What was the outcome of the Peace of Augsburg?

The Peace of Augsburg, signed in 1555, was a significant agreement that officially recognized the division of Christianity within the Holy Roman Empire, leading to a legal framework for coexistence between Lutheran and Catholic territories. The principle of "cuius regio, eius religio," meaning "whose realm, his religion," allowed rulers to determine the official religion of their own states—either Catholicism or Lutheranism. This agreement effectively legitimized the existing religious divisions and served to reduce conflict between the two factions, although it did not fully resolve the underlying tensions or conflicts within Christendom.

The outcome did not lead to the unification of Catholic and Protestant regions, as it acknowledged their separation. It also did not conclude the Thirty Years' War, which was a later event, nor did it establish the Anglican faith, which emerged out of the English Reformation and was not related to the Peace of Augsburg. Therefore, the recognition of the religious fragmentation within the Holy Roman Empire as an outcome of the Peace of Augsburg is a crucial milestone in the history of the Reformation and European religious conflicts.