The Treaty or Convention of Altranstädt was signed between Charles XII of Sweden and

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor , father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Vienna, Austria , death_date = , death_place = Vienna, Austria , burial_place = Imperial Crypt, Vienna , r ...

on 31 August 1707. It settled the rights of Protestants in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

Historical context

While the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

had strongly affected

, the Habsburg emperors had subjected the province to the Counter-Reformation in the 18th century.Büsch (1992), p. 575 In

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

, in particular, these measures were successful: in the early 18th century, almost half of the Silesian population was

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and some 1,000 churches had been rededicated from Protestant to Roman Catholic. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) protected Protestants only in the duchies of Brieg,

Liegnitz Legnica (Polish: ; german: Liegnitz, szl, Lignica, cz, Lehnice, la, Lignitium) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River (left tributary of the Oder) and the Czarna Woda. Between 1 June 1975 ...

, Münsterberg, Öls, Wohlau and in the city of Breslau. In the duchies of Jauer, Glogau and Schweidnitz, the Protestants were allowed to maintain three "peace churches" (''Friedenskirchen'') outside the city walls. After 1675, only Breslau and the Duchy of Oels were spared from the counter-reformation, the "peace churches" were dissolved, despite the protests of Sweden and Protestant states of the Holy Roman Empire.Klueting (1999), p. 24 During the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...

, Charles XII of Sweden had marched his armies through

and occupied the Electorate of Saxony, where he forced his adversary, elector August the Strong, into the

Treaty of Altranstädt (1706) The Treaty of Altranstädt was concluded between Charles XII of Sweden and Augustus the Strong of Saxony and Poland–Lithuania, on 13 October 1706, during the Great Northern War. Augustus had to renounce his claims to the Polish throne and his ...

Terms and implementation

During his stay in Saxon

Altranstädt Altranstädt is a village and former municipality in Saxony, Germany, now part of the town Markranstädt in the district of Leipzig. The village is historically famous for two treaties that were concluded there, the Treaty of Altranstädt (1706) ...

near

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, Charles XII negotiated a further treaty with the Habsburg emperor. Joseph I agreed to return several churches to the Protestant communities, and to permit the erection of six "mercy churches". The "mercy churches" were erected in

Freystadt :''"Freystadt" is also the German names for Kisielice and Kożuchów, Poland.'' Freystadt (; Northern Bavarian: ''Freystod'') is a town in the district of Neumarkt in Bavaria. It is situated near the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, 14 km southw ...

, Hirschberg, Landeshut, Militsch, Sagan and Teschen, 125 churches were returned.Herzig (2000), p. 25 Joseph I dispensed with any further counter-reformatory policies.Herzig (2000), p. 24 Three Protestant consistories were permitted, restoring and stabilizing Silesian

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

. The treaty was negotiated in

from April 1707.Metzdorf (2000), p. 135 Joseph I signed this convention in order to prevent Charles XII from entering the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

on the French side,Reifenscheid (1982), p. 200 and held onto strict Roman Catholic policies in his other hereditary lands. When Silesia became a Prussian province in 1742, the Protestant

Prussian king The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

in the Peace of Breslau safeguarded the Roman Catholics' rights and possessions.

Sources

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Treaty of Altranstadt (1707) Altranstadt 1707 treaties

Habsburg Silesia Treaties of the Swedish Empire 1707 in the Holy Roman Empire 1707 in Sweden Holy Roman Empire–Sweden relations Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor