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Here is another study question from our professor at USD:
What is the significance of the Peace of Augsburg? the Edict of Nantes? the Peace of Westphalia?
Something to sink our teeth into, right?
The Edict of Nantes (1598) was issued by Henry IV of France to grant the Calvinist Protestants of France (aka Huguenots) substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. The main concern was civil unity and the Edict separated civil from religious unity and opened a path for secularism and tolerance.However the Edict was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV, the "Sun King", grandson of Henry IV, and declared Protestantism illegal with the Edict of Fontainebleau. Protestants chose to leave France, moving to Great Britain, Prussia, the Dutch Republic, Switzerland and the new French colonies in North America. Huguenots also settled in South Africa. This exodus deprived France of many of its most skilled and industrious individuals, who would aid France's rivals in Holland and England.The edict Of Potsdam issued by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, in 1685 gave French Protestants safe passage to Brandenburg-Prussia, offered them tax-free status for ten years, and allowed them to hold church services in their native French.Peace of Westphalia Ended the Thirty Years' War (1618?1648), a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire. That war was fought primarily (though not exclusively) in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe. Peace of AugsburgSigned in 1555 between Charles V of Spain and an alliance of Lutheran princes from the Holy Roman Empire , at the imperial city of Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany.It officially ended the religious struggle between these two groups and made the legal division of Western Christianity permanent within the Holy Roman Empire. The Peace allowed German princes to select either Lutheranism or Catholicism within the domains they controlled, ultimately reaffirming the independence they had over their states. Both relate to Wars of Religion in Europe. (Good it was not my test, I had enough time to ... remember 8) )
The Peace of Westphalia established the principle of the sovereign state and the modern system of nations is still based on the precepts established at Westphalia. The modern system of international diplomacy is called the Westphalian system. I would argue that that system is failing today with the increasing numbers of states interfering in the affairs of other sovereign states. The recent wars in Iraq and Kosovo being two examples. Both wars violated principles established at Westphalia. You could also argue that the Peace of Westphalia kept Germany from unifying for another 200+ years. It created something like 340 different sovereign states in the territory that comprises modern Germany.You hit the nail on the head with the Peace of Augsburg. It still didn't stop the wars of religion from happening though. The Thirty-Years war was partly fought to force a revision in the terms Augsburg.
The Peace of Augsburg established the principle of Cuius regio, eius religio. Its principle is: "The religion of the prince becomes the religion of the state and all its inhabitants". Those inhabitants who could not conform to the prince's religion are allowed to leave (against the Catholic teaching stating that kings should faithfully obey the pope).Of course all these Edicts or Peaces didn't end any wars of Religion, as usual, but it brought a kind of relief for their inhabitants (before they would have lost control)
I think the Peace of Augsburg was a practical attempt to keep religious sectarianism from tearing the HRE apart. That it did not work is no fault of the crafters of the peace but rather of the more radical of the new Christian sects, particularly the Lutherans. Seems kind of odd to call Lutherans radicals but they were at that time.
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