(Latin: interim, meanwhile)
Three temporary settlements in matters of religion, entered into by Emperor Charles V of Germany with the Protestants. The "Interim of Ratisbon," July 29, 1541, postponed the adjustment of the religious question, begun in a previous conference, ordered the suspension of judicial proceedings in matters of religion, and enacted that the monasteries should remain intact and that ecclesiastics should retain their possessions. Owing to Protestant opposition to this recess, Charles V secretly made concessions to the reformers which practically nullified all these decrees. The "Interim of Augsburg," concluded June 30, 1548, comprised statements on doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline, explained in the sense of Catholic dogma, and granted two concessions to the Protestants, viz., marriage of the clergy and communion under both kinds. A modification of this settlement, known as the "Small Interim," later adopted at Leipzig as the "Great Interim," was drawn up at Altzella, November 1548, by Melanchthon and others, explaining justification and other doctrines in a Protestant sense.
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