Notwithstanding the defects of Louis's personal character his reign is
one of the most important in German history. The claim of the Papacy to
political supremacy received in his time its death-blow, and the popes
themselves sowed the seeds of the alienation from Rome which was
effected at the Reformation. With regard to the public peace Louis
persistently followed the lines laid down by Albert I. He encouraged the
princes to form alliances for its maintenance, and at the time of his
death such alliances existed in all parts of the country. To the cities
he usually showed himself a faithful friend. In many of them there had
been for more than a century a struggle between the old patrician
families and the democratic gilds. Louis could not always follow his own
impulses, but whenever he could he associated himself with the latter
party. Thus in his day the government of the imperial cities became more
democratic and industry and trade flourished as they had never before
done. The steady dislike of the princes was the best proof of the
importance of the cities. They contained elements capable of enormous
development; and had a great king arisen he might even yet, by their
means, have secured for Germany a truly national life.
Charles IV. becomes king.
In January 1349 the friends of the late emperor elected Gunther, count
of Schwarzburg, as their king, but before this occurrence Charles of
Moravia, by a liberal use of gifts and promises, had won over many of
his enemies, prominent among whom were the cities. In a few months
Gunther himself abandoned the struggle, dying shortly afterwards, and
about the same time his victorious rival was recognized by Louis of
Brandenburg, the head of the Wittelsbach family. As king of Bohemia
Charles was an enlightened and capable ruler, but he was indifferent
towards Germany, although this country never stood in more urgent need
of a strong and beneficent sovereign. In the early years of the reign
the people, especially in the south and west, attacked and plundered the
Jews; and the consequent disorder was greatly increased by the ravages
of the Black Death and by the practices and preaching of the
Flagellants, both events serving to spur the maddened populace to
renewed outrages on the Jews. In dealing with this outburst of
fanaticism many of the princes, both spiritual and secular, displayed
vigour and humanity, but Charles saw only in the sufferings of this
people an excuse for robbing them of their wealth.
The Golden Bull.
Charles's most famous achievement was the issue of the Golden Bull
(q.v.). Although the principle of election had long been admitted and
practised with regard to the German crown, yet it was surrounded by many
practical difficulties. For instance, if the territory belonging to an
electoral family were divided, as was often the case, it had never been
settled whether all the ruling princes were to vote, or, if one only
were entitled to this privilege, by what principle the choice was to be
made. Over these and other similar points many disputes had arisen, and,
having been crowned emperor at Rome in April 1355, Charles decided to
set these doubts at rest. The Golden Bull, promulgated in January 1356
and again after some tedious negotiations in December of the same year,
fixed the number of electors at seven, Saxe-Wittenberg and not
Saxe-Lauenburg obtaining the Saxon vote, and the vote of the
Wittelsbachs being given to the ruler of the Rhenish Palatinate and not
to the duke of Bavaria. The votes of a majority of the electors were
held to make an election valid. In order that there might be no
possibility of dispute between the princes of a single house, the
countries ruled by the four secular electors--Bohemia, the Rhenish
Palatinate, Saxony and Brandenburg--were declared to be indivisible and
to be heritable only by the accepted rules of primogeniture. The
electors were granted full sovereign rights over their lands, and their
subjects were allowed to appeal to the royal or the imperial tribunals
only in case they could not obtain justice elsewhere. A blow was struck
at the cities, which were forbidden to form leagues or to receive
_Pfahlburger_.
Fehmic Courts.
If the Golden Bull be excepted, the true interest of this reign is in
the movements beyond the range of the emperor's influence. It is
significant that at this time the _Femgerichte_, or Fehmic Courts
(q.v.), vastly extended the sphere of their activities, and that in the
absence of a strong central authority they were respected as a check
upon the lawlessness of the princes. The cities, notwithstanding every
kind of discouragement, formed new associations for mutual defence or
strengthened those which already existed. The Hanseatic League carried
on war with Valdemar V., king of Denmark, and his ally, the king of
Norway, seventy-seven towns declaring war on these monarchs in 1367, and
emerged victorious from the struggle, while its commerce extended to
nearly all parts of the known world. In 1376 some Swabian towns formed a
league which, in spite of the imperial prohibition, soon became powerful
in south-west Germany and defeated the forces of the count of
Wurttemberg at Reutlingen in May 1377. The emperor, meanwhile, was
occupied in numerous intrigues to strengthen his personal position and
to increase the power of his house. In these he was very fortunate,
managing far more than his predecessors to avoid conflicts with the
Papacy and the princes. The result was that when he died in November
1378 he wore the crowns of the Empire, of Germany, of Bohemia, of
Lombardy and of Burgundy; he had added Lower Lusatia and parts of
Silesia to Bohemia; he had secured the mark of Brandenburg for his son
Wenceslaus in 1373; and he had bought part of the Upper Palatinate and
territories in all parts of Germany.
Wenceslaus.
After the death of Charles, his son Wenceslaus, who had been crowned
German king in July 1376, was recognized by the princes as their ruler,
but the new sovereign was careless and indolent and in a few years he
left Germany to look after itself. During his reign the struggle between
the princes and the cities reached its climax. Following the example set
by the electors at Rense both parties formed associations for
protection, prominent among these being the Swabian League on the one
side and the League of the Lion (_Lowenbund_)[1] on the other. The
result was that the central authority was almost entirely disregarded.
Wenceslaus favoured first one of the antagonists and then the other, but
although he showed some desire to put an end to the increasing amount of
disorder he was unable, or unwilling, to take a strong and definite line
of action. The cities entered upon the approaching contest at a
considerable disadvantage. Often they were separated one from the other
by large stretches of territory under the rule of a hostile prince and
their trade was peculiarly liable to attack by an adventurous body of
knights. The citizens, who were called upon to fight their battles, were
usually unable to contend successfully with men whose whole lives had
been passed in warfare; the isolation of the cities was not favourable
to the creation or mobilization of an active and homogeneous force; and,
moreover, at this time many of them were disturbed by internal troubles.
However, they minimized this handicap by joining league to league; in
1381 the Swabian and the Rhenish cities formed an alliance for three
years, while the Swabian League obtained promises of help from the
Swiss.
General disorder in Germany.
The Swiss opened the fight. Attacked by the Habsburgs they defeated and
killed Duke Leopold of Austria at Sempach in July 1386 and gained
another victory at Nafels two years later; but their allies, the Swabian
cities, were not equally prompt or equally fortunate. The decisive year
was 1388, when the strife became general all over south-west Germany. In
August 1388 the princes, under Count Eberhard of Wurttemberg, completely
defeated their foes at Doffingen, while in the following November Rupert
II., elector palatine of the Rhine, was equally successful in his attack
on the forces of the Rhenish cities near Worms. Exhaustion soon
compelled the combatants to come to terms, and greatly to the
disadvantage of the cities peace was made in 1389. The main result of
this struggle was everywhere to strengthen the power of the princes and
to incite them to fresh acts of aggression. During the same time the
Hanse towns were passing through a period of difficulty. They were
disturbed by democratic movements in many of the cities and they were
threatened by the changing politics of the three northern kingdoms,
Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and by their union in 1397; their trading
successes had raised up powerful enemies and had embroiled them with
England and with Flanders, and the Teutonic Order and neighbouring
princes were not slow to take advantage of their other difficulties.
Rupert chosen king.
Towards the close of the century the discontent felt at the incompetent
and absent German king took a decided form. The movement was led by the
four Rhenish electors, and after some preliminary proceedings these
princes met in August 1400; having declared Wenceslaus dethroned they
chose one of their number, the elector palatine Rupert III., in his
stead, and the deposed monarch accepted the sentence almost without
demur. Rupert was an excellent elector, and under more favourable
circumstances would have made a good king, but so serious were the
jealousies and divisions in the kingdom that he found little scope for
his energies outside the Palatinate. In spite of the peace of 1389 the
cities had again begun to form leagues for peace; but, having secured a
certain amount of recognition in the south and west of Germany, the new
king turned aside from the pressing problems of government and in 1401
made a futile attempt to reach Rome, an enterprise which covered him
with ridicule. After his return to Germany he had to face the hostility
of many of the princes, and this contest, together with vain attempts to
restore order, occupied him until his death in May 1410.
Sigismund is chosen king.
After Rupert's death two cousins, Jobst, margrave of Moravia, and
Sigismund, king of Hungary, were in the autumn of 1410 both chosen to
fill the vacant throne by opposing parties; and the position was further
complicated by the fact that the deposed king, Wenceslaus, was still
alive. Jobst, however, died in January 1411, and in the succeeding July
Sigismund, having come to terms with Wenceslaus, was again elected king
and was generally recognized. The commanding questions of this reign
were ecclesiastical. It was the age of the great schism, three popes
claiming the allegiance of Christendom, and of the councils of Constance
and of Basel; in all ranks of the Church there was an urgent cry for
reform. Unfortunately the council of Constance, which met mainly through
the efforts of Sigismund in 1414, marred its labours by the judicial
murders of John Huss and of Jerome of Prague. This act greatly incensed
the Bohemians, who broke into revolt in 1419, and a new and fiercer
outburst occurred in 1420 when Sigismund, who had succeeded his brother
Wenceslaus as king of Bohemia in the preceding August, announced his
intention of crushing the Hussites. Led by their famous general, John
Zizka, the Bohemians won several battles and spread havoc and terror
through the neighbouring German lands. During the progress of this
revolt Germany was so divided and her king was so poor that it was
impossible to collect an army of sufficient strength to crush the
malcontents. At the diet of Nuremberg in 1422 and at that of Frankfort
in 1427 Sigismund endeavoured to raise men and money by means of
contributions from the estates, but the plan failed owing to mutual
jealousies and especially to the resistance of the cities. He secured
some help from Frederick of Brandenburg, from Albert of Austria,
afterwards the German king Albert II., and from Frederick of Meissen, to
whom he granted the electoral duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg; but it was only
when the Hussites were split into two factions, and when Zizka was dead,
that Germany was in any way relieved from a crushing and intolerable
burden.
Brandenburg and the Hohenzollerns.
The continual poverty which hindered the successful prosecution of the
war against the Hussites, and which at times placed Sigismund in the
undignified position of having to force himself as an unwelcome guest
upon princes and cities, had, however, one good result. In 1415 he
granted, or rather sold, the mark of Brandenburg to his friend Frederick
of Hohenzollern, burgrave of Nuremberg, this land thus passing into the
hands of the family under whom it was destined to develop into the
kingdom of Prussia. During this reign the princes, especially the
electors, continued their endeavours to gain a greater share in the
government of Germany, and to some extent they succeeded. Sigismund, on
his part, tried to enforce peace upon the country by forming leagues of
the cities, but to no purpose; in fact all his plans for reform came to
nothing.
Albert II.
Sigismund, who died in December 1437, was succeeded on the German throne
and also in Hungary and Bohemia by his son-in-law Albert of Austria, and
from this time, although remaining in theory elective, the German crown
was always conferred upon a member of the house of Habsburg until the
extinction of the male line of this family in 1740. The reign of Albert
II. was too short to enable him to do more than indicate his good
intentions; he acted in general with the electors in observing a neutral
attitude with regard to the dispute between the council of Basel and
Pope Eugenius IV., and he put forward a scheme to improve the
administration of justice. He died in October 1439, and was succeeded by
his kinsman Frederick, duke of Styria, who became German king as
Frederick IV. and, after his coronation at Rome in 1452, emperor as
Frederick III.
Frederick III. and the Papacy.
The first concern of the new king was with the papal schism. The council
of Basel was still sitting, and had elected an anti-pope, Felix V., in
opposition to Eugenius IV., while the electors, adhering to their
neutral attitude, sought to bring Frederick into line with them on this
question. Some years were occupied in negotiations, but the king soon
showed himself anxious to come to terms with Eugenius, and about 1446
the electors ceased to act together. At length peace was made. The
consent of several of the electors having been purchased by concessions,
Frederick signed with Pope Nicholas V., the successor of Eugenius, in
February 1448 the concordat of Vienna, an arrangement which bound the
German Church afresh to Rome and perpetuated the very evils from which
earnest churchmen had been seeking deliverance. Thus Germany lost the
opportunity of reforming the Church from within, and the upheaval of the
16th century was rendered inevitable.
Germany under Frederick.
Frederick's reign is one of great importance in the history of Austria
and of the house of Habsburg, but under him the fortunes of Germany sank
to the lowest possible point. Without any interference from the central
authority wars were waged in every part of the country, and disputes of
every kind were referred to the decision of the sword. The old enmity
between the cities and the princes blazed out afresh; grievances of
every kind were brought forward and many struggles were the result.
Perhaps the most famous of these was one between a confederation of
Franconian and Swabian cities under the leadership of Nuremberg on the
one side, and Albert Achilles, afterwards elector of Brandenburg, and a
number of princes on the other. The war was carried on with great
barbarity for about four years (1449-1453), and was in every respect a
critical one. If the cities had gained the day they might still have
aimed at balancing the power of the princes, but owing partly to their
imperfect union, partly to the necessity of fighting with hired troops,
they did not gain any serious advantage. On the whole, indeed, in spite
of temporary successes, they decidedly lost ground, and on the
conclusion of peace there was no doubt that the balance of power in the
state inclined to the princes. Frederick meanwhile was involved in wars
with the Swiss, with his brother Albert and his Austrian subjects, and
later with the Hungarians. He had no influence in Italy; in Burgundy he
could neither stop Duke Philip the Good from adding Luxemburg to his
possessions, nor check the towering ambition of Charles the Bold; while
after the death of Charles in 1477 he was equally unable to prevent the
king of France from seizing a large part of his lands. Torn by
dissensions the Teutonic Order was unsuccessful in checking the
encroachments of the Poles, and in 1466 the land which it had won in the
north-east of Germany passed under the suzerainty of Poland, care being
taken to root out all traces of German influence therein. Another loss
took place in 1460, when Schleswig and Holstein were united with
Denmark. In Germany itself the king made scarcely any pretence of
exercising the supreme authority; for nearly thirty years he never
attended the imperial diet, and the suggestions which were made for his
deposition failed only because the electors could not agree upon a
successor. In his later years he became more of a recluse than ever, and
even before February 1486, when his son Maximilian was chosen German
king, he had practically ceased to take any part in the business of the
Empire, although he survived until August 1493.
The power of the princes.
During the reign of Frederick the electors and the greater princes
continued the process of consolidating and increasing their power. Lands
under their rule, which were technically imperial fiefs, were divided
and devised by them at will like other forms of private property; they
had nearly all the rights of a sovereign with regard to levying tolls,
coining money, administering justice and granting privileges to towns;
they were assisted in the work of government by a privy council, while
their courts with their numerous officials began to resemble that of the
king or emperor. They did not, however, have everything their own way.
During this century their power was limited by the formation of diets in
many of the principalities. These bodies were composed of the mediate
prelates, the mediate nobles and representatives of the mediate cities.
They were not summoned because the princes desired their aid, but
because arms could only be obtained from the nobles and money from the
cities, at least on an adequate scale. Once having been formed these
local diets soon extended their functions. They claimed the right of
sanctioning taxation; they made their voice heard about the expenditure
of public money; they insisted, although perhaps not very effectually,
on justice being administered. Such institutions as these were clearly
of the highest importance, and for two centuries they did something to
atone for the lack of a genuine monarchy.
Methods of warfare.
During this reign the conditions of warfare began to change. The
discovery of gunpowder made small bodies of men, adequately armed, more
than a match for great forces equipped in medieval fashion. Hence the
custom of hiring mercenary troops was introduced, and a prince could
never be certain, however numerous his vassals might be, that the
advantage would not rest with his opponent. This fact, added to the
influence of the local diets, made even the princes weary of war, and a
universal and continuous demand arose for some reform of the machinery
of government. Partly at the instance of the emperor a great Swabian
confederation was formed in 1488. This consisted of both princes and
cities and was intended to enforce the public peace in the south-western
parts of Germany. Its effects were excellent; but obviously no partial
remedy was sufficient. It was essential that there should be some great
reform which would affect every part of the kingdom, and for the present
this was not to be secured.
Maximilian I.
Maximilian came to the throne in 1486 with exceptional advantages. He
was heir to the extensive Austrian lands, and as the widowed husband of
Charles the Bold's daughter Mary he administered the Netherlands.
Although he soon gave up these provinces to his son Philip, the fact
that they were in the possession of his family added to his influence,
and this was further increased when Philip married Joanna, the heiress
of the Spanish kingdoms. From Maximilian's accession the Empire
exercised in the affairs of Europe an authority which had not belonged
to it for centuries. The reason for this was not that the Empire was
stronger, but that its crown was worn by a succession of princes who
were great sovereigns in their own right.
Reforms in Germany. 1495.
Having in 1490 driven the Hungarians from Vienna and recovered his
hereditary lands, and having ordered the affairs of the Netherlands,
Maximilian turned his attention to Italy, whither he was drawn owing to
the invasion of that country by Charles VIII. of France in 1494. But
before he could take any steps to check the progress of Charles
pecuniary necessities compelled him to meet the diet. At this time the
German, or imperial, diet consisted of three colleges, one of the
electors, another of the princes, both spiritual and secular, and a
third of representatives of the free cities, who had, however, only just
gained the right to sit beside the other two estates. The diet was an
extremely clumsy instrument of government, and it was perhaps never more
discredited or more impotent than when it met Maximilian at Worms in
March 1495. But in spite of repeated rebuffs the party of reform was
valorous and undaunted; its members knew that their case was
overwhelmingly strong. Although disappointed in the hope which they had
nourished until about 1490 that Maximilian himself would lead them, they
had found a capable head in Bertold, elector of Mainz. The king lost no
time in acquainting the diet with his demands. He wished for men and
money to encounter the French in Italy and to resist the Turks. Bertold
retorted that redress of grievances must precede supply, and Maximilian
and the princes were soon discussing the proposals put forward by the
sagacious elector. His first suggestion that a council nominated by the
estates should be set up with the power of vetoing the acts of the king
was abandoned because of the strenuous opposition of Maximilian; but
Bertold was successful in getting the diet to proclaim an eternal
_Landfriede_, that is, to forbid private war without any limitation of
time, and it was agreed that the diet should meet annually to advise the
king on matters of moment. The idea of a council, however, was not given
up although it took a different form. An imperial court of justice, the
_Reichskammergericht_, was established; this consisted of sixteen
members nominated by the estates and a president appointed by the king.
Its duties were to judge between princes of the Empire and to act as the
supreme court of appeal in cases where humbler persons were concerned.
Partly to provide for the expenses of this court, partly to furnish
Maximilian with the promised monetary aid, a tax called the common penny
was instituted, this impost taking the form both of a property tax and
of a poll tax. Such in outline were the reforms effected by the
important diet of Worms.
Difficulties and further reforms.
The practical difficulties of the reformers, however, were only just
beginning. Although Maximilian took some interest in the collection of
the common penny it was difficult, and from some classes impossible, to
obtain payment of this tax, and the king was persistently hostile to the
imperial court of justice, his hostility and the want of money being
indeed successful in preventing that institution for a time from doing
any real service to Germany. In 1497 he set up a new Aulic council or
_Hofrat_, the members of which were chosen by himself, and to this body
he gave authority to deal with all the business of the Empire. Thus he
undermined the foundations of the _Reichskammergericht_ and stole a
march upon Bertold and his friends. A series of diets between 1495 and
1499 produced only mutual recriminations, and then Maximilian met with a
serious rebuff. The Swiss refused to pay the common penny and to submit
to the jurisdiction of the imperial court of justice. Consequently, in
1499, Maximilian sent such troops as he could collect against them, but
his forces were beaten, and by the peace of Basel he was forced to
concede all the demands made by the Swiss, who became virtually
independent of the Empire. Heartened by this circumstance Bertold and
his followers returned to the attack when the diet met at Augsburg in
1500. The common penny as a means of taxation fell into the background,
and in its place a scheme was accepted which it was thought would
provide the king with an army of about 30,000 men. But more important
perhaps was the administrative council, or _Reichsregiment_, which was
established by the diet at this time. A revival of the idea put forward
by the elector of Mainz at Worms in 1495, this council was to consist of
twenty members appointed by the electors and other princes and by
representatives of the cities, with a president named by the king. Its
work was practically that of governing Germany, and it was the most
considerable encroachment which had yet been made on the power of the
king. It is not surprising therefore that Maximilian hated the new body,
to the establishment of which he had only consented under great
pressure.
Maximilian hampers the reformers.
In 1500 the _Reichsregiment_ met at Nuremberg and began at once to treat
for peace with France. Maximilian was not slow to resent this
interference; he refused to appoint a president, and soon succeeded in
making the meetings of the council impossible. The relations between the
king and the princes were now very strained. Bertold called the electors
together to decide upon a plan of campaign; Maximilian on his part tried
to destroy the electoral union by winning over individual members. The
result was that when the elector of Mainz died in 1504 the king's victory
was complete. The _Reichskammergericht_ and the _Reichsregiment_ were for
all practical purposes destroyed, and greater authority had been given to
the _Hofrat_. Henceforward it was the king who put forward schemes of
reform and the diet which modified or rejected them. When the diet met at
Cologne in 1505 Maximilian asked for an army and the request was granted,
the necessary funds being raised by the old plan of a levy on the
estates. At Constance, two years later, the diet raised men and money in
a similar fashion, and on this occasion the imperial court of justice was
restored, with some slight alteration in the method of appointing its
members. After Maximilian had taken the novel step of assuming the title
of Roman emperor at Trent in 1508 the last of the reforming diets met at
Cologne in 1512. In 1500 Germany had been divided into six circles
(_Kreise_) or districts, for the purpose of sending representatives to
the _Reichsregiment_. These circles were now increased in number to ten
and an official (_Hauptmann_) was placed over each, his duties being to
enforce the decisions of the _Reichskammergericht_. But it was some time
before the circles came into working order; the only permanent reform of
the reign was the establishment of the imperial court of justice, and
even this was not entirely satisfactory, Maximilian's remaining diets
loudly denouncing it for delay and incompetence. The period marked by the
attempted reform of Bertold of Mainz was that of the last struggle
between the supporters of a united Germany and those who preferred a
loose confederation of states. Victory remained with the latter party.
Maximilian himself had done a great deal to promote the unity of his
Austrian lands and, incidentally, to cut them off from the remainder of
the German kingdom, and other princes were following his example. This
movement spelled danger to the small principalities and to the free
cities, but it gave a powerful impetus to the growth of Brandenburg, of
Saxony, of Bavaria and of the Palatinate, and the future of the country
seemed likely to remain with the particularist and not with the national
idea.
Maximilian's wars in Italy.
During the period of these constitutional struggles the king's chief
energies were spent in warring against the French kings Charles VIII.
and Louis XII. in Italy, where he hoped to restore the claims, dormant,
perhaps even extinct, of the German kings. In 1508 he helped to promote
the league of Cambrai, formed to despoil Venice, but he soon returned to
his former policy of waging war against France, and he continued to do
this until peace was made in 1516. The princes of Germany showed
themselves singularly indifferent to this struggle, and their king's
battles were largely fought with mercenary troops. Maximilian gained his
most conspicuous success in his own kingdom in 1504, when he interfered
in a struggle over the succession to the duchy of Bavaria-Landshut. He
gained some additions of territory, but his victory was more important
because it gave him the prestige which enabled him to break down the
opposition of the princes and to get his own way with regard to his
domestic policy.
Decay of feudal relations.
In many respects the reign of Maximilian must be regarded as the end of
the middle ages. The feudal relation between the king and the princes
and between the princes and their vassals had become purely nominal. No
real control was exerted by the crown over the heads of the various
states, and, now that war was carried on mainly by mercenary troops, the
mediate nobles did not hold their lands on condition of military
service. The princes were sovereigns, not merely feudal lords; and by
the institution of local diets in their territories an approach was made
to modern conceptions of government. The age of war was far indeed from
being over, but men were at least beginning to see that unnecessary
bloodshed is an evil, and that the true outlet for the mass of human
energies is not conflict but industry. By the growth of the cities in
social, if not in political, importance the products of labour were more
and more widely diffused; and it was easier than at any previous time
for the nation to be moved by common ideas and impulses. The discovery
of America, the invention of printing, the revival of learning and many
other causes had contributed to effect a radical change in the point of
view from which the world was regarded; and the strongest of all
medieval relations, that of the nation to the Church, was about to pass
through the fiery trial of the Reformation. This vast movement, which
began in the later years of Maximilian, definitely severed the medieval
from the modern world.
The Reformation.
The seeds of the Reformation were laid during the time of the great
conflict between the Papacy and the Empire. The arrogance and the
ambition of the popes then stamped upon the minds of the people an
impression that was never effaced. During the struggle of Louis IV. with
the popes of his day the feeling revived with fresh intensity; all
classes, clerical as well as lay, looked upon resistance to papal
pretensions as a necessity imposed by the national honour. At the same
time the spiritual teaching of the mystics awakened in many minds an
aspiration which the Church, in its corrupt state, could not satisfy,
and which was in any case unfavourable to an external authority. The
Hussite movement further weakened the spell of the Church. Still more
powerful, because touching other elements of human nature and affecting
a more important class, was the influence of the Renaissance, which,
towards the end of the 15th century, passed from Italy to the
universities of Germany. The men of the new learning did not sever
themselves from Christianity, but they became indifferent to it; its
conceptions seemed to them dim and faded, while there was a constantly
increasing charm in literature, in philosophy and in art. No kind of
effort was made by the Church to prepare for the storm. The spiritual
princes, besides displaying all the faults of the secular princes, had
special defects of their own; and as simony was universally practised,
the lives of multitudes of the inferior clergy were a public scandal,
while their services were cold and unimpressive. The moral sense was
outraged by such a pope as Alexander VI.; and neither the military
ambition of Julius II. nor the refined paganism of Leo X. could revive
the decaying faith in the spirituality of their office. Pope Leo, by his
incessant demands for money and his unscrupulous methods of obtaining
it, awakened bitter hostility in every class of the community.
Luther.
The popular feeling for the first time found expression when Luther, on
All Saints' day 1517, nailed to a church door in Wittenberg the theses
in which he contested the doctrine which lay at the root of the
scandalous traffic in indulgences carried on in the pope's name by
Tetzel and his like. This episode, derided at first at Rome as the act
of an obscure Augustinian friar intent on scoring a point in a
scholastic disputation, was in reality an event of vast significance,
for it brought to the front, as the exponent of the national sentiment,
one of the mightiest spirits whom Germany has produced. Under the
influence of Luther's strong personality the most active and progressive
elements of the nation were soon in more or less open antagonism to the
Papacy.
Charles V. and Luther.
When Maximilian died in January 1519 his throne was competed for by his
grandson Charles, king of Spain, and by Francis I. of France, and after
a long and costly contest the former was chosen in the following June.
By the time Charles reached Germany and was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle
(October 1520) Luther had confronted the cardinal legate Cajetan, had
passed through his famous controversy at Leipzig with Johann Eck, and
was about to burn the bull of excommunication. After this daring step
retreat was impossible, and with keen excitement both the reformer's
followers and his enemies waited for the new sovereign to declare
himself on one side or on the other. Charles soon made up his mind about
the general lines of his policy, although he was completely ignorant of
the strength of the feeling which had been aroused. He fancied that he
had to deal with a mere monkish quarrel; at one time he even imagined
that a little money would set the difficulty at rest. It was not likely,
however, in any case that he would turn against the Roman Church, and
that for various reasons. He was by far the most important ruler of the
time, and the peoples under his direct sway were still adherents of the
old faith. He was king of Spain, of Sicily, of Naples and of Sardinia;
he was lord of the Netherlands, of the free county of Burgundy and of
the Austrian archduchies; he had at his command the immense resources of
the New World; and he had been chosen king of Germany, thus gaining a
title to the imperial crown. Following the example set by Maximilian he
called himself emperor without waiting for the formality of a coronation
at Rome. Now the protection of the Church had always been regarded as
one of the chief functions of the emperors; Charles could not,
therefore, desert it when it was so greatly in need of his services.
Like his predecessors he reserved to himself the right to resist it in
the realm of politics; in the realm of faith he considered that he owed
to it his entire allegiance. Moreover, he intended to undertake the
subjugation of northern Italy, a task which had baffled his imperial
grandfather, and in order to realize this scheme it was of the highest
importance that he should do nothing to offend the pope. Thus it came
about that at the diet of Worms, which met in January 1521, without any
thorough examination of Luther's position, Charles issued the famous
edict, drawn up by Cardinal Aleandro, which denounced the reformer and
his followers. This was accepted by the diet and Luther was placed under
the imperial ban.
Charles and the movement for reform.
When Charles was chosen German king he was obliged to make certain
promises to the electors. Embodied in a _Wahlkapitulation_, as it was
called, these were practically the conditions on which the new sovereign
was allowed to take the crown, and the precedent was followed at
subsequent elections. At the diet of Worms steps were taken to carry
these promises into effect. By his _Wahlkapitulation_ Charles had
promised to respect the freedom of Germany, for the princes looked upon
him as a foreigner. He was neither to introduce foreign troops into the
country, nor to allow a foreigner to command German soldiers; he must
use the German language and every diet must meet on German soil. An
administrative council, a new _Reichsregiment_, must be established, and
other reforms were to be set on foot. The constitution and powers of
this _Reichsregiment_ were the chief subject of difference between
Charles and the princes at the diet. Eventually it was decided that this
council should consist of twenty-two members with a president named by
the emperor; but it was only to govern Germany during the absence of the
sovereign, at other times its functions were merely advisory. The
imperial chamber was restored on the lines laid down by Bertold of Mainz
in 1495 (it survived until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806), and
the estates undertook to aid the emperor by raising and paying an army.
In April 1521 Charles invested his brother Ferdinand, afterwards the
emperor Ferdinand I., with the Austrian archduchies, and soon afterwards
he left Germany to renew his long struggle with Francis I. of France.
Sickingen's rising.
While the emperor was thus absent great disturbances took place in
Germany. Among Luther's friends was one, Ulrich von Hutten, at once
penetrated with the spirit of the Renaissance and emphatically a man of
action. The class to which Hutten and his friend, Franz von Sickingen, a
daring and ambitious Rhenish baron, belonged, was that of the small
feudal tenants in chief, the _Ritterschaft_ or knights of the Empire.
This class was subject only to the emperor, but its members lacked the
territorial possessions which gave power to the princes; they were
partly deprived of their employment owing to the suppression of private
wars, and they had suffered through the substitution of Roman law for
the ancient feudal laws and customs. They had no place in the
constitution or in the government of Germany, and they had already
paralysed the administration by refusing to pay the taxes. They were
intensely jealous of the princes, and it occurred to Hutten and
Sickingen that the Reformation might be used to improve the condition of
the knights and to effect a total change in the constitution of the
Empire. No general reform, they maintained, either in church or state,
could be secured while the country was divided into a number of
principalities, and their plan was to combine with all those who were
discontented with the existing order to attack the princes and to place
the emperor at the head of a united nation. Sickingen, who has been
compared to Wallenstein, and who doubtless hoped to secure a great
position for himself, had already collected a large army, which by its
very presence had contributed somewhat to the election of Charles at
Frankfort in 1519. He had also earned renown by carrying on feuds with
the citizens of Worms and of Metz, and now, with a view to realizing his
larger ambitions, he opened the campaign (August 1522) by attacking the
elector of Trier, who, as a spiritual prince, would not, it was hoped,
receive any help from the religious reformers. For a moment it seemed as
if Hutten's dream would be realized, but it was soon evident that it was
too late to make so great a change. Luther and other persons of
influence stood aloof from the movement; on the other hand, several
princes, including Philip, landgrave of Hesse, united their forces
against the knights, and in May 1523 Sickingen was defeated and slain. A
few weeks later Hutten died on an island in the lake of Zurich.
The causes of the Peasants' War.
This war was followed by another of a much more serious nature. The
German peasants had grievances compared with which those of the knights
and lesser barons were imaginary. For about a century several causes had
tended to make their condition worse and worse. While taxes and other
burdens were increasing the power of the king to protect them was
decreasing; with or without the forms of law they were plundered by
every other class in the community; their traditional privileges were
withdrawn and, as in the case of the knights, their position had
suffered owing to the introduction of Roman law into Germany. In the
west and south-west of the country especially, opportunities of
migration and of expansion had been gradually reduced, and to provide
for their increasing numbers they were compelled to divide their
holdings again and again until these patches of land became too small
for the support of a household. Thus, solely under the influence of
social and economic conditions, various risings of the peasants had
taken place during the latter part of the 15th century, the first one
being in 1461, and at times the insurgents had combined their forces
with those of the lower classes in the towns, men whose condition was
hardly more satisfactory than their own. In the last decade of the 15th
and the first decade of the 16th century there were several
insurrections in the south-west of Germany, each of which was called a
_Bundschuh_, a shoe fastened upon a pole serving as the standard of
revolt. In 1514 Wurttemberg was disturbed by the rising of "poor
Conrad," but these and other similar revolts in the neighbourhood were
suppressed by the princes. These movements, however, were only preludes
to the great revolution, which is usually known as the Peasants' War
(_Bauernkrieg_).
The Peasants' War.
The Renaissance and the Reformation were awakening extravagant hopes in
the minds of the German peasants, and it is still a matter of
controversy among historians to what extent Luther and the reformers
were responsible for their rising. It may, however, be stated with some
certainty that their condition was sufficiently wretched to drive them
to revolt without any serious pressure from outside. The rising was due
primarily neither to religious nor to political, but to economic
causes. The Peasants' War, properly so called, broke out at Stuhlingen
in June 1522. The insurgents found a leader in Hans Muller of
Bulgenbach, who gained some support in the surrounding towns, and soon
all Swabia was in revolt. Quickly the insurrection became general all
over central and southern Germany. In the absence of the emperor and of
his brother, the archduke Ferdinand, the authorities in these parts of
the country were unable to check the movement and, aided by many
knights, prominent among whom was Gotz von Berlichingen, the peasants
were everywhere victorious, while another influential recruit, Ulrich,
the dispossessed duke of Wurttemberg, joined them in the hope of
recovering his duchy. Ulrich's attempt, which was made early in 1525,
was, however, a failure, and about the same time the peasants drew up
twelve articles embodying their demands. These were sufficiently
moderate. They asked for a renewal of their ancient rights of fishing
and hunting freely, for a speedier method of obtaining justice, and for
the removal of new and heavy burdens. In many places the lords yielded
to these demands, among those who granted concessions being the elector
palatine of the Rhine, the bishops of Bamberg and of Spires, and the
abbots of Fulda and of Hersfeld. But meanwhile the movement was
spreading through Franconia to northern Germany and was especially
formidable in Thuringia, where it was led by Thomas Munzer. Here again
success attended the rebel standards. But soon the victorious peasants
became so violent and so destructive that Luther himself urged that they
should be sternly punished, and a number of princes, prominent among
whom was Philip of Hesse, banded themselves together to crush the
rising. Munzer and his followers were defeated at Frankenhausen in May,
the Swabian League gained victories in the area under its control,
successes were gained elsewhere by the princes, and with much cruelty
the revolt of the peasants was suppressed. The general result was that
the power of the territorial lords became greater than ever, although in
some cases, especially in Tirol and in Baden, the condition of the
peasants was somewhat improved. Elsewhere, however, this was not the
case; many of the peasants suffered still greater oppression and some of
the immediate nobles were forced to submit to a detested yoke.
The Reichsregiment.
Before the suppression of this rising the _Reichsregiment_ had met with
very indifferent success in its efforts to govern Germany. Meeting at
Nuremberg early in 1522 it voted some slight assistance for the campaign
against the invading Turks, but the proposals put forward for raising
the necessary funds aroused much opposition, an opposition which came
mainly from the large and important cities. The citizens appealed to
Charles V., who was in Spain, and after some hesitation the emperor
decided against the _Reichsregiment_. Under such disheartening
conditions it is not surprising that this body was totally unable to
cope with Sickingen's insurrection, and that a few weeks after its
meeting at Nuremberg in 1524 it succumbed to a series of attacks and
disappeared from the history of Germany. But the _Reichsregiment_ had
taken one step, although this was of a negative character. It had shown
some sympathy with the reformers and had declined to put the edict of
Worms into immediate execution. Hardly less lukewarm, the imperial diet
ordered the edict to be enforced, but only as far as possible, and
meanwhile the possibilities of accommodation between the two great
religious parties were becoming more and more remote. A national
assembly to decide the questions at issue was announced to meet at
Spires, but the emperor forbade this gathering. Then the Romanists,
under the guidance of Cardinal Campeggio and the archduke Ferdinand, met
at Regensburg and decided to take strong and aggressive measures to
destroy Lutheranism, while, on the other hand, representatives of the
cities met at Spires and at Ulm, and asserted their intention of
forwarding and protecting the teaching of the reformed doctrines. All
over the country and through all classes of the people men were falling
into line on one side or the other, and everything was thus ready for a
long and bitter religious war.
Progress of the Reformation.
During these years the religious and political ideas of the Reformation
were rapidly gaining ground, and, aided by a vigorous and violent
polemic literature, opposition to Rome was growing on every side.
Instigated by George of Saxony the Romanist princes formed a defensive
league at Dessau in 1525; the reforming princes took a similar step at
Gotha in 1526. Such were the prevailing conditions when the diet met at
Spires in June 1526 and those who were still loyal to the Roman Church
clamoured for repressive measures. But on this occasion the reformers
were decidedly in the ascendant. Important ecclesiastical reforms were
approved, and instructions forbidding all innovations and calling upon
the diet to execute the edict of Worms, sent by the emperor from Spain,
were brushed aside on the ground that in the preceding March when this
letter was written Charles and the pope were at peace, while now they
were at war. Before its dissolution the diet promulgated a decree
providing that, pending the assembly of a national council, each prince
should order the ecclesiastical affairs of his own state in accordance
with his own conscience, a striking victory for the reformers and
incidentally for separatist ideas. The three years which elapsed between
this diet and another important diet which met in the same city are full
of incident. Guided by Luther and Melanchthon, the principal states and
cities in which the ideas of the reformers prevailed--electoral Saxony,
Brandenburg, Hesse and the Rhenish Palatinate, Strassburg, Nuremberg,
Ulm and Augsburg--began to carry out measures of church reform. The
Romanists saw the significance of this movement and, fortunately for
them, were able to profit by the dissensions which were breaking out in
the ranks of their opponents, especially the doctrinal differences
between the followers of Luther and those of Zwingli. Persecutions for
heresy had begun, the feeling between the two great religious parties
being further embittered by some revelations made by Otto von Pack
(q.v.) to Philip of Hesse. Pack's stories, which concerned the existence
of a powerful league for the purpose of making war upon the reformers,
were proved to be false, but the soreness occasioned thereby remained.
The diet met in February 1529 and soon received orders from the emperor
to repeal the decree of 1526. The supporters of the older faith were now
predominant and, although they were inclined to adopt a somewhat haughty
attitude towards Charles, they were not averse from taking strong
measures against the reformers. The decree of the diet, formulated in
April, forbade the reformers to make further religious changes, while
the toleration which was conceded to Romanists in Lutheran states was
withheld from Lutherans in Romanist states. This decree was strongly
resented by the reforming princes and cities. They drew up a formal
protest against it (hence the name "Protestant"), which they presented
to the archduke Ferdinand, setting forward the somewhat novel theory
that the decree of 1526 could not be annulled by a succeeding diet
unless both the parties concerned assented thereto. By this decree they
declared their firm intention to abide.
The diet of Augsburg.
The untiring efforts of Philip of Hesse to unite the two wings of the
Protestant forces met with very little success, and the famous
conference at Marburg in the autumn of 1529, for which he was
responsible, revealed the fact that it was practically impossible for
the Lutherans and the Zwinglians to act together even when threatened by
a common danger, while a little later the alliance between the Lutheran
states of north Germany and the Zwinglian cities of the south was
destroyed by differences upon points of doctrine. In 1530 the emperor,
flushed with success in Italy and at peace with his foreign foes, came
to Germany with the express intention of putting an end to heresy. In
June he opened the diet at Augsburg, and here the Lutherans submitted a
summary of their doctrines, afterwards called the Augsburg Confession.
Drawn up by Melanchthon, this pronouncement was intended to widen the
breach between the Lutherans and the Zwinglians, and to narrow that
between the Lutherans and the Romanists; from this time it was regarded
as the chief standard of the Lutheran faith. Four Zwinglian cities,
Strassburg, Constance, Lindau and Memmingen, replied with a confession
of their own and the Romanists also drew up an answer. The period of
negotiation which followed served only to show that no accommodation
was possible. Charles himself made no serious effort to understand the
controversy; he was resolved, whether the Lutherans had right on their
side or not, that they should submit, and he did not doubt but that he
would be able to awe them into submission by an unwonted display of
power. But to his surprise the Lutheran princes who attended the diet
refused to give way. They were, however, outnumbered by their enemies,
and it was the Romanist majority which dictated the terms of the decree,
which was laid before the diet in September, enjoining a return to
religious conformity within seven months. The Protestant princes could
only present a formal protest and leave Augsburg. Finally the decree of
the diet, promulgated in November, ordered the execution of the edict of
Worms, the restoration of all church property, and the maintenance of
the jurisdiction of the bishops. The duty of enforcing the decree was
especially entrusted to the _Reichskammergericht_; thus by the processes
of law the Protestant princes were to be deprived of much of their
property, and it seemed probable that if they did not submit the emperor
would have recourse to arms.
The league of Schmalkalden.
For the present, however, fresh difficulties with France and an invasion
by the Turks, who had besieged Vienna with an immense army in the autumn
of 1529, forced Charles to mask his designs. Meanwhile some of the
Lutherans, angered and alarmed by the decisions of the
_Reichskammergericht_, abandoned the idea that resistance to the
imperial authority was unlawful and, meeting in December 1530, laid the
foundation of the important league of Schmalkalden, among the first
members of the confederation being the rulers of Saxony and Hesse and
the cities of Bremen and Magdeburg. The league was soon joined by other
strong cities, among them Strassburg, Ulm, Constance, Lubeck and Goslar;
but it was not until after the defeat and death of Zwingli at Kappel in
October 1531 that it was further strengthened by the adhesion of those
towns which had hitherto looked for leadership to the Swiss reformer.
About this time the military forces of the league were organized, their
heads being the elector of Saxony and the landgrave of Hesse. But the
league had a political as well as a religious aspect. It was an alliance
between the enemies of the house of Habsburg, and on this side it gained
the support of the duke of Bavaria and treated with Francis I. of
France. To this its rapid growth was partly due, but more perhaps to the
fact that the Reformation in Germany was above all things a popular
movement, and thus many princes who would not have seceded from the
Roman Church of their own accord were compelled to do so from political
motives. They had been strong enough to undermine the imperial power;
they were not strong enough to resist the pressure put upon them by a
majority of their subjects. It was early in 1532, when faced with the
necessity of resisting the Turkish advance, that Charles met the diet at
Regensburg. He must have men and money for this purpose even at the
price of an arrangement with the Protestants. But the Lutherans were
absent from the diet, and the Romanists, although they voted help,
displayed a very uncompromising temper towards their religious foes.
Under these circumstances the emperor took the matter into his own
hands, and his negotiations with the Protestants resulted in July 1532
in the religious peace of Nuremberg, a measure which granted temporary
toleration to the Lutherans and which was repeatedly confirmed in the
following years. Charles's reward was substantial and immediate. His
subjects vied with each other in hurrying soldiers to his standard, and
in a few weeks the great Turkish host was in full retreat.
Internal affairs of Germany.
While the probability of an alliance between Pope Clement VII. and
Francis I. of France, together with other international complications,
prevented the emperor from following up his victory over the Turks, or
from reducing the dissenters from the Roman religion to obedience,
Protestantism was making substantial progress in the states, notably in
Anhalt and in Pomerania, and in the cities, and in January 1534 the
Protestant princes were bold enough to declare that they did not regard
the decisions of the _Reichskammergericht_ as binding upon them. About
this time Germany witnessed three events of some importance. Through the
energy of Philip of Hesse, who was aided by Francis I., Ulrich of
Wurttemberg was forcibly restored to his duchy. The members of the
Romanist league recently founded at Halle would not help the Habsburgs,
and in June 1534, by the treaty of Cadan, King Ferdinand was forced to
recognize the restoration as a _fait accompli_; at the same time he was
compelled to promise that he would stop all proceedings of the
_Reichskammergericht_ against the members of the league of Schmalkalden.
The two other events were less favourable for the new religion, or
rather for its orthodox manifestations. After a struggle, the
Anabaptists obtained control of Munster and for a short time governed
the town in accordance with their own peculiar ideas, while at Lubeck,
under the burgomaster Jurgen Wullenweber, a democratic government was
also established. But the bishop of Munster and his friends crushed the
one movement, and after interfering in the affairs of Denmark the
Lubeckers were compelled to revert to their former mode of government.
The outbreak of the war between the Empire and France in 1536 almost
coincided with the enlargement of the league of Schmalkalden, the
existence of which was prolonged for ten years. All the states and
cities which subscribed to the confession of Augsburg were admitted to
it, and thus a large number of Protestants, including the duchies of
Wurttemberg and Pomerania and the cities of Augsburg and Frankfort,
secured a needful protection against the decrees of the
_Reichskammergericht_, which the league again repudiated. Among the new
members of the confederation was Christian III., king of Denmark. About
the same time (May 1536) an agreement between the Lutherans and the
Zwinglians was arranged by Martin Bucer, and was embodied in a document
called the Concord of Wittenberg, and for the present the growing
dissensions between the heads of the league, John Frederick, elector of
Saxony, and Philip of Hesse, were checked. Thus strengthened the
Protestant princes declared against the proposed general council at
Mantua, while as a counterpoise to the league of Schmalkalden the
imperial envoy, Mathias Held (d. 1563), persuaded the Romanist princes
in June 1538 to form the league of Nuremberg. But, although he had made
a truce with France at Nice in this very month, Charles V. was more
conciliatory than some of his representatives, and at Frankfort in April
1539 he came to terms with the Protestants, not, however, granting to
them all their demands. In 1539, too, the Protestants received a great
accession of strength, the Lutheran prince Henry succeeding his Romanist
brother George as duke of Saxony. Ducal Saxony was thus completely won
for the reformed faith, and under the politic elector Joachim II. the
same doctrines made rapid advances in Brandenburg. Thus practically all
North Germany was united in supporting the Protestant cause.
Successes of the Protestants.
Their defeats.
In 1542, when Charles V. was again involved in war with France and
Turkey, who were helped by Sweden, Denmark and Scotland, the league of
Schmalkalden took advantage of his occupations to drive its stubborn
foe, Henry, duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, from his duchy and to
enthrone Protestantism completely therein. But this was not the only
victory gained by the Protestants about this time. The citizens of
Regensburg accepted their doctrines, which also made considerable
progress in the Palatinate and in Austria, while the archbishop of
Cologne, Hermann von Wied, and William, duke of Gelderland, Cleves and
Juliers, announced their secession from the Roman religion. The
Protestants were now at the height of their power, but their ascendancy
was about to be destroyed, and that rather by the folly and imprudence
of their leaders than by the skill and valour of their foes. The unity
and the power of the league of Schmalkalden were being undermined by two
important events, the bigamy of Philip of Hesse, which for political
reasons was condoned by the Lutheran divines, and the dissensions
between John Frederick, the ruler of electoral, and Maurice, the new
ruler of ducal Saxony. To save himself from the consequences of his
double marriage, which had provided him with powerful enemies, Philip in
June 1541 came to terms with the emperor, who thus managed to spike the
guns of the league of Schmalkalden, although the strength of this
confederation did not fail until after the campaign against Henry of
Brunswick. But while on the whole the fortunes of the European war, both
in the east and in the west, were unfavourable to the imperialists,
Charles V. found time in 1543 to lead a powerful force against William
of Gelderland, who had joined the circle of his foreign foes. William
was completely crushed; Gelderland was added to the hereditary lands of
the Habsburgs, while the league of Schmalkalden impotently watched the
proceedings. This happened about a year after war between the two
branches of the Saxon house had only been averted by the mediation of
Luther and of Philip of Hesse. The emperor, however, was unable, or
unwilling, to make a more general attack on the Protestants. In
accordance with the promises made to them at Frankfort in 1539,
conferences between the leaders of the two religious parties were held
at Hagenau, at Worms and at Regensburg, but they were practically
futile. The diets at Regensburg and at Nuremberg gave very little aid
for the wars, and did nothing to solve the religious difficulties which
were growing more acute with repeated delays. At the diet of Spires in
1544 Charles purchased military assistance from the Protestants by
making lavish promises to them. With a new army he marched against the
French, but suddenly in September 1544 he concluded the treaty of Crepy
with Francis I. and left himself free to begin a new chapter in the
history of Germany.
Victory of Charles over the league of Schmalkalden.
Charles was now nearly ready to crush the Protestants, whose influence
and teaching had divided Germany and weakened the imperial power, and
were now endangering the supremacy of the Habsburgs in the Netherlands
and in Alsace. His plan was to bring about the meeting of a general
council to make the necessary reforms in the church, and then at
whatever cost to compel the Protestants to abide by its decisions. While
Pope Paul III., somewhat reluctantly, summoned the council which
ultimately met at Trent, Charles made vigorous preparations for war.
Having made peace with the Turks in October 1545 he began to secure
allies. Assistance was promised by the pope; the emperor purchased the
neutrality of Duke William of Bavaria, and at a high price the active
aid of Maurice of Saxony; he managed to detach from the league of
Schmalkalden those members who were without any enthusiasm for the
Protestant cause and also those who were too timid to enter upon a
serious struggle. Meanwhile the league was inactive. Its chiefs differed
on questions of policy, one section believing that the emperor did not
intend to proceed to extremities, and for some time no measures were
taken to meet the coming peril. At last, in June 1546, during the
meeting of the diet at Regensburg, Philip and John Frederick of Saxony
realized the extent of the danger and began to muster their forces. They
were still much more powerful than the emperor, but they did not work
well together, or with Sebastian Schartlin von Burtenbach, who led their
troops in South Germany. In July 1546 they were placed under the
imperial ban, and the war began in the valley of the Danube. Charles was
aided by soldiers hurried from Italy and the Netherlands, but he did not
gain any substantial successes until after October 1546, when his ally
Maurice invaded electoral Saxony and forced John Frederick to march
northwards to its defence. The Lutheran cities of southern and central
Germany, among them Strassburg, Augsburg, Ulm and Frankfort, now
submitted to the emperor, while Ulrich of Wurttemberg and the elector
palatine of the Rhine, Frederick II., followed their example. Having
restored Roman Catholicism in the archbishopric of Cologne and seen
Henry of Brunswick settled in his duchy early in 1547, Charles led his
men against his principal enemies, Philip of Hesse and John Frederick,
who had quickly succeeded in driving Maurice from his electorate. At
Muhlberg in April 1547 he overtook the army of the Saxon elector. His
victory was complete. John Frederick was taken prisoner, and a little
later Philip of Hesse, after vainly prolonging the struggle, was induced
to surrender. The rising in the other parts of northern Germany was
also put down, and the two leaders of political Lutheranism were
prisoners in the emperor's hands.