Delayed by the war with France and Turkey, the diet for the settlement
of the religious difficulty did not meet at Augsburg until February
1555. Ferdinand represented his brother, and after a prolonged
discussion conditions of peace were arranged. Romanists and Lutherans
were placed upon an equal footing, but the toleration which was granted
to them was not extended to the Calvinists. Each secular prince had the
right to eject from his land all those who would not accept the form of
religion established therein; thus the principle of _cujus regio ejus
religio_ was set up. Although the Lutherans did not gain all their
demands, they won solid advantages and were allowed to keep all
ecclesiastical property secularized before the peace of Passau. A source
of trouble, however, was the clause in the treaty usually called the
ecclesiastical reservation. This required an ecclesiastical prince, if
he accepted the teaching of the confession of Augsburg, or in other
words became a Lutheran, forthwith to resign his principality. The
Lutherans denied the validity of this clause, and notwithstanding the
protests of the Roman Catholics several prelates became Lutheran and
kept their territories as secular possessions. The peace of Augsburg can
hardly be described as a satisfactory settlement. Individual toleration
was not allowed, or only allowed in unison with exile, and in the treaty
there was abundant material for future discord.
End of the reign.
After Maurice of Saxony had made terms with Charles at Passau he went to
help Ferdinand against the Turks, but one of his allies, Henry II. of
France, continued the war in Germany while another, Albert Alcibiades,
entered upon a wild campaign of plunder in Franconia. The French king
seized Metz, which was part of the spoil promised to him by his allies,
and Charles made an attempt to regain the city. For this purpose he took
Albert Alcibiades into his service, but after a stubborn fight his
troops were compelled to retreat in January 1553. Albert then renewed
his raids, and these became so terrible that a league of princes, under
Maurice of Saxony, was formed to crush him; although Maurice lost his
life at Sievershausen in July 1553, this purpose was accomplished, and
Albert was driven from Germany. After the peace of Augsburg, which was
published in September 1555, the emperor carried out his intention of
abdicating. He entrusted Spain and the Netherlands to Philip, while
Ferdinand took over the conduct of affairs in Germany; although it was
not until 1558 that he was formally installed as his brother's
successor.
Ferdinand I.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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