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WESTPHALIA, TREATY OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 558 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WESTPHALIA, TREATY OF , a collective name given to the two See also:treaties concluded on the 24th of See also:October 1648 by the See also:empire with See also:France at See also:Munster and with See also:Sweden and the See also:Protestant estates of the empire at See also:Osnabruck, by which the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War (q.v.) was brought to an end. As See also:early as 1636 negotiations had been opened at See also:Cologne at the instance of See also:Pope See also:Urban VIII., supported by the seigniory of See also:Venice, but failed owing to the disinclination of See also:Richelieu to stop the progress of the See also:French arms, and to the refusal of Sweden to treat with the papal See also:legate. In 1637 the agents of the See also:emperor began to negotiate at See also:Hamburg with Sweden, though the See also:mediation of See also:Christian IV., See also:king of See also:Denmark, was rejected by Sweden, and the discussions dragged on for years without result. In the meantime the new emperor See also:Ferdinand III. proposed at the See also:diet of See also:Regensburg in 164o to extend the See also:peace of See also:Prague to the whole empire, on the basis of an See also:amnesty, from which, however, those Protestant estates who were still leagued with See also:foreign See also:powers were to be excluded. His aim was by settling the See also:internal affairs of the empire to exclude the See also:German princes from participation in negotiations with foreign powers; but these efforts had no result. A more See also:practical See also:suggestion was made by the See also:Comte d'Avaux, the French See also:envoy at Hamburg, who proposed in 1641 that the negotiations at Cologne and Hamburg should be transferred to Munster and Osnabruck, two cities in the Westphalian circle not more than 30 M. apart. A preliminary treaty embodying this proposal was concluded between the representatives of the emperor, France and Sweden at Hamburg on the 25th of See also:December 1641. A dispute as to See also:precedence between France and Sweden, and the refusal of the latter See also:power to meet the papal See also:nuncio, made the choice of a single See also:meeting-See also:place impossible. It was arranged, however, that the two assemblies should be regarded as a single See also:congress, and that neither should conclude peace without the other. The date fixed for the meeting of the two conventions was the 11th of See also:July 1643, but many months elapsed before all the representatives arrived, and the See also:settlement of many questions of precedence and See also:etiquette caused further delays. See also:England, See also:Poland, Muscovy and See also:Turkey were the only See also:European powers unrepresented. The war continued during the deliberations, which were influenced by its fortunes.

The See also:

chief representative of the emperor was See also:Count See also:Maximilian on Trautmansdorff, to whose sagacity the conclusion of peace was largely due. The French envoys were nominally under See also:Henry of See also:Orleans, See also:duke of See also:Longueville, but the See also:marquis de See also:Sable and the comte d'Avaux were the real agents of France. Sweden was represented by See also:John Oxenstiema, son of the See also:chancellor, and by John See also:Adler Salvius, who had previously acted for Sweden at Hamburg. The papal nuncio was Fabio Chigi, afterwards Pope See also:Alexander VII. See also:Brandenburg, represented by Count Johann von Sayn-See also:Wittgenstein, played the foremost See also:part among the Protestant states of the empire. On the 1st of See also:June 1645 France and Sweden brought forward propositions of peace, which were discussed by the estates of the empire from October 1645 to See also:April 1646. The settlement of religious matters was effected between See also:February 1646 and See also:March 1648. The treaty was signed at Munster by the members of both conventions on the 24th of October 1648, and ratifications were exchanged on the 8th of February 1649. The papal protest of See also:January 3, 1655, was disregarded. The results were determined in the first place by the support given to each other by France and Sweden in their demands for indemnification, the concession of which necessitated See also:compensation to the German states affected, and secondly by the determination of France to weaken the power of the emperor while strengthening the See also:Roman See also:Catholic states, especially See also:Bavaria. Sweden received western See also:Pomerania with Rtigen and the mouths of the See also:Oder, See also:Wismar and Poel, in See also:Mecklenburg, and the lands of the archbishopric of See also:Bremen and the bishopric of See also:Verden, together with an See also:indemnity of 5,000,000 thalers. The privileges of the See also:Free Towns were preserved.

Sweden thus obtained See also:

control of the Baltic and a footing on the See also:North See also:Sea, and became an See also:estate of the empire with three deliberative voices in the diet. The elector of Brandenburg received the greater part of eastern Pomerania, and, as he had a claim on the whole duchy since the See also:death of the last duke in 1635, he was indemnified by the bishoprics of See also:Halberstadt, See also:Minden and See also:Kammin, and the reversion of the archbishopric of See also:Magdeburg, which came to him on the death of the See also:administrator, See also:Prince See also:Augustus of See also:Saxony, in 1680. The elector of Saxony was allowed to retain See also:Lusatia. As compensation for Wismar, Mecklenburg-See also:Schwerin obtained the bishoprics of Schwerin and Ratzeburg and some lands of the Knights of St John. See also:Brunswick-See also:Luneburg restored See also:Hildesheim to the elector of Cologne, and gave Minden to Brandenburg, but obtained the alternate See also:succession to the bishopric of Osnabruck and the See also:church lands of Walkenried and See also:Groningen. See also:Hesse-See also:Cassel received the prince-abbacy of See also:Hersfeld, the See also:county of Schaumburg, &c. The elector of Bavaria was confirmed in his See also:possession of the Upper See also:Palatinate, and in his position as an elector which he had obtained in 1623. See also:Charles See also:Louis, the son and See also:heir of See also:Frederick V., the count See also:palatine of the See also:Rhine, who had been placed under the See also:ban of the empire, received back the See also:Lower Palatinate, and a new electorate, the eighth, was created for him. France obtained the recognition of the See also:sovereignty (which she had enjoyed de facto since 1552) over the bishoprics and cities of See also:Metz, See also:Toul and See also:Verdun, See also:Pinerolo in See also:Piedmont, the See also:town of See also:Breisach, the landgraviate of Upper and Lower See also:Alsace, the Sundgau, the advocacy (Landvogtei) of the ten imperial cities in Alsace, and the right to See also:garrison See also:Philippsburg. During the Thirty Years' War France had professed to be fighting against the See also:house of See also:Austria, and not against the empire. It was stipulated that the immediate possessions of the empire in Alsace should remain in enjoyment of their liberties (in See also:ea libertate et possessione immedietatis erga imperium Romanum, qua hactenus gavisae sunt), but it was added as a See also:condition that the sovereignty of France in the territories ceded to her should not be impaired (ita tamen, ut praesenti hac declaratione nihil detractatum intelligatur de eo omni supremi dominii lure, quod supra concessum eat). The intention of France was to acquire the full rights of Austria in Alsace, but as Austria had never owned the landgraviate of Lower Alsace, and the Landvogtei of the ten free cities did not in itself imply possession, the See also:door was See also:left open for disputes.

Louis XIV. afterwards availed himself of this ambiguous clause in support of his aggressive policy on the Rhine. The See also:

independence of See also:Switzerland was at last formally recognized, as was that of the See also:United See also:Netherlands in a See also:separate treaty signed by See also:Spain at Munster. Apart from these territorial changes, a universal and unconditional amnesty to all those who had been deprived of their possessions was declared, and it was decreed that all See also:secular lands should be restored to those who had held them in 1618. Some exceptions were made in the See also:case of the hereditary dominions of the emperor. Even more important than the territorial redistribution was the ecclesiastical settlement. By the See also:confirmation of the treaty of See also:Passau of 1552 and the religious peace of See also:Augsburg of 1555, and the See also:extension of their provisions to the Reformed (Calvinist) Church, See also:toleration was secured for the three See also:great religious communities of the empire. Within these limits the governments were See also:bound to allow at least private See also:worship, See also:liberty of See also:conscience and the right of See also:emigration, but these See also:measures of toleration were not extended to the hereditary lands of the house of See also:Habsburg. The Protestant minority in the imperial diet was not to be coerced by the See also:majority, but religious questions were to be decided by amicable agreement. Protestant administrators of church lands obtained seats in the diet. Religious parity was established in the imperial chamber (Reichskammergericht), and in the imperial deputations and commissions. The difficult question of the ownership of spiritual lands was decided by a See also:compromise. The See also:edict of restitution of 1629 was annulled.

In See also:

Wurttemberg, See also:Baden and the Palatinate these lands were restored to the persons who had held them in 1618 or their successors, but for the See also:rest of the empire possession was determined by the fact of occupation on the 1st of January 1624 (annus decretorius or normal See also:year). By the See also:provision that a prince should forfeit his lands if he changed his See also:religion an obstacle was placed in the way of a further spread of the See also:Reformation. The See also:declaration that all protests or vetoes by whomsoever pronounced should be null and void dealt a See also:blow at the intervention of the Roman See also:curia in German affairs. The constitutional changes made by the treaty had far-reaching effects. The territorial sovereignty of the states of the empire was recognized. They were empowered to See also:contract treaties with one another and with foreign powers, provided that the emperor and the empire suffered no See also:prejudice. By this and other changes the princes of the empire became See also:absolute sovereigns in their own dominions. The emperor and the diet were left with a See also:mere See also:shadow of their former power. The emperor could not pronounce the ban of the empire without the consent of the diet. The diet, in which the 61 imperial cities gained the right of voting on all imperial business, and thus were put on an equality with the princes, retained its legislative and fiscal powers in name, but practically lost them by the requirement of unanimity among the three colleges, which, moreover, were not to give their several decisions by majorities of their members, but by agreement between them. Not only was the central authority replaced almost entirely by the sovereignty of about 300 princes, but the power of the empire was materially weakened in other ways. It lost about 40,000 sq. m. of territory, and obtained a frontier against France which was incapable of See also:defence.

Sweden and France as guarantors of the peace acquired the right of interference in the affairs of the empire, and the former gained a See also:

voice in its See also:councils. For many years See also:Germany thus became the See also:principal See also:theatre of European See also:diplomacy and war. But if the treaty of Westphalia pronounced the See also:dissolution of the old See also:order in the empire, it facilitated the growth of new powers in its component parts, especially Austria, Bavaria and Brandenburg. The treaty was recognized as a fundamental See also:law of the German constitution, and formed the basis of all subsequent treaties until the dissolution of the empire. See the See also:text in See also:Dumont, See also:Corps universel diplomalique (The See also:Hague, 1726-1731), vi. 429 if.; J. G. von Meiern, Acta pacis Westphalicae publica (6 vols., See also:Hanover and See also:Gottingen, 1734-1736), Instrunzenta pacis Caesareo-Suecicae et Caesareo-Gallicae (Gottingen, 1738) ; " A. A. " [See also:Bishop See also:Adam Adami], Arcana pacis Westphalicae (See also:Frank-fort, 1698), edited by J. G. von Meiern (See also:Leipzig, 1737) ; K. T. See also:Heigel, " Das Westfalische Friedenswerk von 1643—1648 " in the Zeitschriftfur Geschichte and Politik (1888) ; F.

See also:

Philippi and others, Der Westfalische Frieden, ein Gedenkbuch (Munster, 1898) ; See also:Journal du Congres de Munster See also:par F. Ogier, aumonier du comte d'Avaux,edited by A. Boppe (See also:Paris, 1893) ; See also:Cambridge See also:Modern See also:History, iv. p. 395 if. and bibliography, p. 866 ff.; J. See also:Bryce, The See also:Holy Roman Empire, ch. xix. (A. B.

End of Article: WESTPHALIA, TREATY OF

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