[1] The Peace of Crépy in September 1544 deprived him of this employment, but he won a considerable reputation, and when Charles was preparing to attack the Schmalkaldic League, he took pains to win Albert's assistance.

[1] He then followed the fortunes of his friend Elector Maurice of Saxony, deserted Charles, and joined the league which proposed to overthrow the Emperor by an alliance with King Henry II of France.

[1] He took part in the subsequent campaign, but when the Peace of Passau was signed in August 1552 he separated himself from his allies and began a crusade of plunder in Franconia,[1] which led to the Second Margrave War.

[1] Charles, anxious to secure such a famous fighter, gladly assented to Albert's demands and gave the imperial sanction to his possession of the lands taken from the bishops of Würzburg and Bamberg; and his conspicuous bravery was of great value to the Emperor on the retreat from the Siege of Metz in January 1553.

[1] He is defined by Thomas Carlyle as "a failure of a Fritz," with "features" of a Frederick the Great in him, "but who burnt away his splendid qualities as a mere temporary shine for the able editors, and never came to anything, full of fire, too much of it wildfire, not in the least like an Alcibiades except in the change of fortune he underwent".