Convention in Schmalkalden
The ten meetings of the Protestant cities and territories during the Reformation in Schmalkalden are called the Schmalkalden Convention . This led to the signing of the Schmalkaldic Article and the establishment of the Schmalkaldic League .
prehistory
The imperial goodbye of Augsburg threatened the evangelical estates , which did not submit to Emperor Charles V, with execution for breach of the peace . Already on September 23, 1530, Elector Johann von Sachsen emphasized to representatives of the Upper German imperial cities how desirable an alliance of all Protestant princes and imperial cities was.
Landgrave Philipp von Hessen and Ulrich Zwingli continued to pursue their anti-Habsburg alliance policy despite the previous failures. On November 8, 1530, the Christian understanding between Hesse , Zurich , Basel and Strasbourg came about. For Philip, however, this alliance was not a substitute for the desired larger coalition, since the other cities of castle law did not follow. Zwingli, meanwhile, was preparing a new war against the five places. When they opened the fight in October 1531, it turned out to be extremely disastrous for Zurich. On October 11, the Zurich contingent was defeated in the Battle of Kappel . Zwingli, who accompanied the troops as field preacher, was killed. Even if the Reformation in Switzerland could not be reversed through the defeat of the people of Zurich , the failure in this war and Zwingli's death meant the end of Zurich's anti-Habsburg alliance plans and Philip's hopes for support from the Swiss cities.
Since anti-Habsburg alliances were directed against the emperor in every case , the discussion about the right to active resistance against the head of the empire revived. Although the princes had repeatedly disregarded the law and constitution of the empire without hesitation in many situations, jurists and theologians endeavored in reports and statements for their sovereigns to give the anti-imperial plans and deeds a coat of legality . Their theological and legal concerns arose from the view that the emperor was regarded as the authority of all worldly lordships and that they owed him obedience, even if he was doing injustice, because whoever opposed him is contrary to God's order.
But it also did not go unnoticed what consequences it could have if the subjects claimed such a right for themselves. The Nuremberg council clerk Lazarus Spengler recognized this clearly. What would follow from this, he asked, “when the Oberkait over the line, the undterthanen complained against billichait, that the Oberkait ampt and violence ceases, that the undterthanen are no longer obliged to obey, but get rid of them with violence and deed and want to chase away or chase away the superiors ”. Despite existing reservations , the situation that arose with the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 forced decisions to be taken, so that Luther and other theologians had to accept the arguments of the lawyers during negotiations in Torgau at the end of October 1530 that there was a right to armed resistance if the emperor breached the constitution .
procedure
The Elector of Saxony, Johann, invited representatives of Protestant cities and territories to Schmalkalden on December 22, 1530, in order to discuss the election of his brother Ferdinand as Roman king and the impending court proceedings against the secularizing princes and cities. The Schmalkalder deliberations soon turned into alliance negotiations, and on December 31, the participants agreed to provide joint assistance if the Supreme Court would institute a trial against one of them.
Almost all the signatories of the Confessio Augustana belonged to the alliance . The treaty was signed on February 27, 1531. He was elected by the Electorate of Saxony , Landgraviate of Hesse , Braunschweig-Grubenhagen , Braunschweig-Lüneburg , Anhalt-Bernburg , two Counts of Mansfeld and the cities of Biberach an der Riss , Bremen , Isny , Konstanz , Lindau , Lübeck , Magdeburg , Memmingen , Reutlingen , and Strasbourg Ulm at. Braunschweig , Einbeck , Esslingen am Neckar , Göttingen and Goslar followed later . The constitution of the federation, the Schmalkaldic Articles, marked it as a union against all attacks in matters of faith. This should also mean that the territorial powers also tried to defend their particular interests in this way. The leadership was in fact with the Electorate of Saxony and Hesse.
The Schmalkaldic League became the political and military fighting organization of Protestant princes who, on the basis of the constitution, secured a majority of the votes against the cities. Regardless of national interests, they also turned to foreign powers. The federal government could count on the support of France and temporarily also of England . The particularistic princely powers created an important instrument that allowed them to assert themselves against the emperor and to influence the course of the Reformation in territories and cities. The renewed threat of the Turks forced Charles V to admit the Nuremberg religious peace . With the assurance that all higher court proceedings in religious matters should be suspended until the next Reichstag and that no violence should be used, he bought the support of the Protestant estates for the defense against the Turks. While a large army was being assembled near Vienna , the Sultan contented himself with an advance on Graz , during which his troops devastated the country, and then withdrew. The pursuit could not be started because German and Italian mercenaries mutinied.
The implementation of the Edict of Worms was out of the question and other cities and territories joined the Reformation movement. This could now spread under the protection of the Schmalkaldic League. The most important success of the Prince Reformation was the annexation of Württemberg , which had been under Austrian administration since Duke Ulrich was expelled in 1519 and was transferred to Archduke Ferdinand in 1530. When the Swabian Federation was no longer able to act, Philipp von Hessen, financially supported by France, decided to forcibly repatriate the Duke of Württemberg to his country. The Austrian army was on 12./13. May 1534 defeated at Lauffen am Neckar . In the peace made in the small town of Kadaň on June 29, Ferdinand had to renounce Württemberg. Duke Ulrich was granted the right to reform his country.
With the connection of Württemberg to the Lutheran Reformation, the Reformation, which was shaped by the princes, gained predominance in the Upper German areas compared to the radical bourgeoisie influenced by Zwingli. In the same year the Reformation was introduced in Anhalt-Dessau and Pomerania . Under the impression of the successes of the Reformation movement, the endeavor became apparent in some Catholic territories to prevent or stop the penetration of Lutheran ideas with the help of reforms in some areas of society. Behind this, however, there was also the intention, as it was stated in the reform principles agreed between Kurköln and Jülich, that "the common man destobass may be kept in obedience to the superiority and furkhomen at first".
After Württemberg joined the Lutheran movement, another attempt was made to overcome the dichotomy between the Lutheran and the Zwinglische Reformation and to achieve a closer political union. Martin Bucer's efforts to involve the Swiss in the negotiations failed, but he was successful with the Upper German cities. A formula was agreed with them that produced broad agreement on the controversial question of the Lord's Supper. The Wittenberg Agreement was signed on May 26, 1536 . Even if the ideological differences were not completely eliminated and the Agreement was no substitute for the compromise sought in Marburg in 1529, since the Zwinglians were excluded, it did open the way for the connection of Upper German cities to the Schmalkaldic League and Lutheranism, but it did mean at the same time their turning away from Zwinglianism.
literature
- Theological Real Encyclopedia Volume 30, pp. 214-228.
- Illustrated history of the German early bourgeois revolution , Dietz, Berlin 1974.
- Martin Luther. Cities, sites, stations , Köhler and Amelang, Leipzig 1983.
- Rolf Decot : A Brief History of the Reformation in Germany. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2005, ISBN 3-451-28613-0 .
- Georg Buchwald and Karl Stockmeyer: The history of the German church and ecclesiastical art through the centuries , Wartenburg, Cologne 1924.