Peace of Passau
Albert of Brandenburg-Kulmbach had sparked the Second Margrave War against the Franconian Prince-bishoprics in 1552, cutting a path of destruction with his plundering mercenary army on its way to Northern Germany. Arriving in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, he campaigned against Henry V of Wolfenbüttel, who gained support from Elector Maurice as well as from his Lüneburg cousins. The Saxon elector had just signed the Peace of Passau with Emperor Charles V as a leader of insurgent Protestant princes, and the turmoil caused by his former ally turned up at the wrong time.