THIRD DIVISION. History of the Development of the Church under Modern European Forms of Civilization. (continued 2)

§ 130.4. The Reformation in the other Cantons, A.D. 1520-1525.―In Bern, from A.D. 1518 Haller, Kolb, and Mayer carried on the work of the Reformation as political and religious reformers after the style of Zwingli. Nic. Manuel, poet, satirist, and painter, supported their preaching by his satirical writings against pope, priests, and superstition generally. Also in his Dance of Death, which he painted on the walls of a cloister at Bern, he covered the clergy with ridicule. In A.D. 1523 the council allowed departures from the convents, and several monks and nuns withdrew and married. The opposition called in the Dominican John Haim, as their spokesman, in A.D. 1524. Between him and the Franciscan Mayer there arose a passionate discussion, and the council exiled both. But Haller continued his work, and the Reformation took firmer root from day to day.―In Muhlhausen [Mühlhausen], where Ulr. von Hutten spent his last days, the council issued a mandate in A.D. 1524 which gave free course to the Reformation. At Biel, too, it was allowed unrestricted freedom. In East Switzerland, St. Gall was specially prominent under its burgomaster Joachim v. Watt, who zealously advanced the interests of the Reformation by word, writing, and action. John Karsler, who had studied theology in Wittenberg in A.D. 1522, and was then obliged, in order to avoid reading the mass, to learn and practise the trade of a saddler, preached the gospel here in the Trades’ Hall in his saddler’s apron in A.D. 1524, and took the office of reformed pastor and Latin preceptor in A.D. 1537. He died in A.D. 1574 as President of St. Gall. In Schaffhausen Erasmus Ritter, called upon to oppose in discussion the reformed pastor Hofmeister, owned himself defeated, and joined the reform party. In the canton Vaud Thos. Platter, the original and learned sailor, afterwards rector of the high school at Burg, laid the foundations of the Reformation. In Appenzel and Glarus the work gradually advanced. But in the Swiss midlands the nobles raised opposition in behalf of their revenues, and the people of Berg, whose whole religion lay in pilgrimages, images, and saints, constantly opposed the introduction of the new views. Lucerne and Freiburg were the main bulwarks of the papacy in Switzerland.

§ 130.5. Anabaptist Outbreak, A.D. 1525.―In Switzerland, though the reformers there had taken very advanced ground, a number of ultra-reformers arose, who thought they did not go far enough. Their leaders were Hätzer (§ 148, 1), Grebel, Manz, Röublin, Hubmeier, and Stör. They began disturbances at Zolticon near Zürich. Hubmeier held a council at Waldshut, Easter Eve, A.D. 1525, and was rebaptized by Röublin. During Easter week 110 received baptism, and subsequently more than 300 besides. The Basel Canton, where Münzer had been living, broke out in open revolt against the city. St. Gall alone had 800 Anabaptists. Zürich at Zwingli’s request at once took decided measures. Many were banished, some were mercilessly drowned. Bern, Basel, and St. Gall followed this example.367

§ 130.6. Disputation at Baden, A.D. 1526.―The reactionary party could not decline the challenge to a disputation, but in the face of all protests it was determined to be held in the Catholic district of Baden. The champions and representatives of the cantons and bishops appeared there in May, A.D. 1526, Faber and Eck leading the papists and Haller of Bern and Œcolampadius of Basel representing the party of reform. Zwingli was forbidden by the Zürich council to attend, but he was kept daily informed by Thos. Platter. Eck’s theses were combatted one after another. It lasted eight days. Eck outcried Œcolampadius’ weak voice, but the latter was immensely superior in intellectual power. At last Thomas Murner (§ 125, 4) appeared with forty abusive articles against Zwingli. Œcolampadius and ten of his friends persisted in rejecting Eck’s theses; all the rest accepted them. The Assembly of the States pronounced the reformers heretics, and ordered the cantons to have them banished.

§ 130.7. Disputation at Bern, A.D. 1528.―The result of the Bern disputation was ill received by the democrats of Bern and Basel. A final disputation was arranged for at Bern, which was attended by 350 of the clergy and many noblemen. Zwingli, Œcolampadius, Haller, Capito, Bucer, and Farel were there. It continued from 7th to 27th January, A.D. 1528. The Catholics were sadly wanting in able disputants, and they sustained an utter defeat. Worship and constitution were radically reformed. Cloisters were secularized; preachers gave their official oath to the civil magistrates. There were serious riots over the removal of the images. The valuable organ in the minster of St. Vincent was broken up by the ruthless iconoclasts. A political reformation was carried out along with the religious, and all stipendiaries received their warning.

§ 130.8. Complete Victory of the Reformation at Basel, St. Gall, and Schaffhausen, A.D. 1529.―The Burgomaster von Watt brought to St. Gall the news of the victorious issue of the disputation at Bern. This gave the finishing blow to the Catholic party. Thus in A.D. 1528, certainly not without some iconoclastic excesses, the Reformation triumphed.―In Basel, the council was divided, and so it took but half measures. On Good Friday, A.D. 1528, some citizens broke the images in St. Martin’s Church. They were apprehended. But a rising of citizens obliged the council to set them free, and several churches from which the images had been withdrawn were given over to the reformers. In December, A.D. 1528, the trades presented a petition asking for the final abolition of idolatry. The Catholic party and the reformed took to arms, and a civil war seemed imminent. The council, however, succeeded in quelling the disturbance by announcing a disputation where the majority of the citizens should decide by their votes. But the Catholic minority protested so energetically that the council had again recourse to half measures. The dissatisfaction of the reformed led to an explosion of violent image breaking in Lent, A.D. 1529. Huge bonfires of images and altars were set a blaze. The strict Catholic members of the council fled, the rest quelled the revolt by an unconditional surrender. Even Erasmus gave way (§ 120, 6). Œcolampadius had married in A.D. 1528. He died in A.D. 1531. In Schaffhausen up to A.D. 1529 matters were undecided, but the proceedings at Basel and Bern gave victory to the reformed party. The drama here ended with a double marriage. The abbot of All Saints married a nun, and Erasmus Ritter married the abbot’s sister. Images were removed without tumult and the mass abolished.

§ 130.9. The first Treaty of Cappel, A.D. 1529.―In the five forest cantons the Catholics had the upper hand, and there every attempted political as well as religious reform was relentlessly put down. Zürich and Bern could stand this no longer. Unterwalden now revolted, and found considerable support in the other four cantons, and the position of the cities became serious. The forest cantons now turned to Austria, the old enemy of Swiss freedom, and concluded at Innsbrück in A.D. 1529 a formal league with King Ferdinand for mutual assistance in matters touching the faith. Trusting to this league, they increased their cruel persecutions of the reformed, and burnt alive a Zürich preacher, Keyser, whom they had seized on the public highway on neutral territory. Then the Zürichers rose up in revolt. With their decided preponderance they might certainly have crushed the five cantons, and then all Switzerland would have surrounded Zwingli in the support of reform. But Bern was jealous of Zürich’s growing importance, and even many Zürichers for fear of war urged negotiations for peace with the old members of the league. Thus came about the First Treaty of Cappel in A.D. 1529. The five cantons gave up the Austrian league document to be destroyed, undertook to defray the costs of the war, and agreed that the majority in each canton should determine the faith of that canton. As to freedom of belief it was only said that no party should make the faith of the other penal. This was less than Zwingli wished, yet it was a considerable gain. Thurgau, Baden, Schaffhausen, Solothurn, Neuenburg, Toggenburg, etc., on the basis of this treaty, abolished mass, images, and altars.

§ 130.10. The Second Treaty of Cappel, A.D. 1531.―Even after the treaty the five cantons continued to persecute the reformed, and renewed their alliance with Austria. Their undue preponderance in the assembly led Zürich to demand a revision of the federation. This led the forest cantons to increase their cruelties upon the reformed. Zürich declared for immediate hostilities, but Bern decided to refuse all commercial intercourse with the five cantons. At the diet at Lucerne, the five cantons resolved in September, A.D. 1531, to avert famine by immediately declaring war. They made their arrangements so secretly that the reformed party was not the least prepared, when suddenly, on the 9th October, an army of 8,000 men, bent on revenge, rushed down on the Zürich Canton. In all haste 2,000 men were mustered, who were almost annihilated in the battle of Cappel on 11th October. There, too, Zwingli fell. His body was quartered and burnt, and the ashes scattered to the winds. Zürich and Bern soon brought a force of 20,000 men into the field, but the courage of their enemies had grown in proportion as all confidence and spirit departed from the reformed. Further successes led the forest cantons, which had hitherto acted only on the defensive, to proceed on the offensive, and the reformed were constrained to accept on humbling terms the Second Treaty of Cappel of A.D. 1531. This granted freedom of worship to the reformed in their own cantons, but secured the restoration of Catholicism in the five cantons. The defeated had also to bear the costs of the war, and to renounce their league with Strassburg, Constance, and Hesse. The hitherto oppressed Catholic minority began now to assert itself on all hands, and in many places were more or less successful in securing the ascendency. So it was in Aargau, Thurgau, Rapperschwyl, St. Gall, Rheinthal, Solothurn, Glarus, etc.

§ 131. The Sacramentarian Controversy, A.D. 1525-1529.368

Luther in his “Babylonish Captivity of the Church,” of A.D. 1520, had, in opposition to prevailing views, which made the efficacy of the sacraments dependent on the objective receiving without regard to the faith of the receiver, opus operatum, pressed forward the subjective side in a somewhat extreme manner. During the earlier period of his career as a reformer, and indeed even at a later period, as his letter to the men of Strassburg shows, he was in danger of going to the extreme of overlooking or denying the real objective and Divine contents of the sacrament. But decided as the opposition was to the scholastic theory of transubstantiation, and convinced as he was that the bread and wine were to be regarded as mere symbols, the text of Scripture seemed clearly to say to him that he must recognise there the presence of the true body and blood of Christ. His anxiety to avoid the errors of the fanatics, and his simple acceptance of the word of Scripture, led him to that conviction which inspired him to the end, that IN, WITH, and UNDER the bread and wine the true body and blood of the Lord are received, by believers unto salvation, by unbelievers unto condemnation.

Carlstadt (§ 124, 3) had denied utterly the presence of the body and blood of the Lord in the sacrament. He sought to set aside the force of the words of institution by giving to τοῦτο an absurd meaning: Christ had pointed to His own present body, and said, “This here is My body, which in death I will give for you, and in memory thereof eat this bread.” When Carlstadt, expelled from Saxony, came to Strassburg, he sought to interest the preachers there, Bucer and Capito, in himself and his sacramental view. But Luther was not moved by their attempts at conciliation. Zwingli, too, took the side of Carlstadt. In essential agreement with Carlstadt, but putting the matter on another basis, Zwingli interpreted the words of institution, “This is,” by “This signifies,” and reduced the significance of the sacrament to a symbolical memorial of Christ’s suffering and death. In an epistle to the Lutheran Matthew Alber at Reutlingen in A.D. 1524 he set forth this theory, and sided with Carlstadt against Luther. He developed his views more fully in his dogmatic treatise, Commentarius de vera et falsa relig., A.D. 1525, where he characterizes Luther’s doctrine as an opinio non solum rustica sed etiam impia et frivola. Œcolampadius, too, took part in the controversy as supporter of his friend Zwingli when attacked by Bugenhagen, and wrote in A.D. 1525 his De genuina verborum Domini, Hoc est corpus meum, expositione. He wished to understand the σῶμα of the words of institution as equivalent to “sign of the body.” Œcolampadius laid his treatise before the Swabian reformers Brenz and Schnepf; but these, in concert with twelve other preachers, answered in the Syngramma Suevicum of A.D. 1525 quite in accordance with Luther’s doctrine. The controversy continued to spread. Luther first openly appeared against the Swiss in A.D. 1526 in his “Sermon on the Sacrament against the Fanatics,” and to this Zwingli replied. Luther answered again in his tract, “That the words, This is My body, stand firm;” and in A.D. 1528 he issued his great manifesto, “Confession in regard to the Lord’s Supper” (§ 144, 2, note). Notwithstanding the endeavours of the Strassburgers at conciliation the controversy still continued. Zwingli’s statement was the shibboleth of the Swiss Reformation, and was adopted also in many of the upland cities. Strassburg, Lindau, Meiningen, and Constance accepted it; even in Ulm, Augsburg, Reutlingen, etc., it had its supporters.―Continuation, § 132, 4.

§ 132. The Protest and Confession of the Evangelical Nobles, A.D. 1527-1530.

For three years after the diet at Spires in A.D. 1526 no public proceedings were taken on religious questions. The success of the Reformation however during these years roused the Catholic party to make a great effort. At the next diet at Spires, in A.D. 1529, the Catholics were in the majority, and measures were passed which, it was hoped, would put an end to the Reformation. The evangelicals tabled a formal protest (hence the name Protestants), and strove hard to have effect given to it. The union negotiations with the Swiss and uplanders were not indeed successful, but in the Augsburg Confession of A.D. 1530 they raised before emperor and empire a standard, around which they henceforth gathered with hearty goodwill.

§ 132.1. The Pack Incident, A.D. 1527, 1528.―In A.D. 1527 dark rumours of dangers to the evangelicals began to spread. The landgrave, suspecting the existence of a conspiracy of the German Catholic princes, gave to an officer in Duke George’s government, Otto von Pack, 10,000 florins to secure documents proving its existence. He produced one with the ducal seal, which bound the Catholic princes of Germany to fall upon the elector’s territories and Hesse, and to divide the lands among them, etc. The landgrave was all fire and fury, and even the Elector John joined him in a league to make a vigorous demonstration against the purposed attack. But Luther and Melanchthon pressed upon the elector our Lord’s words, “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword,” and convinced him that he ought to abide the attack and restrict himself to simple defence. The landgrave, highly offended at the failure of his project, sent a copy of the document to Duke George, who declared the whole affair a tissue of lies. Philip had begun operations against the elector, but was heartily ashamed of himself when he came to his sober senses. Pack when interrogated became involved in contradictions, and was found to be a thoroughly bad subject, who had been before convicted of falsehood and intrigues. The landgrave expelled him from his territories. He wandered long a homeless exile, and at last, in A.D. 1536, was executed by Duke George’s orders in the Netherlands. All this seriously injured the interests of the gospel. Mutual distrust among the Protestant leaders continued, and sympathy was created for the Catholic princes as men who had been unjustly accused.

§ 132.2. The Emperor’s Attitude, A.D. 1527-1529.―The faithlessness of the king of France and the ratification of the League of Cognac (§ 126, 6) led to very strained relations between the pope and the emperor. Old Frundsberg raised an army in Germany, and the German peasants, without pay or reward, crossed the Alps, burning with desire to humiliate the pope. On 6th May, A.D. 1527, the imperial army of Spaniards and Germans stormed Rome. The so-called sack of Rome presented a scene of plunder and spoliation scarcely ever paralleled. Clement VII., besieged in St. Angelo, was obliged to surrender himself prisoner. But once again Germany’s hopes were cast to the ground by the emperor. Considering the opinion that prevailed in Spain, and influenced by his own antipathy to the Saxon heresy, besides other political combinations, he forgot that he had been saved by Lutheran soldiers. In June, A.D. 1528, at Barcelona, he concluded a peace with the pope and promised to use his whole power in suppressing heresy. By the Treaty of Cambray, in July, A.D. 1529, the French war also was finally brought to a conclusion. In this treaty both potentates promised to uphold the papal chair, and Francis I. renewed his undertaking to furnish aid against heretics and Turks. Charles now hastened to Italy to be crowned by the pope, meaning then by his personal attentions to settle the affairs of Germany.

§ 132.3. The Diet at Spires, A.D. 1529.―In the end of A.D. 1528 the emperor issued a summons for another diet at Spires, which met on 21st Feb., A.D. 1529. Things had changed since A.D. 1526. The Catholics were roused by the Pack episode, halting nobles were terrorized by the emperor, the prelates were present in great numbers, and the Catholics, for the first time since the Diet at Worms, were in a decided majority. The proposition of the imperial commissioners to rescind the conclusions of the diet of A.D. 1526 was adopted by a majority, and formulated as the diet’s decision. No innovations were to be introduced until at least a council had been convened, mass was everywhere to be tolerated, the jurisdiction and revenues of the bishops were in all cases to be fully restored. It was the death-knell of the Reformation, as it gave the bishops the right of deposing and punishing preachers at their will. As Ferdinand was deaf to all remonstrances, the evangelicals presented a solemn protest, with the demand that it should be incorporated in the imperial statute book. But Ferdinand refused to receive it. The Protestants now took no further steps, but drew up a formal statement of their case for the emperor, appealed to a free council and German national assembly, and declared their constant adherence to the decisions of the previous diet. This document was signed by the Elector of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, George of Brandenburg, the two dukes of Lüneburg, and Prince Wolfgang of Anholt [Anhalt]. Of the upland cities fourteen subscribed it.

§ 132.4. The Marburg Conference, A.D. 1529.―The Elector of Saxony and Hesse entered into a defensive league with Strassburg, Ulm, and Nuremberg at Spires. The theologians present agreed only with hesitation to admit the Zwinglian Strassburg. The landgrave at the same time formed an alliance with Zürich, which attached itself to the interests of Francis I. of France. Thus began the most formidable coalition which had ever yet been formed against the house of Austria. But one point had been overlooked which broke it all up again, viz. the religious differences between the Lutheran and Zwinglian confessions. Melanchthon returned to Wittenburg [Wittenberg] with serious qualms of conscience; Luther had declared against any league, most of all against any fraternising with the “Sacramentarians,” and the elector to some extent agreed with him. Even the Nuremberg theologians had their scruples. The proposed league was to have been ratified at Rotach in June. The meeting took place, but no conclusion was reached. The landgrave was furious, but the elector was resolute. Philip now summoned leading theologians on both sides to a conference at Marburg in his castle, which lasted from 1st till 3rd Oct., A.D. 1529. On the one side were Luther, Melanchthon, Justus Jonas, from Wittenberg, Brenz from Swabia, and Osiander from Nuremberg; on the other side, Zwingli from Zürich, Œcolampadius from Basel, Bucer and Hadio [Hedio] from Strassburg. After, by the landgrave’s well-meant arrangement, Zwingli had discussed privately with Melanchthon, and Luther with Œcolampadius, during the first day, the public conference began on the second. First of all several points were discussed on the divinity of Christ, original sin, baptism, the word of God, etc., in reference to which suspicions of Zwingli’s orthodoxy had been current in Wittenberg. On all these Zwingli willingly abandoned his peculiar theories and accepted the doctrines of the œcumenical church. But his views of the Lord’s Supper he stoutly maintained. He took his stand upon John vi. 63, “The flesh profiteth nothing;” but Luther wrote with chalk on the table before him, “This is My body,” as the word of God which no one may explain away. No agreement could be reached. Zwingli declared that notwithstanding he was ready for brotherly fellowship, but this Luther and his party unanimously refused. Luther said, “You are of another spirit than we.” Still Luther had found his opponents not so bad as he expected, and also the Swiss found that Luther’s doctrine was not so gross and capernaitic as they had imagined. They agreed on fifteen articles, in the fourteenth of which they determined on the basis of the œcumenical church doctrine to oppose the errors of Papists and Anabaptists, and in the fifteenth the Swiss admitted that the true body and blood of Christ are in the sacrament, but they could not admit that they were corporeally in the bread and wine. Three copies of these Marburg articles were signed by the theologians present.―Continuation, § 133, 8.

§ 132.5. The Convention of Schwabach and the Landgrave Philip.―A convention met at Schwabach in Oct., A.D. 1529, at which a confession of seventeen articles was proposed to the representatives of the Swiss, but rejected by them. Meanwhile the imperial answer to the decisions of the diet had arrived from Spain, containing very ungracious expressions against the Protestants. The evangelical nobles sent an embassy to the emperor to Italy; but he refused to receive the protest, and treated the ambassadors almost as prisoners. They returned to Germany with a bad report. Hitherto there had been only a defensive federation against attacks of the Swabian League or other Catholic princes. Luther’s hope that the emperor might yet be won was shattered. The question now was, what should be done if an onslaught upon the reformed should be made by the emperor himself. The jurists indeed were of opinion that the German princes were not unconditionally subject to the emperor; they too have authority by God’s grace, and in the exercise of this are bound to protect their subjects. But Luther did not hesitate for a moment to compare the relation of the elector to the emperor with that of the burgomaster of Torgau to the elector; for he maintained the idea of the empire as firmly as that of the church. He insisted that the princes should not withstand the emperor, and that they should bear everything patiently for God’s sake. Only if the emperor should proceed to persecute their own subjects for their faith should they renounce their obedience. The landgrave’s negotiations with Zwingli also led to no result. For political purposes, notwithstanding the opposition of Wittenberg, there was formed a coalition of all the Protestants of the north with the exception of Denmark, extending also to the south and embracing even Venice and France. The Swiss would stop the way of the emperor over the Alps; Venice would be of service with her fleet, and the most Christian king of France was to be summoned as the protector of political and religious freedom of Germany. But these fine plans were seen to be vain dreams when the time for putting them in practice came round.

§ 132.6. The Diet of Augsburg, A.D. 1530.―From Boulogne, where the pope crowned him, the emperor summoned a diet to meet at Augsburg, at which for the first time in nine he was to be personally present. He would once again seek to induce the Protestants quietly to return to the old faith, and so his missive was very conciliatory. But before its arrival new irritations had arisen at Augsburg. The Elector John allowed the preachers accompanying him, Spalatin and Agricola, to engage freely in preaching. The emperor was greatly displeased at this, and sent him a request to withdraw this permission, which, however, he did not regard. On 15th June, accompanied by the papal legate Campegius (§ 126, 2, 3), he made a brilliant entrance, the Protestants, on the ground of 2 Kings v. 17, 18, offering no opposition to all the civil and ecclesiastical reception ceremonies. This gave the emperor greater confidence in renewing the demand to stop the preaching. But the Protestants stood firm, and Margrave George called down the unmeasured wrath of the emperor by his decided but humble declaration, that before he would deny God’s word, he would kneel where he stood and have his head struck off. Just as decidedly he refused the emperor’s call to join the Corpus Christi procession on the following day, even with the addition that it was “to the glory of Almighty God.” At last they yielded the matter of the preaching so far as to discontinue it during the emperor’s stay, on the other party undertaking to discontinue controversial discourses. On 20th June the diet opened. The matter of the Turkish war was on the emperor’s motion postponed, to allow of the thorough discussion of the religious questions.

§ 132.7. The Augsburg Confession, 25th June, A.D. 1530.―In view of the diet the evangelical theologians prepared for the elector a short confession in the form of a revision of the seventeen Schwabach Articles, the so called Torgau Articles. Melanchthon employed the days that preceded the opening of the diet in drawing up on the basis of the Torgau Articles, in constant correspondence with the evangelical theologians, the Augsburg Confession, Confessio Augustana. This concise, clear, and decided though temperate document received the hearty approval of Luther, who, as still under the ban, was kept back by the elector at Coburg. It contained twenty-one Articuli fidei præcipui, and also seven Articuli in quibus recensentur abusus mutati. On 24th June the Protestants said they desired their confession to be publicly read. But it was with difficulty that they obtained the emperor’s consent to allow its being read on the 25th June, and even then not in the public hall, but in a much smaller episcopal chapel, where only members of the diet could find room. The two chancellors of the electorate, Baier and Brück, appeared, the one with a German, the other with a Latin copy of the confession. The emperor wished the Latin, but the elector insisted that on German soil the German copy should be read. When this was done Dr. Brück handed both copies to the emperor, who kept the Latin one and gave the German one to the Elector of Mainz. Both were subscribed by Elector John, Margrave George, Duke Ernest of Lüneburg, Landgrave Philip, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, and the cities of Nuremberg and Reutlingen. The confession made a favourable impression on many of the assembled princes, and many prejudices were dissipated; while the evangelicals were greatly strengthened by the unanimous confession of their faith before the emperor and the empire. The Catholic theologians Faber, Eck, Cochlæus, and Wimpina were ordered by the emperor to controvert the confession. Meanwhile Melanchthon entered into negotiations with the legate Campegius, in which his love of peace went so far as to withdraw all demands for marriage of the clergy, and the giving of the cup to the laity, and to allow the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishops, reserving the question about the mass to the decision of a council. But these weak concessions found little or no favour among the other Protestants, and the legate could make no binding engagement until he consulted Rome. On 3rd Aug. the confutation of the Catholic theologians was read. The emperor declared that it maintained the views by which he would stand. He expected the princes would do the same. He was defender of the Church, and was not disposed to suffer ecclesiastical schism in Germany. The Protestants demanded for closer inspection a copy of the confutation. This was refused. The landgrave now left the diet. To the elector he said that he gave over to him and to God’s word body and goods, land and people; and to the representatives of the cities he wrote: “Say to the cities that they are not women, but men. There is no fear; God is on our side.” The zealous Papist Duke William of Bavaria declared to Eck, “If I hear well, the Lutherans sit upon the Scripture and we alongside of it.” The cities siding with Zwingli, Strassburg, Memmingen, Constance, and Lindau, presented their own confession drawn up by Bucer and Capilo [Capito], the Confessio Tetrapolitana. In its eighteenth article it taught that Christ gives in the sacrament His true body and His true blood to be eaten and drunk for the feeding of the soul. The emperor had a Catholic reply read, with which he expressed satisfaction. Luther had meanwhile from Coburg supported those contending for the confession by prayer, counsel, and comfort. He preached frequently, wrote many letters, negotiated with Bucer (§ 133, 8), wrought at the translation of the prophets, and composed several evangelical works of edification.

§ 132.8. The Conclusions of the Diet of Augsburg.―The firm bright spirit of the minority made it seem to the Catholic majority too considerable to allow of an open breach. A further attempt was therefore made to reach some agreement. A commission was appointed, comprising from either side two princes, two doctors of canon law, and three theologians. On the twenty-one doctrinal articles, with the exception of that on the sacraments, they were practically agreed, but the Protestants were called upon to abandon everything in regard to constitution and customs. Thus the attempt failed. Five imperial cities took the side of the emperor, the rest attached themselves to the Protestant princes. The Protestants wished to read Melanchthon’s apology for the Augsburg Confession against the charge of the Catholic confutation, but the emperor with unbending stubbornness refused. This was the most decided piece of work Melanchthon ever did. At the close of the diet, 22nd Sept., the Protestant princes were informed that time for reflection would be allowed them till 15th April of the following year; meanwhile they should not enforce any innovations and should allow confession and the mass in their territories. The early calling of a council was expressly promised. The princes of the church had all their rights restored. The emperor declared his firm determination to enforce in its full rigour the edict of Worms, and commissioned the public prosecutor to proceed against the disobedient even to the length of putting them under the ban. The judicature was formally and expressly empowered to carry out the conclusions of the diet. Finally, the emperor expressed the wish that on account of his frequent absence his brother Ferdinand should be chosen King of Rome. The election was accordingly soon carried out at Frankfort; but the elector lodged a protest against it.

§ 133. Incidents of the Years A.D. 1531-1536.

The Protestants now made an earnest effort to effect a union by forming in A.D. 1531 the Schmalcald League. To this decided action and the political difficulties of the emperor we owe the Peace of Nuremburg [Nuremberg] of A.D. 1532. The bold step of the landgrave freed Württemberg from the Austrian yoke and papal oppression. At the same time the Reformation triumphed in Anhalt, Pomerania, and several Westphalian cities. All Westphalia might have been one but for the Anabaptists. Bucer’s unwearied efforts at last succeeded by the Wittenberg concordat in opening the way for the Schmalcald League into the cities of the Uplands. The league now comprised an imposing array of powerful members.

§ 133.1. The Founding of the Schmalcald League, A.D. 1530, 1531.―The conferring upon the court of justiciary the power to execute the decrees of the Diet of Augsburg was most dangerous to the Protestants. For protection against this design, the Protestant nobles at a convention at Schmalcald in Dec., A.D. 1530, formed the bold resolution, that all should stand as one in resisting every attack of the court. But when the question came to be discussed, whether in case of need they should go the length of armed resistance to the emperor opinion was divided. The views of the jurists finally prevailed over those of the theologians, and the elector insisted on a league against every aggressor, even should it be the emperor himself. At a new convention at Schmalcald in March, A.D. 1531, a league on these terms was concluded for six years. The members of it were the electorate of Saxony, Hesse, Lüneburg, Anhalt, Mansfeld, and eleven cities.

§ 133.2. The Peace of Nuremberg, A.D. 1532.―The energetic combination of the Protestants had now rendered them formidable, and the Sultan Soliman was threatening a new attack. If the Protestants were to be conquered, an agreement must be come to with the Turks; if the Turks were to be humbled, a peaceable settlement with the Protestants was indispensable. Ferdinand’s policy at first inclined to the latter direction, and by his advice the emperor summoned a diet at Regensburg, and till the meeting forbade any prosecutions on the basis of the decrees of the Diet of Augsburg. But soon the catastrophe in Switzerland (§ 130, 10) changed Ferdinand’s policy. It seemed to him now the fittest time to deal a similar blow to the evangelicals in Germany. He therefore sent an embassy to the sultan, empowered to make the most humiliating conditions of peace. But Soliman rejected all proposals with scorn, and in April, A.D. 1532, advanced with an army of 300,000 men. Meanwhile the Diet of Regensburg had opened on 17th April, A.D. 1532. The Protestants no longer presented a humble petition, as they had done two years before, but they firmly made their demands. There was no longer talk of compromise or suffrance. They demanded peace in matters of religion; the annulling of all religious prosecutions; and, finally, a free general council, where matters should be decided solely by God’s word. So long as Ferdinand had any hope of getting a favourable answer from the Turks, he would not seriously consider proposals for peace. But when that hope was shattered, and Soliman’s terrible host approached, there was no time to lose. At Nuremberg the peace was concluded on 23rd July, A.D. 1532. The faithful elector was allowed to see the happy day, but died in that same year. He was succeeded by his son, John Frederick the Magnanimous, A.D. 1532-1547. A noble army was soon raised from the imperial guards. Soliman suffered various misfortunes on land and water, and withdrew without accomplishing anything. The emperor now went to Italy, and insisted on the pope calling a general council. But the pope thought the time had not come for that. Also the annulling of prosecutions promised in the treaty remained long unfulfilled. Pending prosecutions, mostly about restitution of ecclesiastical goods and jurisdiction, were pronounced to be not matters of religion, but of spoliation and breach of the peace. The Protestants made a formal complaint in Jan., A.D. 1534. This was disregarded, and arrangements were being made to put certain nobles under the ban when events occurred at Württemberg which changed the aspect of affairs.

§ 133.3. The Evangelization of Württemberg, A.D. 1534, 1535.―The Swabian League in the interest of Austria had obtained the banishment of Duke Ulrich in A.D. 1528, and frustrated every attempt to secure his return. His son Christopher had been educated at the court of Ferdinand, and in A.D. 1532 accompanied the emperor to Spain. He made his escape into the Alps, and publicly claimed his German inheritance. The Landgrave Philip, Ulrich’s personal friend, had long resolved to reconquer Württemberg for him. At last, in the spring of A.D. 1534, with aid of French gold, he carried out his plan. At Laufen Ferdinand’s army was almost annihilated, and he himself was obliged in the Peace of Cadau of A.D. 1534 to restore Ulrich to Württemberg as an under-feudatory, but with seat and vote in the imperial diet, and to allow him a free hand in carrying out the Reformation in his territory. Luther’s views had from the first found hearty reception in Württemberg. The oldest and most distinguished of the Swabian reformers, whose reputation had spread far beyond Württemberg, was John Brenz (§§ 131, 1; 132, 4; 135, 2; 136, 6, 8). He was preacher in Swabian Halle from A.D. 1522, provost in Stuttgart from A.D. 1553, and died in A.D. 1570. But Ferdinand’s government had stretched its arm so far as to visit with death all manifestations of sympathy with the Reformation. All the more rapidly did the work of evangelization now proceed. Ulrich brought with him Ambrose Blaurer, a disciple of Zwingli and friend of Bucer, and Erhard Schnapf, a decided supporter of Luther; to the former he assigned the evangelization of the upper, and to the latter the evangelization of the lower division of his territories. Both had agreed in accepting a common formula of Reformation principles. By the founding of the University of Tübingen, organized after the pattern of Marburg, Ulrich rendered important service to the cause of Protestant learning. Several neighbouring courts and cities were encouraged to follow Württemberg’s example.

§ 133.4. The Reformation in Anhalt and Pomerania, A.D. 1532-1534.―Wolfgang of Anhalt had at an early date introduced the Reformation on the banks of the Saale and into Zerbst. Another prince of Anhalt, George, at first an opponent of Luther, but converted by means of his writings, began in A.D. 1532 the Reformation of the country east of the Elbe. And when the Bishop of Brandenburg refused to ordain his married priests, he sent them to be ordained by Luther in Wittenberg. Much more violent was the Reformation of Pomerania. Nobles and clergy sought to rouse the people against Lutheranism. Prince Barnim was an ardent supporter of Luther, but his brother George was bitterly opposed. On George’s death, his son Philip joined with Barnim in introducing the Reformation into the land. At the Assembly of Treptow, in Dec., A.D. 1534, they presented a scheme of Reformation, which the nobles heartily accepted. It was carried into operation by Bugenhagen by a church visitation after the pattern of that of Saxony.

§ 133.5. The Reformation in Westphalia, A.D. 1532-1534.―In the Westphalian cities much was accomplished by Luther’s hymns. Pideritz, priest of Lamgo, was a supporter of Eck; but wishing to see the working of the new views for himself, he went to Brunswick, and returned to inaugurate the Reformation in his own city. At Soest, the Catholic council condemned to death a workman who had spoken of it with disrespect. Two blundering attempts were made upon the scaffold, and the victim at last was conducted home by the crowd in triumph. He died next day. The council precipitately fled from the city. And thus in July, A.D. 1533, Catholicism lost its last prop in that place. In Paderborn, where liberty of preaching had been enjoyed, the Elector of Cologne (§ 135, 7) had some of the leading Lutherans imprisoned; and when some on the rack confessed to a treasonable correspondence with the Landgrave of Hesse, of which they had been falsely accused, he condemned them to death. But moved by the request of an old man to share their death, and by the weeping of the wives and maidens, Hermann spared their lives. In Münster, Luther’s doctrines were preached as early as A.D. 1531 by Rottmann, and soon the evangelicals won the ascendency, so that council and clergy left the city. The Bishop of Waldeck, after an unsuccessful attempt by force of arms, was obliged in A.D. 1533 to grant unconditional religious freedom. The neighbouring cities were about to follow the example of the capital, when a catastrophe occurred which resulted in the complete restoration of Catholicism.

§ 133.6. Disturbances at Münster, A.D. 1534, 1535.―Rottmann had added to his Zwinglian creed the renunciation of infant baptism, and prepared the way for Anabaptist excesses. John of Leyden appeared in A.D. 1534, gained great popularity as a preacher, and the council was weak enough to grant legal recognition to the fanatics. Mad enthusiasts flocked into the city. One of their prophets proclaimed it as God’s will that unbelievers should be expelled. This was done on 27th February, A.D. 1534. Seven deacons divided what was left among the believers. In May the bishop laid siege to the city. This had the effect of confining the mad disorder to Münster. After the destruction of all images, organs, and books, with exception only of the Bible, community of goods was introduced. John of Leyden got the council set aside as required by his revelations, and appointed a theocratic government of twelve elders, who took their inspiration from the prophet. He proclaimed polygamy, himself taking seventeen wives, while Rottmann contented himself with four. In vain did the moral conscience of the inhabitants protest. The objectors were executed. One of his fellow prophets proclaimed John king of the whole world. He set up a showy and expensive establishment, and committed the most frightful abominations. He regarded himself as called to inaugurate the millennium, sent out twenty-eight apostles to extend his kingdom, and named twelve dukes who should rule the world under him. The besiegers made an unsuccessful attempt in August, A.D. 1534, to storm the city. Had not aid been sent them before the end of the year from Hesse, Treves, Cleves, Mainz, and Cologne, they would have been obliged to raise the siege. Even then they could only think of reducing the city by famine. It was already in great straits. On St. John’s night, A.D. 1535, a deserter led the troops to the walls. After a stubborn resistance the Anabaptists were beaten. Rottmann threw himself into the hottest of the fight, and there perished. John, with his chief officers, was taken prisoner, put to death with frightful tortures on 22nd Jan., A.D. 1536, and then hung in chains from St. Lambert’s tower. Catholicism was thus restored to absolute supremacy.

§ 133.7. Extension of the Schmalcald league, A.D. 1536.―A war with France had broken out in A.D. 1536, which taxed all the emperor’s resources. Francis I. had made a league with Soliman for a combined attack upon the emperor. Instead therefore of punishing the Protestant princes for their proceedings in Württemberg, he was obliged to do all he could to conciliate them, as Francis was bidding for their alliance. Ferdinand therefore, from the summer of A.D. 1535, sought to ingratiate himself with the Protestants. In November he received a visit of the elector in Vienna, and granted the extension of the Peace of Nuremberg to all nobles who since its ratification had become Protestants. The elector then went to an assembly at Schmalcald, where the Schmalcald League was extended for ten years, the French embassy dismissed, and the opposition to Austria abandoned. On the basis of the Vienna compact Württemberg, Pomerania, Anhalt, and several cities were added to the league. Signature of the Augsburg Confession was the indispensable condition of reception. Bucer managed to win over the upland cities to accept this condition.

§ 133.8. The Wittenberg Concordat of A.D. 1536.―Bucer and ultimately Œcolampadius, made such concessions on the doctrine of the sacraments as satisfied Luther, but they were rejected by Bullinger of Zürich. In December, A.D. 1535, there was a conference at Cassel between Bucer and Melanchthon. A larger conference was afterward held at Wittenberg, at which Bucer and Capito from Strassburg, and eight other distinguished theologians from the uplands, were present. As they accepted the formula “in, with, and under,” the only question remaining was whether unbelievers partook of the body of Christ. They admitted this in regard to the unworthy, but not, as Luther wished, in regard to the godless and unbelieving. Luther was satisfied. On 25th May, A.D. 1536, Melanchthon composed the “Wittenberg Concord,” which was signed by all, and ratified by the common partaking of the sacrament. In consequence of this union effort, three of the Swiss theologians, Bullinger, Myconius, and Grynæus seceded, and produced the Confessio Helvetica prior, in which the Zwinglian doctrine of the sacraments was moderately but firmly maintained.

§ 134. Incidents of the Years A.D. 1537-1539.

Clement VII. made many excuses for postponing the calling of a council. At last, in A.D. 1533, he declared himself willing to do so in the course of the year; but he required of the Protestants unconditional acceptance of its decisions, to which they would not agree. His successor, Paul III., A.D. 1534-1549, called one to meet at Mantua in A.D. 1537. Luther composed for it as a manifesto the Schmalcald Articles; but finally the Protestants renewed their demand for a free council in a German city. In A.D. 1538 the Catholic nobles concluded the Holy Alliance at Nuremberg for carrying out the decrees of the Diet of Augsburg; but the political difficulties of the emperor compelled him to make new concessions to the Protestants in the Frankfort Interim of A.D. 1539. But in the same year the duchy of Saxony and the electorate of Brandenburg went over to the Reformation. By the beginning of A.D. 1540 almost all North Germany was won. Duke Henry of Brunswick alone held out for the old faith.

§ 134.1. The Schmalcald Articles, A.D. 1537.―In A.D. 1535 Paul III. sent his legate Vergerius (§ 139, 24) into Germany to fix a place of meeting for the council. At Wittenberg he conferred with Luther and Bugenhagen, who scarcely expecting the council were indifferent as to the place. The council was formally summoned to meet at Mantua on May 23rd, A.D. 1537. At a diet at Schmalcald in Feb., A.D. 1537, the Protestants stated their demands. Luther, by the elector’s orders, had drawn up the articles of which the council must treat. These Schmalcald Articles are distinctly polemical, and indicate boldly the limits of the papal hierarchy demanded by evangelicals. The first part states briefly four uncontested positions on the Trinity and the Person of Christ; the second part deals with the office and work of Christ or our redemption, and marks abruptly the points of difference between the two confessions; the third part treats of those points which the council may further discuss. In the second part Luther unconditionally rejected the primacy of the pope, as not of Divine right and inconsistent with the character of a true evangelical Church. When the articles had been subscribed by the theologians, Melanchthon added under his name: “As to the pope, I hold that if he will not oppress the gospel, for the sake of the peace and unity of those Christians who are or may be under him, his superiority over bishops jure humano might be allowed by us.” Melanchthon’s tracts on “The Power of the Pope” and the “Jurisdiction of Bishops” were also subscribed by the theologians and added to the Schmalcald Articles. It was then decided that in order to secure a free Christian council it must be held in a German city. The elector even made the bold proposal to have a counter-council summoned, say, at Augsburg, by Luther and his fellow bishops.

§ 134.2. The League of Nuremberg, A.D. 1538.―The Protestant princes were astonished at the close of the Schmalcald convention to be told by Vice-Chancellor Held, on behalf of the emperor, that he did not recognise the Peace of Cadau or the Vienna Compact, and that the prosecutions would be resumed. They therefore resumed their old attitude of opposition. But Held visited all the Catholic courts in order to complete the formation of a Catholic league for the suppression of Protestantism. Ferdinand, who knew well that Held exceeded his instructions, was very angry, for the emperor was in the greatest straits, but he could not offer direct opposition without offending the Catholic princes. So on July 10th, A.D. 1538, the Holy Alliance was actually formed at Nuremberg, embracing George of Saxony, Albert of Brandenburg, Henry and Eric of Brunswick, King Ferdinand, and the Archbishop of Salzburg. The Schmalcald nobles prepared to meet force with force. A general bloody engagement seemed unavoidable.

§ 134.3. The Frankfort Interim, A.D. 1539.―As the emperor needed help against Soliman, he recalled Held, and sent in his place John, formerly Archbishop of Leyden. The electors of Brandenburg and the Palatinate went as mediators with the new envoy to Frankfort, where negotiations were opened with the Protestants present, who demanded an unconditional, lasting peace, and a judiciary court with Protestant as well as Catholic members. These demands were at first refused, but pressing need obliged the emperor to reopen negotiations, proposing that a diet should be held, consisting of learned theologians and simple, peaceable laymen, to effect a final union of Christians in faith and worship. He would also grant suspension of all proceedings against the Protestants for eighteen months. The Protestants accepted in this “Frankfort Interim” what had been greatly sought for at the Diet of Nuremberg. It was a victory of the Schmalcald over the Nuremberg League. The public confidence in Protestantism grew, and the cause rapidly spread into new regions.

§ 134.4. The Reformation in Albertine Saxony, A.D. 1539.―Duke George of Saxony, A.D. 1500-1539, was a devoted adherent of the old faith. Of his four sons only one survived, and he almost imbecile. He had him married, but he died two months after the marriage. The old prince was in perplexity, for his brother Henry, an ardent supporter of the Reformation, was his next heir. He could ill brook the idea of having the whole work of his life immediately undone. On the day of the death of his last son he proposed to his nobles a scheme of succession, according to which his brother Henry should succeed him only if he joined the Nuremberg League; otherwise it should go to the emperor or the King of Rome. Duke Henry rejected the proposal, and Duke George died before he could produce another scheme. With loud rejoicing the people received their new prince, and their allegiance was sworn to him at Leipzig. Luther was there, for the first time for twenty years, and preached with extraordinary success. The Reformation proceeded rapidly throughout the whole district. The King of Rome wished indeed to question George’s claim, but the Schmalcald League resolved to stand by him, so that Ferdinand thought it prudent to take no further steps.

§ 134.5. The Reformation in Brandenburg and Neighbouring States, A.D. 1539.―Henry of Neumark joined the Schmalcald League, and introduced the Reformation into his territories; but his brother Joachim II. of Brandenburg, A.D. 1535-1571, for several years adhered to the old faith without forbidding evangelical preaching, which gradually made an impression on his own mind. In the beginning of A.D. 1539, with the approval of his nobles, he gave his adhesion to the reformed doctrines. The city of Berlin asked for communion in both kinds, and a considerable section of the nobles of Brandenburg expressed a hearty longing for the pure gospel. On November 1st, A.D. 1539, Joachim assembled all the preachers of his land in the Nicolai Church at Spandau, the Bishop of Brandenburg held the first evangelical communion, and the whole court and many knights received the communion in both kinds. The people followed the example of the prince. Joachim sketched a service which let several of the old ceremonies remain, but justification by faith was the central point of the doctrine, and communion in both kinds the centre of the worship. The Duchess Elizabeth of Calenberg-Brunswick followed her brother’s example. After the death of her husband Eric, who was otherwise minded, she exercised her influence as regent for the spread of the reformed religion. The Cardinal-archbishop and Elector of Mainz, Albert of Brandenburg, sought to preserve his archiepiscopal diocese of Magdeburg, but his constant calls for money would be responded to only on condition that he granted liberty of preaching. At his Halle residence he made vigorous resistance, but there too was obliged to yield. Before his eyes, Justus Jonas, Luther’s most trusted friend and fellow labourer, Prof. and Provost of Wittenberg since A.D. 1521, carried on the work of Reformation in the city. The cardinal, in a rage, left Halle and the “idol of Halle” (§ 123, 8) for Mainz.―Mecklenburg also about this time adopted the evangelical constitution, mainly promoted by one of its princes, Magnus Bishop of Schwerin. The Abbess of Quedlinburg, Anna von Stolberg, had not ventured, so long as Duke George of Saxony lived, to bring forward her evangelical confession; but now without opposition she reformed her convent and the city.

§ 135. Union Attempts of A.D. 1540-1546.

The Frankfort Interim revived the idea of a free union among those who in the main agreed upon matters of faith and worship. With the object of realizing this idea a whole series of religious conferences were held. But near as its realization at one time seemed to be all the measures taken proved one after another abortive, because the emperor would not recognise the conclusions of any conference at which a papal legate was not present. And just at this time, when the imposing might of the Protestant nobles excited the brightest hopes, the Protestant princes themselves laid the grounds of their deepest humiliation: the landgrave by his double marriage, and the elector by his quarrels with the ducal Saxon court.

§ 135.1. The Double Marriage of the Landgrave, A.D. 1540.―Landgrave Philip of Hesse had married Christina, a daughter of the deceased Duke George of Saxony. Various causes had led to an estrangement between them, and a strong sensuous nature, which he had been unable to control, had driven him to repeated acts of unfaithfulness. His conscience reproved him; he felt himself unworthy to be admitted to communion, great as his desire for it was, and doubted of his soul’s salvation. From regard to his wife he could not think of a divorce. Then came the idea, suggested by the O.T. polygamy that had not been abrogated in the N.T., that with consent of his wife he might enter into a regular second marriage with Margaret von der Saale, one of his sister’s lady’s-maids. In Nov., A.D. 1539, he sent Bucer to Wittenberg in order to get the advice of Luther and Melanchthon. The alternative was either continued adultery, or an honourable married life with a second wife taken with consent of the first. Luther and Melanchthon entreated him earnestly for his own and for the gospel’s sake to avoid this terrible scandal, but haltingly admitted that the latter alternative was less heinously wicked than the former. They added, however, that in order to avoid scandal the marriage should be private, and their answer regarded not as a theological opinion, but confidential counsel. The landgrave had the marriage consummated in May, A.D. 1540. But the story soon spread. The court of Albertine Saxony was deeply incensed, the elector beside himself with rage, the theologians in most extreme embarrassment. Melanchthon started to attend a religious conference at Hagenau, but the excitement over the unhappy business prostrated him on a sick-bed at Weimar. The emperor threatened Philip with the infliction of capital punishment, which by the law of the empire was attached to the crime of bigamy. At last the elector called a convention of Saxon and Hessian theologians at Eisenach to consult about the matter. Luther refused to treat it as a question of law, and demanded absolute privacy as the condition of permission. Among the opponents of the Reformation, it was Duke Henry of Brunswick who insisted upon exacting the utmost penalties of the law. He indeed was least fitted by his own character to assume the part of defender of morals. It was well known that he was then living in adultery with Eva von Trott, after her pretended death and burial. In his perplexity, Philip turned to the imperial chancellor Granvella, who was willing to intercede for him, but on conditions to which the landgrave could not accede. At last, at the Diet of Regensburg, in A.D. 1541, Philip undertook to further the imperial interests and to join no union in any way inimical to these; and upon these terms the emperor agreed to grant him a full indemnity.

§ 135.2. The Religious Conference at Worms, A.D. 1540.―Negotiations for peace with France having failed, the emperor still required the support of the Protestant party. He therefore agreed to the holding of a religious conference at Worms, in order to reach if possible a good mutual understanding on the basis of Holy Scripture. It was held in Nov., A.D. 1540, under the presidency of Granvella. On one side were Melanchthon, Bucer, Capito, Brenz, and Calvin; on the other, Eck, Gropper, canon of Cologne, the Spaniard Malvenda, etc. But the emperor had insisted on the papal nuncio Marone taking part, and this, contrary to his intention, brought the whole affair to naught. For Marone first of all presented a number of formal objections, and when at last, in Jan., A.D. 1541, the conference began, and awakened the utmost apprehensions for the papacy, he rested not till Granvella, even before the first article on original sin had been discussed, dissolved the conference in the name and by command of the emperor. But the emperor did not give up the idea of conciliation, and called a diet at Regensburg, at which the negotiations were to be renewed.

§ 135.3. The Religious Conference at Regensburg, A.D. 1541.―The diet at Regensburg was opened on April 5th, A.D. 1541. The emperor, anxious to reach a peaceable conclusion, named as members of the conference Eck, Gropper, and Julius von Pflugk, Dean of Meissen, on the one side; and Melanchthon, Bucer, and Pistorius, on the other side; with Granvella and Frederick, count-palatine, as presidents. The nuncio Contarini was representative of the curia. By such a gathering the emperor hoped to reach the wished for conclusion. In Italy (§ 139, 22) there had sprung up a number of men well instructed in Scripture, who sought to reform the doctrine of the church by adopting the principle of justification by faith without touching the primacy of the pope and the whole hierarchical system. Contarini was one of the leaders of this party. He had come to an understanding with the emperor that justification by faith, the use of the cup in communion by the laity, and marriage of priests should be allowed for Germany, and that, on the other hand, the Protestants were to agree to the primacy of the pope. The justitia imputativa was acknowledged by both parties; and even when Contarini, on the basis of that imputation, insisted upon a justitia inhærens, i.e. not merely a declaring but a making righteous, seeing that he grounded it solely on the merits of Christ, the Protestants acquiesced. Differences arose over the doctrine of the church, which were reserved for another occasion. And now they came to the sacrament of the altar. Communion in both kinds was agreed to by both; but trouble arose over the word transubstantiation. Not only Eck, who had opposed all concessions, but even Contarini, who had his orders from Rome, would not yield. No more would the Protestants. The conference had therefore to be dissolved. The emperor wished both parties to accept the articles agreed on as a common standard, and to have toleration granted upon the disputed points; but the Catholic majority would not agree to this. The Regensburg Interim, therefore, as the decision of the diet is usually called, extends the Nuremberg Peace (§ 133, 2) to all presently members of the Schmalcald League, and enforced upon Protestants only the accepted articles.

§ 135.4. The Regensburg Declaration, A.D. 1541.―The emperor, in order to satisfy the naturally dissatisfied Protestants, made a special declaration, annulling the prosecutions decree of the Augsburg Diet and relieving the adherents of the Augsburg Confession from all disabilities. Also the injunction that no one should withhold their dues from the clergy was extended to the Protestant ministers. But on the very day when the declaration was issued the emperor held a private session with the Catholic majority, in which the Nuremberg League was renewed and the pope received into it. Thus he hoped to receive help from all parties and to ward off internecine conflict till a more convenient season. He concluded a separate treaty with the landgrave and the Elector Joachim II., both undertaking to support imperial interests. The elector expressly promised not to join the Schmalcald League; and the landgrave promised to oppose all consorting of the league not only with foreign powers (England and France), but also with the Duke of Cleves, with whom the emperor had a standing feud. In return the landgrave was granted an amnesty for all previous delinquencies and undisturbed liberty in matters of religion. The emperor’s negotiations with the Elector of Saxony broke down over the Cleves dispute, for the Duke of Cleves was his brother-in-law.

§ 135.5. The Naumburg Bishopric, A.D. 1541, 1542.―Since A.D. 1520 the Lutheran doctrines had spread in the diocese of Naumburg. When the bishop died, in A.D. 1511, the chapter elected the learned and mild provost Julius von Pflugk. But the elector regarded it as proper in a Lutheran state to have a Lutheran bishop, and so refused to confirm Pflugk’s appointment, and had Nic. von Arnsdorf (§ 127, 4) ordained bishop by Luther, in A.D. 1542, “without chrism, butter, suet, lard, tar, grease, incense, and coals.” The civil administration of the diocese was committed to an electoral officer; Arnsdorf was satisfied with the small income of 600 florins and the rest of the revenues were applied to pious uses. After the battle of Mühlberg, in A.D. 1547, Arnsdorf was expelled and Pflugk restored. On his death in 1564, the chapter, though then Lutheran, did not restore Arnsdorf, but gave over the administration to a Saxon prince. The elector’s violent procedure in this case caused great offence to the Albertine court. Duke Henry had died in A.D. 1541, and was succeeded by his son Maurice. The elector and the young duke quarrelled over a question of jurisdiction, and it was only with great difficulty that Luther and the landgrave managed to effect a peaceful solution of the dispute. But the mutual estrangement and rivalry between the courts soon afterwards broke out in a violent form.

§ 135.6. The Reformation in Brunswick and the Palatinate, A.D. 1542-1546.―Duke Henry of Brunswick accused the city of Goslar of the destruction of two monasteries, and in spite of all the concessions to Protestants the court pronounced the ban against the city, and empowered Henry to carry it out. The elector and the landgrave, acting for the Schmalcald League in defence of the city, entered Henry’s territory in A.D. 1542 and conquered it. The gospel was now preached, and an evangelical constitution was given to Brunswick by Bugenhagen. This completed the conquest of North Germany for the gospel.―In South Germany Regensburg received the Reformation in A.D. 1542; but Bavaria, owing to Ferdinand’s influence, gave no place to the heretics. In the Upper Palatinate evangelical preachers had for a long time been tolerated. The young prince of the Neuburg Palatinate in A.D. 1543 called Osiander from Nuremburg [Nuremberg], and joined the Schmalcald League. The Elector-palatine Louis died in A.D. 1543. His brother Frederick II., who succeeded him was not unfavourable to the Reformation, and formally introduced it into his dominions in A.D. 1546. Even in Austria evangelical views made such advance that Ferdinand neither could nor would attempt those violent measures that he had previously tried.

§ 135.7. The Reformation in the Electorate of Cologne, A.D. 1542-1544.―Hermann von Weid (§ 133, 5), Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, now far advanced in life, by the study of Luther’s Bible had convinced himself of the scripturalness of the Augsburg Confession. He resolved to reform his province in accordance with God’s word. At the Bonn Assembly of March, A.D. 1542, he made known his plan, and found himself supported by his nobles. He invited Bucer to inaugurate the work, and he was soon joined by Melanchthon. In July, A.D. 1543, the elector laid before the nobles his Reformation scheme, and they unanimously accepted it. The cathedral chapter and the university opposed it in the interests of the papacy; also the Cologne council from fear of losing their authority. Nevertheless the movement advanced, and it was hoped that the opposition would gradually be overcome. Cologne was to remain after as before an ecclesiastical principality, but with an evangelical constitution. The Bishop of Münster prepared to follow the example, and had the work in Cologne been lasting, certainly many others would have pursued the same course.

§ 135.8. The Emperor’s Difficulties, A.D. 1543, 1544.―Soliman in A.D. 1541 had overrun Hungary, converted the principal church into a mosque, and set a pasha over the whole land, which now became a Turkish province. Aid against the Turks was voted at a diet at Spires in the beginning of A.D. 1542, and the Protestants were left unmolested for five years after the conclusion of the war. The campaign against the Turks led by Joachim II. was unsuccessful. Meanwhile new troubles arose with France, and Soliman prepared for a second campaign. The emperor now summoned a diet to meet at Nuremberg, Jan., A.D. 1543. Ferdinand was willing to grant to the Protestants the Regensburg Declaration, but William of Bavaria would rather see the whole world perish or the crescent ruling over all Germany. In summer of A.D. 1543 the emperor was beset with dangers from every side; France attacked the Netherlands, Soliman conquered Grau, the Danes closed the Sound against the subjects of the emperor, a Turco-French fleet held sway in the Mediterranean and had already taken Nizza, and the Protestants were assuming a threatening attitude. Christian III. of Denmark and Gustavus Vasa of Sweden asked to be received into the Schmalcald League. The Duke of Cleves, too, broke his truce. This roused the emperor most of all. He rushed down upon Cleves and Gelderland, and conquered them, and restored Catholicism. The emperor’s circumstances now improved: Cleves was quieted; Denmark and England came to terms with him. But his most dangerous enemies, Soliman and Francis I., were still in arms. He could not yet dispense with the powerful support of the Protestants.

§ 135.9. Diet at Spires, A.D. 1544.―In order to get help against the Turks and French, at the Diet of Spires, in Feb., A.D. 1544, the emperor relieved the Protestants of all disabilities, promised a genuine, free Christian council to settle matters in dispute, and, in case this should not succeed, in next autumn a national assembly to determine matters definitely without pope or council. The emperor promised to propose a scheme of Reformation, and invited the other nobles to bring forward schemes. After such concessions the Protestants went in heartily with the emperor’s political projects. He wished first of all help against the French. In the same year the emperor led against France an army composed mostly of Protestants, and in Sept., A.D. 1544, obliged the king to conclude the Peace of Crespy. The Turks had next to be dealt with, and the Protestants were eager to show their devotion to the emperor. In prospect of the national assembly the Elector of Saxony set his theologians to the composition of a plan of Reformation. This document, known as the “Wittenberg Reformation,” allows to the prelates their spiritual and civil functions, their revenues, goods, and jurisdiction, the right of ordination, visitation, and discipline, on condition that these be exercised in an evangelical spirit.

§ 135.10. Differences between the Emperor and the Protestant Nobles, A.D. 1545, 1546.―The pope by calling a council to meet at Trent sowed seeds of discord between the emperor and the Protestants. The emperor’s proposals of reform were so far short of the demands of the Protestants that they were unanimously rejected. The Reformation movement in Cologne had seriously imperilled the imperial government of the Netherlands. An attempt of Henry to reconquer Brunswick was frustrated by the combined action of the Landgrave of Hesse and the Duke of Saxony. Frederick II., elector-palatine, began to reform his provinces and to seek admission to the Schmalcald League. Four of the six electors had gone over, and the fifth, Sebastian, who after Albert’s death in A.D. 1545 had been, by Hessian and Palatine influence, made Elector of Mainz, had just resolved to follow their example. All these things had greatly irritated the emperor. He concluded a truce with the Turks in Oct., A.D. 1545, and arranged with the pope, who pledged his whole possessions and crown, for the campaign against the heretics. On 13th Dec., A.D. 1545, the pope opened the Council of Trent, and made it no secret that it was intended for the destruction of the Protestants. The emperor attempted to get the Protestants to take part. In Jan., A.D. 1546, a conference was held in which Cochlæus (§ 129, 1) and others met with Bucer, Brenz, and Major; but it was soon dissolved, owing to initial differences. The horrible fratricide committed at Neuburg upon a Spaniard, Juan Diaz, showed the Protestants how good Catholics thought heretics must be dealt with. The murderer was seized, but by order of the pope to the Bishop of Trent set again at liberty. He remained unpunished, but hanged himself at Trent A.D. 1551.

§ 135.11. Luther’s Death, A.D. 1546.―Luther died at Eisleben in his 63rd year on 18th Feb., 1546. During his last years he was harassed with heavy trials. The political turn that affairs had taken was wholly distasteful to him, but he was powerless to prevent it. In Wittenberg itself much was done not in accordance with his will. Wearied with his daily toils, suffering severe pain and consequent bodily weakness, he often longed to die in peace. In the beginning of A.D. 1546 the Counts of Mansfeld called him to Eisleben in order to compose differences between them by his impartial judgment. In order to perform this business he spent the three last weeks of his life in his birthplace, and, with scarcely any previous illness, on the night of the 18th Feb., he peacefully fell asleep in Jesus. His body was taken to Wittenberg and there buried in the castle church.

§ 136. The Schmalcald War, the Interim, and the Council, A.D. 1546-1551.

All attempts at agreement in matters of religion were at an end. The pope, however, had at last convened a council in a German city. The emperor hoped to conciliate the Protestants by bringing about a reformation after a fashion, removing many hierarchical abuses, conceding the marriage of the clergy, the cup to the laity, and even perhaps accepting the doctrine of justification. But he soon came to a rupture with the Protestants, and war broke out before the Schmalcald Leaguers were prepared for it. Their power, however, was far superior to that of the emperor; but through needless scruples, delays, and indecision they let slip the opportunity of certain victory. The power of the league was utterly destroyed, and the emperor’s power reached the summit of its strength. All Southern Germany was forced to submit to the hated interim, and in North Germany only the outlawed Magdeburg ventured to maintain, in spite of the emperor, a pure Protestant profession.

§ 136.1. Preparations for the Schmalcald War, A.D. 1546.―In consequence of variances among the members of the league the emperor conceived a plan of securing allies from among the Protestants themselves by a judicious distribution of favours. The Margrave Hans of Cüstrin and Duke Eric of Brunswick, the one cousin, the other son-in-law, of the exiled and imprisoned Duke of Wolfenbüttel, were ready to take part in war against the robbers of their friend’s dominions. Much more eager, however, was the emperor to win over the young Duke Maurice of Saxony. He tempted him with the promise of the electorate and the greater part of the elector’s territory, and was successful. The emperor could not indeed formally release any of them from submission to the council, but he promised in any case to reserve for their countries the doctrine of justification, the cup in lay communion, and the marriage of priests. Now when he was sure of Maurice the emperor proceeded openly with his preparations, and made no secret of his intention to punish those princes who had despised his imperial authority and taken to themselves the possessions of others. The Schmalcald Leaguers could no longer deceive themselves, and so they began their preparations. With such an open breach the Diet of Regensburg ended in June, A.D. 1546.

§ 136.2. The Campaign on the Danube, A.D. 1546.―Schärtlin, at the head of a powerful army, could have attacked the emperor or taken the Tyrol; but the council of war, listening to William of Bavaria, who professed neutrality, and hoping to win over Ferdinand, foolishly ordered delay. Thus the emperor gained time to collect an army. On 20th June, A.D. 1546, he issued from Regensburg a ban against the Landgrave Philip and the Elector John Frederick as oath-breaking vassals. These princes at the head of their forces had joined Schärtlin at Donauwörth [Donauwört]. Papal despatches fell into their hands, in which the pope proclaimed a crusade for the rooting out of heretics, promising indulgence to all who would aid in the work. Fatal indecision still prevailed in the council of war, and winter came on without a battle being fought. The news that Maurice had taken possession of the elector’s domains led the landgrave and the ex-elector to return home, and Schärtlin, for want of money and ammunition, was unable to face a winter campaign in Franconia. Thus the whole country lay open to the emperor. One city after another accepted terms more or less severe. In the beginning of A.D. 1547 he was master of all Southern Germany. Now at last he put an end to the Cologne movement (§ 135, 7). The pope had issued the ban against the archbishop in A.D. 1546, and now the emperor had the former coadjutor proclaimed archbishop and elector, in spite of the opposition of the nobles. Hermann was willing to secure the religious peace of his dominions by resignation, but this was refused, and being too weak to offer resistance, he resigned unconditionally. Thus the Rhine provinces were irretrievably lost to Protestantism.

§ 136.3. The Campaign on the Elbe, A.D. 1547.―After rapidly reconquering his own territories, the Elector John Frederick hastened with a considerable army to meet his enemy. At Mühlberg he suddenly came upon the emperor’s forces. There scarcely was a battle. His comparatively small armament melted away before the superior numbers of the imperial host, and the elector was taken prisoner on 24th April, A.D. 1547. He had already been sentenced to death as a rebel and heretic. It was deemed more prudent to require of him only the surrender of his fortresses. The pious prince willingly resigned all temporal dignities, but in matters of religion he was inflexible. He was sentenced to life-long imprisonment and his possessions were mostly given to Maurice. The Landgrave Philip, for want of money, ammunition, and troops, had been prevented from doing anything. The news of John Frederick’s misfortunes brought him almost to despair. Too powerless to offer opposition, he surrendered at discretion to the emperor. He was to prostrate himself before the emperor, surrender all his fortresses, neither now nor in future suffer enemies of the emperor in his lands, and for all his life to renounce all leagues, to liberate Henry of Brunswick and restore him to his dominions. The ceremony of prostration was performed at Halle on 19th July. The two electors with the landgrave then went by invitation to a supper with the Duke of Alba. After supper the duke declared the landgrave his prisoner. The elector’s remonstrances then with Alba and next day with the imperial councillors were all in vain. The emperor was equally deaf to all representations.

§ 136.4. The Council of Trent, A.D. 1545-1547.―The Council of Trent opened in Dec., A.D. 1545 (§ 149, 2). At the outset, contrary to the emperor’s wishes, the pope laid down conditions that excluded Protestants from taking part in it. Scripture and tradition were first discussed. The O.T. Apocrypha (§§ 59, 1; 161, 8) had equal authority assigned it with the other books of the O. and N.T., and the Vulgate was declared to be the only authentic text for theological discussions and sermons. Tradition was placed on equal terms alongside of Scripture, but its contents were carefully defined. Original sin was extinguished by baptism, and after baptism there is only actual transgression. The scholastic doctrine of justification was sanctioned anew, but accommodated as far as possible to Scripture phraseology; justification is the inward actual change of a sinner into a righteous man, not merely the forgiveness of sins, but pre-eminently the sanctification and renewal of the inner man. It is effected, not so much by the imputation of Christ’s merits, as by the infusion of habitual righteousness, which enables men to win salvation by works. It is not forensic, but a physical act of God, is wrought not once for all, and not by faith alone, but gradually by the free co-operation of the man. The emperor, who saw in these decisions the overthrow of his attempts at conciliation, was highly displeased, and wished at least to postpone their promulgation. The pope obeyed for a time; but when the emperor threatened to interfere in the proceedings of the council, he had the decrees published, Jan., A.D. 1547, and some weeks after, on the plea of a dangerous plague having broken out, removed the council to Bologna, where for the time proceedings were suspended.

§ 136.5. The Augsburg Interim, A.D. 1548.―At a diet at Augsburg in Sept., A.D. 1547, the Protestants declared themselves willing to submit to a council meeting again at Trent, and beginning afresh; but as the pope refused this, the emperor was obliged to plan an interim, which should form a standard for all parties till a settlement at a proper council should be reached. It granted the cup to the laity and marriage of priests, but held by the Tridentine doctrine of justification. It represented the pope as simply the highest bishop, in whom the unity of the church is visibly set forth. The right of interpreting Scripture was given exclusively to the church. The sacraments were enumerated as seven, and the doctrine of transubstantiation emphatically maintained. The duty of fasting, and seeking the intercession of the mother of God and the saints, observing all Catholic ceremonies of worship, processions, festivals, etc., was strictly insisted upon. The emperor was satisfied, and so too some of the Protestant princes. Maurice, however, felt that his people would not agree to its adoption. He gave at last a half assent, which the emperor accepted as approval. The emperor took no notice of those who opposed it, the presence of his Spaniards in their dominions would prevent all trouble. The emperor was not strong enough to force the Catholic nobles to accept his interim, and so its observance was to be binding only on the Protestants. Landgrave Philip, whose power was for ever broken, gave in, but nothing in the world would induce the noble John Frederick to submit. The pope too refused persistently to recognise the interim, and only in Aug., A.D. 1549, did he allow the bishops to agree to the concessions made by it to the Protestants.

§ 136.6. The Execution of the Interim had on all sides to be compulsorily enforced. Nuremberg, Augsburg, Ulm were one after another coerced into adopting it. Constance resisted, was put under the ban, and lost all privileges, till at last instead of the interim the papacy found entrance, and evangelical Protestantism got its death-blow. The other cities submitted to the inevitable. All preachers refusing the interim were exiled and persecuted. Over 400 true servants of the word wandered with wives and children through South Germany homeless and without bread. Frecht of Ulm was taken in chains to the emperor’s camp. Brenz, one of the most determined opponents of the interim, during his wanderings often by a miracle escaped capture. Much more lasting was the opposition in North Germany. In Magdeburg, still lying under the imperial ban, the fugitive opponents of the interim gathered from all sides, and there alone was the press still free in its utterances against the interim. A flood of controversial tracts, satires, and caricatures were sent out over all Germany. In Hesse and Brandenburg the princes were unable to enforce the obnoxious measures; still less could Maurice do so in the electorate.

§ 136.7. The Leipzig or Little Interim, A.D. 1549.―Maurice in his difficulties sent for Melanchthon. Since the death of Luther and the overthrow of John Frederick of Saxony, Melanchthon’s tendency to yield largely for peace’ sake had lost its wholesome checks. In writing to the minister Carlowitz, the bitterest foe of Luther and the elector, he even went so far as to complain of Luther’s combativeness. The result of various negotiations was the drawing up of a document at the assembly in Leipzig, 22nd December, A.D. 1548, by the Wittenberg theologians in accordance with the views of Melanchthon. This modified interim became the standard for religious practice in Saxony, and a directory of worship in harmony with it was drawn up by the theologians, and published in July, A.D. 1549. Calvin and Brenz wrote letters that cut Melanchthon to the heart. The measure was everywhere viewed by zealous Lutherans with indignation, and the Interim of Leipzig was even more hateful to the people than that of Augsburg. Imprisonment and exile were vigorously carried out by means of it, yet the revolution and ferment continued to increase.―The Leipzig Interim treated Romish customs and ceremonies almost as things indifferent, passed over many less essential doctrinal differences, and gave to fundamental differences such a setting as might be applied equally to the pure evangelical doctrine as to that of the Augsburg Interim. The evangelical doctrine of justification was essentially there, but it was not decidedly and unambiguously expressed; and still less were Romish errors sharply and unmistakably repudiated. Good works were said to be necessary, but not in the sense that one could win salvation by means of them. Whether good works in excess of the law’s demands could be performed was not explicitly determined. On church and hierarchy, the positions of the Augsburg Interim were simply restated. To the pope as the highest bishop, as well as to the other bishops, who performed their duties according to God’s will for edification and not destruction, all churchmen were to yield obedience. The seven sacraments were acknowledged, though in another than the Romish sense. In the mass the Latin language was again introduced. Images of saints were allowed, but not for worship; so too the festivals of Mary and of Corpus Christi, but without processions, etc.

§ 136.8. The Council again at Trent, A.D. 1551.―In September, A.D. 1549, Paul III. dissolved the council at Bologna, where it had done nothing. His successor, Julius III., A.D. 1550-1555, the nominee of the imperial party, acceded to the emperor’s wishes to have the council again held at Trent. The Protestant nobles declared their willingness to recognise it, but demanded the cancelling of the earlier proceedings, a seat and vote for their representatives. This the emperor was prepared to grant, but the pope and prelates would not agree. The council began its proceedings on 1st May, A.D. 1551, with the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Meanwhile the Protestants prepared a new confession, which might form the basis of their discussions in the council. Melanchthon, who was beginning to take courage again, sketched the Confessio Saxonica, or, as it has been rightly named, the Repetitio Confessionis Augustanæ, in which no trace of the indecision and ambiguity of the Leipzig Interim is to be found. The pure doctrine is set forth firmly, with even a polemical tone, though in a moderate and conciliatory manner. Brenz, who had been in hiding up to this time, by order of Duke Christopher of Württemberg, sketched for a like purpose the “Württemberg Confession.” In November, A.D. 1551, the first Protestants, lay delegates from Württemberg and Strassburg, appeared in Trent. They were followed in January by Saxon statesmen. On 24th January, A.D. 1552, these laid their credentials before the council, but, notwithstanding all the effort of the imperial commissioners, they could not gain admission. In March the Württemberg and Strassburg theologians arrived, with Brenz at their head, and Melanchthon, with two Leipzig preachers, was on the way, when suddenly Maurice put an end to all their well concerted plans.

§ 137A. Maurice and the Peace of Augsburg A.D. 1550-1555.

In the beginning of A.D. 1550 the affairs of the Reformation were in a worse condition than ever before. In the fetters of the interim, it was like a felon on whom the death sentence was about to be passed. Then just at the right time appeared the Elector Maurice as the man who could break the fetters and lead on again to power and honour. His betrayal of the cause had brought Protestantism to the verge of destruction; his betrayal of the emperor proved its salvation. The Compact of Passau guaranteed to Protestants full religious liberty and equal rights with Catholics until a new council should meet. The Religious Peace of Augsburg removed even this limitation, and brought to a conclusion the history of the German Reformation.

§ 137.1. The State of Matters in A.D. 1550.―It was a doleful time for Germany. The emperor at the height of his power was laying his plans for securing the succession in the imperial dignity to his son Philip of Spain. In a bold, autocratic spirit he trampled on all the rights of the imperial nobles, and contrary to treaty he retained the presence of Spanish troops in the empire, which daily committed deeds of atrocious violence. The deliverance of the landgrave was stubbornly refused, though all the conditions thereof were long ago fulfilled. Protestant Germany groaned under the yoke of the interim; the council would only confirm this, if not rather enforce something even worse. Only one bulwark of evangelical liberty stood in the emperor’s way, the brave, outlawed Magdeburg. But how could it continue to hold out? Down to autumn, A.D. 1552, all attempts to storm the city had failed. Then Maurice undertook, by the order of the emperor and at the cost of the empire, to execute the ban.

§ 137.2. The Elector Maurice, A.D. 1551.―Maurice had lost the hearts of his own people, and was regarded with detestation by the Protestants of Germany, and notwithstanding imperial favour his position was by no means secure. Yet he was too much of the German and Protestant prince to view with favour the emperor’s proceedings, while he felt indignant at the illegal detention of his father-in-law. In these circumstances he resolved to betray the emperor, as before he had betrayed to him the cause of Protestantism. A master in dissimulation, he continued the siege of Magdeburg with all diligence, but at the same time joined a secret league with the Margrave Hans of Cüstrin and Albert of Franconian Brandenburg, as also with the sons of the landgrave, for the restoration of evangelical and civil liberty, and entered into negotiations with Henry II. of France, who undertook to aid him with money. Magdeburg at last capitulated, and Maurice entered on 4th November, A.D. 1551. Arrears of pay formed an excuse for not disbanding the imperial troops, and, strengthened by the Magdeburg garrison and the auxiliary troops of his allies, he threw off the mask, and issued public proclamations in which he brought bitter charges against the emperor, and declared that he could no longer lie under the feet of priests and Spaniards. The emperor in vain appealed for help to the Catholic princes. He found himself without troops or money at Innsbrück, which could not stand a siege, and every road to his hereditary territories seemed closed, for where the leagued German princes were not the Ottomans on sea and the French on land were ready to oppose him. Maurice was already on the way to Innsbrück “to seek out the fox in his hole.” But his troops’ demands for pay detained him, and the emperor gained time. On a cold, wet night he fled, though not yet recovered from fever, over the mountains covered with snow, and found refuge in Villach. Three days after Maurice entered Innsbrück; the council had already dissolved.

§ 137.3. The Compact of Passau, A.D. 1552.―Before the flight of the emperor from Innsbrück, Maurice had an interview with Ferdinand at Linz, where, besides the liberation of the landgrave, he demanded a German national assembly for religious union, and till it met unconditional toleration. The emperor, notwithstanding all his embarrassments, would not listen to the proposal. Negotiations were reopened at Passau, and Maurice’s proposals were in the main accepted. Ferdinand consented, but the emperor would not. Ferdinand himself travelled to Villach and employed all his eloquence, but unconditional toleration the emperor would not grant. His stubbornness conquered; the majority gave in, and accepted a compact which gave to the Protestants a full amnesty, general peace, and equal rights, till the meeting of a national or œcumenical council, to be arranged for at the next diet. Meanwhile the emperor had made great preparations. Frankfort was his main stronghold, and against it Maurice now advanced, and began the siege. Matters were not promising, when the Passau delegate appeared in his camp with the draft of the terms of peace. Had he refused his signature, the ban would have been pronounced against him, and his cousin would have been restored to the electorate. He therefore subscribed the document. With difficulty Ferdinand secured the subscription of the emperor, who believed himself to be sufficiently strong to carry on the battle. The two imprisoned princes were now at last liberated, and the preachers exiled by the interim were allowed to return. John Frederick died in A.D. 1554, and the Landgrave Philip in A.D. 1567.

§ 137.4. Death of Maurice, A.D. 1553.―The Margrave Albert of Brandenburg had been Maurice’s comrade in the Schmalcald war, and with him also he turned against the emperor. But after the ratification of the Passau Compact, to which he was not a party, Albert continued the war against the prelates and their principalities. He now fell out with Maurice, and was taken into his service by the emperor, who not only granted him an amnesty for all his acts of spoliation and breaches of the truce, but promised to enforce recognition of him from all the bishops. Albert therefore helped the emperor against the French, and then carried his conquests into Germany. Soon an open rupture occurred between him and Maurice. In the battle of Sievershausen Maurice gained a brilliant victory, but received a mortal wound, of which he died in two days. Albert fled to France. The rude soldier was broken down by misfortune, the religious convictions of his youth awakened, and the composition of a beautiful and well-known German hymn marks the turning point in his life. He died in A.D. 1557.―The year 1554 was wholly occupied with internal troubles. A desire for a lasting peace prevailed, and the calamities of both parties brought Protestants and Catholics nearer to one another. Even Henry of Brunswick was willing to tolerate Protestantism in his dominions.

§ 137.5. The Religious Peace of Augsburg, A.D. 1555.―When the diet met at Augsburg in February, A.D. 1555, the emperor’s power was gone. To save his pride and conscience he renounced all share in its proceedings in favour of his brother. The Protestant members stood well together in claiming unconditional religious freedom, and Ferdinand inclined to their side. Meanwhile Pope Julius died, and the cardinals Morone and Truchsess hasted from the diet to Rome to take part in the papal election. The Catholic opposition was thus weakened in the diet. The Protestants insisted that the peace should apply to all who might in future join this confession. This demand gave occasion to strong contests. At last the simple formula was agreed upon, that no one should be interfered with on account of the Augsburg Confession. But a more vehement dispute arose as to what should happen if prelates or spiritual princes should join the Protestant party. This was a vital question for Catholicism, and acceptance of the Protestant view would be its deathblow. It was therefore proposed that every prelate who went over would lose, not only his spiritual rank, but also his civil dominion. But the opposition would not give in. Both parties appealed to Ferdinand, and he delayed giving a decision. Advice was also asked about the peace proclamation. The Protestants claimed that the judges of the imperial court should be sworn to observe the Religious Peace, and should be chosen in equal numbers from both religious parties. On 30th Aug. Ferdinand stated his resolution. As was expected, he went with the Catholics in regard to prelates becoming Protestants, but, contrary to all expectations, he also refused lasting unconditional peace. On this last point, however, he declared himself on 6th Sept. willing to yield if the Protestants would concede the point about the prelates. They sought to sell their concession as dearly as possible by securing to evangelical subjects of Catholic princes the right to the free exercise of their religion. But the Catholic prelates, on the ground of the territorial system (§ 126, 6) advocated by the Protestants themselves, would not give in. It was finally agreed that every noble in matters of religion had territorial authority, but that subjects of another faith, in case of the free exercise of their religion being refused, should have guaranteed unrestricted liberty to withdraw without loss of honour, property, or freedom. On 25th Sept., A.D. 1555, the decrees of the diet were promulgated. The Reformed were not included in the Religious Peace; this was first done in the Peace of Westphalia (§ 153, 2).

§ 137B. Germany after the Religious Peace.

The political importance of the Protestant princes was about equal to that of the Catholics; the Electors of Cologne, Mainz, and Treves were not more powerful than those of Saxony, the Palatinate, and Brandenburg; and the great array of Protestant cities, with almost all the minor princes, were not behind the combined forces of Austria and Bavaria. The maintenance of the peace was assigned to a legally constituted corporation of Catholic and Protestant nobles, which held power down to A.D. 1806. The hope of reaching a mutual understanding on matters of religion was by no means abandoned, but the continuance of the peace was to be in no way dependent upon its realization. A new attempt to effect a union, which like all previous efforts ended in failure, was soon made in the Worms Consultation. Equally unsuccessful was a union project of the emperor Ferdinand I. Protestantism could get no more out of the Catholic princes. A second attempt to protestantize the Cologne electorate broke down as the first had done (§ 136, 2).