It was not till 1546 A.D., the year of Luther's death,
that Charles V felt his hands free to suppress the rising tide of
Protestantism. By this time the Lutheran princes had formed a league for mutual
protection. Charles brought Spanish troops into Germany and tried to break up
the league by force. Civil war raged till 1555 A.D., when both sides agreed to
the Peace of Augsburg. It was a compromise. The ruler of each state—Germany
then contained over three hundred states—was to decide whether his subjects
should be Lutherans or Catholics. Thus the peace by no means established
religious toleration, since all Germans had to believe as their prince
believed. However, it recognized Lutheranism as a legal religion and ended the
attempts to crush the German Reformation.
LUTHERANISM IN SCANDINAVIA
Meanwhile Luther's doctrines spread into Scandinavian
lands. The rulers of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden closed the monasteries and
compelled the Roman Catholic bishops to surrender ecclesiastical property to
the crown. Lutheranism became henceforth the official religion of these three
countries.
