The Edict of Torda (Hungarian: tordai ediktum, Romanian: Edictul de la Turda, German: Edikt von Torda) was a decree that authorized local communities to freely elect their preachers in the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom of John Sigismund Zápolya. The delegates of the Three Nations of Transylvania – the Hungarian nobles, Transylvanian Saxons, and Székelys – adopted it at the request of the monarch's Antitrinitarian court preacher, Ferenc Dávid, in Torda (Romanian: Turda, German: Thorenburg) on 28January 1568. Though it did not acknowledge an individual's right to religious freedom, in sanctioning the existence of a radical Christian religion in a European state, the decree was an unprecedented act of religious tolerance.
The Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches had coexisted in the southern and eastern territories of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary for centuries. However, ideas that the Catholic Church regarded as heresy were not tolerated: the Hungarian Hussites were expelled from the country in the 1430s and the 1523 Diet of Hungary passed a decree that ordered the persecution of Lutherans. The latter decree was in practice ignored during the civil war that followed the Ottoman victory against the Hungarian army in the Battle of Mohács in 1526. After the Ottomans occupied the central regions of the medieval kingdom in 1541, they allowed the infant John Sigismund to rule the lands to the east of the river Tisza under the regency of his mother, Isabella Jagiellon. In the early 1540s the Diets acknowledged the right of the Three Nations to freely regulate their internal affairs. The Saxons regarded religion as an internal affair and ordered the introduction of the Lutheran Reformation in their settlements in 1544–1545. The Diet sanctioned the coexistence of the Catholic and Lutheran denominations only in 1557.
John Sigismund started to rule personally after his mother died in 1559. He was interested in religious affairs and organized a series of debates between the representatives of the different Protestant theologies. He converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism in 1562, and from Lutheranism to Calvinism in 1564. His court physician, Giorgio Biandrata, and Ferenc Dávid jointly persuaded him to also allow the public discussion of the doctrine of the Trinity. Sigismund accepted Dávid and Biandrata's Antitrinitarian views in 1567. The Edict of Torda was adopted at the following Diet. It stated that "faith is the gift of God" and prohibited the persecution of individuals on religious grounds. In practice, the edict only sanctioned the existence of four "received" denominations – the Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, and Unitarian Churches. Further religious innovations were prohibited during the reign of John Sigismund's successor, Stephen Báthory, but religious tolerance remained a distinguishing feature of the Principality of Transylvania (the successor state to John Sigismund's realm) in Early modern Europe.
in Serbia Torda (Žitište), a village near Žitište, Vojvodina, Serbia History Decree ofTorda (14th century) EdictofTorda (1568) Maros-Torda County, former...
accepted antitrinitarian views during the last years of his life. The EdictofTorda legalised three Protestant denominations—Evangelical, Reformed and Unitarian—in...
Minister Francis David (Dávid Ferenc), issued the EdictofTorda decreeing religious toleration of all Christian denominations except Romanian Orthodoxy...
Concordat of Bologna and a massacre of Huguenots a few week later open hostilities of the French Wars of Religion. 1568 – The EdictofTorda (or Turda)...
the EdictofTorda. In 1570, John II signed the Treaty of Speyer with Ferdinand's successor, Maximilian. John II again renounced his claim as king of Hungary...
detrimental to society. In 1558, the Hungarian Diet's EdictofTorda declared free practice of both Catholicism and Lutheranism. Calvinism, however, was...
diets between 1557 and 1568, see EdictofTorda) under the jurisdiction of John Sigismund, King of Hungary and Prince of Transylvania, the only Unitarian...
religious freedom in eastern Hungary. The EdictofTorda authorized all pastors to freely preach their understanding of the Bible and the local communities...
needed] The Unitarian Church in Transylvania was first recognized by the EdictofTorda, issued by the Transylvanian Diet under Prince John II Sigismund Zápolya...
Turda (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈturda]; Hungarian: Torda, Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈtorda]; German: Thorenburg; Latin: Potaissa) is a city in Cluj County...
immediately outside of that area in the Southeastern corner of Mureș County. The Unitarian Church was first recognized by the EdictofTorda, issued by the...
for over two hundred years. — Norman Davies EdictofTordaEdictof Nantes Letter of Majesty Statute of Kalisz Warsaw Confederation (1704) Stone, Daniel...
towards the EdictofTordaof 1568. Isabella is noted as the first European ruler to issue laws on religious tolerance. Isabella died of a long illness...
king of Hungary, inspired by the teachings of Ferenc Dávid, the founder of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, promulgates the EdictofTorda, the first...
culture and ideology of the nobility (szlachta) that existed in times of the Renaissance to the 18th centuries. Together with the concept of "Golden Liberty"...
freedom of religion is debated. January 28 – The EdictofTorda, Europe's first declaration of religious freedom, is adopted by the Kingdom of Hungary...
becomes King of England on his father's death. 1568 – The EdictofTorda prohibits the persecution of individuals on religious grounds in John Sigismund Zápolya's...
reached in 1568, under John II Sigismund Zápolya, when the EdictofTorda sanctioned freedom of religion and awarded legal status to the Latin Catholic,...
January 28 – The EdictofTorda, Europe's first declaration of religious freedom, is adopted by the Kingdom of Hungary. February 7 – Members of a Spanish expedition...
time in history, the Diet of Torda in 1568 declared freedom of religion. There was no state religion, while in other parts of Europe and the world religious...
adopting his court-preacher's views, issued (1568) an edictof religious liberty at the Diet ofTorda, which allowed Dávid (retaining his existing title)...
of Bucharest Timeline of Cluj-Napoca Timeline of Iași Timeline of Sibiu William Henry Overall, ed. (1870). "Danubian Principalities". Dictionary of Chronology...
attest the presence of Romanians in more counties, for instance in Zaránd from 1318, in Bihar and in Máramaros from 1326, and in Torda from 1342. The first...
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