Linz or Lintz, the Peace of

Linz Or Lintz, The Peace Of, so named after the place where it was concluded, December 13, 1645, between Rakoczy, prince of Transylvania, and the emperor Ferdinand III, as king of Hungary, was an event of great importance for the legal existence of the Evangelical Church in Hungary. Rakoczy, who aimed at the crown of that country, and relied on the Protestant party for support, had concluded in April 1643, with Sweden and France, a defensive and offensive alliance against Ferdinand. In an address to the Hungarians, in which he enumerated their various grievances, he laid great stress on the oppression of the evangelical party. He succeeded in assembling an army, and in obtaining John Kemenyi, an experienced general, to command it. Sweden sent him soldiers under the renowned Dugloss, and France furnished him with large amounts of money. His troops obtained some unimportant advantages over those of Frederick, and the Swedish soldiers succeeded in driving the Imperialists out of several towns. This, however, did not continue, and in October 1, 1644, Rakoczy began negotiations for peace with Ferdinand. The advantages he asked, namely, the absolute religious liberty of Hungary, etc., were approved at Vienna August 8, 1645, and the peace finally signed as above. The most important feature of the treaty is the grant of religious liberty to the Hungarians. It gave permission to all to attend whatever Church they might choose; ministers and preachers of all the different confessions were to be left undisturbed, and such as had previously been persecuted and driven away on account of their religious principles were allowed to return, or to be recalled by their congregations. The churches and Church property taken from the evangelical party were restored to their previous owners. The eighth article of the sixth decree of king Wladislaus VI was re-enacted against those who infringed these regulations, and made them subject to a trial and punishment at the next session of the Diet. These regulations, however, so favorable to the Protestants met with great opposition at the Diet of Presburg in 1647, and were most violently opposed by the Jesuits. The Roman Catholics refused to surrender to the Protestants the churches they had taken from them, and the evangelical party finally agreed to accept, instead of some 400 churches which had been taken from it, the small number of 90, which had been assured to it by a royal edict, under date of February 10, 1647. See Steph. Katona, Historia critica regum Hungaricorum, 22:332 sq.; Dumont, Corps universel diplomatique du droit des gens, 6:1 sq.; J.A. Fessler, Die Gesch. d. Ungarn, etc., 9:25 sq.; Johann Mailath, D. Religionswirren in Ungarn (Regensb. 1845), part 1, page 30 sq.; Gesch. d. Evangelischen Kirche in Ungarn (Berlin, 1854), page 199 sq.; History of the Protestant Church in Hungary, transl. by J. Craig (Boston and New York, 1856, 12mo). SEE HUNGARY.