who had quickly succeeded in driving Maurice from his electorate. At
Mühlberg in April 1547 he overtook the army of the Saxon elector. His
victory was complete. John Frederick was taken prisoner, and a little
later Philip of Hesse, after vainly prolonging the struggle, was induced
to surrender. The rising in the other parts of northern Germany was
also put down, and the two leaders of political Lutheranism were
prisoners in the emperor's hands.
The "Interim."
Unable to shake the allegiance of John Frederick to the Lutheran faith,
Charles kept him and Philip of Hesse in captivity and began to take
advantage of his triumph, although Magdeburg was still offering a
stubborn resistance to his allies. By the capitulation of Wittenberg the
electorate of Saxony was transferred to Maurice, and in the mood of a
conqueror the emperor met the diet at Augsburg in September 1547. His
proposals to strengthen and reform the administration of Germany were,
however, not acceptable to the princes, and the main one was not
pressed; but the Netherlands were brought under the protection of the
Empire and some minor reforms were carried through. A serious quarrel
with the pope, who had moved the council from Trent to Bologna, only
increased the determination of Charles to establish religious
conformity. In consultation with both Romanist and Lutheran divines a
confession of faith called the _Interim_ was drawn up; this was in the
nature of a compromise and was issued as an edict in May 1548, but owing
to the opposition of the Romanist princes it was not made binding upon
them, only upon the Lutherans. There was some resistance to the
_Interim_, but force was employed against Augsburg and other
recalcitrant cities, and soon it was generally accepted. Thus all
Germany seemed to lie at the emperor's feet. The Reformation had enabled
him to deal with the princes and the imperial cities in a fashion such
as no sovereign had dealt with them for three centuries.
The imperial succession.
The revolt of Maurice of Saxony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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