Schmalkaldic League

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Political situation during the Schmalkaldic War, 1547
Political situation during the Schmalkaldic War, 1547

The Schmalkaldic League (German: Schmalkaldischer Bund) was a defensive alliance of Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire in the mid-16th century. Its members also intended it to eventually replace the Holy Roman Empire as their source of political allegiance.[1] It receives its name from the town of Schmalkalden, in the German province of Thuringia.

The League was assembled by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, and John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony at Schmalkalden in 1531, pledging to defend each other should their territories be attacked by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. In December, 1535, the league admitted anyone who would subscribe to the Augsburg Confession, thus Anhalt, Württemberg, Pomerania, as well as the cities of Augsburg, Hanover, Frankfort, and Kempten joined the alliance.[2] In 1539 the League acquired Brandenburg, which was under the leadership of Joachim II Hector.[3] The League agreed to provide 10,000 troops and 2000 knights for their mutual protection.

In 1535 Francis I of France joined the League against the Habsburgs, and in 1538 it allied with Denmark. It rarely provoked Charles directly, but confiscated Church land, expelled bishops and Catholic princes, and helped spread Lutheranism throughout northern Germany.

After Charles V forced an end to wars against Francis I, he focused on surpressing protestant resistance within his empire. From 1546 to 1547 Charles and his allies fought the League over the territories of Ernestine Saxony and Albertine Saxony in what is known as the Schmalkaldic War. Although the League's military forces may have been superior, its leaders were incompetent and unable to agree on any definitive battle plans.[4] Charles routed the League's forces at the Battle of Mühlberg on April 24, 1547, capturing many of its leaders and forcing residents of thirty different cities to reconvert.[5] This battle effectively won the war for Charles; only two cities continued to resist. However, by this time Protestantism had established itself too firmly within Central Europe to be ended by brute force. In a bid to keep his empire together, Charles V was forced to compromise in the form of the Peace of Augsburg in 1555.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe, Volume One, p. 110.
  2. ^ Alfred, Ernest, et al. The Cambridge Modern History, p. 233.
  3. ^ Smith. The Age of the Reformation. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1920, p. 119.
  4. ^ Smith. The Age of the Reformation. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1920, p. 127.
  5. ^ Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe, Volume One, p. 110.

[edit] Sources

  • Alfred, Ernest, et al. The Cambridge Modern History. New York: The MacMillian Company, 1904.
  • Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe, Volume One: From the Renaissance to the Age of Napoleon (1st ed.). New York: W. W. Nortan & Company Inc., 1996. ISBN 039396888X.
  • Palmer, R.R. and Joel Colton. A History of the Modern World (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Companies, 1994. ISBN 0070408262.
  • Smith. The Age of the Reformation. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1920.
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