Battle of Mühlberg
Woodcut of the battle from 1550
| date | April 24, 1547 |
|---|---|
| place | Muhlberg |
| output | Victory of the emperor and his allies |
| consequences | End of the Schmalkaldic League, Wittenberg surrender |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Elector Johann Friedrich I of Saxony |
Emperor Karl V , King Ferdinand I and Duke Moritz of Saxony |
| Troop strength | |
| 7,000 | 27,000 |
| losses | |
|
3000 dead, many prisoners |
50 dead |
In the Battle of Mühlberg (also known as the Battle of Lochauer Heide ), the army of Emperor Charles V defeated the troops of the Schmalkaldic League on April 24, 1547 . The leader of the Protestants, Elector Johann Friedrich von Sachsen , was taken prisoner. Thus the Schmalkaldic War was won for the emperor.
Course of the battle
The Protestant troops, consisting of around 7,000 soldiers under the leadership of Elector Johann Friedrich von Sachsen, were surprised in their field camp near Mühlberg . They were north of the Elbe on the march from Meißen via Mühlberg and Torgau to Wittenberg . On the morning of April 24th, they were preparing to march on towards Wittenberg. Only a few guards and gun emplacements secured the camp towards the Elbe, because the imperial troops were not expected to cross the river immediately. The Saxon elector believed the situation was under control because he and most of his officers took part in a Protestant service in one of the tents.
In the meantime, Spanish soldiers from Charles V's army had crossed the wide river, some swimming and some at a ford. There was fighting. The few guard soldiers from Electoral Saxony withdrew to the camp, fighting. Elector Johann Friedrich gave the order to retreat because his small army was not up to the 17,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 horsemen of the Catholic armed forces. But it was no longer possible to reach the heavily fortified towns of Torgau or Wittenberg in the Electoral Saxony region. Rather, the Protestant troops were crushed on the spot.
In a wood near Falkenberg , Spanish and Hungarian hussars surrounded the elector together with heavy Neapolitan riders. He struggled and was wounded in the face by a sword blow, then taken prisoner and first brought before the Duke of Alba , and finally before the Emperor himself.
Consequences of the battle
- The defeat at Mühlberg meant the end of the Schmalkaldic League. The Wittenberg surrender ended the Schmalkaldic War on May 19, 1547.
- Johann Friedrich lost the electoral dignity and large parts of his lands to the allied with Charles V, Duke Moritz of Saxony . The Ernestines only had the possessions in Thuringia ( Naumburg Treaty ).
- There was a definitive coin separation between the Ernestines and the Albertines.
- At the so-called armored Reichstag in Augsburg, the defeated Protestant princes and cities had to allow the Augsburg interim to be dictated to them.
- King Ferdinand I , who had stood by his brother against the German Protestants, now got a free hand to suppress the Bohemian class uprising directed against him.
- In addition, he punished the allegedly disobedient Oberlausitz towns in the Upper Lusatian Pönfall , whose troops began to disband on April 23, 1547 after the recruitment period had expired and were therefore no longer available for the battle the following day.
- The Dobrilugk monastery, occupied by troops from the Electorate of Saxony, was reunited with Lower Lusatia .
literature
- Wieland Held : 1547 - The battle near Mühlberg / Elbe. Decision on the way to the Albertine Electorate of Saxony. Sax-Verlag, Beucha 1997, ISBN 3-930076-43-8 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Battle of Mühlberg . muehlberg-elbe.de, accessed on May 27, 2020
