What has all this to do with the Peace of Westphalia?
The peace treaties contain provisions on the restitution of war booty such as archive materials and movable property (Art. 16,15 Instrumentum Pacis Osnabrugensis). As libraries were movable property, they therefore actually should have been restored and left back to their former owners.
This did hardly ever happen. Due to their very high social and cultural capital, looted books and libraries remained (despite all protests) with their new owners and part of new collections. The Codex Argenteus is still part of the holdings of Uppsala University Library. (5/5)
https://www.uu.se/en/library/visit-and-contact/exhibitions/codex-argenteus
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