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

1 INSTEAD OF A FOREWORD T he proclamations of Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire from 1690, addressed to the Balkan peoples, in which Macedonia is mentioned explicitly, represent highly significant documents for the history of Macedonia and the Macedonian people. The most important among them is undoubtedly the Proclamation of April 26, 1690, through which Emperor Leopold I directly addresses the Macedonians, promising them protection while simultaneously calling upon them to join his army in the battle against the Ottoman Empire, their common enemy. This Proclamation has been published many times in our country in books, collections, scholarly works, and electronic editions, but until now, no one had seen it in its original handwritten form. Thanks to the perseverance of Mr. John Todorovski, a facsimile of the manuscript of this Proclamation, written in Latin, a language frequently used by Emperor Leopold I in his written correspondence, was obtained from the Austrian State Archives (Österreichisches Staatsarchiv – ÖSTA) in Vienna. It immediately becomes evident that the original manuscript of this Proclamation differs in one important segment from the many previously published transcriptions of its text in our country, in which (for unknown reasons) this significant portion of the original text was omitted. What this segment contains will be explained in the following pages.