Counter-Reformation 81There was a significant difference between Germany and the Habsburg
lands in the early attempts to re-establish territorial religious unity.
In the former the process, traumatic though it was for individuals, gener-
ated few major conflicts, whereas in the latter it was the principal source
of dissension for decades, essentially because of the mismatch between
Catholic princes and predominantly Protestant nobilities and popula-
tions. In much of Germany the Reformation had made broadly parallel
progress among both the rulers and the ruled, particularly in the north,
so that Lutheran princes and populations were commonly matched,
leaving only comparatively small Catholic minorities in many prin-
cipalities. Moreover this applied even in ecclesiastical territories such
as Magdeburg, where the bishop too eventually became a Protestant.
On the other hand it seems that where the bishops remained firmly
Catholic the penetration of Lutheranism in their territories was more
limited, so that when, armed with theirius reformandiafter 1555, they
set about recatholicisation, they too were usually concerned only with
a non-conforming minority.
Problems, disturbances and expulsions there certainly were, but
because of the fragmentation of Germany into a large number of mainly
small territories these tended to be localised and to present little oppor-
tunity for more widely organised opposition. This same fragmentation
may also have acted as a safety valve, providing scope for individuals,
particularly the nobility and the better-off opinion leaders, to practise
their religion in, or even to move to, a nearby territory where their
own confession was the official one. There were also places, including a
number although by no means the majority of the free Imperial cities,
where the religions continued to co-exist, a notable example being the
large territories of Cleves-Jülich, where the dukes did not seek to impose
uniformity. The result was that by the opening decade of the seven-
teenth century the main religious tension in Germany was not within
but between territories, as demonstrated by the formation of the rival
alliances, the Protestant Union and the Catholic League. In direct con-
trast the Habsburg lands appeared monolithic externally, but were riven
by internal religious differences between princes and Estates.
Bavaria was the first major German principality to undertake com-
pulsory recatholicisation, and it is also a good example of how this
religious issue had significant political ramifications. During the early
years following the Reformation the duchy largely resisted the spread
of Lutheran beliefs, but even here they eventually made progress under
the influence of neighbouring Protestant territories. The Estates also saw
Protestantism as a means of strengthening their position in relation to