Cologne War

Cologne War
Part of European wars of religion
An engraving of a castle standing at the top of a steep hill, its walls being blown away in explosion and fire. The fortress is surrounded by mounted and foot soldiers, and several units of mounted soldiers are racing up the hill toward the castle on its peak.
Destruction of Godesburg fortress during the Cologne War, 1583; the walls were breached by mines, and most of the defenders were put to death.
Contemporary engraving by Frans Hogenberg.
Date1583–1588 (5 years)
Location
Result Roman Catholic victory
Belligerents

Black cross on white background Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, Prince-Elector, Cologne 1578–1588
House of Neuenahr-Alpen
House of Waldburg
House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken

House of Nassau
House of Solms-Braunfels and others
 Dutch Republic
Black cross on a white background Ernst of Bavaria Prince-Elector, Cologne, 1583–1612
House of Wittelsbach
Free Imperial City of Cologne
Philip of Spain, and for him:
House of Farnese
House of Isenburg-Grenzau
House of Mansfeld-Vorderort
House of Berlaymont-Flyon
and others
 Spanish Empire
Commanders and leaders
Johann Casimir of Simmern
Adolf, Count von Neuenahr
Karl, Truchsess von Waldburg
Martin Schenk von Nydedeck 
Friedrich Cloedt 
Ferdinand of Bavaria
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma
Karl von Mansfeld
Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
Claude de Berlaymont  
Salentin IX of Isenburg-Grenzau
Francisco Verdugo
Strength
variable: 10,000–28,000 until 1586 variable: 10,000–28,000 until 1586, plus 18,000–28,000 troops of the Spanish Army of Flanders after 1586
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

The Cologne War (German: Kölner Krieg, Kölnischer Krieg, Truchsessischer Krieg; 1583–1588) was a conflict between Protestant and Catholic factions that devastated the Electorate of Cologne, a historical ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire, within present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany. The war occurred within the context of the Protestant Reformation in Germany and the subsequent Counter-Reformation, and concurrently with the Dutch Revolt and the French Wars of Religion.

Also called the Seneschal's War (Truchsessischer Krieg) or the Seneschal Upheaval (Truchsessischer Wirren) and occasionally the Sewer War, the conflict tested the principle of ecclesiastical reservation, which had been included in the religious Peace of Augsburg (1555). This principle excluded, or "reserved", the ecclesiastical territories of the Holy Roman Empire from the application of cuius regio, eius religio, or "whose rule, his religion", as the primary means of determining the religion of a territory. It stipulated instead that if an ecclesiastical prince converted to Protestantism, he would resign from his position rather than force the conversion of his subjects.

In December 1582, Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, the Prince-elector of Cologne, converted to Protestantism. The principle of ecclesiastical reservation required his resignation. Instead, he declared religious parity for his subjects and, in 1583, married Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben, intending to convert the ecclesiastical principality into a secular, dynastic duchy. A faction in the Cathedral Chapter elected another archbishop, Ernst of Bavaria.

Initially, troops of the competing archbishops of Cologne fought over control of sections of the territory. Several of the barons and counts holding territory with feudal obligations to the Elector also held territory in nearby provinces: Westphalia, Liege, and the Southern, or Spanish Netherlands. Complexities of enfeoffment and dynastic appanage magnified a localized feud into one including supporters from the Electorate of the Palatinate and Dutch, Scots, and English mercenaries on the Protestant side, and Bavarian and papal mercenaries on the Catholic side. The conflict coincided with the Dutch Revolt, 1568–1648, encouraging the participation of the rebellious Dutch provinces and the Spanish. In 1586, the conflict expanded further, with the direct involvement of Spanish troops and Italian mercenaries on the Catholic side, and financial and diplomatic support from Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England on the Protestant side.

The war concluded with the victory of the Catholic archbishop Ernst, who expelled the Protestant archbishop Gebhard from the Electorate. This outcome consolidated Wittelsbach authority in north-west Germany and encouraged a Catholic revival in the states along the lower Rhine. More broadly, the conflict set a precedent for foreign intervention in German religious and dynastic matters, which would be widely followed during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48).