Editing Peace of Westphalia (section)

==Results==

===Westphalia pertaining to the Holy Roman Empire===

Much of the Peace of Westphalia focused on reorganizing the Holy Roman Empire, the main battleground of the Thirty Years' War.

A common idea is that Emperor [[Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand III]] was stripped of power, and said power was given to the rulers of the [[Imperial Estate|Imperial estates]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schröder |first=Peter |date=1999 |title=The Constitution of the Holy Roman Empire after 1648: Samuel Pufendorf's Assessment in His Monzambano |jstor=3020932 |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=961–983 |issn=0018-246X}}</ref> The extent to which Ferdinand's power was diminished is now challenged by modern research, with some saying that Ferdinand's loss of influence was overstated by older literature.<ref name=":0" /> The emperor still maintained significant power in the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]], for example. Central authority was still maintained through institutions like the [[Aulic Council]].

Westphalia guaranteed the right to practice any of the recognized denominations: [[Catholicism]], [[Lutheranism]], and [[Calvinism]]. The last was finally given legal recognition as an official religion.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Osiander |first=Andreas |date=2001 |title=Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth |jstor=3078632 |journal=International Organization |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=251–287 |issn=0020-8183}}</ref> The independence of the Dutch Republic, which practiced religious toleration, also provided a safe haven for European Jews.<ref>{{cite news|title=This day, Mary 15, in Jewish history|url=http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/cjnconnect/blogs/article_057a78b4-3f44-5375-a20d-a850a62b2194.html|newspaper=Cleveland Jewish News|access-date=18 May 2014|archive-date=19 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519165352/http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/cjnconnect/blogs/article_057a78b4-3f44-5375-a20d-a850a62b2194.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Contrary to common belief, the Peace of Westphalia did not necessarily reconfirm the status of the [[Peace of Augsburg]] (particularly the principle of {{lang|la|[[cuius regio, eius religio]]}}). Rather, it provided a reinterpretation.

{{quote|
What has been established by this treaty [of Westphalia], with the mutual agreement of the parties, concerning certain disputed articles in the Treaty of Augsburg, shall be regarded as a permanently valid interpretation of that treaty. This interpretation must be followed in court and elsewhere until religious matters can, with God’s grace, be resolved. This applies regardless of any objection or protest by anyone, whether clergy or laypeople, within or outside the Empire, at any time. All such objections are declared null and void by the terms of this treaty.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=The Peace of Westphalia (1648) as a Secular Constitution |url=https://www.iilj.org/publications/the-peace-of-westphalia-1648-as-a-secular-constitution/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=Institute for International Law and Justice }}</ref>}}

Rather than confirming the Augsburg settlement's policy of {{lang|la|ius reformandi}} (in which subjects were to follow their ruler's religion),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ius emigrandi of the Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555) |url=https://germanhistory-intersections.org/en/migration/ghis:document-58 |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=German History Intersections}}</ref> Westphalia replaced it with an interpretation that sovereign rulers such as princes could no longer dictate the religion of their subjects.<ref name=":1" /> "Whatever sovereignty the electors, princes, and estates of the Holy Roman Empire enjoyed in their territories, the private exercise of religion was no longer subject to this sovereignty but had effectively been removed from the sovereign domain."<ref name=":2"/>

The [[Holy See]] was very displeased at the settlement, with Pope [[Innocent X]] calling it "null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all time" in the [[papal brief]] {{lang|la|Zelo Domus Dei}}.<ref>The [[incipit]] of this brief, meaning "Zeal of the house of God", quotes from [[Psalm]] 69:9: "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me."</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=World religions and democracy|first=Larry Jay |last=Diamond |first2=Marc F. |last2=Plattner |first3=Philip J. |last3=Costopoulo |year=2005|page=103}}</ref>

The Peace of Westphalia also set up new rules for the {{langr|de|[[Reichskammergericht]]}} (Imperial Chamber Court), and stipulated that half its judges must be Protestant. Westphalia also called for 50 judges to be appointed, but this number was rarely reached due to financial issues.<ref name=":1" />

===Tenets===

The main tenets of the Peace of Westphalia were:

* ''Ius reformandi'' was removed: Subjects were no longer forced to follow the religion of their ruler. Rulers were allowed to choose between Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name="IPM">Treaty of Münster 1648</ref><ref name="Excerpts">{{cite web |title=The Peace of Westphalia |url=https://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/301ModernEurope/Treaty%20of%20Westphalia%20%5BExcerpts%5D.pdf |website=University of Oregon |access-date=6 October 2021 |archive-date=17 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617200242/https://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/301ModernEurope/Treaty%20of%20Westphalia%20%5BExcerpts%5D.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
* 1 January 1624 was defined as the normative date for determining the official religion of a state (though as stated above, subjects did not need to follow the designated official religion).<ref name=":1" /> This law was engrained into Imperial law, meaning individual princes could not abolish it. Ecclesiastical property was to be restored to the condition of 1624.<ref name="Excerpts"/>
* France and Sweden were recognised as [[Guarantor of the imperial constitution|guarantors of the imperial constitution]] with a right to intercede.<ref>Mary Fulbrook ''A Concise History of Germany'', 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 60.</ref>

===Territorial adjustments===
[[File:Holy Roman Empire 1648.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|The [[Holy Roman Empire]] in 1648, after the territorial adjustments made by the Peace of Westphalia]]
* France retained the bishoprics of [[Prince-Bishopric of Metz|Metz]], [[Prince-Bishopric of Toul|Toul]] and [[Prince-Bishopric of Verdun|Verdun]] near [[Duchy of Lorraine|Lorraine]], received the cities of the [[Décapole]] in Alsace (except for [[Strasbourg]], the [[Bishopric of Strasbourg]], and [[Mulhouse]]) and the city of [[Pinerolo|Pignerol]] near the Spanish [[Duchy of Milan]].
* Sweden received an [[indemnity]] of five million [[thaler]]s, which it used primarily to pay its troops.<ref>{{cite book|title=Der Westfälische Frieden von 1648: Wende in der Geschichte des Ostseeraums|editor-first=Hans-Joachim|editor-last=Hacker|publisher=Kovač|year=2001|isbn=3-8300-0500-8|first=Klaus-R|last=Böhme|chapter=Die sicherheitspolitische Lage Schwedens nach dem Westfälischen Frieden|language=de|page=35 }}</ref> Sweden further received [[Western Pomerania]] (thenceforth [[Swedish Pomerania]]), [[Wismar]], and the Prince-Bishoprics of [[Archbishopric of Bremen|Bremen]] and [[Prince-Bishopric of Verden|Verden]] as hereditary fiefs, thus gaining a seat and vote in the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] of the Holy Roman Empire as well as in the [[Upper Saxon Circle|Upper Saxon]], [[Lower Saxon Circle|Lower Saxon]] and [[Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle|Westphalian]] circle diets (''[[Kreistag]]e'').{{sfnp|Böhme|2001|p=36}} However, the wording of the treaties was ambiguous:
:*To escape incorporation into Swedish Bremen-Verden, the city of Bremen had claimed [[Imperial immediacy]]. The emperor had granted this request and separated the city from the surrounding Bishopric of Bremen. Sweden launched the [[Swedish Wars on Bremen|Swedish-Bremen wars]] in 1653/54 in a failed attempt to take the city.{{sfnp|Böhme|2001|p=37}}
:*The treaty did not decide the Swedish-[[Electorate of Brandenburg|Brandenburgian]] border in the [[Duchy of Pomerania]]. At Osnabrück, both Sweden and Brandenburg had claimed the whole duchy, which had been [[Treaty of Stettin (1630)|under Swedish control since 1630]] despite [[Treaty of Grimnitz|legal claims of Brandenburgian succession]]. While the parties [[Treaty of Stettin (1653)|settled for a border in 1653]], the [[Brandenburg-Pomeranian conflict|underlying conflict continued]].{{sfnp|Böhme|2001|p=38}}
:*The treaty ruled that the [[Dukes of Mecklenburg]], owing their re-investiture to the Swedes, cede [[Wismar]] and the Mecklenburgian port tolls. While Sweden understood this to include the tolls of all Mecklenburgian ports, the Mecklenburgian dukes as well as the emperor understood this to refer to Wismar only.{{sfnp|Böhme|2001|p=38}}
:*[[Wildeshausen]], a petty exclave of Bremen-Verden and fragile basis for Sweden's seat in the Westphalian circle diet, was also claimed by the [[Bishopric of Münster]].{{sfnp|Böhme|2001|p=38}}
* [[Bavaria]] retained the [[Electoral Palatinate|Palatinate]]'s vote in the [[Electoral College (Holy Roman Empire)|Electoral College]] of the Holy Roman Empire, which it was granted by the imperial ban on the Elector Palatine Frederick V in 1623. The [[Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine|Prince Palatine]], Frederick's son, was given a ''new'', eighth electoral vote.<ref>{{Citation |last=Whaley |first=Joachim |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire in 1500 |date=2011-11-24 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198731016.003.0002 |work=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493–1648 |pages=623–624 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198731016.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-873101-6 |access-date=2022-04-28 |archive-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116145853/https://academic.oup.com/book/12604/chapter-abstract/162495174?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live }}</ref>
* The Palatinate was divided between the re-established [[Karl I Ludwig, Elector Palatine|Elector Palatine Charles Louis]] (son and heir of [[Frederick V, Elector Palatine|Frederick V]]) and [[Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria|Elector-Duke Maximilian of Bavaria]], and thus between the [[Protestant]]s and [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholics]]. Charles Louis obtained the [[Lower Palatinate]], along the Rhine, while Maximilian kept the [[Upper Palatinate]], to the north of Bavaria.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Palatinate {{!}} Germany, Definition, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Palatinate |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Brandenburg-Prussia]] received [[Farther Pomerania]], and the Bishoprics of [[Archbishopric of Magdeburg|Magdeburg]], [[Bishopric of Halberstadt|Halberstadt]], [[Bishopric of Kammin|Kammin]], and [[Bishopric of Minden|Minden]].
* The [[Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück]] would alternate between Catholic and Lutheran bishops, with the Protestant bishops chosen from the [[Cadet (genealogy)|cadets]] of the [[House of Hanover|House of Brunswick-Lüneburg]].
* The [[Old Swiss Confederacy|Swiss Confederacy]] attained legal independence from the [[Holy Roman Empire]], although it had been de facto independent since the [[Treaty of Basel (1499)]].
* Barriers to trade and commerce erected during the war were abolished, and "a degree" of free navigation was guaranteed on the [[Rhine]].<ref name="Gross">{{cite journal|last=Gross|first=Leo|year=1948|title=The Peace of Westphalia, 1648–1948|journal=[[American Journal of International Law]]|volume=42|issue=1|pages=20–41 [p. 25]|doi=10.2307/2193560 |jstor=2193560|s2cid=246010450}}</ref>