Augsburg Interim

The Augsburg Interim ("Declaration of His Roman Imperial Majesty on the Observance of Religion Within the Holy Empire Until the Decision of the General Council") is the general term given to an imperial decree ordered on May 15, 1548, at the 1548 Diet of Augsburg, after Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, had defeated the forces of the Schmalkaldic League in the Schmalkaldic War of 1546/47. The first draft of the twenty-six chapter decree was written by Julius von Pflug, but several theologians were involved in the final draft: on the Catholic side, Michael Helding, Eberhard Billick, Pedro Domenico Soto and Pedro de Malvenda; on the Protestant side, John Agricola. Although it ordered Protestants to readopt traditional Catholic beliefs and practices, including the seven Sacraments, it allowed for Protestant clergymen the right to marry and for the laity to receive communion in both kinds (bread and wine). It is considered the first significant step in the process leading to the political and religious legitimization of Protestantism as a valid alternative Christian creed to Roman Catholicism finally realized in the 1552 Peace of Passau and the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. The Interim became Imperial law on June 30, 1548. The Pope advised all bishops to abide by the concessions made to the Protestants in the Interim in August, 1549.