Throne of Archduke Karl

Emperor Ferdinand I assigned the Inner Austrian heritable lands of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Gorizia and Primorje with the Pazin county in Istria to his youngest son, Karl Habsburg. On 28 April 1564 Archduke Karl accepted the hereditary obeisance of the Carniolan Provincial Estates in Ljubljana. On this occasion, the Estates complained of the very poor situation in the Catholic Church and requested that instead of the normal words ‘So help me God and all the saints’ the ceremonial oath should end with the formulation ‘So help me God and his holy gospel’. The Archduke gave his permission for the Estates to be publicly recognised as Protestant. This was the peak of Protestantism in Slovenia. A throne was quickly made for the ceremony, which was richly ornamented with gold cloth, as the inscription says. Above it is painted a coat-of-arms composed of the coats-of-arms of all the Habsburg hereditary lands. The throne was carefully guarded as a valuable memento of this unique event. Schönleben-Dolničar’s chronicle of 1684 states that it was stored in the old Florjančič house in Mestni trg in Ljubljana. The inscription reads: The most illustrious knight and lord Karl Archduke of Austria, Styria Carniola etc. (seated) on this throne, which was made in haste but very richly ornamented with valuable gold cloth, accepted the customary oath of allegiance and hereditary obeisance of the citizenry of this land on 28 April 1564. May almighty God grant him long rule and what is beneficial to spirit and body. Amen.