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Romania TRANSYLVANIA UNDER THE HABSBURGS, 1688-1867
In 1683 Jan Sobieski's Polish army crushed an Ottoman
army
besieging Vienna, and Christian forces soon began the slow
process
of driving the Turks from Europe. In 1688 the
Transylvanian Diet
renounced Ottoman suzerainty and accepted Austrian
protection.
Eleven years later, the Porte officially recognized
Austria's
sovereignty over the region. Although an imperial decree
reaffirmed
the privileges of Transylvania's nobles and the status of
its four
"recognized" religions, Vienna assumed direct control of
the region
and the emperor planned annexation. The Romanian majority
remained
segregated from Transylvania's political life and almost
totally
enserfed; Romanians were forbidden to marry, relocate, or
practice
a trade without the permission of their landlords. Besides
oppressive feudal exactions, the Orthodox Romanians had to
pay
tithes to the Roman Catholic or Protestant church,
depending on
their landlords' faith. Barred from collecting tithes,
Orthodox
priests lived in penury, and many labored as peasants to
survive.
Data as of July 1989
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