Schmalkaldic, << shmahl KAHL dihk, >> League was an alliance formed by German Protestant states of the Holy Roman Empire to defend themselves against Emperor Charles V and the empire’s Roman Catholic states. The league was formed in 1531, and the War of the Schmalkaldic League followed. The Protestants were defeated in 1547. However, the league’s aims were partly realized five years later in a treaty called the Peace of Passau. Charles V agreed to a temporary peace until a conference could settle matters. The conference, known as the Peace of Augsburg, took place in 1555. Under its terms, Lutheran churches were legally permitted for the first time in the Holy Roman Empire.
