The study focuses on the issue of interpreting the contents and actual impact of a royal charter dating back to 14th November 1713. Therein, Charles VI determined that the condition for gaining membership into Czech, Moravian and Silesian secular, cathedral, and collegiate chapters was the possession of “incolate” (i.e. an earlier variety of modern-day citizenship reserved for nobles), which was valid in all Czech lands. The incolate also had to be by the prospective members prior to their election, nomination or presentation. One of the immediate consequences of this so-called incolate pragmatic was a series of ennoblements of standing members in the concerned chapters; if they were not of noble origin, they had to appeal to the king for an ennoblement through the Bohemian Court Chancellery. The study also examines the contents and legal implications of subsequent royal provisions from 1746 and 1747. The incolate prerequisite was only satisfied in the case of those charter prebend holders whose prebends encompassed estates, and not in all of them, which was required by the incolate ordinances.