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.Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015. McFarland. p. 40. .
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, strongly anti-Habsburg under King Louis XIV).
Several scholars of international relations have identified the Peace of Westphalia as the origin of principles crucial to modern international relations, collectively known as Westphalian sovereignty. However, some historians have argued against this, suggesting that such views emerged during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in relation to concerns about sovereignty during that time. Regardless of whether the Peace of Westphalia was a critical juncture or not, narratives about the Peace of Westphalia have profoundly shaped international legal and political thought in subsequent centuries.
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.
The main peace negotiations took place in Westphalia, in the neighbouring cities of Münster and Osnabrück. Both cities were maintained as neutral and demilitarized zones for the negotiations.
In Münster, negotiations took place between the Holy Roman Empire and France, as well as between the Dutch Republic and Spain who on 30 January 1648 signed a peace treaty ending the Eighty Years' War that was not part of the Peace of Westphalia.Konrad Repgen, 'Negotiating the Peace of Westphalia: A Survey with an Examination of the Major Problems', In: 1648: War and Peace in Europe: 3 vols. (Catalogue of the 26th exhibition of the Council of Europe, on the Peace of Westphalia), Klaus Bußmann and Heinz Schilling (eds.) on behalf of the Veranstaltungsgesellschaft 350 Jahre Westfälischer Friede, Münster and Osnabrück: no publ., 1998, 'Essay Volume 1: Politics, Religion, Law and Society', pp. 355–72, here pp. 355 seq. Münster had been, since its re-Catholicism in 1535, a strictly mono-denominational community. It housed the Chapter of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster. Only Roman Catholic worship was permitted, while Calvinism and Lutheranism were prohibited.
Sweden preferred to negotiate with the Holy Roman Empire in Osnabrück, which was controlled by Protestant forces. Osnabrück was a bi-denominational Lutheran and Catholic city, with two Lutheran churches and two Catholic churches. The city council was exclusively Lutheran, and the burghers mostly so, but the city also housed the Catholic Chapter of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück and had many other Catholic inhabitants. Osnabrück had been subjugated by troops of the Catholic League from 1628 to 1633 and was then taken by Lutheran Sweden.
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.
Delegations had been sent by 16 European states, 66 Imperial States representing the interests of 140 Imperial States, and 27 interest groups representing 38 groups.Konrad Repgen, "Negotiating the Peace of Westphalia: A Survey with an Examination of the Major Problems", In: 1648: War and Peace in Europe: 3 vols. (Catalogue of the 26th exhibition of the Council of Europe, on the Peace of Westphalia), Klaus Bußmann and Heinz Schilling (eds.) on behalf of the Veranstaltungsgesellschaft 350 Jahre Westfälischer Friede, Münster and Osnabrück: no publ., 1998, 'Essay Volume 1: Politics, Religion, Law and Society', pp. 355–372, here p. 356. The French delegation was headed by Henri II d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville and further comprised the diplomats Claude d'Avaux and Abel Servien. The Swedish delegation was headed by Count Johan Oxenstierna and was assisted by Baron Johan Adler Salvius. The Imperial delegation was headed by Count Maximilian von Trautmansdorff. His aides were: In Münster, Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar and Isaak Volmar. In Osnabrück, Johann Maximilian von Lamberg and Johann Krane. Philip IV of Spain was represented by two delegations: The Spanish delegation was headed by Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, and notably included the diplomats and writers Diego de Saavedra Fajardo, and Bernardino de Rebolledo. The County of Burgundy and the Spanish Netherlands were represented by Joseph de Bergaigne (who died before peace was concluded) and Antoine Brun. The papal nuncio in Cologne, Fabio Chigi, and the Venetian envoy, Alvise Contarini, acted as mediators. Various Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire also sent delegations; among these represented the Electorate of Saxony, the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and the Electorate of Bavaria. Important Protestant envoys were for Saxe-Altenburg and Jakob Lampadius for Brunswick-Lüneburg. The Catholic estates were divided between those willing to compromise like Mainz represented by Hugo Eberhard Kratz von Scharfenstein, and Catholic hardliners like Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg for the Electorate of Cologne. The Dutch Republic sent a delegation of six, including two delegates from the province of Holland, including Adriaan Pauw, and Willem Ripperda from the province of Overijssel; two provinces were absent. The Swiss Confederacy was represented by Johann Rudolf Wettstein.
Treaties
Two separate treaties constituted the peace settlement: The Treaty of Münster (Instrumentum Pacis Monasteriensis, IPM),Westfälischer Friede – Vertrag von Münster – Original German text Treaty of Münster digitised on German Wikisource between the Holy Roman Emperor and France, along with their respective allies The Treaty of Osnabrück (Instrumentum Pacis Osnabrugensis, IPO),Westfälischer Friede – Vertrag von Osnabrück – Original German text Treaty of Osnabrück digitised on German Wikisource between the Holy Roman Emperor and Sweden, along with their respective allies
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 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 ). Rather, it provided a reinterpretation.
Rather than confirming the Augsburg settlement's policy of (in which subjects were to follow their ruler's religion), Westphalia replaced it with an interpretation that sovereign rulers such as princes could no longer dictate the religion of their subjects. "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."
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 .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."
The Peace of Westphalia also set up new rules for the (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.
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.Treaty of Münster 1648 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). 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. France and Sweden were recognised as guarantors of the imperial constitution with a right to intercede.Mary Fulbrook A Concise History of Germany, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 60.
Territorial adjustments
France retained the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun near Lorraine, received the cities of the Décapole in Alsace (except for Strasbourg, the Bishopric of Strasbourg, and Mulhouse) and the city of Pignerol near the Spanish Duchy of Milan.