Wilhelm von Grumbach

On 9 June 1525, he was contacted in Würzburg by two servants of his brother-in-law Wilhelm von Grumbach (reportedly including Christoph Kretzen of the Grumbach-Zobel affair below), who had the stated intention of helping him rekindle the rebellion.

When the new Prince-Bishop Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt asked for the money back from Grumbach, he paid, but the harmonious relationship between lord and vassal were destroyed.

Unable to free himself and his associates from the suzerainty of the bishop by appealing to the imperial courts he decided to adopt more violent measures, and his friendship with Margrave Albert was very serviceable in this connection.

Albert's career, however, was checked by his defeat at the Battle of Sievershausen in July 1553 and his subsequent flight to France, while the Würzburg bishop took advantage of this state of affairs to seize Grumbach's lands.

Chafing under this deprivation the duke listened readily to Grumbach's plans for recovering the lost dignity, including a general rising of the German knights and the deposition of Frederick II of Denmark.

Grumbach gained time, as Maximilian adjourned the case to the next Reichstag to be held in 1566 at Augsburg; meanwhile he sought to compass the assassination of John Frederick's rival, Elector Augustus of Saxony.