The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed between 4.5 and 8 million people. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, the kingdoms of France and Sweden, and their respective allies among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, participated in the treaties.
Background
Europe had been battered by both the Thirty Years' War and the overlapping Eighty Years' War (begun c. 1568), exacting a heavy toll in money and lives. The Eighty Years' War was a prolonged struggle for the independence of the Protestant-majority Dutch Republic (the modern Netherlands), supported by Protestant-majority England, against Catholic-dominated Spain and Portugal. The Thirty Years' War was the most deadly of the European wars of religion, centered on the Holy Roman Empire. The war, which developed into four phases, included a large number of domestic and foreign players, siding either with the Catholic League or the Protestant Union (later Heilbronn League). The Peace of Prague (1635) ended most religious aspects of the war, and the French–Habsburg rivalry took over prominence.
With between 4.5 million and 8 million dead in the Thirty Years' War alone, and decades of constant warfare, the need for peace became increasingly clear.
Locations
Peace negotiations between France and the Habsburg Emperor began in Cologne in 1636. These negotiations were initially blocked by Cardinal Richelieu of France, who insisted on the inclusion of all his allies, whether fully sovereign countries or states within the Holy Roman Empire. In Hamburg, Sweden, France, and the Holy Roman Empire negotiated a preliminary peace in December 1641. They declared that the preparations of Cologne and the Treaty of Hamburg were preliminaries of an overall peace agreement.
Delegations
The peace negotiations had no exact beginning or end, because the 109 delegations never met in a plenary session. Instead, various delegations arrived between 1643 and 1646 and left between 1647 and 1649. The largest number of diplomats were present between January 1646 and July 1647.
Westphalia pertaining to the Holy Roman Empire
A common idea is that Emperor Ferdinand III was stripped of power, and said power was given to the rulers of the Imperial estates. 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. The emperor still maintained significant power in the 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. The independence of the Dutch Republic, which practiced religious tolerance, also provided a safe haven for European Jews. Contrary to common belief, the Peace of Westphalia did not necessarily reconfirm the status of the Peace of Augsburg (particularly the principle of cuius regio, eius religio). Rather, it provided a reinterpretation.
What has been established by this treaty, 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.
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 Zelo Domus Dei. The Peace of Westphalia also set up new rules for the 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.