Schmalkaldic War

Schmalkaldic War
Part of European wars of religion
Titian's Equestrian Portrait of Charles V (1548) celebrates Charles's victory at the Battle of Mühlberg.
Date 10 July 1546 – 23 May 1547 Location Holy Roman Empire Result Imperial victory[1] Capitulation of Wittenberg: Schmalkaldic League dissolved, Saxon electoral dignity passed to the Albertine House of Wettin
Belligerents
Holy Roman Empire  Habsburg Austria  Electorate of Saxony Bohemian Crown  Habsburg Spain Habsburg Hungary Supported by:  Papal States	Schmalkaldic League:  Electorate of Saxony Hesse Electoral Palatinate Bremen Lübeck Brunswick-Lüneburg Württemberg Pomerania-Wolgast Anhalt-Köthen Brandenburg-Küstrin Lesser German states Supported by:  England
Commanders and leaders
Charles V Ferdinand I Archduke Maximilian Duke of Alba Maurice of Wettin Ottavio Farnese	John Frederick I Philip I Frederick III Ulrich I Philip I Wolfgang Sebastian Schertlin von Burtenbach

The Schmalkaldic War (‹See Tfd›German: Schmalkaldischer Krieg; July 1546 – May 1547) was fought within the territories of the Holy Roman Empire between the allied forces of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Maurice, Duke of Saxony against the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, with the forces directly loyal to Charles fighting under the command of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba.

In the course of the Lutheran Reformation numerous Imperial States had adopted the new confession, against the opposition of the ruling Catholic House of Habsburg, who recognised these conversions as a quest for increasing autonomy to the detriment of the central Imperial authority.

At the 1521 Diet of Worms Emperor Charles V had Martin Luther subjected to an Imperial ban and the dissemination of his writings prohibited. The edicts of the Diet condemned Luther and officially banned citizens of the Holy Roman Empire from defending or propagating his ideas, subjecting advocates of Lutheranism to forfeiture of all property, half of the seized property to be forfeit to the imperial government and the remaining half forfeit to the party who brought the accusation. While it was understood that Luther was to be eventually arrested and punished, enforcement of this was suspended on account of the strength of his current popular appeal. After the Diets of Nuremberg failed to accomplish the goal of arresting Luther, the Diet of Speyer (1526) reversed course and temporarily suspended the Edict of Worms. This diet was condemned at the Diet of Speyer (1529), provoking the Protestation at Speyer and giving rise to the term "Protestant." This led to the presentation of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession and Catholic