Note 617 — Chapter XIII

Heidrich, 34, 35. Driven by political necessity, William in 1543 finally took the decisive step, and declared himself ready to introduce the new religion into his dominions, in the hope of gaining aid from his brother-in-law against the Emperor. But the offer came too late. The political situation had changed once more, and the overcautious Elector now definitely and unconditionally refused the aid which he had before made dependent on William’s acceptance of Lutheranism. The lands of the Duke were invaded by the Imperial forces, and William was forced, at the treaty of Venlo, Sept. 7, 1543, to renounce all claims to Gelderland and Zutphen, to return to the Church of Rome, and to permit no religious innovations in Juliers and Berg. Subsequently, however, encouraged by the milder attitude of the Emperor Ferdinand towards the Reformers, he devoted himself with partial success to an attempt to effect a sort of compromise between the two faiths in his own possessions, and to establish there a purified and enlightened Catholic Church, ‘Erasmian’ in its tendencies, and in many respects approaching very closely to the tenets of the Augsburg Confession. Cf. Heidrich, 91–94, and the Life of William of Cleves in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vol. xliii. pp. 107–113.