Albert of Brandenburg became Grand Master in 1511, [Sidenote: Albert of Brandenburg, 1490-1568] and fourteen years later saw the opportunity of aggrandizing his personal power by renouncing his spiritual ties.

He accordingly declared the Teutonic Order abolished and himself temporal Duke of Prussia, shortly afterwards marrying a daughter of the king of Denmark.

He swore allegiance to the king of Poland.
The growth of Lutheranism unmolested by the imperial government was made possible by the {114} absorption of the emperor's energies in his rivalry with France and Turkey and by the decentralization of the Empire.

[Sidenote: Leagues] Leagues between groups of German states had been quite common in the past, and a new stimulus to their formation was given by the common religious interest.

The first league of this sort was that of Ratisbon, [Sidenote: 1524] between Bavaria and other South German principalities; its purpose was to carry out the Edict of Worms.