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Frederick the Great, Habsburg Hereditary Lands, Habsburg Monarchy, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, House of Habsburg, House of Hohenzollern, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary, King of Prussia, Kingdom of Croatia, Pope Innocent X, Protestant, Protestant Reformation, Roman Catholic Church, The Peace of Westphalia, The Thirty Years War
The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed on October 24, 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. Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, the kingdoms of France and Sweden, and their respective allies among the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, participated in the treaties.
Europe had been battered by both the Thirty Years’ War and the Eighty Years’ War, 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, centred on the Holy Roman Empire.
Historical Background
The decentralization of the Holy Roman Empire was one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the war. The Holy Roman Empire had been in existence since the year 962 when King Otto I the Great of East Francia was crowned Emperor. By the 17th century the Holy Roman Empire covered most of Central Europe. It had a multi-ethnic and decentralized structure. The Emperor was nominally the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, but the Imperial estates were becoming increasingly more autonomous.
Before the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Western Europe had been Roman Catholic for about 1,000 years. During the Reformation, a number of Princes converted to Protestantism. Although there had been religious conflicts in the 16th century, the Thirty Years’ War was an extended, brutal conflict, one of the most gruesome wars in European history.
The war began in 1618 when the Catholic Emperor, Ferdinand II, a member of the House of Habsburg, tried to enforce religious uniformity on the Empire. Swedish and French intervention soon turned it into a European conflict concerning the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire, religion, and the power to rule in Europe.
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.
The negotiation process was lengthy and complex. Talks took place in two cities, because each side wanted to meet on territory under its own control. A total of 109 delegations arrived to represent the belligerent states, but not all delegations were present at the same time.
Two treaties were signed to end the war in the Empire: the Treaty of Münster and the Treaty of Osnabrück. These treaties ended the Thirty Years’ War in the Holy Roman Empire, with the Habsburgs (rulers of Austria and Spain) and their Catholic allies on one side, battling the Protestant powers (Sweden and certain Holy Roman principalities) allied with France (though Catholic, France was strongly anti-Habsburg under King Louis XIV of France and Navarre).
The Peace of Westphalia granted freedom and land to several other territories within the Holy Roman Empire. As each colony and territory were granted their freedom, the power of the Church and the Holy Roman Empire fled with them.
The treaties also recognized the de facto independence of the Imperial States. The Imperial States were allowed to choose the religion for their territory as mentioned above, and were allowed to enter into alliances with each other and with foreigners for their security or preservation as long as the alliances were not directed against the Emperor, the Empire, the public peace, or the terms of the Westphalian Peace Treaties.
The power asserted by Emperor Ferdinand III was stripped from him and returned to the rulers of the Imperial States. Catholics and Lutherans were redefined as equal before the law, and Calvinism was given legal recognition as an official religion. The independence of the Dutch Republic, which practiced religious toleration, also provided a safe haven for European Jews.
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 bull Zelo Domus Dei.
With the Peace of Westphalia it truly rendered the Holy Roman Empire an Empire in name only. With a considerable amount of autonomy returned to the Imperial States the emperor had little power or authority over the states. Despite being an elective monarchy, the House of Habsburg had firm control over the succession to the Imperial Throne.
The Habsburg Monarchy, also known as the Habsburg Hereditary Lands, were States that existed both inside and outside the Empire. The State’s inside the Empire ruled by the Habsburg Monarchy were the kingdom of Bohemia and the Archduchy of Austria.
Outside the Empire the House of Habsburg where Kings of Hungary and Croatia. Therefore despite the fact that the Emperor had little authority over the Imperial States, the further fact that they ruled in areas both inside and outside the Empire still made the Habsburg Dynasty a power to be reckoned with.
With the Peace of Westphalia the slow decline of the empire was accelerated. Within 40 years the Empire would see the rise of the House of Hohenzollern as Kings in Prussia (later Kings of Prussia under Friedrich II the Great) and Prince-Electors of Brandenburg. The expanded State of Prussia which came to dominate Norther Germany became rivals against the Habsburg Monarchy for supremacy within German lands.
It is interesting to note that by the 18th century we will read more about Prussia and Austria as individual states and we will hear less about the Holy Roman Empire as a whole.