INHERITANCE, HEBREW. See Family and Marriage Relations, Hebrew.

INNER AUSTRIA, THE REFORMATION IN.

I. The Reformation:

Since the fifteenth century the name "Inner Austria" has been given to the lands of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. As early as 1411 they formed an independent administrative group, with Graz as the seat of government. Ecclesiastically they belonged to the archbishopric of Salzburg and the patriarchate of Aquileja. Medieval opposition to the papacy manifested itself here at an early time, and humanistic studies were pursued with especial zeal. The great religious movement of the sixteenth century had a still greater effect, a result due to the gross abuses of the clergy. The monasteries became empty, there was a general lack of priests, and the Protestant nobility acquired a considerable part of the eccle siastical possessions. The Salzburg synod of 1549 furnished proof that Styria, Carinthia, and possibly also Carniola had been thoroughly penetrated by Protestantism. While Ferdinand I. used his ut most powers to preserve the old doctrine, he found himself compelled to make concessions after the heavy defeat of Charles V. by Maurice of Saxony. Ferdinand rrfused to recognize the terms of the religious peace on the ground that his estates were not imperial, but he permitted administration of the Lord's Supper in both kinds. The leader of the Protestants was Hans Ungnad, governor-general of Styria. On account of his interest in the Protestant cause he fell into disgrace and went into exile, first to Saxony, then to Wtirttemburg, where he carried on an active propaganda among the southern Slavs.

The best hopes were awakened on the accession of Maximilian II. (1564), the only representative of the Hapsburg dynasty who had inclinations toward the Augsburg Confession, but he subordinated his religious convictions to his political ambitions, especially when, after the tragic end of Don Carlos, the prospect of the possession of Spain opened itself to the Hapsburg dynasty. His brother, Charles II., the proper ruler of Inner Austria, ful filled still less the expectations of the Protestants, but he was powerless against the growth of the new religious spirit. The clergy had given up celibacy, the cup was administered to the laity, and mass was read in German. The administration of the country and almost all municipal offices were in the hands of Protestants, and even the personnel of the court belonged to the Augsburg Confession.

In the political assemblies the Protestants had a large majority. In the beginning of the seventies Charles II. adopted a course more in accord with the policy of the Jesuits, but his financial difficulties compelled him, in the treaties of Graz (1572) and Bruck-on-the-Mur (1578), to make concessions to the adherents of the Augsburg Confession. He promised not to use violence, and allowed the Protestants in Graz and Judenburg, Laibach and Klagenfurt to build their own churches and schools. In the capitals, Graz, Klagenfurt, and Laibach, there was now instituted a special administrative department of churches and schools. A church order binding for all Protestants of Inner Austria was drawn up and, with the concessions of the archduke, was regarded by the Protestants as a charter which would protect them against all future persecutions. The cathedral school in Graz became a sort of Protestant university, and the number of Protestant clergymen was increased.

II. The Counterreformation:

With the great concessions of Bruck, Protestantism in Inner Austria had reached its culminating-point. There was consternation at the papal court when it received the news of the concessions of the archduke, and it was feared that the movement would spread into Venetian territory. A nuncio appeared in Graz, the archduke was put under the ban, and every means was tried to withdraw the concessions made to the Protestants. The archduke was not disinclined to retract, and the courts of Munich, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Prague supported the cause of Romanism. In Munich there took place in Oct., 1579, a discussion in which the principles for carrying on the Counterreformation in Inner Austria were laid down. The reactionary movement proceeded slowly, but surely. Protestant church-service was at first abolished in cities and market-towns, and Evangelical preachers and teachers were expelled. Bavarians were sent to the court of Graz, and the best positions in the ecclesiastical hierarchy were occupied by Bavarians. After a few years, Styria presented an entirely changed view. Citizens emigrated to live according to their faith in Evangelical localities, and a strictly Catholic university was erected in Graz and delivered to the Jesuits to suppress the Protestant school. To restrain the increase of Protestant citizens, the "Catholic citizens' oath" was required of every candidate for citizenship. The Protestant citizens in Graz were prohibited from visiting the Protestant cathedral church, and whoever allowed his children to be baptized or married in it was punished. It was in vain that the entire nobility of all three countries and the Protestant princes of the empire asked for the intervention of Emperor Rudolf II. in behalf of the oppressed citizens.

In 1595 Ferdinand II. (q.v.) succeeded Archduke Charles in the rule of Inner Austria, and dealt the final and decisive blow to the Protestants. First the Pfotestant administrative departments in Graz, Judenburg, and Laibaeh were abolished, and the Protestant clergymen were expelled from the country. Then there was started a campaign against Protestant citizens and peasants, against Protestant church, cemeteries, and schools, and

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after the cause had succeeded in Styria and Carniola, it was carried through in Carinthia. If any Protestant citizen or peasant was not willing to become Catholic, he was expelled, but not before he had paid the tenth part of his fortune as a fine. Protestant Bibles, prayer-books, hymn-books, and other books of devotion were burned in great heaps. The Roman Catholics were successful because no one in all three countries thought of resistance after the legal means of petitions and complaints had been exhausted. The nobility remained faithful to the old dynasty, and their entreaties for the persecuted were of no avail. The old concessions were at first left intact for the nobility, but in 1598 their clergymen were expelled from the castles, and they themselves were punished if by any chance they permitted their children to be baptized abroad. Thus the emigration of peasants and citizens was augmented by that of lords and knights. It is impossible to calculate the number of the exiled, but it would have been still larger if there had not been left, especially among the peasants, the hope of better times; "conversion" in most cases was merely external. The harmful effect upon the spiritual development of the country was soon noticeable; there ensued a general spiritual stagnation. The Protestant nobility was tolerated for a time, but when Ferdinand II. stood upon the height of his triumphs in the Thirty Years' War, he ordered their expulsion in 1628.

In this way Inner Austria was purified of heretics. After a few decades everything was apparently quiet, but in Upper Carinthia and Upper Styria it often became evident that Protestantism secretly continued to live; the commissions which were sent out from time to time learned to their consternation that the peasants were not yet converted. In many a home there was found an old Bible, a Protestant hymn-book or book of devotion to which people in unobserved moments looked for guidance and consolation. When Emperor Joseph, in 1781, issued the edict of toleration, hundreds and thousands of Protestants arose to form new congrega-

(J. Loberth.)

Bibliography: Sources are: B. Raupach, Evangeliafked Oesterreick 6 vols., Hamburg, 1732-44; G. E. Walden, Geach%clde der Protestanten in oeeterreich . . 161.0 us auf die neueste Zeit, 2 vols., Anepaeh, 1784; J. Loaerth, Die steierische Reltgionapacifikation 1572 -78, Gras, 1898; idem, in Wiener Archdven, ib. 1898; idem, Briefs and Akten our stsiermdrkischen Geschichte, Graz, 1899 (the last three deal especially with the Reformation). Sources for the Counter-Reformation are: D. Rungius, Ber%cht and Erinnerung von der . . . Mptischen Verfoigung, Wittenberg, 1601; J. Rosolena, Grandlider G epenberieht auf den Jadsden Bericht . . . Davidie Runpii, Graz, 1607; G. Stobaei de Palmaburga, Epietolos ad diversoa, Vienna, 1758; Akten and Korreapondsnsen our Geschichte der Gepen reformat%on in Inneraaterreech; ed. J. Loserth, 3 vols., ib. 1898-1907; Wittelabacher Briefs, e d. F. Stieve, Munich, 1885-1892.

Consult especially the careful and authoritative studies of J. Loeerth: Geschichte der Reformation and Gepenrefor mation in den inner6aterreichischen LBndern, Stuttgart, 1898; idem, Der Ifuldipunpeetreitnaeh demTode . . Karla 11., Gras, 1898; idem, in Archiv für �sterreichische Geschichte, vols. lxxxiv., Ixxxv., Ixxxviii. Also consult: F. von Hurter, Gesohiehte des Kaisers Ferdinand 11 ., 11 vols., Schaffhausen, 1850-84; M. Robitseh, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Steiermark, Graz, 1859; B. Caerwenka, Die Kheaenhauer, ib. 1887; M. Pbilippeon, La Contra-Rkvoladion religieuse au xoi. aiac2e, Brussels, 1884; L. Schuster,

FflratbiadwJ Martin Brenner, Graz, 1898: A. R. Pennington. The Counter-Rejoruwtiuh %n Europe, London, 1899: F. Ilwof, Dar Protestan.tismus in Steiermark, Gras, 1900; G. Lomche, Geschichte dm Protestantismus in Osaterreich, Leipsic, 1902.