Das Protestantenpatent von 1861 als Schlüsseldokument Österreichischer Geschichte (?)

Abstract

The Protestant patent from 1861as a key document of Austrian History (?) This paper deals with the question, whether the Austrian Protestant patent from 1861 is a key document of Austrian history or not. During this analysis arguments should be collected for an adequate appraisal. Especially the relation between state/nation and church in different “regions” and to different times will be discovered to reason the political intentions of the patent. Therefore it’s necessary to study the particular paragraphs of the document and to combine them with the historical situation(s). It becomes clear, that the patent is a product of a transition period (between neoabsolutism and liberalism) and of the regional confessional influences.