Catholic League

Catholic League
(1609–35) Military alliance of the Catholic powers of Germany, led by Maximilian I, duke of Bavaria, and designed to stem the growth of Protestantism in Germany.

Plans for a league had long been discussed, but the formation of the Protestant Union in 1608 finally caused the Catholics to unite. In alliance with the Habsburg emperors, the League's forces, led by Graf von Tilly, played a key role in the Thirty Years' War. The league was abolished by the Peace of Prague (1635).

* * *

▪ Catholic military alliance
German  Katholische Liga 

      a military alliance (1609–35) of the Catholic powers of Germany led by Maximilian I, duke of Bavaria, and designed to stem the growth of Protestantism in Germany. In alliance with the Habsburg emperors, the League's forces, led by Johann Tserclaes, Graf von Tilly (Tilly, Johann Tserclaes, Graf von), played a key role in the Thirty Years' War.

      Plans for a league had long been discussed, but the formation of the Protestant Union in 1608 caused the Catholics to unite under Maximilian. The original League members on July 10, 1609, included Bavaria and the prince-bishops of Bavaria, Franconia, and Swabia. The Rhenish ecclesiastical electors of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne joined on July 30 of that year. Maximilian reorganized the League in 1617, excluding the Rhenish members and making the League an exclusively southern German confederation.

      The Bohemian revolt of 1618 caused alarm among the German Catholics, and the League resumed its expanded form in May 1619. When the Protestant elector Frederick V of the Palatinate accepted the Bohemian crown later that year, the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II looked to the League for military support. Through negotiations in 1620, Maximilian undermined the Protestant Union's support of Frederick. In November 1620, the League's forces under Tilly crushed Frederick at the Battle of White Mountain (White Mountain, Battle of) near Prague. Tilly's troops then ravaged the Palatinate and other Protestant lands to the north; won several battles over King Christian IV of Denmark, who had come to the Protestants' defense; and helped carry out Catholic restitutions in conquered Protestant territories. The importance of the League began to decline after 1626, when the Emperor found his own general in Albrecht von Wallenstein. Tilly's defeat by Gustav II Adolf of Sweden at Breitenfeld (Breitenfeld, Battle of) in 1631, followed by his death the following year, accelerated the League's decline. It was abolished in 1635 by the Peace of Prague, which forbade military confederations in the Empire.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Catholic League (U.S.) — Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights Logo of the Catholic League Abbreviation CL Formation 1973 Type NGO Leg …   Wikipedia

  • Catholic League — may refer to:*Catholic League (French), created by Henry of Guise, in 1576 during the French Wars of Religion *Catholic League (German), a confederation of Catholic German states formed to counteract the Protestant Union *Catholic League (U.S.),… …   Wikipedia

  • Catholic League (German) — The German Catholic League ( de. Katholische Liga) was initially a loose confederation of Roman Catholic German states formed on July 10, 1609 to counteract the Protestant Union (formed 1608), whereby the participating states concluded an… …   Wikipedia

  • Catholic League (French) — The Catholic League of France, sometimes referred to by contemporary (and modern) Roman Catholics as the Holy League, was formed by Duke Henry of Guise in 1576. [Holt, Mack P. : The French Wars of Religion, 1562 1629, page 122. New York, 1995 ]… …   Wikipedia

  • Catholic League (Anglican) — Unitas: the Catholic League for the Unity of Christians is an organisation of Anglicans and Roman Catholics dedicated to the reconciliation of the same two communions. It is associated with the Anglo Papalist wing of Anglo Catholicism.A member of …   Wikipedia

  • Catholic League — …   Useful english dictionary

  • Chicago Catholic League — The Chicago Catholic League (CCL) is a high school athletic conference based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. All of the schools are currently part of the Illinois High School Association, the governing body for Illinois scholastic sports. While some… …   Wikipedia

  • New Orleans Catholic League — The Catholic League (LHSAA district 9 5A in football, 10 5A in other sports) was a high school sports league in the Greater New Orleans area. The history of the Catholic League can be traced back to 1895, but the first season of the Catholic… …   Wikipedia

  • German (Catholic) League —     German (Catholic) League     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► German (Catholic) League     Only three years before the League was established, Duke Maximilian of Bavaria (d. 1651), who was afterwards its leading spirit, declared against the… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Philadelphia Catholic League — The Philadelphia Catholic League is a high school sports league composed of 20 Catholic High Schools in Philadelphia and the surrounding Pennsylvania suburbs. The league itself was founded in the summer of 1920 on the steps of Villanova academy… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”