Histoire des guerres et des négociations qui précédèrent le Traité de Westphalie

6 volumes in-12, red morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt armorials in the center, spines with raised bands richly decorated, gilt fillet on the edges, inner gilt roll-tooled border and gilt edges. Armorial binding of the period.

165 x 96 mm.

Bougeant, Guillaume. History of the wars and negotiations that preceded the Treaty of Westphalia during the reign of Louis XIII & the ministries of Cardinal Richelieu & Cardinal Mazarin.
Paris, Didot, Nyon, 1751.

The Negotiations preceding the Treaty of Westphalia, dedicated "To Monseigneur Amelot, Minister and Secretary of State to King Louis XV," bound in contemporary red morocco with the arms of the Countess of Artois (1756-1805).

On October 24, 1648, the treaties negotiated in the previous weeks in Westphalia were published.

These treaties ended the interminable Thirty Years' War that had bled Germany dry. They resulted in the political fragmentation of the country. The two great victors of the conflict were Sweden, which became the main power in the Baltic Sea, and France, its ally, now unrivaled in Western Europe.

The conference assembled in Westphalia at the end of summer 1648 was unprecedented, if not revolutionary. Indeed, it was the first time that the major states of Europe sat around a negotiating table. And it was also the first time that relations between states were defined with respect for each other's sovereignty.

These treaties confirmed the weakening of the German emperor, holder of the Holy Roman Empire, which for two centuries had continuously been led by the prestigious Habsburg dynasty. The emperor now held only symbolic authority over a Germany fragmented into more than 350 principalities of varying size, all fiercely protective of their independence.

The German princes could enter into alliances on the sole condition that they were not directed against the emperor. All participated in the Diet of Frankfurt, and the emperor could no longer make any decisions without the consent of this assembly, effectively nullifying his authority over states other than his own.

Switzerland and the United Provinces were recognized as fully independent, outside of the empire.

The treaties also enshrined the religious division of Germany established a century earlier by the Diet of Augsburg. The princes could impose their own confession on their subjects.

The reorganization of Central Europe established by the Treaties of Westphalia would endure until the French Revolution, 150 years later.

It could be said that the beauties of Dresden, as well as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and even Goethe, are the fruits of the Treaties of Westphalia!