Second Schmalkaldic War Princes' Revolt | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the European wars of religion and the Protestant Reformation | |||||||||
Lucas Cranach jr.: Maurice of Saxony in armour (1578). | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Charles V |
The Second Schmalkaldic War,[1][2][3] also known as the Princes' Revolt[2] (German: Fürstenaufstand, Fürstenkrieg or Fürstenverschwörung), was an uprising of German Protestant princes led by elector Maurice of Saxony against the Catholic emperor Charles V that broke out in 1552. Historians disagree whether the war concluded the same year with the Peace of Passau in August,[1] or dragged on until the Peace of Augsburg in September 1555.[2][3] The Protestant princes were supported by King Henry II of France, who was a Catholic, but sought to use the opportunity to expand his territory in modern-day Lorraine.[1]
The war can be regarded as a continuation of the First Schmalkaldic War (1546–1547), in which Charles V and Maurice of Saxony jointly defeated the Schmalkaldic League of almost the same Protestant German princes. This previous conflict was settled by the Augsburg Interim, which left both camps unsatisfied, especially the princes who were forced to reconvert themselves and their population to Catholicism, although winning some concessions.