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The Reformation

Religious War

Charles had other matters to attend to, first, however. Two years elapsed while he was in Italy, Algeria, Spain, and the Netherlands. The pope called another general council in 1545, this time at Trent. Again the Protestants refused to attend, and the Council of Trent went on to be the defining moment in the so-called Catholic Reformation.

With the other areas of his empire finally secure, Charles could finally concentrate on the Protestant powers. In February 1546, just before war broke out, Martin Luther died. But the forces he had unleashed had long passed beyond his control, and his death did not ease tensions.

The League of Schmalkalden raised 50,000 men and 7,000 cavalry. They had a common commander, but they were not united either physically or in spirit. Charles swept the forces of the League before him. He captured Memmingen, Biberach, Esslingen, Reutlingen, and Frankfurt in the first year. Augsburg and Strassburg, two key centers of reform, fell in 1547. On 24 April 1547, Charles won the Battle of Mühlberg, capturing Duke John Frederick of Saxony. Philip of Hesse surrendered on 20 June.

Charles' victory was so decisive that it looked as if the Protestants might be crushed. The prospect of a united Germany so alarmed the French that they entered the war, and in 1552 a French army invaded Germany. By 1554, the Protestants had regained much of the lost ground.

The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 settled the matter. It was an arrangement between Catholics and Lutherans only—Calvinists, Anabaptists and others were anathema to both sides. By the terms of the Peace, every principality in Germany would adhere to whatever faith was held by its prince; the phrase in Latin was cuius regio, cuius religio.

The Peace of Augsburg did not settle the religious conflict in Germany; rather, it was a declared truce. Both sides were exhausted and no one could see a way out, so everyone accepted matters as they stood.

The result was that religious conflict in Germany did not break out into general war for another sixty years. When it did, though, the resulting war was devastating.