| Kerpen War Merveilles des Morte | |||||||||
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 The Massacre of Arnsberg by Catholic forces, 1 December 1542 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Teutonic State
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 Hanseatic League
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Henry von Kerpen
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Peter Burkhart
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The Kerpen War was a religious conflict fought primarily in the northwest Holy Roman Empire. The war began under the leadership of Henry von Kerpen a radical Catholic and Teutonic knight, who in response to the Oldenburg Commune and surrounding radical Protestant uprisings, the Gunpowder Plot, and other perceived Jungist acts of aggression, sought to lead a Catholic crusade in retribution, which would create militant Catholic theocracies to balance out against the attempts at Oldenburg and nations such as the Rätian Union.
Kerpen's highly puritanical and inquisitive regime was controversial among both Protestants and Catholics alike, with his sudden capture of Catholic bishoprics, who he believed were either not actively attacking Jungism as adamantly as they should be, or were as morally corrupt as the Jungists, caused condemnation from neighboring dioceses. Pope Paschal III refused to condemn Kerpen, and instead supported and aided him in further conquests, while also excommunicating Peter Burkhart of the Hanseatic League. This ultimately proved too far for a portion of the College of Cardinals and other Catholic clergy, who elected to form a conclave in Germany, which elected antipope Zephyrinus II.
A coalition sanctioned by Zephyrinus II, consisting of Catholic and Jungist nations alike, was assembled to repulse Henry von Kerpen from the Hanseatic League and topple his theocracy. The alliance would succeed in doing so, with Henry von Kerpen being killed in 1547 during the recapture of Münster.
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