GERMANY: FROM REFORMATION SETTLEMENT TO THIRTY YEARS
WAR
[See Palmer and Colton, Chapter 3, Section l6]
I. HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE OF THE GERMAN NATION: decentralization
GOLDEN BULL of 1356: 7 electors (princes) choose Emperor
secular princs: King of Bohemia, Margrave of Brandenburg
Elector of Saxony, Elector Palatine (Palatinate)
ecclesiastical princes: Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, Trier
1555 PEACE OF AUGSBURG: final settlement of the German
Reformation
1. Cuius regio, eius religio (whose the reign, his
the religion)
basic principle of political/religious settlement in
Germany
confirms princely autonomy and sovereignty; defeat for Empire
2. church lands seized before 1552 are to remain Lutheran, but:
3. ecclesiastical reservation: if any ecclesiastical prince
(i.e. Archbishop, Bishop or Abbot) converts to Lutheranism after
1552, title, land & privileges are forfeited to Catholic Church
1556 Emperor Charles V abdicates,
retires to monastery, divides Empire between
brother Emp. Ferdinand I (Austria & HRE) &
son King Phillip II (Spain & New World)
II. Religious Tension within Holy Roman Empire [HRE]
A. Problems
with Peace of Augusburg 1555:
1. Ecclesiastical Reservation: prohibits Catholic Bishops
who convert to Lutheranism after 1552 from keeping territory;
widely violated in late 16th-17th C "scramble for Bishoprics"
2. cuius regio, eius religio: choice of religion applies only to
Catholics & Lutherans; Calvinism excluded in Empire
B. Bohemian (Czech) Hussite (Utraquist) Church
founded 1438
after execution of John Hus at Council of Constance
(1414)
1. Counter Reformation effort to re-Catholicize Bohemia begins with
Archduke Ferdinand's election as King of Bohemia 1617, Emperor l6l9-37
2. Czech revolt: Protest over Ferdinand's Catholic policies
a) 1618 DEFENESTRATlON OF PRAGUE:
Ferdinand's representatives subjected to traditional Bohemian
protest gesture
thrown from window in act of symbolic rebellion against Emperor
(survived)
b) 1619 lmperial election of Emperor Ferdinand II: Bohemian
nobility
deposes Ferdinand as King; elects Protestant Calvinist Prince,
Frederick V of Palatinate (1596-1632) who leads their revolt
c) 1620 BATTLE OF WHITE MOUNTAIN: defeat of Bohemians
leads to
suppression of Utraquist Church, confiscation of noble lands;
Jesuits sent to re-catholicize Czechs = end of Bohemian state
d) political result: Palatinate divided between Bavaria
& Hapsburg Spain;
electoral vote goes to Catholic King of Bavaria, giving
Hapsburgs a
Catholic majority of electors
III. Thirty Years' War: from German civil war to European wide conflict
1618-1620 Bohemian Phase = Hapsburg victory
Coalition of Protestant Princes aided by Danish Lutheran
King Christian
1629 Edict of Restitution = high point of Hapsburg
power
Calvinism outlawed in Empire;
Lutherans required to return Church property secularized since 1552
1630 Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus invades to support
Princes
1635-1648 French lntervention under Cardinal Richilieu
:
revival of French-Imperial conflict (now Hapsburg vs
Bourbon)
1648 Peace of Westphalia: confirms Peace of Augsburg
and the political
fragmentation of German Empire; end of Hapsburg hopes for
unified
monarchy; victory for German Protestant Princes (until Napoleon)
IV. General Interpretations 30 Years War
1.
last of post Reformation religious wars; end of hopes for religious unity
2. continuation of French - Hapsburg struggle (Hapsburg Valois Wars 1512-1559)
3. conflict between Emperor & German Princes
4. new kind of warfare: multiple armies, mercenaries, famine & plague
sacking & looting of towns; population loss: about 1/3
of population dies
5. first anti-war
novel: picaresque story of peasant adrift in war
Grimmelshausen, Simplicius Simplicissimus (l668)