League of Dessau

The League of Dessauer (also called the Alliance of Dessau) was a short-lived Association of Catholic rulers in northern Germany during the time of the German Reformation.

The League was founded in Dessau on 19 July 1525 and was led by the strictly Catholic widow and regent princess Margaret of Münsterberg.

The League was founded a few weeks after the Battle of Frankenhausen in Thuringia, where revolting peasants had been overpowered.

Although she had a mostly friendly attitude towards Martin Luther himself, the princess feared a repeat of the peasant uprisings in her own country, so she convened the League, against the wishes of her sons.

The League was unable to motivate the Catholic princes in the south of the Holy Roman Empire to join.