January 6, 1453

planetFigure

Help Support planetFigure:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Martin Antonenko

A Fixture
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
8,994
Austria - product of a document forgery...!


On January 6, 1453, the German Emperor of the "Holy" Roman Empire, Friedrich III, who came from the House of Habsburg, recognized



... recognizes an extremely important document (and thus makes it a legally valid official document!), the so-called "Privilegium Maius" (roughly: "The Great Letter of Freedom")!

With this legal act, Austria becomes an archduchy, and thus practically on an equal footing with an electorate.

But the document is not just about the fact that the Duke of Austria may then call himself "Archidux" (Archduke):

Rather, the "Privilegfium Maius" writes

- the indivisibility of countries;

- the automatic primogeniture succession of the eldest son (later in the Pragmatic Sanction
extended);

- the independent jurisdiction, in which de jure no longer exists the possibility of a foreign court
intervene or appeal to the "royal" or "imperial" court;

- Symbols of power and ceremonial awards, e.g. B. the feudal reception on horseback (and not kneeling), the ceremonial appearance at the feudal act with the ducal hat in the form of the crown of tines and others

firmly.

The "Privilegium Maius" is thus the basis for the further intensification and consolidation of the sovereignty of the Habsburgs, the elimination of free ruling districts, a comprehensive expansion of sovereign feudal sovereignty, the power of disposal over the property of the clergy - and ultimately the rise of Austria to the empire!

Even the title page of the "Privilegium Maius" shows where the journey is going: There is a ducal crown ABOVE a royal crown - and that was exactly the purpose of the document!



It could all be so nice - if Friedrich III. would not have known that the "Privilegium Maius" was nothing more than an ordinary forgery of documents!

But he HAS known about it, since the document had only been issued a hundred years earlier - in 1359 - by a relative of the Emperor, Duke Rudolf Rudolf IV



...been faked!

And because he knew it, one can say: A Habsburg on the imperial throne gave his relatives (and thus himself and his clan) a pretty good chunk...!

The "Privilegium Maius" consists of five individual documents, all ordinary but good forgeries...:

- "Certificate" from October 4, 1058 (by King Heinrich IV. for Margrave Ernst of Austria, on parts of this Certificate refers to the opinion of Francesco Petrarca, see below)

- "Certificate" of September 17, 1156 (of Emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa, the "extension" of the Privilegium minus)

- "Deed" of August 24, 1228 (from King Heinrich VII for Duke Leopold VI of Austria)

- "Certificate" from June 1245 (by Emperor Friedrich II., confirmation of the Privilegium maius and supplement by further rights)

- "Certificate" of June 11, 1283 (by King Rudolf I for his sons Albrecht and Rudolf, confirmation of all
previous documents)



One can say a little exaggerated: The Austrian Empire was nothing more than a state that came into being as a result of forged documents!

With this falcon on its back, Austria - as a duchy around 1400 significantly smaller than Bavaria...



... turned out splendidly until the First World War...:



This makes the "Privilegium Maius" the most far-reaching forgery of the entire Middle Ages, if not of history at all...
 
Back
Top