§ 137B. Germany after the Religious Peace.The political importance of the Protestant princes was about equal to that of the Catholics; the Electors of Cologne, Mainz, and Treves were not more powerful than those of Saxony, the Palatinate, and Brandenburg; and the great array of Protestant cities, with almost all the minor princes, were not behind the combined forces of Austria and Bavaria. The maintenance of the peace was assigned to a legally constituted corporation of Catholic and Protestant nobles, which held power down toA.D.1806. The hope of reaching a mutual understanding on matters of religion was by no means abandoned, but the continuance of the peace was to be in no way dependent upon its realization. A new attempt to effect a union, which like all previous efforts ended in failure, was soon made in the Worms Consultation. Equally unsuccessful was a union project of the emperor Ferdinand I. Protestantism could get no more out of the Catholic princes. A second attempt to protestantize the Cologne electorate broke down as the first had done (§136, 2).
The political importance of the Protestant princes was about equal to that of the Catholics; the Electors of Cologne, Mainz, and Treves were not more powerful than those of Saxony, the Palatinate, and Brandenburg; and the great array of Protestant cities, with almost all the minor princes, were not behind the combined forces of Austria and Bavaria. The maintenance of the peace was assigned to a legally constituted corporation of Catholic and Protestant nobles, which held power down toA.D.1806. The hope of reaching a mutual understanding on matters of religion was by no means abandoned, but the continuance of the peace was to be in no way dependent upon its realization. A new attempt to effect a union, which like all previous efforts ended in failure, was soon made in the Worms Consultation. Equally unsuccessful was a union project of the emperor Ferdinand I. Protestantism could get no more out of the Catholic princes. A second attempt to protestantize the Cologne electorate broke down as the first had done (§136, 2).
§ 137.6.The Worms Consultation,A.D.1557.—Another effort was made after the failure of the council in the interests of union. Catholic and Protestant delegates under the presidency of Pflugk met at Worms inA.D.1557. At a preliminary meeting the princes of Hesse, Württemburg [Württemberg], and the Palatinate adopted the Augsburg Confession as bond of union and standard for negotiations. The Saxon delegates insisted upon a distinct repudiation of the interim and the insertion of other details, which gave the Catholics an excuse for putting an end to the negotiations. They had previously expressly refused to acknowledge Scripture as the unconditional and sole judge of controversies, as that was itself a matter in dispute (§136, 4).§ 137.7.Second Attempt at Reformation in the Electorate of Cologne,A.D.1582.—The Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, Gebhard Truchsess of Waldburg went over inA.D.1582 to the Protestant Church, married the Countess Agnes of Mansfeld, proclaimed religious freedom, and sought to convert his ecclesiastical principality into a temporal dominion. His plan was acceptable to nobles and people, but the clergy of his diocese opposed it with all their might. The pope thundered the ban against him, and Emperor Rudolph II. deposed him. The Protestant princes at last deserted him, and the newly elected archbishop, Duke Ernest of Bavaria, overpowered him by an armed force. The issue of Gebhard’s attempt struck terror into other prelates who had been contemplating similar moves.§ 137.8.The German Emperor.—Ferdinand I.,A.D.1556-1564, conciliatory toward Protestantism, thoroughly dissatisfied with the Tridentine Council, once and again made attempts to secure a union, which all ended in failure.Maximilian II.,A.D.1564-1576, imbued by his tutor, Wolfgang Severus, with an evangelical spirit, which was deepened under the influence of his physician Crato von Crafftheim (§141, 10), gave perfect liberty to the Protestants in his dominions, admitted them to many of the higher and lower offices of state, kept down the Jesuits, and was prevented from himself formally going over to Protestantism only by his political relations with Spain and the Catholic princes of the empire. These relations, however, led to the adoption of half measures, out of which afterwards sprang the Thirty Years’ War. His sonRudolph II.,A.D.1576-1612, educated by Jesuits at the Spanish court, gave again to that order unlimited scope, injured the Protestants on every side, and was only prevented by indecision and cowardice from attempting the complete suppression of Protestantism.
§ 137.6.The Worms Consultation,A.D.1557.—Another effort was made after the failure of the council in the interests of union. Catholic and Protestant delegates under the presidency of Pflugk met at Worms inA.D.1557. At a preliminary meeting the princes of Hesse, Württemburg [Württemberg], and the Palatinate adopted the Augsburg Confession as bond of union and standard for negotiations. The Saxon delegates insisted upon a distinct repudiation of the interim and the insertion of other details, which gave the Catholics an excuse for putting an end to the negotiations. They had previously expressly refused to acknowledge Scripture as the unconditional and sole judge of controversies, as that was itself a matter in dispute (§136, 4).
§ 137.7.Second Attempt at Reformation in the Electorate of Cologne,A.D.1582.—The Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, Gebhard Truchsess of Waldburg went over inA.D.1582 to the Protestant Church, married the Countess Agnes of Mansfeld, proclaimed religious freedom, and sought to convert his ecclesiastical principality into a temporal dominion. His plan was acceptable to nobles and people, but the clergy of his diocese opposed it with all their might. The pope thundered the ban against him, and Emperor Rudolph II. deposed him. The Protestant princes at last deserted him, and the newly elected archbishop, Duke Ernest of Bavaria, overpowered him by an armed force. The issue of Gebhard’s attempt struck terror into other prelates who had been contemplating similar moves.
§ 137.8.The German Emperor.—Ferdinand I.,A.D.1556-1564, conciliatory toward Protestantism, thoroughly dissatisfied with the Tridentine Council, once and again made attempts to secure a union, which all ended in failure.Maximilian II.,A.D.1564-1576, imbued by his tutor, Wolfgang Severus, with an evangelical spirit, which was deepened under the influence of his physician Crato von Crafftheim (§141, 10), gave perfect liberty to the Protestants in his dominions, admitted them to many of the higher and lower offices of state, kept down the Jesuits, and was prevented from himself formally going over to Protestantism only by his political relations with Spain and the Catholic princes of the empire. These relations, however, led to the adoption of half measures, out of which afterwards sprang the Thirty Years’ War. His sonRudolph II.,A.D.1576-1612, educated by Jesuits at the Spanish court, gave again to that order unlimited scope, injured the Protestants on every side, and was only prevented by indecision and cowardice from attempting the complete suppression of Protestantism.