Christian Cyclopedia

(1555). Est. bet. Ferdinand I and the princes of the Ger. Empire at Augsburg September 25, 1555. Since the Diet of Worms* the followers of Luther had been in a precarious position, in spite of the modifications at the Diet of Speyer* (1526). The formation of the Schmalkaldic* League and the desire of Charles* V to extirpate heresy led to the Schmalkaldic* War. With defeat of the emp. at Innsbruck and the Convention of Passau* (1552) settlement was made. Catholicism and Lutheranism (but not Calvinism) were recognized according to the principle of cuius regio, eius religio: the ruler of the territory chooses the religion that the subjects are bound to follow. Those who did not agree to the ruler's religion were permitted to emigrate. Both religions were allowed to continue in the Imperial cities, where they were already est. By the reservatum ecclesiasticum (ecclesiastical reservation) a RC prelate who turned Lutheran was to give up his office. The pope protested, but the emp. did not override the peace. It was, however, a concession to territorialism (see Territorial System), not toleration. Some of the provisions of the “Peace” were among the causes of the Thirty* Years War. It was superseded 1648 by the Peace of Westphalia.*

See also Adiaphoristic Controversies.

Text in Church and State Through the Centuries, eds. S. Z. Ehler and J. B. Morrall (London, 1954), pp. 164–173; L. W. Spitz Jr., “Particularism and Peace: Augsurg - 1555,” Church History, XXV (June 1956), 110–126. CSM