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

29 L E O P O L D , Emperor of the Romans, appointed by the propitious Divine Mercy, always venerable, etc. etc. Y ou honorable, pious and beloved; it has been referred to many of us, how much the safety and the growth of Christianism lies at your heart, of which we got to know, not without our satisfaction, that You have offered illustrious examples, by the assistance to the faithful, deceased General Piccolomini, employed in these places. So, promising this very thing to us, based on Your outstanding faith and interest, and even, particularly, on your true worshipping of God, we do not doubt, in the meanwhile, that You, based on that authority by which you reign over the people of those lands, and in particular over Albanians and Rascians, will collaborate so that, having such an opportune occasion been offered by God, they shall cast off the Turkish yoke, under which they bemoaned up to this point in a deplorable way, and, associated to Our army, help suppressing and destroying in every way the barbaric Tyranny of the Ottomans. We shall perform this matter, certainly very beloved to God, and even totally worthy of Our Cesarean and Royal Grace. As we mercifully Translation of Facsimile No. 6