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Smalcald

Smalcald, often spelled Schmalkald, refers to the Schmalkaldic League, a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes, free cities, and other estates within the Holy Roman Empire. It takes its name from Schmalkalden, a town in Thuringia where the alliance formed in 1531 as a political and religious union to protect the gains of the Reformation and resist imperial attempts to enforce Catholic uniformity.

Formed in the early 1530s, the league brought together major Protestant rulers and cities, including the Electorate

The Smalcald League sought to uphold Lutheran doctrine and secure freedoms against imperial decrees perceived as

The league's existence culminated in the Schmalkaldic War (1546–1547). The League was defeated, most decisively at

The Smalcald League remains a key event in the Protestant Reformation, illustrating the intersection of religious

of
Saxony,
the
Landgraviate
of
Hesse,
and
other
princes
and
towns
sympathetic
to
Lutheran
doctrine.
Its
members
pledged
mutual
defense
and
coordinated
political
and
military
action
to
safeguard
their
territorial
and
religious
rights
against
Emperor
Charles
V
and
his
policy
of
Catholic
restoration.
hostile
to
the
Reformation.
It
also
produced
religious
statements,
notably
the
Schmalkaldic
Articles
of
1537,
a
confessional
text
used
to
articulate
the
league’s
theological
position.
the
Battle
of
Mühlberg
in
1547,
and
it
was
subsequently
dissolved.
The
interim
period
saw
imperial
attempts
at
re-Catholicization,
culminating
in
the
Peace
of
Augsburg
in
1555,
which
recognized
Lutheranism
within
the
empire
and
established
cuius
regio,
eius
religio,
the
principle
that
the
ruler’s
religion
determined
the
religion
of
his
territory.
reform
and
political
power
in
early
modern
Europe.
It
is
also
linked
to
the
Schmalkaldic
Articles
and
the
broader
legal
and
theological
conflicts
that
shaped
the
era.