THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
a
effected by a general imperial decree instead of legislation by the diet or due process of law. Incipient scruples against strengthening the 2. The power accruing to the members of the Counter- League at the expense of the imperial Reforma- strength were gradually overcome, tion. partly by the presumption that some of the properties might possibly be applied to strengthen the imperial family prestige, and partly by the persuasive representations of such a measure offered by the imperial confessor, Liammermann, and the papal nuncio, Caraffa, as a new and imposing advance on the side of the Counter-Reformation. Ferdinand II. issued the edict of restitution Mar. 6, 1629. Besides the provisions for the restoration of the spiritual possessions, it abrogated the declaration of Ferdinand I. at the religious peace of 1555, securing to Protestant subjects in the ecclesiastical provinces religious peace, and proclaimed, in general, that the religious peace was to apply only to the Roman Catholics and the adherents of the unaltered Augsburg Confession, and that every other sect was prohibited in the empire.
To prevent Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who in 1630 had occupied the estuaries of the Oder, from forming an alliance with the Protestant estates, the execution of the edict was suspended, and a diet ap-
pointed to meet at Frankfort, Feb., 3. Gustavus 1631, to negotiate a mutual understand-
Adolphus; ing. But the emperor revoked some of
the Peace his concessions; rebuffed the League of
of Prague. Leipsic, concluded by Elector Johann Georg of Saxony, 1631, with various
Evangelical estates for the peace of Germany; and even suffered Tilly to invade Saxony (1631), after the destruction of Magdeburg. The result was an alliance of the elector of Saxony and the remaining Protestant princes with Gustavus Adolphus. After the victorious battle at Breitenfeld Sept. 7 (17), 1631, the Swedish troops roamed over Germany; but in 1632 Gustavus Adolphus was forced by Wallenstein to vacate Bavaria, and after his fall at Liitzen (Nov. 6, 1632), the allies dispersed. When, in 1634, the main army of the Swedes was defeated at Nérdlingen, the elector of Saxony abandoned the alliance with the Swedes, and concluded with Ferdinand II. the Peace of Prague, May 20 (30), 1635. By the terms of this treaty, all mediate foundations, cloisters, and estates which had been confiscated by the Protestants prior to the Passau treaty of 1552 were to remain in their hands; but the immediate endowments and all possessions confiscated after the said treaty were to be left for a term of forty years, and, if before the expiration of that term no other adjustment should be made, then they were to remain permanently in the status in which they were Nov. 27, 1627. Full amnesty was pledged between the emperor and the Roman Catholic estates on the one hand, and electoral Saxony and the states adhering to the Augsburg Confession on the other, from the year 1630, Bohemia, the Palatinate, and some princes, lords, and counts excepted. According to the imperial patent of June 12, 1635, this peace was to be extended over all Germany; but the restriction of the amnesty, the declaration of war by France against Spain and Austria, and the
new advantages gained by the Swedes prevented the cessation of hostilities. In 1640, Ferdinand III. summoned another diet at Regensburg which (1641) made no essential progress beyond the Treaty of Prague. Preliminaries were signed at Hamburg Dee. 15 (25), 1641, providing that negotiations were to be conducted at Miinster and Osnabriick. The emperor and the imperial deputation hesitated to sign the protocal until 1644, so that negotiations were not opened until Apr-, 1645. At Osnabriick affairs were negotiated between the emperor’s delegates, the imperial estates, and Sweden; at Miinster, between the emperor, France, and the other foreign powers. The negotiations at Osnabriick were concluded with the peace instrument of Aug. 8, 1648; at Miinster, in that of Sept. 17, the same year. The joint subscription occurred at Minster Oct. 14 (24). Simultaneously Spain and the German empire negotiated at Mimster for peace with the United Netherlands and with France. While the negotiations with France led to no result, a treaty was concluded with the United Netherlands, on Jan. 20 (30), 1648, by which the independence of the Netherlands and their detachment from Germany were formally conceded. The independence of the Swiss Federation, as defined by the Peace of Basel, Sept. 22, 1499, was reconfirmed. In both treaties, only the emperor and the crowns of France and Sweden are named as contracting parties, each with its constituents, since the imperial estates disclaimed having waged war against the empire. Those provisions pertaining to church affairs only are subject of detail here.
For war indemnities and restitution of strongholds in the hands of foreign powers, the awards were as follows: (1) Sweden obtained all coastwise Pomerania and Riigen, together with a portion of interior Pomerania, the town of Wismar, belonging hitherto to Mecklenburg, and the church foundations of
Bremen and Verden, as temporal duch-
4. Terri- ies, and all these as hereditary imperial torial tenures, with seat and vote at imperial Awards. and district assemblies. (2) France was
vested, without the privilege of investiture or imperial estate, with the sovereignty over the bishoprics and cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which had been occupied from 1552, yet under guaranty of the three bishoprics to the archbishop of Treves. It received, further, the sovereignty over Pignerol, the town of Breisach, the landgraviate of Upper and Lower Alsace, the district of Suntgau, and the government of ten imperial towns in Alsace. On the other hand, the other imperial estates in Alsace, in particular also the bishops of Basel and Strasburg, were expressly secured in their immediate relation to the empire, and their former freedom. The Roman Catholic religion was to be preserved in the ceded possessions and all religious innovations during the war removed. (38) Hesse-Cassel was indemnified with the secularized abbey of Hersfeld. Estates which lost territory by these cessions or had to forego their claims had to be recompensed, which involved further changes. in the ecclesiastical apportionment, affecting specially Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Brunswick, and Liineburg,