Reservatum ecclesiasticum

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Holy Roman Empire at the end of the Thirty Years War 1648 spiritual territories


The Reservatum ecclesiasticum ( Latin for the “spiritual reservation”) was a clause in the Augsburg Imperial and Religious Peace of 1555. The clause had the content that a Catholic, spiritual territorial lord, for example a prince , prince-bishop or archbishop , when changing denomination at the same time had to give up his secular rule and a new (Catholic) territorial ruler was to be appointed. In contrast, in the secular territories of the empire, according to the provisions of the Augsburg Religious Peace, the principle cuius regio, eius religio (the sovereign determines the denomination of his subjects), which has been known since 1612, applied .

The Reservatum ecclesiasticum stipulated from the outset that a not inconsiderable part of the territories of the Holy Roman Empire (see adjacent map) should remain Catholic forever. The Protestant imperial estates complained about this at an early stage, so that King Ferdinand I issued the so-called Declaratio Ferdinandea as part of the negotiations on the Augsburg Religious Peace in 1555 , according to which the rural Protestant knights and cities in spiritual territories should be allowed to practice the Lutheran denomination. However, the rural population was not granted this right. The validity of the Declaratio Ferdinandea remained controversial between Catholics and Protestants.

At least politically, the clause almost ensured a Catholic majority among the seven electors , since the Kingdom of Bohemia had been in Habsburg hands since 1526 and the three spiritual electors of Mainz , Trier and Cologne could not convert without losing their office.

In northern Germany in particular, the ecclesiasticum reserve was often not observed. For example, since 1566 the Archdiocese of Magdeburg was under the supervision of Protestant administrators and the territory became Protestant. The cathedral chapter of the Archdiocese of Bremen had been mainly Protestant since around 1560 and was also administered by Protestant administrators. Both ore pens were converted into secular territories in the Peace of Westphalia .

In 1583, the Archbishop of Cologne, Gebhard I, Truchsess von Waldburg , converted to the Protestant faith and also married. He proclaimed religious freedom and planned to convert the electorate into a secular duchy. The cathedral chapter resisted. The conflict was u. a. influenced by the Spanish-Dutch front position and developed through the participation of the auxiliary troops summoned from both sides to the Truchsessian War . As a result, Kurköln remained Catholic.

The reservation clause also played an important role in the Thirty Years' War , in which general political and religious-political motives were repeatedly combined on the opposing sides. In 1629 Emperor Ferdinand II tried with the edict of restitution to force the return of the former religious territories administered by Protestants and thus their re-Catholicization . Magdeburg's refusal led to the complete destruction of the city . In addition, King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden entered the war on the Protestant side.

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