ed to assist the Emperor with
200,000 Krontaler, more than 12,000 Italian soldiers, and quite a number
of horsemen. He furthermore permitted the Emperor to appropriate, for
the purpose of this war, one half of the total income of the church
property in Spain and 500,000 Krontaler from the revenue of the Spanish
cloisters.

While the Emperor endeavored to veil the real purpose of his
preparations, the Pope openly declared in a bull of July 4, 1546: "From
the beginning of our Papacy it has always been our concern how to root
out the weeds of godless doctrines which the heretics have sowed
throughout Germany.... Now it has come to pass that, by the inspiration
of the Holy Ghost, our dearest son in Christ, Charles, the Roman
Emperor, has decided to employ the sword against these enemies of God.
And for the protection of religion we intend to promote this pious
enterprise with all our own and the Roman Church's possessions.
Accordingly, we admonish all Christians to assist in this war with their
prayers to God and their alms, in order that the godless heresy may be
rooted out and the dissension removed.... To each and all who do these
things we grant the most complete indulgence and remission of all their
sins." (St. L. 17, 1453ff. Walther, 10.)

The Smalcald War, so called because it was directed against the Smalcald
League, was easily won by the Emperor. Among the causes of this
unfortunate issue were the neutral attitude of Joachim II of Brandenburg
and of other Lutheran princes, and especially the treachery of the
ambitious and unscrupulous Maurice, Duke of Saxony and nephew of Elector
John Frederick of Saxony, who, in order to gain the Electorate of
Saxony, had made a secret agreement with the Emperor according to which
he was to join his forces with those of the Emperor against the
Lutherans. The decisive battle was fought at Muehlberg on the Elbe,
April 24, 1547. It proved to be a crushing defeat for the Protestants.
The Elector himself was taken captive, treated as a rebel, and sentenced
to death. The sentence was read to him while he was playing chess with
his fellow-captive, Duke Ernest of Lueneburg. John Frederick answered,
he did not believe that the Emperor would deal so severely with him; if,
however, he were in earnest, they should let him know that he might
order his affairs with his wife and children. He then calmly turned to
the Duke, saying: "Let us continue the game; it's your move." (Jaekel,
_G. d. Ref