Schmalkaldic League

Defensive alliance by Protestant states of the Holy Roman Empire.

It was established in 1531 at Schmalkalden, Germany, to defend the newly formed Lutheran churches from attack by the Catholic emperor Charles V. Fearing that the league would ally itself with his enemy, Francis I of France, Charles gave it de facto recognition until 1544, when he made peace with Francis. Charles then moved against the league militarily and by 1547 had effectively destroyed it. See also Schmalkaldic Articles.

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▪ religious and political alliance

German  Schmalkaldischer Bund 

      during the Reformation, a defensive alliance formed by Protestant (Protestantism) territories of the Holy Roman Empire to defend themselves collectively against any attempt to enforce the recess of the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, which gave the Protestant territories a deadline by which to return to Catholic practices. Established in February 1531 at Schmalkalden, Germany, the league was led by Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous (Philip) of Hesse and John Frederick I of Saxony. Among its other original members were Brunswick, Anhalt, and the cities of Mansfeld, Magdeburg, Bremen, Strassburg, and Ulm. The league had a timeline of six years but was regularly extended.

      Fearing that the league would ally itself with his enemy, Francis I of France, the emperor Charles V was forced to grant it de facto recognition until 1544, when he made peace with Francis. He then began military operations against the league in 1546—the War of Schmalkald—and effectively defeated it in 1547.

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