the name given to a document which originated in the following circumstances:—After the defeat of the Elector of Saxony in 1547, by Charles V., the Protestants agreed to allow the religious controversy between themselves and the Papists to be decided by the Council of Trent. At this crisis the alarm of pestilence drove the Fathers from Trent to Bologna, and the emperor could not induce them to return. He accordingly entrusted Julius Pflug, bishop of Naumburg, and two others, with the task of drawing up a confession of faith for both the contending parties. This document consisted of 26 articles, embracing all the leading truths of the gospel; but in addition to these, it contained all the leading innovations of Popery, excepting celibacy and the exclusion of the laity from communion in both kinds. As it was intended that this should continue only in the meantime (interim), i.e., till the council should resemble at Trent, the formula came to be known as the Interim. It was objected to by the majority of the Protestants. It gave rise to the adiaphoristic and synergistic controversies. There were two interims besides this of Augsburg, viz., those of Leipzig and Franconia.