[3] Article 24 stated: "In case our subjects, whether belonging Augsburg Confession, should intend leaving their homes with their wives and children to settle in another, they shall be hindered neither in the sale of their estates after due payment of the local taxes nor injured in their honor."

The Interim largely reflected principles of Catholic religious behavior in its 26 articles, although it allowed for marriage of the clergy, and the giving of both bread and wine to the laity.

The treaty, negotiated on Charles' behalf by his brother, Ferdinand, gave Lutheranism official status within the domains of the Holy Roman Empire, according to the policy of cuius regio, eius religio.

This agreement marked the end of the first wave of organized military action between Protestants and Catholics; however, these principles were factors during the wars of the 1545–1648 Counter-Reformation.

[6] Although "cuius regio" did not explicitly intend to allow the modern ideal of "freedom of conscience", individuals who could not subscribe to their ruler's religion were permitted to leave his territory with their possessions.

The following Peace of Westphalia prohibited rulers from force-converting their subjects,[7] overturning the Augsburg principle of ius reformandi, and determining the official religion of Imperial territories to the status of 1624 as a normative year.

One precursor was the Third Defenestration of Prague (1618) in which two representatives of the fiercely Catholic king of Bohemia, Archduke Ferdinand, were thrown out of a castle window.

This in itself came forth as a two-fold legal problem: first, Calvinism was considered a heresy; second, the elector did not resign his see, which made him eligible in theory to cast a ballot for emperor.

His brother Ferdinand ruled the Austrian lands, and Charles' fervently Catholic son, Philip II, became administrator of Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, parts of Italy, and other overseas holdings.