The Edict of Restitution was issued in 1629. Emperor Ferdinand II announced it on 6 March 1629 during the Thirty Years’ War, seeking to restore Catholic Church property that Protestants had acquired since the Peace of Passau in 1552.
The edict relied on a strict interpretation of the Religious Peace of Augsburg. It ordered Protestant rulers to return former Catholic bishoprics, monasteries, and other ecclesiastical lands. The measure threatened the political and economic position of many Lutheran territories and alarmed both Protestant princes and some Catholic rulers who feared excessive imperial power.
Ferdinand’s policy briefly appeared successful after the defeat of Danish forces and the strengthening of imperial authority. However, enforcing the edict proved difficult. Resistance from Protestant states, opposition among Catholic princes, and the intervention of Sweden under Gustavus Adolphus weakened the emperor’s position.
In 1635, the Peace of Prague suspended much of the edict’s practical impact for forty years. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ultimately settled the religious and territorial disputes created by the war. The dates 1630 and 1631 are associated with later turning points, not the edict’s issuance.