Schmalkaldic War - Aftermath

Aftermath

The captured Elector John Frederick I at first was sentenced to death, and, in order to obtain pardon, on 19 May 1547 signed the Capitulation of Wittenberg. He lost the electoral dignity and some minor Ernestine territories to his cousin Maurice, who was declared the new Saxon Elector on 4 June. Maurice with the aid of Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg tried to mediate in favour of his father-in-law Philip I of Hesse. The Landgrave delivered himself up in Halle, where he threw himself on the mercy of the Emperor. Charles V nevertheless had him immediately imprisoned, leaving the Electors upset by his haughty behaviour.

Although the imperial forces were victorious over the Protestant forces of the Schmalkaldic League, the ideas of Martin Luther had spread over the Empire such that they could not be suppressed with physical force. However on 15 May 1548 Charles V, feeling at the height of his power, dictated the Augsburg Interim to prepare the reintegration of the Protestants into the Catholic Church. The edict provoked another revolt by the Protestant princes in 1552, this time led by Elector Maurice of Saxony and backed by King Henry II of France. Charles V had to flee from the superior Lutheran forces and to cancel the Interim with the Peace of Passau, whereby John Frederick I of Saxony and Philip I of Hesse were released. An official settlement acknowledging the Protestant religion arrived three years later in the form of the Peace of Augsburg. The next year Charles V voluntarily abdicated in favour of his brother Ferdinand I.