The Article 7 of the Sabor of 1712, better known as the Pragmatic Sanction of 1712 or the Croatian Pragmatic Sanction (), was a decision of the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...

(''Sabor'') to accept that a

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

princess could become hereditary Queen of Croatia. It was passed against the will of the Diet of Hungary, despite the Kingdom of Croatia's centuries-long association with the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. The resulting strife with the Hungarian officials ended with the legal recognition of the Croatian Parliament's sole jurisdiction over internal Croatian affairs. The Pragmatic Sanction is thus considered one of the most historically important decisions of the Croatian Parliament, and is recalled in the

preamble A preamble () is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the su ...

of the Constitution of Croatia.

Succession issue

Succession issues appeared on the accession of the childless

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

(also

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

as Charles VI), the last male Habsburg, in 1711. Charles had privately agreed with his older brother and predecessor, King Joseph I, on the Mutual Pact of Succession in 1703. The Mutual Pact provided for female succession in the event of extinction of the male line, but gave precedence to the daughters of the older rather than surviving brother. Charles wished to secure his hereditary realms for his own daughter, should he have any. The first step towards fulfilling Charles's wish, which would become a life-long obsession, was taken in the Kingdom of Croatia. Imre Esterházy, Bishop of Zagreb, presiding at the parliamentary session on 9 March 1712, proposed approving the King's wish beforehand. The

estates of the realm The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed a ...

agreed on 11 March that the Kingdom of Croatia should be ruled in future by whichever member of the Habsburg dynasty, male or female, reigned over the

Archduchy of Austria The Archduchy of Austria (; ) was a major Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at the Empire's southeastern periph ...

, the

Duchy of Styria The Duchy of Styria (; ; ) was a duchy located in modern-day southern Austria and northern Slovenia. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806 and a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary until its dissolution i ...

and the

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (; ; ) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State after the original German stem duchies. Car ...

Dispute

On 15 March, the estates offered to accept the King's proposed succession settlement regardless of the proceedings of the Diet of Hungary. This was controversial. Croatia had been united with the

since 1102, but the Hungarians were not as loyal to the Habsburgs as the Croatians and now wished to reassert their right to elect kings. Croatia and Hungary shared some royal offices, and Croatian deputies attended the sessions of the Diet of Hungary. For that reason the Hungarian estates claimed that the Croatian Parliament was not competent to independently deliberate on the matters of succession and that its Pragmatic Sanction was not legally binding. The Croatian Parliament did, however, possess "autonomous statute-making power", receiving

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

without reference to the Diet of Hungary. The Croatians maintained that Croatia was subject to the

Holy Crown of Hungary The Holy Crown of Hungary ( , ), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, named in honour of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, was the coronation crown used by the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence; kings were crowned with it since the tw ...

, personified by the

King of Hungary The King of Hungary () was the Monarchy, ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Magyarország apostoli királya'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...

, rather than to the Kingdom of Hungary. Dalmatia Croatia Slavonia Bosnia 1720 Matthaeus Seuteri

Aware of the dispute, Charles was not overly enthusiastic about the support shown to him by the Croatian estates. He decided to focus on securing Hungarian approval instead, and tried to please both sides in the strife over competence. The Croatian Parliament approved the King's intention a full year before he made it official by issuing the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713. Charles's device stipulated that his daughters, if any, should precede his brother's in the line of succession and that the entire

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

should pass intact to his heir. Hungary continued to object to Charles's Pragmatic Sanction. He had to confirm in 1715 the

Hungarian nobility The Kingdom of Hungary held a Nobility, noble class of individuals, most of whom owned landed property, from the 11th century until the mid-20th century. Initially, a diverse body of people were described as noblemen, but from the lat ...

's right to elect a king if he failed to father a son. Charles, however, personally ensured at the same time that the Diet of Hungary, despite contribution from Croatian deputies, would not have jurisdiction over internal affairs of Croatia. The Kingdom of Croatia and the Principality of Transylvania, both "separately administered"

lands of the Hungarian Crown The Lands of the Hungarian CrownLaszlo PéterHungary's Long Nineteenth Century: Constitutional and Democratic Traditions in a European Perspective BRILL, 2012, pp. 51–56 () was the titular expression of Hungarian pretensions to the various terri ...

, declared support for the King's device in 1721 and 1722 respectively. The Hungarians finally gave their approval in the form of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1723, which again emphasized Croatia's link to Hungary.

Legacy

The legal recognition of the competence of the Croatian Parliament following its declaration of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1712 improved Croatia's standing in relation to Hungary and the rest of the Habsburg Monarchy. Furthermore, the ramifications of the Pragmatic Sanctions are considered an historical foundation of the modern Republic of Croatia. The "autonomous and sovereign decision of the Croatian Sabor to sign the Pragmatic Sanction of 1712" is thus evoked in the

of the Constitution of Croatia as a manifestation of the "millennial national identity of the Croatian nation and the continuity of its statehood".

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Refend 1712 in law 18th century in the Habsburg monarchy Croatia under Habsburg rule Legal history of Croatia Succession acts

Succession issue

Dispute

Legacy

See also

References

Bibliography