Restitution Edict of 1629

Restitution Edict of 1629

 

an edict published by Ferdinand II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, on Mar. 6, 1629, at the close of what is called the Danish period of the Thirty Years’ War of 1618–48, which had been successful for the Hapsburg-Catholic bloc.

The edict proceeded from a policy of Catholic reaction. It provided for the return to the Catholic princes of the church lands that had undergone secularization after 1552 and that had passed into the possession of the Protestant princes. The subsequent course of the war led to the abrogation of the Restitution Edict within most of the empire. The edict was officially abolished by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.