Introduction

The Peace of Westphalia occupies a special place among the early modern peace treaties. The agreements signed in Osnabrück and Münster on 24 October 1648 were both international contracts and fundamental laws of the Holy Roman Empire. In fact, it would be difficult to find another legal document in the early modern period in which these two aspects, domestic constitutional settlement and international agreement, are so closely combined. Of course, it is not easy to take a fresh look at this important treaty three years after the prolonged and sometimes perhaps even slightly excessive festivities which marked the 350th anniversary of the Westphalian Peace. One might very well feel that everything that could be said on this subject has indeed been said. I shall therefore try to concentrate on one aspect of the Peace Treaties, which – although frequently discussed – has remained particularly controversial: the ius foederis, the Bündnisrecht der Reichsstände. First, however, we will have to examine the character of the war which preceded the conference in Münster and Osnabrück, as the settlement achieved in 1648 can only be understood in the context of the conflict it sought to end.

The Thirty Years War

The Thirty Years War was ended by a peace conference in which most of the major European powers took part. However, the Thirty Years War had begun – at least to some extent – as an internal conflict in the Holy Roman Empire.