A defensive alliance of Protestant cities and princes founded in 1531 to defend themselves against attacks by the Catholic imperial forces.
Within two decades of the start of the Reformation in 1517, different cities and princes had made their decisions as to whether they would remain in the Roman Catholic Church or follow in the path of the reformers. Politics became even more intertwined with religion, and violence was already a reality in the lives of many continental Europeans as a result, and civil war between the Protestant and Catholic cantons in Switzerland had broken out. In February 1531, the Schmalkaldic League (named after the city of Schmalkalden where the agreement was signed) was formed to defend themselves in the case of an attack by the Imperial army of Charles V. Fellow protestant states were welcome into the league but only if they were prepared to sign the Lutheran Augsburg Confession. Denmark and Norway joined the league. Henry VIII of England sent a delegation to explore the possibility of doing so if only for his own political advantage; England did not join the league in the end. The requirements of the confession deliberately excluded the Swiss.
Faced with a quiremire—with France was threatening war on him in the west and the Turks pushing against him on the east—Charles V petitioned the pope to call a council to resolve the religious conflict that was so badly gnawing away at his kingdom. When the pope dragged his feet, Charles summoned an imperial Diet to the German city of Speyer in Feb 1544. He declared that in exchange for the League's support, he was prepared to make concessions, suspending law suits against the Protestants in Germany, and promising to convene a national council to discuss further reformation. In response the pope convened the Council of Trent in 1545. In the end these promises came to nothing when war finally broke out between Charles and the League and the Protestant armies were smashed by Charles' at the Battle of Mühlberg in April 1547.
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