Edict of Restitution - History Behind The Edict

History Behind The Edict

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 occurred when a Catholic head of the church converted to Lutheranism, so was seen (by some) still within the accords of the Peace of Augsburg.

The Peace of Augsburg (1555), signed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, confirmed the result of the 1526 Diet of Speyer which had, by agreeing to disagree, ended with this principle as a prime result. With that principle confirmed by the Treaty at Augsburg, the violence of that earlier day between the Lutherans and the Catholics in Germany ended —at least for the generation, until renewed tensions brought about the Thirty Years' Wars.

Behind all this were the inheritance practices in Europe as a whole and in particular the German states within the Holy Roman Empire. Land and control over it was a source of both power and wealth, and the noble families sought to control as much land within the extended family as was possible, for example by appointing younger sons prince-bishops or prince-abbots.