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The Cologne War (1583–88) devastated the Electorate of Cologne, a historical ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire, present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany. The war occurred within the context of the Protestant Reformation in Germany and the subsequent Counter-Reformation, and concurrently with the Dutch Revolt and the French Wars of Religion. The conflict tested the principle of ecclesiastical reservation, which had been included in the religious Peace of Augsburg (1555). This principle excluded, or "reserved", the ecclesiastical territories of the Holy Roman Empire from the application of cuius regio, eius religio, or "who rules, his religion", as the primary means to determine the religion of a territory. The conflict coincided with the Dutch Revolt, 1568–1648, encouraging participation of the rebellious Dutch provinces and the Spanish. The Cologne War caused the consolidation of Wittelsbach authority in northwestern German territories and a Catholic revival on the lower Rhine. Importantly, it also set a precedent for outside intervention in German religious and dynastic conflicts. (Full article...)
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