History week 28.

The Peace of Augsburg was a treaty signed on September 25, 1555, in the German city of Augsburg. It was an agreement between Charles V, and the Schmalkaldic League, a league of Protestant territories. The treaty officially ended the religious struggle between Catholics and Lutherans within the Holy Roman Empire. This principle allowed the kings of the various states within the Holy Roman Empire to choose Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism as the official religion of their territory. This principle exempted ecclesiastical states territories ruled by bishops or abbots from the rule of “cuius regio, eius religio,” meaning they could stay Catholic even if the king converted to Lutheranism. Subjects who did not wish to conform to the prince’s chosen religion were given a grace period to reform to a region where their desired religion was accepted. The Peace of Augsburg was important because it laid the groundwork for the legal coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in the German-speaking in the Holy Roman Empire. However, it did not recognize other denominations, such as Calvinism, which would later contribute to other conflicts, also conflicting with the Thirty Years’ War.