Introduction

  
 

The Westphalian Treaties from October 24th, 1648

Texts and Translations

  
  Two extensive peace treaties were signed in Muenster, Westphalia, on October 24th, 1648, thus putting an end to the Thirty Years’ War in Central Europe.
The Emperor’s peace treaty with Sweden, the so-called Instrumentum Pacis Osnabrugensis (IPO), is divided into seventeen points numbered with Roman numbers. It regulates the matters of dispute between the two contracting powers, as well as problems of the inner structure of the Holy Roman Empire. The central points of the treaty (Art. V and VII) concern the granting of religious rights in the Empire.
The Emperor’s peace treaty with France, the so-called Instrumentum Pacis Monasteriensis (IPM), contains 120 paragraphs according to the division of the text commonly accepted today. In many respects it refers back to the first treaty (the IPO) and declares its regulations mandatory. Furthermore, it provides answers to the questions pertaining directly to France. The provisions regulating the cession of the Lorrainian dioceses, of Alsace and of Sundgau to France are among the best known parts of the document (§§ 69-91 IPM).

Since the late 1950s the main concern of the „Vereinigung zur Erforschung der Neueren Geschichte e.V.“ has been the critical edition of the documents of the Westphalian Peace Treaty. For many years (until 2002) the initiator and promoter of this project was Professor Konrad Repgen of the University of Bonn, Germany. In 2003 Professor Maximilian Lanzinner succeeded him.
The scholarly publication is entitled Acta Pacis Westphalicae and it has become a project of the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Northrhine Westphalian Academy of Sciences) in Duesseldorf, Germany. The Aschendorff Verlag in Muenster is publishing it.

As part of this project the texts of the IPO and the IPM, as well as some translations, mostly older ones, will be made accessible online. Thus, one can trace the reception of the original Latin documents in several European vernacular languages. Only the comprehensibility and grammatical accuracy of the translation were reviewed, while a philological or factual critique of the translation was not intended.
Apart from the Latin document of 1648 there are further ten texts for the IPO:
  • four German translations from 1649, 1720, 1975 and 1984, as well as
  • an English translation from 1713,
  • two French translations from 1684 and 1754,
  • an Italian one from 1648,
  • a Spanish one from 1750, and
  • a Swedish one from 1649.
For the IPM the user can find here besides the document signed on October 24th, 1648 other eight texts:
  • four German translations from 1648, 1720, 1975, and 1984,
  • two French translations from 1651 and 1684, as well as
  • an English translation from 1710, and
  • a Spanish one from 1750.
The text of the documents signed on October 24th, 1648, as well as the translations, however without plenary powers and signatures, can:
a) be retrieved individually paragraph by paragraph. The complete texts are available as PDF documents.
b) The latin text of the treaty and two translations can be displayed synoptically on the screen. It is possible to print out individual paragraphs.
c) The documents can be accessed by Articles and Paragraphs and/or through the detailed Index.
d) Only the original Latin documents of October 24th, 1648 can be consulted through full text search.

2) All reprints of the two treaties’ and the translations published prior to 1998 are compiled in several lists.

3) Short registers, two indexes and a glossary point to the main items of the IPO and IPM.


Rita Bohlen, Birgit Karnbach, and Antje Oschmann are responsable for the collation of the texts.
As webmaster Martin Brockmann is in charge of the technical and visual aspects of this site.
Antje Oschmann bears responsability for the concept and the scholarly accuracy of the site.

When using this site please quote it as follows: 		 
 

Die Westfälischen Friedensverträge vom 24. Oktober 1648. Texte und Übersetzungen
(Acta Pacis Westphalicae. Supplementa electronica, 1).
(http://www.pax-westphalica.de/ [date of your use]).

 
  Please always respect the copyright of the Aschendorff Verlag/Münster and the „Vereinigung zur Erforschung der Neueren Geschichte e.V.“.