Editing Holy Roman Empire (section)

=== Religion ===
[[File:Druck Augsburger Reichsfrieden.jpg|thumb|upright|Front page of the [[Peace of Augsburg]], which laid the legal groundwork for two co-existing religious confessions ([[Roman Catholicism]] and [[Lutheranism]]) in the German-speaking states of the Holy Roman Empire]]

[[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] constituted the single official religion of the Empire until 1555; the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] was always Catholic.

[[Lutheranism]] was officially recognized in the [[Peace of Augsburg]] of 1555, and [[Calvinism]] in the [[Peace of Westphalia]] of 1648. Those two constituted the only officially recognized [[Protestant]] denominations, while various other Protestant confessions such as [[Anabaptism]], [[Arminianism]], etc. coexisted illegally within the Empire. Anabaptism came in a variety of denominations, including [[Mennonites]], [[Schwarzenau Brethren]], [[Hutterites]], the [[Amish]], and multiple other groups.

Following the Peace of Augsburg, the official religion of a territory was determined by the principle {{lang|la|[[cuius regio, eius religio]]}} according to which a ruler's religion determined that of his subjects. The Peace of Westphalia abrogated that principle by stipulating that the official religion of a territory was to be what it had been on 1 January 1624, considered to have been a "normal year". Henceforth, the conversion of a ruler to another faith did not entail the conversion of his subjects.{{Sfn|Whaley|2012a|pp=624–625}}

In addition, all Protestant subjects of a Catholic ruler and vice versa were guaranteed the rights that they had enjoyed on that date. While the adherents of a territory's official religion enjoyed the right of public worship, the others were allowed the right of private worship (in chapels without either spires or bells). In theory, no one was to be discriminated against or excluded from commerce, trade, craft or public burial on grounds of religion. For the first time, the permanent nature of the division between the Christian churches of the empire was more or less assumed.{{Sfn|Whaley|2012a|pp=624–625}}

A [[History of the Jews in Germany#In the Holy Roman Empire|Jewish minority]] existed in the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Emperors claimed the right of protection and taxation of all the Jews of the empire, but there were also large-scale massacres of Jews, especially at the time of the [[First Crusade]] and during the wars of religion in the 16th century.