Christian Cyclopedia

1648 treaty that ended the Thirty* Years' War; drawn up in Münster and Osnabrück, Westphalia. Terms dealt with indemnification for various countries, secular affairs of the empire, and ecclesiastical affairs. The latter included: Approval and extension of the Convention of Passau* and the Peace of Augsburg* to include Calvinists. Prots. and RCs to be equal in all affairs of empire. January 1, 1624, to be the normative day (annus normalis, Lat. literally “normal year”) for determining questions of ownership of ecclesiastical states and of exercise of religion; where this date was indecisive, territorial lords retained ius reformandi (Lat. “right of reformation,” i. e. to determine religion by fiat); certain rights, including that of emigration, were given to subjects who differed from their ruler in religion. The imperial court was restored and divided equally bet. Prots. and RCs. See also France, 13.