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====Why was the Peace of Augsburg necessary?====
[[File: Lucas Cranach d.Ä. (Werkst.) - Porträt des Martin Luther (Lutherhaus Wittenberg).jpg|300px|thumb|left|Portrait of Martin Luther]]
The Holy Roman Empire was a fragmented collection of largely independent states, of various sizes. The Holy Roman Emperor, who was a member of the House of Hapsburg directly ruled some of the lands, but in the rest of the Empire, he was only a ‘nominal head of state.’<ref> Hale, JR, <i>Reformation Europe</i> (Pelican, London, 1998), p 134</ref> The Hapsburg’s the hereditary rulers of Austria were elected Emperor by the major states in the Empire. As a result, it was a very loose federation. It has often been likened to the modern European Union. In 1517 , Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Cathedral in Wittenberg. In these, he challenged the authority of the Pope and called for the reform of the Church based on the Bible. Luther's actions initiated the Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire.
The Catholic Church attempted to suppress Luther and he was forced to seek the protection of the ruler of Saxony. The message of Luther and his calls to reform the church was greeted enthusiastically in many parts of Germany. The elite and the urban middle class were tired of the corruption and worldliness of the Church. This led to the establishment of many break-away churches that refused to acknowledge the authority of the Pope. Many temporal rulers in Germany adopted Protestantism and secularized Church lands and established Protestant Churches in their land.
