Page 370 - Stati inu obstati, revija za vprašanja protestantizma, letnik XI (2015), številka 21-22, ISSN 1408-8363
P. 370
SYNOPSES, ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEN
work they accomplished and does not depend on the “values” and even the “advantages”
of the 19th and 20th centuries. On such a basis this period will connect rather than divide
(national) Slovenes and (national) Croats.
UDC 284.1:282:316.344: "15"(Ljubljana)
Lilijana Žnidaršič Golec
Catholic-Protestant conflicts in Ljubljana in the second half of the 16th century
In the second half of the 16th century, Ljubljana was noticeably marked by conflicts
between Catholics and Protestants, especially those who took as their own the confession
first presented at the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire in Augsburg in 1530 (Confessio
Augustana). Both Catholicism and Protestantism (Lutheranism) were defended and
attacked in the pulpits and elsewhere in Ljubljana as early as the first half of the 16th cen-
tury, more precisely from the mid 1520s onwards. But the friction spread and intensified
more noticeably after 1550. Although a serious blow was struck at the Protestant camp
in Ljubljana with legal proceedings in 1547–1548 against “heretical” priests, sources now
known show that the Protestants in the city quickly recovered. In 1552 the Ljubljana citizen
Mihael Frankovič denounced before the city law-court the unknown authors of a libellous
letter, with which they were said to have spread accusations against the priesthood and
some laymen, including Frankovič himself and one of his sons. On the other hand, details
from the minutes of the Ljubljana city council reveal that Frankovič was often involved
in disputes, which for the most part were not religiously motivated. Nevertheless, the
assumption that Frankovič was one of the more zealous anti-Protestants in Ljubljana is
not without foundation, as indirectly confirmed by his son Mihael’s career among the
priests of Ljubljana Cathedral. The ardent opponents of Protestantism in the 1550s also
included priests from the Škofič family, foremost of whom was the vicar general of the
Ljubljana diocese, Nikolaj. Said to be Trubar’s “greatest enemy on account of the faith”, he
faced several “fronts” opened against him by Ljubljana Protestants. They are said to have
spread rumours about Nikolaj after his death, claiming that he had “the legally married
mother of his son on lease for over twenty years”, while his son “was to be presented this
Saturday before the lawcourt on account of sodomy”.
The conflicts gained a fresh impetus after Primož Trubar returned to the Carniolan
capital in 1561 or 1562. From June 1562 until the first months of 1565 Trubar, who had
avoided the above-mentioned legal proceedings by taking refuge in Germany, was active
in Ljubljana as Superintendent of the Church of the Augsburg (Lutheran) confession in
Carniola. Both camps, Catholic and Protestant, now attempted to strengthen their ranks
even more with theologically soundly based sermons. The context of these endeavours
is seen in an extant section of correspondence, dating from 1564, between Trubar, Krelj
and Tulščak on the one hand and the fervent Franciscan Jurij Bravšič (Braosich) on the
other. Although it is clear that a real polemic, to which the leading Ljubljana preachers
368
work they accomplished and does not depend on the “values” and even the “advantages”
of the 19th and 20th centuries. On such a basis this period will connect rather than divide
(national) Slovenes and (national) Croats.
UDC 284.1:282:316.344: "15"(Ljubljana)
Lilijana Žnidaršič Golec
Catholic-Protestant conflicts in Ljubljana in the second half of the 16th century
In the second half of the 16th century, Ljubljana was noticeably marked by conflicts
between Catholics and Protestants, especially those who took as their own the confession
first presented at the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire in Augsburg in 1530 (Confessio
Augustana). Both Catholicism and Protestantism (Lutheranism) were defended and
attacked in the pulpits and elsewhere in Ljubljana as early as the first half of the 16th cen-
tury, more precisely from the mid 1520s onwards. But the friction spread and intensified
more noticeably after 1550. Although a serious blow was struck at the Protestant camp
in Ljubljana with legal proceedings in 1547–1548 against “heretical” priests, sources now
known show that the Protestants in the city quickly recovered. In 1552 the Ljubljana citizen
Mihael Frankovič denounced before the city law-court the unknown authors of a libellous
letter, with which they were said to have spread accusations against the priesthood and
some laymen, including Frankovič himself and one of his sons. On the other hand, details
from the minutes of the Ljubljana city council reveal that Frankovič was often involved
in disputes, which for the most part were not religiously motivated. Nevertheless, the
assumption that Frankovič was one of the more zealous anti-Protestants in Ljubljana is
not without foundation, as indirectly confirmed by his son Mihael’s career among the
priests of Ljubljana Cathedral. The ardent opponents of Protestantism in the 1550s also
included priests from the Škofič family, foremost of whom was the vicar general of the
Ljubljana diocese, Nikolaj. Said to be Trubar’s “greatest enemy on account of the faith”, he
faced several “fronts” opened against him by Ljubljana Protestants. They are said to have
spread rumours about Nikolaj after his death, claiming that he had “the legally married
mother of his son on lease for over twenty years”, while his son “was to be presented this
Saturday before the lawcourt on account of sodomy”.
The conflicts gained a fresh impetus after Primož Trubar returned to the Carniolan
capital in 1561 or 1562. From June 1562 until the first months of 1565 Trubar, who had
avoided the above-mentioned legal proceedings by taking refuge in Germany, was active
in Ljubljana as Superintendent of the Church of the Augsburg (Lutheran) confession in
Carniola. Both camps, Catholic and Protestant, now attempted to strengthen their ranks
even more with theologically soundly based sermons. The context of these endeavours
is seen in an extant section of correspondence, dating from 1564, between Trubar, Krelj
and Tulščak on the one hand and the fervent Franciscan Jurij Bravšič (Braosich) on the
other. Although it is clear that a real polemic, to which the leading Ljubljana preachers
368
