The Ratification of the Treaty of Munster

The Ratification of the Treaty of Munster

The Ratification of the Treaty of Munster was a pivotal event in the Peace of Westphalia, which brought an end to the Thirty Years’ War in Europe. The treaty was signed in 1648, alongside the Treaty of Osnabruck, and they established two major precedents which would have a permanent effect on the way politics and balance of power would be structured in Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was fragmented in the treaties into smaller states controlled by the Germanic princes which had been under the umbrella of the Holy Roman Empire’s rule. More importantly, these rulers of smaller individual states would have the role of choosing which of the three religions recognized in the treaty--Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism--would be the official religion of their state. No outside power could interfere with this decision and it would only be applicable to the individual state of the specific ruler. This non-interference agreement in the Peace of Westphalia established the modern idea of state-sovereignty as it is known today: that states have sovereignty over almost all their domestic decisions and no external state has the right to interfere with those decisions and actions under international law.

Gerard ter Borch

National Gallery London via Wikimedia Commons

1648

Public Domain