Resolution
of the Imperial Diet of Augsburg, 1555 [Excerpts]
Image: Map of
Augsburg
in 1550, from Sebastian Munster, Cosmographiae Universalis (Basel:
H.
Petri,
1550). Image source: "Historic
Cities,"
Department of Geography, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
[Introductory note:
The
Peace of Augsburg -- promulgated in the
final resolution of the imperial diet which convened in that city in
1555
-- established the terms for religious cohabitation, if not true peace,
for the remainder of the sixteenth century. As the following mandates
show,
the agreement recognized two legitimate confessions in the Empire,
Roman
Catholicism and all Protestant churches that adhered to the moderate Augsburg
Confession of 1530. Although many of the imperial electors and
other
estates had refused to send delegates to the diet, Ferdinand I of
Austria (King of the Romans after 1531, Emperor 1558-1564) and a coalition of princes managed to win near
universal
recognition of its terms in exchange for acknowledging the right of
each
prince to order the religious affairs of his own territory. This was
the
constitutional principle that came to be known by the Latin phrase, cuius
regio,
eius
religio -- he who rules the land determines the religion.
Even though the agreement recognized more than one legitimate faith, it
was not therefore a grant of religious toleration to individuals.
Special
provisions were introduced for imperial cities, which were forced to
allow
minority Catholics the public exercise of their religion; as a result,
many imperial cities became officially Paritätisch, i.e.,
places
in which the two recognized faiths both enjoyed official "parity." Note
that the resolution is cast as a decree issued
on the authority of Ferdinand I, brother to the recently abdicated
Emperor
Charles V, who at the time of the Imperial Diet had not yet been
elected
Holy Roman Emperor. The Diet eventually recognized Charles V's abdication in 1558, whereupon Ferdinand became the acknowledged Emperor.]
§7-§8 Concerning the Question
of Religion
§9-§10 Previous Attempts
to Establish a Lasting Peace
§13 Extension of the Imperial
Truce
to Religious Controversy
§14 General Peace Mandate
§15 Inclusion of the Augsburg
Confession
§16 Protections for Catholics
§17 Exclusion of Other Confessions
§18-§19 The
Ecclesiastical
Reservation
§23 Ban Against Forcible
Conversion
§24 Right of Emigration for Reasons of
Conversion
§27 Special Regulation for Imperial
Free Cities
Note:
Section titles, not included in the German original
text, are added here for the sake of clarity.
[Preamble]
We, Ferdinand, by the
grace of God Roman King for all time and augmenter
of the Empire, King in Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia and
Slavonia, etc., Heir Apparent in Spain, Archduke of Austria, Duke of
Burgundy,
Brabant, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Luxemburg, and Württemberg,
Upper and Lower Silesia, Prince of Swabia, Marggrave of the Holy Roman
Empire in Burgau, Moravia, Upper and Lower Lusatia, Count-Prince of
Habsburg,
Tyrol, Pfirt, Kyburg and Görtz, etc., Landgrave of Alsatia, Lord
of
the Windisch March, of Portenau and of Salins, etc., do publicly
announce
and proclaim to all and sundry: Whereas his Roman Imperial Majesty Our
dear brother and lord, motivated by the most urgent causes but
primarily
for the reason that His Majesty judged that the Holy Empire's laws,
ordinances,
and resolution, [notwithstanding] His Imperial Majesty's, Our, and the
Holy Imperial Estates' entire gracious, faithful, and earnestly applied
diligence, pains, and labor, had not achieved their desired and
wished-for
fruit and effect, as the gravest necessity required, but that instead
much
dissension and unrest had transpired in the Holy Empire and that
inhibitions
not only of justice, but also of other of His Imperial Majesty's, Our,
and the Empire's rights, privileges, ordinances, laws, ancient customs
and folkways, as well as all manner of improprieties, grievances,
deficiencies,
and infractions had arisen, [so His Imperial Majesty] summoned,
announced,
and undertook a common Imperial Diet (Reichs-Tag) on negotiation and
treaty
concluded previously at Passau by His Imperial Majesty and by Our
gracious
assistance, and also in consideration and recollection of His Imperial
Majesty's incumbent office carried out on the sixteenth day of August
of
the fifty-third year [of this century] in His Imperial Majesty's, Our,
and the Holy Empire's city of Ulm, and finally with the intention,
conscientiously
deign to visit and attend such an announced Imperial Diet in person,
with
the help of God.
§7.
Concerning the Question of Religion
And when the electors'
appointed counsels, several princes and estates
of the Holy Empire appeared before us, both in their own person and by
means of emissaries with plenipotentiary powers of representation, and
We first considered with them what issues were of greatest concern and
how to organize our consultations of them, it was immediately found
that,
just as at several previous Imperial Diets, the matter of divided
religion
(and of the ubiquitous mischief, damage, and dissension [it had] caused
within the Holy Empire of the German Nation) was once again the
foremost,
most pressing, and weightiest unresolved matter of grievance [pending]
in the Holy Empire, and of greatest concern [its] estates and subjects.
§8. From which, at Our gracious instigation,
the electors' appointed counsels, the attending princes, estates,
delegates
and emissaries considered it well-advised to treat first of this most
weighty
matter.
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§9.
Previous Attempts to Establish a Lasting
Peace
Once in consultation,
however, it quickly became apparent that in view
of its enormity and pervasiveness, this controversy (Tractation) over
the
main articles and matters of Our Holy Christian faith, [its] ceremonies
and liturgies was such that it would not be possible in so little time
to discover a final resolution of these pertinent issues, and that it
could
be observed at every turn how much [these issues] create unrest and
atrocious
wars within the Holy Empire of the German Nation and disturb its common
security, not least because in former times the estates and delegates
had
disdained consultations and deliberations to establish and administer a
lasting peace in the Holy Empire.
§10. On the basis of the aforementioned conclusion
and pressing danger, therefore, the estates, emissaries, and delegates
considered it acceptable and necessary to postpone consultation of this
matter of religion until a different time, which they also obediently
reported
to Us [...].
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§13.
Extension of the Imperial Truce to Religious
Controversy
During the ensuing peace
negotiations the electors' counsels, attending
princes, estates, delegates and emissaries soon recalled from
experience,
and all that had gone before, that it had often been attempted to
negotiate
and establish a common, lasting, and steadfast peace in matters of
religion
among the estates of the Holy Empire at each of the Imperial Diets held
over the last thirty or more years, as well as several more ad hoc
assemblies,
[and that] several times peace agreements had been drawn up, which
however
were never sufficient for the maintenance of peace, but that despite
them
the imperial estates remained increasingly mistrustful and averse
towards
each other, from which no small disruption derived its origin. For
which
reason it will not be attempted to achieve a comprehensive treatment
and
negotiation of neither the sacred nor profane, worldly aspects in the
present
ongoing religious schism, [but that] by every means these matters will
be so handled and resolved so that both religions [...] might finally
know
how each had approached each other such that the estates and subjects
were
not provided with steadfast, lasting security, but that increasingly
everyone
was forced more and more into intolerable danger. In order to
remove
such admonitory insecurity, to restore the estates' and subjects'
disposition
to mutual trust and calm, and to protect the German nation, Our beloved
fatherland, from eternal division and downfall, We have once again
concluded
an agreement with Our electors' counsels and delegates, the attending
princes
and estates, and emissaries of the absent.
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§14.
General Peace Mandate
Therefore we establish,
decree, order, and command that in future no
person, regardless of dignity, estate, or birth, for the sake of
whatever
cause it might be called or under any other pretense, should attack,
make
war on, plunder, pillage, strike, or besiege another, or to abet
someone
else to that end [...], nor descend upon any castle, town,
market-place,
fortification, village, or farmstead, or with violent deed criminally
occupy
or endanger with fire or any other damage without consent, nor aid and
abet any such perpetrators with counsel, advice, or any other succor,
nor
knowingly provide [them] with shelter, housing, food, drink, or refuge,
but rather [that every person] should approach every other with a
seeming
friendship and Christian love, nor [should] any estate and member of
the
Holy Empire withhold from or obstruct [...] free access to provisions,
nourishment, commerce, rents, payments and income to any other, but
that
instead His Imperial Majesty and We should allow all the estates to
remain
in peace, as they in turn should do unto His Imperial Majesty and Us,
and
each estate should do unto each other, in matters pertaining to the
following
established religious peace, common constitution, and imperial truce.
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§15.
Inclusion of the Augsburg
Confession
So that such a truce
occasioned by religious schism, as well as other
reasons reported above and additional ones demanded by the urgent
necessity
of the Holy Empire of the German Nation, might be established and
maintained
all the more steadfastly between His Imperial Majesty, Us, and the
electors,
princes and estates of the Holy Empire of the German Nation, so His
Imperial
Majesty, We, and the electors, princes, and estates of the Holy Empire
shall not molest any estate of the Empire [that adhere to] the Augsburg
Confession and its teachings, religion, and faith, nor by any deed
violently
injure, damage, or in any way violate against their conscience or will
this religion of the Augsburg Confession, its faith, liturgies,
ordinances,
ceremonies, as it is or shall be established, nor intrude upon their
principalities,
lands, lordships, nor with mandates and decrees or in any other way
burden
and scorn them, but rather [shall] allow them to remain at peace and
rest
in their religion, faith, liturgies, ordinances and ceremonies, as well
as their possessions, goods both moveable and immovable, lands, people,
lordships, authorities, rights, sovereignties, and privileges.
And
religious schism shall not be brought to unanimous Christian
understanding
and resolution in any other than by Christian, amicable, and peaceable
ways and means.
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§16.
Protections for Catholics
Similarly the estates
adhering to the Augsburg Confession shall in
the same manner allow His Imperial Majesty, Us, and the electors,
princes
and other estates, both ecclesiastical and secular, of the Holy Empire
adhering to the old religion, regardless of where they may have
established
residence, together with their cathedral chapters and other [Catholic]
ecclesiastical institutions to remain at peace and rest in religion,
faith,
liturgies, ordinances and ceremonies, as well as leave them unburdened
and in full peaceable use and enjoyment of their possessions, goods
both
moveable and immovable, lands, people, lordships, authorities, rights,
sovereignties, and privileges, nor molest nor in any way attempt
anything
the same [religion and possessions], but rather at their word and in
conformity
with the letter and meaning of the Holy Empire’s rights, ordinances,
agreements,
and established peace mandates, in all ways to content themselves with
their just and proper rights and privileges, in order to avoid loss of
princely honor and the penalties comprised within the [imperial] peace
mandates.
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§17.
Exclusion of Other Confessions
However, all other who
are do not adhere to the abovementioned two
religions are not included in this peace, but instead are thoroughly
excluded
from it.
§18.
The Ecclesiastical Reservation
And whereas in the
negotiation of this peace, conflict arose over the
question of what should be done with the archbishoprics, bishoprics,
prelacies
and benefices that had been held by one or more ecclesiastical princes
who wished to withdraw from the old religion, which matter the estates
of the two religions proved unable to resolve, We on the basis and
authority
of plenipotentiary powers granted Us by His Most Highly Regarded
Majesty
decreed the following and make known herewith to all and sundry: that
should
an archbishop, bishop, prelate or other ecclesiastical prince wish to
withdraw
from the old religion, the same [ecclesiastical prince] shall
immediately
and without contradiction or delay, abandon his archbishopric,
bishopric,
prelacy, or other benefice, and with it all the fruits and incomes he
derived
from them, without prejudice to his [princely] honor, and that it shall
be allowed to the cathedral chapter and those who by virtue of church
custom
possess the to elect and ordain a person who adheres to the old
religion,
who in turn shall leave the cathedral chapter and other ecclesiastical
establishments at peace and rest in the possession of their
foundations,
elections, presentations, confirmation, ancient customs, privileges,
goods
both movable and immovable, albeit without prejudice to a future
amicable,
conclusive, Christian resolution in [the schism of] religion.
§19. However, whereas numerous [princes] and
their ancestors had appropriated any number of foundations,
monasteries,
cloisters, and other ecclesiastical goods and have used them as
churches,
schools, and other things, so shall all such goods that did not belong
to estates that are subject directly to the Empire and are members of
the
Imperial Estates at the time of Treaty of Passau [i.e., 1552] and have
not been appropriated since then be included and comprised within the
present
peace and be treated with their goods and possessions as all other
estates
that are comprised within the abovementioned peace, nor shall the same
estates be challenged or attacked, legally or illegally, in the
interest
of maintaining a steadfast and eternal peace. In its interest and
by the authority of this resolution we order and command that His
Imperial
Majesty’s Chamber Court justices and alternates shall recognize or
accept
no summons, mandate, or lawsuit concerning these appropriated and
[otherwise]
employed goods.
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§23.
Ban Against Forcible Conversion
Furthermore no [prince]
shall force the subjects of another to convert
or otherwise withdraw from his religion, take them under protection, or
defend in any way them against their [proper] authorities […].
§24.
Right of Emigration for Reasons of Conversion
If however any subjects
of Ours, the electors, princes, and estates
adhering to the old religion or the Augsburg Confession should wish by
reason of their religion to move with their wife and children away from
lands, principalities, cities, or villages belonging to Us, the
electors,
princes, and estates of the Holy Empire, and settle elsewhere, such
emigration
and immigration shall be permitted, allowed, and generally uninhibited,
as shall the sale of goods and properties [to pay] for an appropriate
manumission
from serfdom and death-duties, as has been customarily practiced
everywhere
since ancient times […]. But nothing [in this provision] shall be
taken to abolish, suspend or otherwise detract from the customary
rights
and privileges of the authorities with respect to serfdom.
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§27.
Special Regulation for Imperial Free Cities
Whereas in several free
and imperial cities both religions, namely
Our old religion and the religion adhering to the Augsburg Confession,
have existed for some time already, the same shall in future remain and
be preserved in the those same cities, and the citizens of those same
free
and imperial cities, as well as other inhabitants, be they of
ecclesiastical
or secular estate, shall continue to live at rest and peace beside one
another, and neither party shall attempt to abolish or force a
withdrawal
from the religion, liturgies, or ceremonies of the other, but rather
each
shall leave the other to remain at rest and peace in its religion,
faith,
liturgies, ordinances, and ceremonies, goods movable and immovable, and
all else that has been ordained and promulgated above concerning
estates
adhering to the two religions.
Source: Arno
Buschmann, ed., Kaiser und Reich: Klassische
Texte und Dokumente zur Verfassungsgeschichte des Hl. Römischen
Reiches
Deutscher Nation (Munich: DTV, 1984), 215-283; translation
©
1997 David M. Luebke.
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