The Edict of Restitution, passed eleven years into the Thirty Years' Wars on March 6, 1629 following Catholic successes at arms, was a belated attempt by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor to impose and restore the religious and territorial situations reached in the Peace of Augsburg (1555). From the pro-Catholic viewpoint, the "Ecclesiastical Reservation" of the Augsburg treaty had impeded the secularization of Catholic lands after 1555, so no fur...
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The Edict of Restitution, passed eleven years into the Thirty Years' Wars on March 6, 1629 following Catholic successes at arms, was a belated attempt by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor to impose and restore the religious and territorial situations reached in the Peace of Augsburg (1555). From the pro-Catholic viewpoint, the "Ecclesiastical Reservation" of the Augsburg treaty had impeded the secularization of Catholic lands after 1555, so no further Catholic lands could be converted to Protestant control. However, over several decades of weak willed emperors the "Ecclesiastical Reservation" had not been enforced against the encroaching Protestants.
This lack of decisive or effective authority along with the Protestant view of the legal interpretation as well as the value of the land and the characteristic dislike for all things Catholic led several princes to secularize the Catholic lands under the treaty established and customary practice of Cuius regio, eius religio; this usually...
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