The original manuscript of the proclaimation and other printed proclaimations of Emperor Leopold the first from 1690 with which he takes the Macedonian people under his protection

11 he had not only Macedonian officers but also hundreds of Macedonian soldiers under their command, and he acknowledged their loyalty with this official proclamation. 6. The content of this Proclamation is a strong rebuttal to anti-Macedonian propaganda claiming that the ethnonym “Macedonians” was never mentioned in the Middle Ages. In this document, the term “Macedonians” is explicitly mentioned by one of the most powerful rulers in the world at the time—Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire—and also by his officers of Macedonian origin. * * * * On May 31, 1690, Emperor Leopold I issued another Proclamation, in which he placed the populations of Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, and Albania under his protection. The content of this Proclamation, however, was similar to that of the Proclamation from April 6, 1690.