[26] The Opus tripartitum juris consuetudinarii regni Hungariae was drawn up by Verböczy at the instance of the diet in 1507. It was approved by a committee of the diet and received the royal imprimatur in 1514, but was never published. In the constitutional history of Hungary the Tripartitum is of great importance as reasserting the fundamental equality of all the members of the populus (i.e. the whole body of the nobles) and, more especially, as defining the co-ordinate power of the king and “people” in legislation: i.e. the king may propose laws, but they had no force without the consent of the people, and vice versa. See Knatchbull-Hugessen, i. 64.
[27] He was just twenty.
[28] It was kept secret for some years for fear of Turkish intervention.
[29] In contradistinction to Turkish Hungary and Transylvanian Hungary.
[30] At first the Habsburgs held their court at Prague instead of at Vienna.
[31] According to contemporary records the number of prelates and priests in the three parts of Hungary at the beginning of the 17th century was but 103, all told, and of the great families not above half a dozen still clung to Catholicism.
[32] The counties of Szatmar, Ugocsa and Bereg and the fortress of Tokaj were formally ceded to him.
[33] He was the first Protestant palatine.
[34] The jobbagyok, or under-tenants, had to follow the example of their lords; they were, by this time, mere serfs with no privileges either political or religious.
[35] E.g. in Esztergom, the primatial city, there were only two buildings still standing.