With Philip, was John of Saxony who succeeded Frederick the Wise after his death in 1525. John was another important prince in bringing about the success of the Lutheran Reformation as he entered into many negotiations including the Diets of Speyer. John helped in spreading Luther’s word and an example of this is when the Duke of Saxony, George the Bearded, died in 1539 the reformers including John, swooped in and introduced Lutheranism to the people who quickly accepted it. Possibly one of the most important roles John undertook was leading the Schmalkaldic League which proved very important to the Lutheran cause with its armed forces. All up until the battle of Mühlberg when John and Philip were captured and condemned to imprisonment for life and only released in August 1552. Hi death in 1553 was seen as a great loss to the Reformation as he had been such a strong supporter and his role was so important in bringing about the success of the reformation.
Now Maurice of Saxony both gave assistance and hinderance to the success of the Lutheran Reformation. Maurice was willing to turn his back to Protestantism when he helped Charles V and also fighting against the Schmalkaldic League in the battle of Mühlberg. Although he did betray his friend and father-in-law, Philip of Hesse, he did set up the second League of Torgau and he did help the Reformation by beating Charles at the battle of Sievershausen but unfortunately died of wounds at the battle. His successor, Augustus, was brought up by Luther and aimed to unite the Protestants and so although Maurice did stray for many years he still played a part in the success of the Reformation.
It was not just the help and good work of certain princes that brought about the Reformation but also what some, in particular Charles V, did not do and couldn’t stop the spread and power of Lutheranism. Throughout this period Charles was up to his neck in wars, conflicts and various diets. In 1526 the Ottoman Empire was taking his attention so he couldn’t deal with the League of Torgau and then had conflict with the Sack of Rome which he incidentally did not sanction. Again in 1531 Charles was weakened by wars with the Turks and desperately needed money so could not address the situation with the founding of the Schmalkaldic League for example. All of the way though the years Charles was preoccupied with secular matters and his relationship with the pope was was beginning to wear thin. Charles had always wanted to compromise with Luther as he didn’t want any more conflict and we can see this with the Diet of Augsburg where he wanted to find some common ground between protestant and catholic people. Charles had never meant to aid the success of the Lutheran Reformation but his actions, or absence of actions, proves very important in actually bringing about its success.
None of this could have ever unfolded if it hadn’t been for Luther himself. His ideas proved to be the popular ones and if he had not found doctrinal mistakes and if he had not spoken out against the indulgences then there would have been no Reformation. In the context of the question, Luther preached in this time and published many books. In the peasants war of 1525 Luther used his preaching to reach out to the people and tried to convince them to stop (After all it was his word that got them angry in the first place). The Lutheran idea proved very attractive to people and that was the big reason that the cities would accept it so easily after it was converted. Take the free city of Ulm in 1530, 87% of the population wanted reform. It was Luther’s religion that everyone was talking about and it was the whole reason for conflict and so one of the most important factors in the importance of bringing about the success of the Lutheran Reformation.
Luther’s word was all very well but if it hadn’t been for the printing press then his word wouldn’t have been able to spread so far. In the time frame we are looking at (1525-1555) Luther spent most of his time writing. These works included, “Dr martin Luther’s warning to his dear German people”, more prayer books and methods of Lutheranism. These publications would help to keep momentum in the fight for the Reformation and would show the people that he still cared and was doing what he could do what he thought was right and what the people wanted. If it hadn’t been for the printing press at this time then Luther would never have been able to publish his work and so keep the momentum of the struggle forwards.
In conclusion, the role of the princes in bringing about the success of the Reformation was very important as they were the ones that went to the Diet of Speyer when Luther had been banished. They were the ones that fought in the battles to defend the right for people to believe in Lutheranism. And they were the ones who built up the Lutheran lands and converted 51 of 65 imperial cities and helped to cause 7 out of 10 inhabitants in Roman homes to admit to believing in Luther’s work. However Charles with his concentration elsewhere at pivotal points in Lutheran history , always wanting to compromise will always been seen as a failure in Catholic prevention of the spread and success of Lutheran Reformation but as a godsend for the Lutherans. Luther himself proved important even after he set his ball rolling and reform was in full swing by keeping moral up and writing his guides on lutheranism and generally keeping the power of the Reformation going. Also it goes without saying that the printing press was also very important in the publishing of Luther’s books in this time period but also at the start of the spread of Lutheranism. So although Luther started the Reformation back in 1517 with his “The Ninety-Five Theses” it was the help of the princes that proved the most important in the success of the Reformation between 1525 and 1555.