Invictissimi Rudolphi II. Electi Romanor. Imperatoris, et In Hungaria Boemiaque Regis, pro libero exercitio religionis Augustanae confessionis in Silesia, clementissima confirmatio

A decorative woodcut initial 'N' marks the start of the text.

We, Matthias the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, and Croatia; Archduke of Austria; Duke of Burgundy; Margrave of Moravia; Duke in Silesia, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Wurtemberg; Margrave of Lusatia, etc., make it openly known by these our letters, before all and each. Although we are inclined by a certain innate goodness and royal clemency to promote and increase the honors, status, and benefits of our faithful subjects in our Kingdoms: yet we are much more prone and prepared to assist with our royal favor those who have shown themselves to us and our Kingdoms, with their most faithful and vigilant offices, before others, with acclaimed integrity, and who wish and are able to show themselves so in the future. If therefore the most Reverend, Illustrious, and Serene Princes, and likewise the Reverend, Generous, Strenuous, Most Honorable, and Honest Orders and Estates in Upper and Lower Silesia, in the present Assembly of Princes, Orders, and Estates, have most submissively requested: that we should most clemently confirm all and singular the unique, ancient, and new privileges, letters of majesty, and public peace, indults, immunities, lauded customs, statutes, constitutions, and political ordinances of the Princes and Estates, and indeed of the whole region and of each individual Estate, as many of which as are produced in the original, and were given and confirmed by the Caesarean Royal grace of our most Beloved former Lord and brother, King Rudolph. When, however, we most graciously perceive and consider the most faithful and prompt services which the previously named Princes and Estates in Upper and Lower Silesia, and their ancestors, have often performed for our Predecessors and Kings, neglecting even the safety of their bodies, goods, and blood, from the heart and to the benefit of our own, and [which] they wish to perform for us even in the future: therefore, we, having had mature deliberation, with certain knowledge, and with the added calculation of our Councilors, by the Bohemian Royal power, by the force of these presents, [confirm] all the aforementioned privileges of the Estates, which all and each [were granted] by our Predecessors and Kings in Bohemia; but especially that which was granted to all Princes, Orders, and Estates by King Vladislaus on Wednesday before the day of Saint Andrew the Apostle, in the year after the birth of Christ one thousand four hundred and ninety-eight; furthermore, all other individual privileges which were granted by our formerly most beloved predecessors and Parents, the Emperors Ferdinand and Maximilian, Kings of Hungary and Bohemia, whose memory may be eternal in blessing; finally, also those which they obtained and almost acquired in spiritual as well as in political causes during the time of the reign of the current Emperor Rudolph, then reigning as King in Bohemia, our most beloved Lord and brother, during the Bohemian and Royal time of government;