The expansion of Protestantism was not yet completed with the Peace of Augsburg. Despite the “spiritual reservation” (Reservatum ecclesiasticum), which was supposed to secure the possession of the Catholic-spiritual territories, v. a. in the north and east of the empire to further secularizations. In the disputes about the interpretation of the religious peace, which was not always clearly formulated (Declaratio Ferdinandea, September 24, 1555), at the beginning of the last third of the century there was an increasing dogmatic consolidation and confessional separation of Catholicism and Protestantism and within Protestantism: 1559 final Latin version by J. Calvins “Christianae Religionis Institutio” as a summary of the doctrine of Calvinism; 1563 Resolutions of the Council of Trent for the Roman Church to be reformed; 1577/80 Concord formula and concord book as a uniform confession of the Lutheran Church. Within Protestantism, there was a reformed formation of denominations and churches in formerly Lutheran territories. Protestantism also split politically: in contrast to the Lutheran Electorate of Saxony, which was loyal to the emperor, the Calvinist Electoral Palatinate sought a union of all co-religionists against Habsburg. The old church, dogmatically strengthened and religiously renewed by the Council of Trent, won an extremely successful champion in the “Fähnlein Jesu”, the Jesuit order (the first important Jesuit in the empire was P. Canisius).
Counter-reformation
After Emperor Ferdinand I (1558–64), who tried to balance things out, and Maximilian II (1564–76), who personally leaned towards Protestantism, the Counter-Reformation with Rudolf II (1576–1612), who was raised strictly Catholic at the Spanish court, set in vigorously. During the Cologne War (1582–84), Spanish troops prevented the introduction of the Reformation in the Archbishopric of Cologne. As Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria In 1607/08 the imperial city of Donauwörth was forcibly catholicized, in 1608 a part of the Protestant princes (excluding Electoral Saxony) and southern German imperial cities united under the leadership of the Electorate of the Palatinate to form a union; In return, the Catholic League was founded in 1609 under Bavarian leadership as a defensive alliance. The Jülich-Klevesche succession dispute (1609-14) threatened to lead to a war in which the two European opponents France and Spain would have participated, but the assassination of King Henry IV of France (1610) led to the inevitable postponement appearing war.
In the Peace of Xanten (November 12th, 1614) Kurbrandenburg acquired Kleve, Mark and Ravensberg and was able to gain a territorial foothold on the Rhine. In 1609, Emperor Rudolf II put an end to the conflict with the Turks, who, despite all internal contradictions, had not allowed the empire to fall apart, even though its ability to act was more and more restricted (collapse of the imperial justice system, the imperial diet no quorum). Rudolf II’s last years of reign were marked by the “brotherly quarrel in the Habsburg house”, during which he granted the Bohemian estates freedom of religion (Letter of Majesty, 1609). In the empire, the electors decided to take his brother Matthias (1612–19) to be elected as his successor while the emperor was still alive (only after Rudolf’s death). Learn more about Germany and Europe, please click softwareleverage.org.
Thirty Years War and Peace of Westphalia
The growing religious conflict erupted in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48), which began as a religious war, starting in Prague and Bohemia, and ended as a European power struggle between Habsburg, France and Sweden on German soil. When the Peace of Westphalia on October 24, 1648 in Münster and Osnabrück(until 1806 Reichsgrundgesetz) came about, the prosperity in the Reich had dwindled – depending on the region – and the population had sunk to almost half of the pre-war level. France took the Habsburg possessions in Alsace, Sweden the mouths of the Oder, Elbe and Weser rivers. In addition to other territorial changes v. a. In favor of Kurbrandenburg, it was significant for German history that the empire was confirmed as an electoral monarchy and the imperial estates were able to secure their right of co-determination in imperial affairs (tendering of taxes, declaration of imperial war, conclusion of peace treaties). The princes received territorial sovereignty (Ius territoriale), i.e. H. also the right to conclude alliances with foreign powers, provided these are not directed against the empire. For the Palatinate, which had lost its electoral dignity to Bavaria in 1623, an eighth, later (1692) a ninth cure was created for Braunschweig-Lüneburg (Kurhannover). In the religious question, the equality of denominations was expressly recognized and extended to the Reformed Confession. Majority resolutions of the Reichstag on religious issues were declared inadmissible (Itio in Partes; Corpus Catholicorum, Corpus Evangelicorum). The denominational demarcation was made on the basis of ownership in the “normal year” 1624. This also applied to the denomination of the subjects; excluded from this regulation were v. a. the imperial hereditary lands, whose Catholic confession was thus secured. Majority resolutions of the Reichstag on religious issues were declared inadmissible (Itio in Partes; Corpus Catholicorum, Corpus Evangelicorum). The denominational demarcation was made on the basis of ownership in the “normal year” 1624. This also applied to the denomination of the subjects; excluded from this regulation were v. a. the imperial hereditary lands, whose Catholic confession was thus secured. Majority resolutions of the Reichstag on religious issues were declared inadmissible (Itio in Partes; Corpus Catholicorum, Corpus Evangelicorum). The denominational demarcation was made on the basis of ownership in the “normal year” 1624. This also applied to the denomination of the subjects; excluded from this regulation were v. a. the imperial hereditary lands, whose Catholic confession was thus secured.
