At  the  diet  of  Tyrol,  which  we  have  already  mentioned,  there  were
assembled  only  the  nobles,  the  cities,  and  rural  districts  (Gerichte)  ■}  the
ecclesiastical  body  did  not  appear. The  anti-ecclesiastical  temper  which
this  produced  was  very  strongly  expressed  in  the  resolutions  that  were
passed. In  the  recess  of  this  diet  it  was  proclaimed,  that  the  appointment
to  the  inferior  situations  in  the  church  should  be  rendered  totally  indepen-
dent of  the  bishops  ;  in  future,  cities  and  rural  districts  (Gerichte)  should
have  the  right  of  presentation,  which  the  sovereign  of  the  country  should
confirm,  and  all  complaints  of  the  clergy  should  be  addressed  by  the  former
to  the  latter.2  The  petition  of  the  Bishop  of  Trent  for  leave  to  call  in
foreign  troops  to  punish  the  insurgents  within  his  see,  was  refused  ;  for
the  common  people  were  of  opinion,  says  Ferdinand,  that  the  clergy  ought
to  have  no  jurisdiction  whatever  in  temporal  affairs  ;  were  such  a  per-
mission granted  to  the  bishop,  the  nobles  would  complain  that  he  was
goading  the  people  to  a  fresh  revolt,  which  would  bring  trouble  and  ruin
upon  them  also.3  This  was  even  carried  much  further. The  Bishop  of
Brixen  proving  himself  incapable  of  restoring  order  in  his  see,  where  one
of  his  secretaries  and  toll  collectors  was  the  leader  of  the  revolt,  the  Tyrolese
determined  not  to  afford  him  the  least  assistance,  but  at  once  to  secularise
the  see. Archduke  Ferdinand  took  possession  of  it,  and  committed  the
government  to  one  of  his  council,  "  till  some  future  council,  or  the  reforma-
tion of  the  empire  ;"  he  received  the  homage  from  all  the  vassals  and  the
official  persons  of  the  see.4  The  captain  of  Ehrenberg,  which  was  garrisoned
by  Tyrolese,  would  not  go  to  the  succour  of  the  town  of  Fiissen  till  it
surrendered  itself  as  an  hereditary  fief  to  the  house  of  Austria,  and  did

1  Gericht  here  means  a  certain  community. Grimm  (Deutsche  Rechts  Alter-
thumer,  p. 755)  says,  "  By  Gericht  we  now  understand  a  tribunal  for  the  decision
of  litigated  matters,  or  the  punishment  of  offences. Originally,  however,  the
predominant  idea  was  that  of  a  popular  assembly  (concilium),  in  which  all  the
public  business  of  the  Mark,  the  commune,  or  the  district  was  discussed,  disputes
settled,  and  fines  adjudged. 