Background
Simon V was the fifth child and eldest son of Bernard VII "the Bellicose" and Anna of Holstein-Pinneberg and inherited Lippe after his father"s death, around 1511.
Simon V was the fifth child and eldest son of Bernard VII "the Bellicose" and Anna of Holstein-Pinneberg and inherited Lippe after his father"s death, around 1511.
During his reign, the Reformation was introduced in Lippe. In 1528, he was raised to Imperial Count and Lippe became one of about 140 Imperial Counties. Since 1518, the Reformation had prevailed, first in Lemgo and then in other cities in Lippe.
He was, however, a vassal of two liege lords: the Bishop of Paderborn and Landgrave Philip I of Hesse, who had been a Lutheran since 1524.
This limited his freedom to acting The cities in Lippe, in particular Lippstadt and Lemgo, also favoured a closer relationship with the Lutheran faith.
When in 1533, Simon sought support for military action against Lemgo, Philip intervened and mediated. Later that year, Lemgo adopted the Church Order and thus officially became Lutheran.
The city surrendered to its liege lord.
The citizens of Lemgo were afraid that Simon V and John III would invade Lemgo as well, however, due to Philip"s ongoing mediation, this did not happen.