page_title: Brandenburg-Prussia
section_title: Religion and immigration
hierarchical_section_title: Brandenburg-Prussia / Religion and immigration
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Titelseite des Edikts von Potsdam, mit dem Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg den in Frankreich verfolgten Hugenotten Aufnahme in Brandenburg-Preußen gewährt. English: Title-page of the Edict of Potsdam
context_page_description: Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession upon the latter's extinction in the male line in 1618. Another consequence of the intermarriage was the incorporation of the lower Rhenish principalities of Cleves, Mark and Ravensberg after the Treaty of Xanten in 1614.
  The Thirty Years' War was especially devastating. The Elector changed sides three times, and as a result Protestant and Catholic armies swept the land back and forth, killing, burning, seizing men and taking the food supplies. Upwards of half the population was killed or dislocated. Berlin and the other major cities were in ruins, and recovery took decades. By the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648, Brandenburg gained Minden and Halberstadt, also the succession in Farther Pomerania and the Duchy of Magdeburg.
context_section_description: In 1613, John Sigismund converted from Lutheranism to Calvinism, but failed to achieve the conversion of the estates by the rule of cuius regio, eius religio. Thus, on 5 February 1615, he granted the Lutherans religious freedom, while the electors court remained largely Calvinist. When Frederick William I rebuilt Brandenburg-Prussia's war-torn economy, he attracted settlers from all Europe, especially by offering religious asylum, most prominently by the Edict of Potsdam which attracted more than 15,000 Huguenots.
caption: Edict of Potsdam
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