Tudor Times is the online repository for all things Tudor and Stewart (1485–1625)

On 2nd August 1552, the Peace of Passau was signed, putting an end to thirty years of religious warfare in Germany. Whilst the Emperor, Charles V, had hoped to unite all of Germany in reconciliation to the Catholic faith, this had proved impossible. Lutheranism had gained a strong following, not only amongst the people, but also amongst many of the German princes.

The Schmalkaldic League had been formed after the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 which had given an ultimatum to the Lutherans to return to the Catholic fold. Formed by the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Elector of Saxony, it was a defensive league, promising mutual aid should their feudal overlord, the Emperor, attempt to re-impose Catholicism by force.

Although Charles had defeated the League in the field by 1547, he could not hope to maintain control as the League allied with France (mired in its own religious conflicts) and Protestantism had spread too far. The Peace of Passau brought the war to an end, pending a full resolution of religious differences to be undertaken at Augsburg. Eventually, at the Peace of Augsburg, it was agreed that local rulers could choose between the Catholic or the Lutheran faith – Calvinism and other Protestant faiths were not permitted.

On 1st August 1571, the siege of Famagusta, Cyprus, ended when the city fell to the Ottoman Empire. The previous year had been dominated in Central and Eastern Europe by war with the Ottoman Empire. Cyprus was one of the territories controlled by the Venetian Republic, and was an important part of their trading empire, but, surrounded as it was by Turkish lands, it was hard to protect. During the late 1560s Venice was aware that the Ottoman Sultan, Selim II had designs on Cyprus, but the Republic did not have sufficient money or troops to defend it successfully. The other European Powers were involved in their own wars – Spain was attempting to control the Netherlands, France was riven by religious conflict and the Empire was busy fending off the Turks in Hungary, before concluding a truce. The Ottomans duly invaded, and swiftly captured Nicosia and the north, before beginning the eleven month siege of Famagusta. Things were not all bad for the Greek Orthodox population, who had groaned under Venetian Catholic tyranny and were now granted liberty from serfdom.

On 31st July 1527, the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, brother of the Emperor Charles V, and his wife, Anne of Bohemia, had a son, named Maximilian for his great-grandfather, Emperor Maximilian I. The young Maximilian was elected as Emperor in 1564. He remained theoretically, if not whole-heartedly, a Catholic, but he frequently sought reconciliation with German Protestants, whilst not always maintaining a warm relationship with his cousin and brother-in-law, Philip II of Spain. As well as being Emperor, Maximilian was King of Hungary and King of Bohemia (both inherited via the maternal line). During his reign, much of his time was taken up with defending his eastern borders from Turkish advances. Maximillian’s main residence was the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, where the block now called the Stallburg (Imperial Stables) was built for him in Renaissance style. By his wife, Maria of Austria (his first cousin), Maximilian had some sixteen children of whom two sons succeeded him as Emperor, and two daughters became Queens of Spain and France. Maximilian was elected as a member of the Order of the Garter in 1567.