Diploma Leopoldinum

The Diploma Leopoldinum was a legal document which determined the basic principles of the government of the Principality of Transylvania within the Habsburg Empire. The diploma was drafted by Miklós Bethlen, Chancellor of Transylvania. The Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, sanctioned it in Vienna on 16 October 1690. The diploma announced on 4 December 1691. The diploma restored civil administration in the principality, and confirmed the traditional liberties of the Three Nations of Transylvania, including the freedom of the four "received" religions. Background Until 1683, it stood at the peak of the Ottoman Empire's power in Hungary. Mihály I Apafi was promoted to princely position against János Kemény. In 1681, in exchange for abundant gifts, the Porta recognized the election of Michael Apafi as prince. However, in 1682, Sertar Pasha Ibrahim proclaimed Imre Thököly the prince of Hungary. In 1683, the Turks besieged Vienna, where the Transylvanian armies lined up alongside the Turks, yet it was feared that after the conquest of Vienna, the Turks would make Thököly the prince of Transylvania instead of Apafi. However, after the unsuccessful siege of Vienna, the Turkish fortunes of war reversed quickly and permanently, the imperial troops went into a counterattack and by 1684 they had already besieged Buda. In this situation Apafi began a diplomatic groping towards Vienna, from where in 1685 a Jesuit ambassador was sent to his court. The ambassador signed a secret contract with Mihály Teleki, according to which Teleki will settle the agreement between Transylvania and Vienna. At the urging of Teleki and as a result of the preparations for the siege of Buda in 1686, an agreement was finally reached, Haller's diploma (June 28, 1686), according to which the German emperor and Hungarian king also exercised supreme power over Transylvania, Transylvania renounced its independent foreign policy, in exchange for which 1/6 of the German army is stationed in Transylvania to protect Transylvania, and privileges and freedom of religion remain undisturbed. Transylvania pays the military “military service” instead of Turkish taxes. In exchange for formal dependence, Lipót confirmed Apafi Jr.'s right to inherit. However, its statehood remained and it regained some of the territories that Transylvania had lost in the peace of Vasvár.