The
Schmalkaldic War refers to the short period of violence from 1546 until 1547 between the forces of
Charles VCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556...
and the
Schmalkaldic LeagueThe Schmalkaldic League was a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. Although originally started for religious motives soon after the start of the Protestant Reformation, its members eventually intended for the League to replace the Holy...
within the domains of the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
.
The war began when
MauriceMaurice I, Elector of Saxony was a Duke and later Elector of Saxony...
, the Duke (and later, Elector) of Albertine
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
, invaded the lands of his rival and stepbrother in Ernestine
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
,
John FrederickJohn Frederick I, Elector of Saxony , called John the Magnanimous, was Elector of Saxony and Head of the Protestant Confederation of Germany , "Champion of the Reformation"....
, for political reasons (both rulers were Protestant). As John Frederick was co-founder of the Schmalkaldic League, his allies joined him in a fight against the
CatholicsCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole...
, including Charles V, who sided with Maurice.
John Frederick quickly liberated Ernestine Saxony with his army, located in nearby
WürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
at the time.
The
Schmalkaldic War refers to the short period of violence from 1546 until 1547 between the forces of
Charles VCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556...
and the
Schmalkaldic LeagueThe Schmalkaldic League was a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. Although originally started for religious motives soon after the start of the Protestant Reformation, its members eventually intended for the League to replace the Holy...
within the domains of the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
.
The war began when
MauriceMaurice I, Elector of Saxony was a Duke and later Elector of Saxony...
, the Duke (and later, Elector) of Albertine
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
, invaded the lands of his rival and stepbrother in Ernestine
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
,
John FrederickJohn Frederick I, Elector of Saxony , called John the Magnanimous, was Elector of Saxony and Head of the Protestant Confederation of Germany , "Champion of the Reformation"....
, for political reasons (both rulers were Protestant). As John Frederick was co-founder of the Schmalkaldic League, his allies joined him in a fight against the
CatholicsCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole...
, including Charles V, who sided with Maurice.
John Frederick quickly liberated Ernestine Saxony with his army, located in nearby
WürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
at the time. He then occupied Albertine Saxony and
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
. Because the Protestants of Bohemia did not provide military assistance, as he had hoped for, the imperial forces of Charles V forced him into retreat. Due to disagreement in strategy, the League's defenses were routed on 24 April 1547, at the
Battle of MühlbergThe Battle of Mühlberg was a large battle at Mühlberg in the Electorate of Saxony during the Protestant Reformation at which the Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire led by Emperor Charles V decisively defeated the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes under Elector John Frederick I of...
, where John Frederick was taken prisoner.
After the battle, which determined the result of the war, only two cities continued to resist:
BremenThe City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A port city along the river Weser, about south from its mouth on the North Sea, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area...
and
MagdeburgMagdeburg , the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, is situated at the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe. Emperor Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, lived during most of his reign in the town and was buried in the cathedral after his death...
. Both cities refused to pay the fines Charles imposed on them and avoided occupation by imperial troops. In the case of Bremen, 12,000 imperial soldiers under the command of
Eric II, Duke of CalenbergEric II of Brunswick-Lüneburg was duke in the Brunswick-Lüneburgian principality of Calenberg from 1545 to 1584. In 1575, he married to Dorothea of Lorraine . His wife was the daughter of Princess Christina of Denmark and Francis I, Duke of Lorraine...
unsuccessfully laid siege from January until May. This event led to the
Battle of DrakenburgThe Battle of Drakenburg took place on May 23, 1547 to the north of Nienburg, between the Protestant army of the Schmalkaldic League and the imperial troops of Eric II, Duke of Calenberg. It resulted in an imperial defeat. Eric was forced to swim over the Weser River to save his own life...
on 23 May 1547, as a Protestant army of the Schmalkaldic League was plundering the nearby Duchy of
CalenbergCalenberg was a dynastic division of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a separate entity from 1485 until 1705, when it was merged with Lüneburg-Celle to form the state of Hanover.-Dukes of Calenberg:...
. His men and supplies exhausted, Eric and his imperial forces went to confront the army and were quickly defeated. During the fighting, Eric was forced to swim over the
Weser RiverThe Weser is a river in north-western Germany. Formed at Hann. Münden by the of the Fulda and Werra, it flows through Lower Saxony, then reaching the historic port city of Bremen before emptying into the North Sea 50 km further north at Bremerhaven, which is also a seaport...
in order to save his own life. As a consequence of the Battle of Drakenburg, the imperial troops left northern
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
.
Although the imperial forces were victorious over the Protestant forces of the Schmalkaldic League, the ideas of
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
had spread over the empire such that they could not be suppressed with physical force. An official religious settlement arrived eight years later in the form of the
Peace of AugsburgThe Peace of Augsburg was a treaty between Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes, on September 25, 1555, at the imperial city of Augsburg, now in present-day Bavaria, Germany. It provided the first legal basis for the co-existence of Catholicism and...
.
External links
Schmalkaldischer Krieg at historicum.net
Source
- History of Hungary book-series (10 tome): History of Hungary 1526-1686, First book, Editor in chief: Pál Zsigmond Pach; Editor: Ágnes Várkonyi R. Akadémia Kiadó, Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
1985. ISBN 963 05 0929 6