Osnabrück
City in north-western Germany, one of the two seats of the peace congress appointed to open in July 1643. The treaty between the emperor and Sweden, dated here on 14/24 October 1648, contains the religious settlement of the Peace of Westphalia.
Osnabrück lies about fifty kilometres north-east of Münster. The treaty between the emperor and the queen of Sweden says that the congress of plenipotentiaries was appointed to meet there and at Münster from July 1643 (Treaty of Osnabrück preamble), and its closing clause is dated at Osnabrück on 14/24 October 1648 (Treaty of Osnabrück art. 17, closing clause). Its fifth and seventh articles settle the rights of the confessions in the Empire (Treaty of Osnabrück art. 5, 7). See the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia.
What happened here
- 1618 to 1648, firm dateThe Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia
A revolt of Bohemian Protestants in 1618 grows into a war that draws in all Germany and its neighbours. The treaties of Osnabrück and Münster in 1648 fix the rights of Catholics, Lutherans and Reformed in the Empire by the year 1624; the pope declares those articles void.
Primary sources
The Treaty of Osnabrück (Instrumentum Pacis Osnabrugensis)
- Treaty of Osnabrück preamblela.wikisource.org
- Treaty of Osnabrück art. 17, closing clausela.wikisource.org
- Treaty of Osnabrück art. 5, 7germanhistorydocs.org