The Empire After Westphalia
The Holy Roman Empire in 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years' War, showing the patchwork of territories the peace had to accommodate.
The map is the reason Westphalia took five years to negotiate. Hundreds of territories, each with its own claims and confession, had to be settled in a single instrument while France, Sweden and the Emperor pursued incompatible aims. The result recognised the princes' right to determine religion and their near-sovereignty in practice, and the papacy's protest against it changed nothing. Read the full story in our article on Between Cross and Crescent: Papal Politics and Catholic-Protestant Diplomacy During the Thirty Years' War.
CC BY-SA 3.0 — source (Wikimedia Commons). Free to reuse under the stated licence.
