ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that Charles V was elected Holy Roman Emperor and, until his death in 1558, he was to play a central role on the European political stage. It looks at Charles's response to the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Charles's resolution to go to war was thus the product of an amalgam of pressures, both religious and secular. Events in the north-west compounded the evident sense of frustration Charles felt as a consequence of the continued religious impasse. The prince's feeling of obligation towards the Emperor lasted sufficiently long for him to play a leading role in the war against the Duke of Cleves. Charles's subsequent promise to Duke William of Bavaria that he might take in war whatever lands he wished from his Wittelsbach relatives in the Palatinate had the additional effect of hastening the Elector Frederick's return to the Emperor's side.
