of the rights of lords-of-the-manor, the return of the banished Protestant ministers was permitted, the Protestant nobles were allowed to build churches for their private use, etc. These enactments, however,
