- Peace of Prague (1635)
The Peace of Prague of
30 May 1635 was a treaty between theHoly Roman Emperor , Ferdinand II, and most of theProtestant states of the Empire. It effectively brought to an end thecivil war aspect of theThirty Years' War (1618 -1648 ); however, the war still carried on due to the continued intervention on German soil ofSpain ,Sweden , and, from mid-1635,France .Negotiations towards the agreement had been instigated by the Elector of
Saxony , John George I, who whilst being aLutheran prince had nonetheless been an ally of the Emperor until the Swedish intervention in1630 . Years of fighting, an inability to reimposeRoman Catholicism by force, and the need to put an end to the intervention of foreign powers in German affairs all combined to bring Ferdinand to the table with a degree of willingness to make concessions towards theLutheran princes .The main terms of the treaty were:
*TheEdict of Restitution of1629 was effectively revoked, with the terms of thePeace of Augsburg of1555 being re-established as at12 November 1627 .
*Formal alliances between states of the Empire were prohibited.
*The armies of the various states were to be unified with those of the Emperor as an army for the Empire as a whole.
*Amnesty was granted to the enemies of the Emperor (with the exception of the former Elector Palatine, Frederick V).As well as bringing to an end the fighting between the various states, the treaty also brought to an end religion as a source of national conflict; the principle of "
cuius regio, eius religio " was established for good within the Empire. In return for making concessions in this area, Ferdinand gained the alliance of the Lutheran princes both in the struggle against the Swedish intervention, and against the expected intervention of France.Ferdinand was also forced to make individual concessions to some of the major states to get them to sign the treaty: Saxony was granted the
Margraviate s of Lower andUpper Lusatia by Ferdinand in his capacity as King ofBohemia ,Brandenburg had its claim toPomerania confirmed, and evenBavaria , which had supported the Emperor throughout the war, extracted some minor concessions.ee also
*
List of treaties External links
* [http://www.france.diplomatie.fr/archives.gb/dossiers/140ministres.gb/louis13/chrono.html Chronology: Louis XIII (1610-1643)]
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