The New International Encyclopædia/Westphalia, Peace of

​WESTPHALIA, Peace of. The treaty which closed the Thirty Years’ War (q.v.) in 1648 and gave a new adjustment to the religio-political affairs of Europe. It is so called from the fact that the envoys met in the cities of Münster and Osnabrück, in the Circle of Westphalia. It is sometimes spoken of as the Treaty of Münster. The minor German States had long sought relief from the devastations of war, and in 1641, at a convention held at Hamburg, preliminaries regarding the conduct of negotiations for peace were agreed upon. In 1644 a congress which had been called to meet in March, 1642, opened. The representatives of France, the Empire, Spain, and the German Catholics met at Münster, and those of Sweden, the Empire, and the German Protestants at Osnabrück. Portugal, the United Provinces, Savoy, Tuscany, Lorraine, Mantua, and Switzerland were also represented. The negotiations were long drawn out, but Torstenson’s decisive campaign in 1644–45 and the successes of Turenne and Wrangel in Southern Germany, together with the capture of part of Prague by Königsmark in July, 1648, forced the Emperor Ferdinand III. to give up his dilatory tactics. After the signing of treaties at Osnabrück and Münster the Osnabrück diplomats went to Münster in October, 1648, and the general Peace of Westphalia was signed there on the 24th. Its terms, as regards the German Empire, were as follows: The sovereignty and independence of the different States of the Empire were fully recognized, and liberty was given them to contract any alliances with each other, or with foreign powers, if these were not against the Emperor or the Empire. All religious persecution in Germany was interdicted. The Treaty of Passau of 1552 and the religious Peace of Augsburg of 1555 were confirmed. With respect to the secularization of ecclesiastical benefices, everything was to remain in Austria as it was ​in 1624, and in the Palatinate, Baden, and Württemberg as it was in 1618. The power of putting under the ban of the Empire was only to be exercised with the consent of the Diet. The Reformed or Calvinist Protestants were put on a footing of equality as to privileges with the Lutherans. In every State the religion of the Prince might be made incumbent on his subjects, but the right of emigration for dissenters was guaranteed. The territorial changes were as follows: The Lower Palatinate was restored to the eldest son of Frederick V., Elector Palatine, and an eighth electorate was created in his favor, but the Upper Palatinate was confirmed to Bavaria, on condition that, should the two States become united, one electorate was to be abolished. France was confirmed in the possession of the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and obtained possession of the Austrian territories in Alsace with the suzerainty over the ten Imperial cities of that region; Breisach, on the right bank of the Rhine, remained in French hands. Sweden obtained Hither Pomerania, with Stettin, the island of Rügen, Wismar, and the secularized sees of Bremen and Verden, with minor territories. These remained fiefs of the Empire, and Sweden was given three deliberative voices in the Diet. Brandenburg obtained, as compensation for its cessions in Pomerania, the secularized bishoprics of Halberstadt, Minden, and Cammin, together with the succession to the see of Magdeburg. Mecklenburg was enlarged by the secularized sees of Schwerin and Ratzeburg. Hesse-Cassell obtained the rich abbacy of Hirschfeld. The Elector of Saxony was allowed to retain Lusatia. The see of Osnabrück was to be alternately in the hands of a Catholic bishop and a prince of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The independence of the United Provinces was recognized by Spain, and they, together with Switzerland, were declared independent of the Holy Roman Empire. France and Sweden became guarantors for the execution of the provisions of the treaty. The Peace of Westphalia, by weakening the central authority of the Empire, destroyed its unity, and afforded France, as one of the guarantors, a pretext for continual interference with its internal affairs. France now became the chief power of the Continent, taking the place formerly occupied by Spain. The Peace of Westphalia marks the close of the period of religious wars. Henceforth European contests were mainly for political ends.

Consult: Von Meiern, Acta Pacis Westphalicæ Publica (6 vols., Göttingen, 1734–36); Woltmann, Geschichte des westphälischen Friedens (Leipzig, 1808); Ogier, Journal du congrès de Münster (Paris, 1893); Philippi, Der westphälische Friede (Münster, 1898). See also references under Thirty Years’ War.