CHAPTER VII.

WALLENSTEIN AND BERNARD OF WEIMAR

1.  

WALLENSTEIN'S END. (1632-4.)

 

During the winter months which followed on the battle of Lützen neither of the hosts which contended for victory there maintained possession of Saxony or engaged in important operations beyond its borders. While Wallenstein, after evacuating the electorate, set up his winter quarters at Prague, and there collected the forces with which in May he joined Gallas in Silesia, the Swedish army broke up again into several divisions. That commanded by Bernard of Weimar, after clearing Saxony of Holk’s and other Imperialist soldiery, passed into Thuringia and Franconia. In March Bernard pushed forward as far as the river Altmühl in the Ansbach territory, and, after a brush with the redoubtable Bavarian cavalry general, Johann von Werth, united his forces south of Donauworth with those of Horn, who had, in the last month of 1632 conquered nearly the whole of Alsace.

The expectant character of these movements on the one and the other side is explained by the fact that Lützen had virtually been a drawn battle. But in the summer of 1633 they came more or less to a standstill—Wallenstein’s by his own calculated inaction, Bernard of Weimar’s because of an agitation (it can hardly be called a mutiny) in the Swedish army, which was only with some difficulty repressed. Broadly speaking, we may regard this standstill as reflecting the doubts and difficulties which, after the death of the great King, pressed upon some of the chief combatants.

The Swedes, though resolved not to break off except on their own terms the struggle of which their King had, first and last, so clearly defined the ends, could no longer exercise over its progress the controlling influence proper to his mighty personality. Gustavus Adolphus was succeeded on the Swedish throne by his daughter Christina, a child of six years of age; and, so long as she remained in tutelage, the government, as will be shown in a later chapter, was practically carried on by a small committee directed by the strong will of, the Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna. The widow of Gustavus, Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, was not included among the regents and guardians. Although the system of government during the minority of the “Elected” Queen—a designation partly intended to repress any pretensions on the part of the Polish Vasas—was not approved by the Swedish Diet till January, 1634, Oxenstierna secured a twelvemonth earlier the confirmation of his commission as “Legate” of the Crown, with full powers in the Holy Roman Empire and as regarding all Swedish, armies. Thus there was preserved to these armies in Germany that unity of control which had given them so inestimable an advantage over their adversaries, and to which it had been the constant purpose of Gustavus to subject the military affairs of his German allies. To his position of trust, for which it might be difficult to find a parallel, Oxenstierna brought, besides a perfect knowledge of his late master’s mind, the insight and judgment of a great statesman. He proved, indeed, unable to solve the perennial problem of a working control of the military executive by the civil authority. Beneath his methodical ways and a phlegmatic temperament that provoked the wit of the young Queen, there burnt a flame of patriotic ambition and incorruptible loyalty, to which a series of eminent commanders proved responsive; but the union of military and political leadership, and the enthusiasm which the great King's personality had communicated to the Swedish armies and nation, had perforce become things of the past.

Though the relaxation of the bond between the Swedes and the chief Protestant Princes was in agreement with the usual policy of John George of Saxony, a warlike impulse had momentarily seized upon him, due, it would seem, to a visionary scheme of securing the Bohemian Crown to his son and namesake. The unlucky Frederick, who had so long worn the empty title of King of Bohemia, had died at Mainz on November 29, 1632, still awaiting—though with drooping hopes—his restoration to his Palatine inheritance, now, with the exception of Heidelberg, reconquered from the foe. But neither Oxenstierna, who had arrived in Dresden on Christmas Day, nor the military chiefs of the Swedish armies, fell in with John George’s design. He was all the more unwilling to yield to the Chancellor’s demand that the entire body of Protestant Estates should be placed under the direction of Sweden, and adhered to his view that Saxony was their proper head. At Berlin, whither Oxenstierna next repaired, he found George William in a more yielding mood; he was well aware at whose expense Sweden would in any treaty of peace seek to obtain her “satisfaction”, and was naturally anxious to conciliate the Chancellor. The project of a marriage between George William’s heir (afterwards the Great Elector) and Queen Christina had not yet been laid aside. But soon after this George William showed signs of falling back into line with Saxony, and committed the command of his troops in Silesia, where old Count Thurn had been made Swedish commissioner, to Arnim, now a Saxon Field-Marshal (February—March). John Greorge hereupon began once more to incline to think of concluding peace without Sweden. Though nothing as yet came of the idea, he was encouraged in it both by Wallenstein’s former agent Sparre, and by Christian IV of Denmark, who eagerly proffered a not wholly disinterested mediation.

1633] Military dispositions.—Alliance of Heilbronn.    

In January, 1633, Oxenstierna had divided the main Swedish army, giving the command of the larger half to Duke George of Lüneburg, who, with Kniphausen under him, occupied the Weser lands, and that of the smaller to Bernard of Weimar, to the dissatisfaction of his elder brother, Duke William. Oxenstierna was well aware of the difficulty which must beset any attempt to secure the adhesion of the Protestant Estates at large to an alliance directed by Sweden, against the wishes of Saxony, so long as Brandenburg remained lukewarm and most of the Lower Saxon Estates only wished for a safe neutrality. Sweden’s one trustworthy friend was Landgrave William of Hesse-Cassel; and his troops were needed for the defence of his own territory. Perceiving that in the present instance the half was greater than the whole, Oxenstierna therefore fell back upon those portions of the Empire—the Franconian, the Swabian, and the two Rhenish Circles—which had been placed under his direct control by King Gustavus. United with these Estates by means of a separate alliance under her own direction, Sweden must endeavor to carry on the war side by side with another combination of Estates under Saxon leadership; and perhaps in time the weaker might be absorbed by the stronger body.

The alliance concluded at Heilbronn (Ulm having seemed too remote a place of meeting) on April 23, 1633, was accordingly one of those compromises which deserve to be regarded as great political achievements because they avert paralysis. In order to reach a conclusion, Oxenstierna consented to important sacrifices; and, though Sweden obtained the direction of the alliance, especially in military affairs, a Federal Council was established, of which seven members were to be nominated by the Estates of the four Circles, and only three by Sweden. The functions of this Council were to be consultative rather than executive; but it was likely to find many opportunities for interference. These chances were not ignored by Richelieu, who, desirous as he was of securing the continuance of hostilities between Sweden and the House of Austria, jealously watched Sweden’s intervention in what he regarded as the French sphere of influence on the Rhine. While, therefore, the conclusion of the Heilbronn Alliance was furthered by the French ambas­sador at the Convention, Manasses de Pas, Marquis de Feuquières, who had in 1633 been sent on an extraordinary mission to the Emperor and the Catholic and Protestant Estates of the Empire, his efforts were also directed to the diminution within that alliance of the dominant influence of Sweden. For the rest, the annual war contributions of the four Circles were fixed at no less a sum than 2,500,000 dollars; and before the Convention separated it resolved on the restoration of the Palatinate to Frederick’s heir, Charles Lewis. Frederick’s brother, Lewis Philip, undertook the administration of the country, to which, after the easy recapture of Heidelberg (May 24, 1633), prosperity began to return.

Oxenstierna’s rapid conclusion of the Heilbronn Alliance, however much it left to be desired from the Swedish point of view, had successfully isolated the Elector of Saxony, especially after the Elector of Brandenburg had come into the new league. But the Chancellor could not shut his eyes to the fact that his achievement was quite as advantageous to France as it was to Sweden. Richelieu, for reasons explained elsewhere, and because he wished to prepare his ground before proceeding to action, continued to defer any direct French intervention in the German War. In 1631, the Peace of Cherasco, which secured an open way into Italy for France, had enabled him to devote a closer attention to her relations with the Empire. Its eights or claims over Lorraine he treated with contempt; but when, in obliging Duke Charles to conclude the disastrous and humiliating Treaty of Liverdun (June, 1632), Richelieu imposed upon him as one of its conditions neutrality during the continuance of the German War, he saw that the course of that war would furnish him with opportunities of mixing up the question of Lorraine with that of Alsace, now almost entirely in Swedish hands; and he was therefore most desirous that the war should continue. His action towards the Spiritual Electors on the left bank of the Rhine has already been noted in a previous chapter. On the approach of Gustavus, and the occupation of Mainz, the Electors of Cologne and Trier had appealed to France for the protection of their neutrality; and though this appeal had remained unanswered, the quick-witted Philip Christopher of Trier had admitted French garrisons both into the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein opposite his residence of Coblenz, and into Trier itself, previously occupied by Spanish troops. The footing thus gained by France she was unlikely to relinquish to either friend or foe. Thus, after the death of Gustavus, Richelieu’s most pressing interest was to keep together the offensive alliance against the House of Austria, now once more in close cooperation with Spain, and to preclude. the possibility of the withdrawal of the Swedish army, which had been actually threatened by Oxenstierna. On the other hand, Richelieu was ready to take immediate advantage of the removal of Gustavus himself, before whose commanding personality his own indomitable will had found itself obliged to bend. Hence the twofold activity of Feuquières at Heilbronn in favor of the compact concluded there; while at the same time the hands of Oxenstierna were bound as far as possible by a renewal of the Franco-Swedish alliance, on terms essentially the same as those of the Treaty of Barwalde, and renewing the promise of a French subsidy (April 19, 1633).

Horn and Bernard of Weimar.  

Inasmuch as the Heilbronn Alliance placed all the military forces of the, west under Swedish control, it was upon the commanders of those forces that the mantle of the conquering Gustavus may be said to have fallen. After their junction near Donauworth (April, 1633), Horn and Bernard of Weimar alternately, held the chief command, neither of them consenting to regard himself as the subordinate of the other, and Oxenstierna being desirous of offending neither. Though both had high qualities as commanders, the want of unity in their counsels made itself at times disadvantageously felt in the course of the next campaigns. Gustaf Karlsson Horn, Count of Bjorneborg, who sprang from a family of high distinction in the Swedish service, had, after talking a prominent part in the Polish War, during Gustavus’ German campaigns held the position of the King’s Field-Marshal (lieutenant-general). He had materially contributed to the victory of Breitenfeld, and had subsequently been named “Director of the Wurzburg principality”. He was a commander of much circumspection, learned in the theory as well as experienced in the practice of war, and a strict disciplinarian. Within the last months of 1632 he had conquered the whole of Alsace, with the exception of Hagenau. In the personality of Bernard of Weimar there was something which more nearly resembled that of the great King, whose last battle he had fought to a conclusion. From his Ernestine ancestors he had inherited a passionate disposition—which in one of his brothers, the unhappy John Frederick, swerved into madness, but in Bernard was disciplined into a noble ardor. His own statement, that from his youth upwards his thoughts, had been bent upon doing service to God and his beloved country, was no mere profession. His intellectual tastes (he was a lover of books) and his modest simplicity invested him with a chivalrous charm; in the field he was all eagerness for battle. Unfortunately for himself, he was, like Duke George of Lüneburg, who commanded in the Lower Saxon Circle and its vicinity, only a younger brother in a princely House—a position which, while it aroused in him a strong dynastic ambition, left him unable to meet on an independent footing the great Powers whose support was indispensable to the cause of Protestantism and of “German liberty”.

Once more, then, the Swedish army stood at the gate of Bavaria; and once more Maximilian was soliciting the aid of Wallenstein, who remained immovable in Bohemia. The Swedish forces seem to have numbered about 18,000 men; and if, as Bernard expected, Wallenstein marched to offer them battle, he could not be met without Saxon assistance. But before long a new difficulty arose, the inner history of which remains to some extent obscure.

Since the Swedish army had landed at Usedom, it had changed in its composition, and to some extent in its character. Losses, made good by reinforcements of which only a fraction was derived from Sweden, while they mainly consisted of soldiery levied heat and far, land in all the regions of the Empire through which the troops had passed during their ceaseless marches and counter-marches, had changed the very texture of the army. The disproportion between Swedes and soldiers of other nationalities was much greater than before, more especially in the divisions detached from the force commanded by the King in person. As has been already seen, the principle of making war pay for itself had been more and more fully adopted by Gustavus. But even during his lifetime, notwithstanding the heavy contributions exacted and requisitions made, and (when they had been received) the French subsidies, it had been found impossible to provide the full pay of the soldiery, especially in the detached divisions. The King had thus fallen into debt with his troops, but more especially with the colonels who commanded, and had frequently themselves levied, regiments, advancing sums for their pay in the expectation of being-duly repaid with interest. Here and there in the conquered territories, especially in Franconia, some of the officers had been compensated by the grant or promise of landed estates. For many reasons, the death of the King inevitably impaired the cohesion and the general discipline of the army. During the winter of 1682-8, the commanding officers took to levying contributions on their own account, while the soldiers seized the goods and chattels of the inhabitants, and committed all kinds of depredations and other excesses. The general discontent grew apace; and, when it was found that the Convention of Heilbronn, on which great hopes had been placed, was more anxious for the “reformation” of the army than for its “contentment”, the accumulated dissatisfaction burst forth. A remonstrance was drawn up by two officers of the Franconian army—one of them the Colonel Mitzlaff who had commanded the remnants of Mansfeld’s troops in Silesia and had then passed first into the Danish, and then into the Swedish, service. Quite in the style of the English “agitators” of a rather later date, this document insisted on the payment within four months of the outstanding balances; failing which, instead of continuing to fight the enemy, the officers and troops would establish themselves as a corpus in the conquered lands, and hold these in pledge for their pay. The paper was numerously signed by the officers; but there is no trace of an organized mutiny among the common soldiery.

The attitude of Horn and Bernard of Weimar toward this agitation is obscure. While they protested against the menaces of the officers, they were found willing to advocate the claims preferred; and, while Horn insisted on carrying the remonstrance in its crude and unamended form to Heilbronn, Bernard, who was certainly to benefit by the movement, and who may (as Pufendorf hints) have helped to set it on foot, wrote in support of the demands. Oxenstierna in his turn was so much impressed by the gravity of the situation that he persuaded the Estates at Heilbronn, before separating, to agree to the principle of a month’s immediate pay to the troops, and resolved upon bestowing estates in the conquered lands as Swedish Crown fiefs upon the chief commanders— Bernard in particular—in return for their undertaking to, satisfy the claims of officers and men.

On these lines the grievances of the army were settled in the course of the summer and autumn of 1633. Bernard, who during Horn’s absence had employed the troops in seizing the bishopric of Eichstedt, which they were freely allowed to loot, in May held an interview with Oxenstierna at Frankfort to, arrange his share—the lion’s share—of the settlement. About the middle of June the document was signed in which the Crown of Sweden, by its own authority and without the concurrence of any of the Estates of the Empire, created Bernard Duke of Franconia in his own right.

Bernard, who had hitherto held no independent, position of his own, had long desired a hereditary principality; and some promise of the kind may have been made to him by Gustavus Adolphus. His further wish to become, not only, as he now did, a member of the Heilbronn Alliance, but also the commander-in-chief of its forces, was frustrated by the jealousy of Horn, and perhaps also by the foresight of Oxenstierna. The new duchy of Franconia included, in substance, only those, parts of the Franconian Circle which, had formed the sees of Wurzburg and Bamberg; and even here the Crown of Sweden reserved to itself the fortresses of Wurzburg and Konigshofen. Bernard was not declared an immediate Prince of the Empire—the comparison between his dukedom and Wallenstein’s in Mecklenburg is therefore imperfect; on the contrary, he had to renounce all connection with the Empire and declare himself explicitly a vassal of the Crown of Sweden, to whom in the event of his dying without male issue the duchy was to escheat.

In this new character Bernard, with Oxenstierna, made his appearance at an assembly of the chief princes of the Heilbronn Alliance, held later in June, 1633, at Heidelberg. The capital of the Palatinate, the last place in it held by the Imperialists, had on May 24 capitulated to Count Palatine Christian of Birkenfeld. The assembly agreed to levy in all the lands included in the alliance a 10 per cent, tax on the produce of all fields and vineyards; and, the means being thus provided, a settlement was arranged here and completed at Frankfort (July), which at last put an end to the critical condition of affairs in the army.

Bernard’s absence from the army was prolonged during July, while he was taking possession of his new duchy and establishing his brother Ernest there as regent. In the meantime Horn held the command without making much progress, though in the course of the month he took Pappenheim, and then Neumarkt (near Landshut), having advanced from Donauworth with his main force. He was beginning to lose all control over his troops; villages were destroyed; the peasantry was maltreated. The officers neglected their soldiery; and the men, provided with sham passes, roamed over the country in quest of plunder. The old discipline had fallen out of gear; and the Swedish name was beginning to be associated in the mind of the German population with the worst horrors of war. But Bernard’s return was still delayed—this time by intrigues between his brother Duke William and John George of Saxony. At last Bernard induced William to allow part of his troops to reinforce the army of the Danube, which he rejoined early in August and which now seems to have reached a total of 12,000 horse and nearly as many foot. Commissaries of the Swedish Crown had already arrived at Augsburg. While, with some demur, the officers and men accepted a month’s pay from the Heilbronn Alliance, the commanders of regiments consented to accept in satisfaction of their claims grants of land which, though guaranteed by the Swedish Crown, purported to be bestowed as hereditary fiefs of the Empire. The grantees had to pay the war contributions already fixed or to be eventually imposed by the Alliance, and bound themselves to “depend” on Oxenstierna as Legate of the Swedish Crown. The value of the lands thus granted in the south-west was estimated at over four millions of dollars.

The army having thus been “contented”, and measures taken to prevent further excesses (August—September), it once more became possible to contemplate offensive operations on a larger scale. Although the division of the supreme command boded ill for the maintenance of the requisite unity of design, the general condition of affairs was favorable to the allies of Heilbronn. Alsace had been almost entirely conquered by Horn. In August Christian of Birkenfeld defeated the Duke of Lorraine at Pfaffenhofen when advancing to defend Hagenau in Alsace, over which he had certain rights. The favorable opportunity for reopening hostilities against Lorraine was at once seized by France, under whose protection the Elector of Trier had now openly placed himself. Frederick Henry of Orange had taken Rheinberg; and in Switzerland also French influence was active. The whole line of the Rhine was thus held by the United Provinces, France, and Sweden; and the alliance between the latter two Powers was nearer than ever to becoming an alliance in the field.

Arrival of Feria. Fall of Ratisbon.    

While the Austrian possessions in Alsace were thus in hostile hands, Spain too had every reason for breaking the existing control of the line of the Rhine. The peace negotiations opened in 1632 between her and the United Provinces had led to no result; and, as the days of the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia drew to a close, the hopes of a pacific settlement dwindled. Philip IV had some time since resolved on sending his youngest brother Ferdinand, who, though Archbishop of Toledo and a Cardinal, was full of secular ambition, into the Spanish Netherlands, where he was in time to succeed the Archduchess as Governor. As the Dutch were masters of the sea, the Cardinal Infante would, when the time came, have to proceed to the Provinces by land; and the Spanish Government proposed to clear the way for him by means of a force of 24,000 men to be levied in Italy. They were to be commanded by the Duke of Feria, Governor of Milan, who had already had some experience of the German War. It will be seen how this Spanish expedition, even while still remote, excited the jealousy of Wallenstein, and how his displeasure was intensified by the Emperor consenting, against the tenor of the agreement between them, to place Aldringer and his force at the disposal of Maximilian of Bavaria, for the defence of his electorate. Bernard had steadily kept in view an attack upon Ratisbon; but, on his return to Donauworth, he found that Horn had already departed with, part of the army to lay siege to Constance.

In the middle of September Feria actually appeared at Innsbruck, though with a force of only 8000 foot and 1200 horse, and not in very good case. But he managed to effect his junction with Aldringer and to relieve Constance and Breisach, before Horn and Bernard had united their forces. In October the two armies lay close to each other, near the Lake of Constance, neither side caring to risk a battle, when, direct hostilities having at last broken out between Wallenstein’s troops and Arnim’s Saxo-Swedish forces in Silesia, Oxenstierna instructed Bernard to create a diversion in their favor by invading either Bavaria or Bohemia, and leaving Horn to deal with Feria and Aldringer. Bernard could thus at last carry out his long-cherished design against Ratisbon.

Disregarding the successful operations of Johann von Werth and the insecure condition of his own duchy of Franconia, Bernard with characteristic impetuosity now moved direct upon his goal. Starting with ten thousand men from Donauworth, he executed a rapid march between the Soylla of Ingolstadt and the Charybdis of Eichstedt to the Altmühl, and thence direct upon Ratisbon. In vain at the last moment Maximilian applied for aid to Feria and Aldringer—they were too far away; to Gallas, who had succeeded Hoik, and whom Wallenstein would not allow to move from the Bohemian frontier; and to Wallenstein himself, who had no intention of coming to the Elector’s aid. Ratisbon was garrisoned by two thousand Bavarian troops under Colonel Troibreze; but notwithstanding a powerful and active Catholic clergy, the sympathies of the majority of the citizens, and of a minority of the town council, were Protestant, and with Maximilian the city had a long-standing quarrel. Ratisbon, which lay on the right bank of the Danube, was completely blocked by Bernard; Johann von Werth’s horse were kept at a distance; and the bombardment, begun on November 10, 1633, having after two days’ intermission been resumed with great vigor on the 13th, the garrison capitulated on the following day. It was allowed free departure with the honors of war; but the majority of the garrison proposed to come over to Bernard. Hereupon, he held his entry into Ratisbon, amidst the rejoicings of the population; and on November 16, the anniversary of the battle of Lützen, a solemn Protestant service was held in the Cathedral. No excesses dishonored Bernard of Weimar’s brilliant achievement, which at once made him the hero of the Protestant west. Not only had he succeeded while others—at Constance and at Breisach—had failed, but he had carried out a difficult design with dazzling promptitude; and while “the bulwark of Bavaria” had fallen, the line of the Danube—the road to Vienna itself—lay open before him. In the meantime, the Bishop and the Catholic clergy of Ratisbon were heavily fined; while the latter were for the most part expelled and their domains sequestrated. The burghers were organized for defence; and the free and Imperial city, so intimately associated with many notable vicissitudes in the history of the Empire, was enrolled in the Heilbronn Alliance.

Ratisbon, then, had not been relieved by Wallenstein; and no coals of fire had been heaped by him on the head of Maximilian of Bavaria for the action of the Diet held in that city three years before. How is the quiescence of Wallenstein—if quiescence it was—during the twelve­months which had elapsed since the battle of Lützen to be explained?

For him, too, the situation had been changed by that battle and the death of Gustavus Adolphus. Hitherto he had committed no disloyal act, and had in all probability entertained no definitely disloyal intentions. His general scheme of policy had been to aid the Emperor in restoring the Imperial authority and in bringing about a settlement which, while leaving that authority unimpaired, should be acceptable to the Protestant Princes and include conditions favorable to his personal interests. No side, however, trusted him, because he was identified with no party or interest, because he was at any time ready to exchange combination for combination, and because, as his occasional abrupt and passionate utterances indicate, the outlines of his successive schemes were apt to lose themselves in the mists of a vague and boundless ambition. His withdrawal into Bohemia after the battle of Lützen was hardly reconcilable with his official announcement of a complete Imperialist victory, and his prestige as a general suffered in consequence; indeed there was some gossip among the courtiers at Vienna as to his being superseded in the command. Fortunately for him, Bernard of Weimar had declined to follow the Imperialist army, still numerically the stronger, into Bohemia.

Thus Wallenstein had time for augmenting his army at Prague and restoring its efficiency. In the campaigns of 1633 he seems to have intended to play a vigorous part, both by putting an end to the alliance between Saxony and Sweden, and by saving Breisach and if possible recovering the Austrian lands in Alsace—a task which he had no intention of leaving the Spaniards to accomplish. Franconia and Bavaria, as well as the Weser lands, he proposed to leave more or less to themselves. Still, being unable to place in the field an army so preponderant in strength as to ensure success, and habitually preferring diplomatic to military measures in the first instance, he continued to keep in view the alternative of peace. He was probably quite sincere in telling Count Wartensleben, whom Christian IV of Denmark had sent to push negotiations for peace between Vienna and Dresden, “that he was growing old, was plagued by bad health and in want of rest; that he was quite satisfied with his present position; and that from the continuance of war he could look for no increase of reputation—rather for the contrary”. The Emperor was duly informed of Wallenstein’s views; and peace negotiations with Saxony and Brandenburg ensued, turning on the withdrawal of the Edict of Restitution and the Catholic interpretation of the reservatum ecclesiasticum, on the rights of the Bohemian Protestants, and on the restoration of the Elector Frederick’s son in part at least of the Palatinate. The Emperor would not hear of any concessions in Bohemia; but the negotiations continued with Wallenstein’s cognizance and general approval, and it was well understood that in the meantime he would not molest Saxony, if her troops in return left Bohemia untouched. In all this there was nothing either disloyal or illogical; but now there came into the web a strand of intrigue of which the importance cannot be mistaken. The involutions of Wallenstein’s course of action, and the motives which determined it, often defy analysis. But there are certain connecting threads which, if the story is to be understood at all, must be throughout kept in view.

Wallenstein, however wide the range of his statesmanship, was at all times sensible of the ties of nationality, family history, the associations of descent and early life. He was born a Bohemian noble and bred a utraquist. The leaders of the Bohemian insurrection, who after the catastrophe of the White Hill had become exiles from their country, had never abandoned the hope of re-establishing the ancient Bohemian constitution in Church and State under an elected King of their own choice. As the star of this or that Protestant leader had been in the ascendant, his possible claims had been considered - Bethlen Gabor was thought of at one time, and even Mansfeld at another. Wallenstein’s position differed widely from theirs; but he was a Bohemian magnate, and of Catholic intolerance at least there had never been any trace in his conduct. This had not been overlooked by the Swedes in their negotiations with Wallenstein both before and after the death of Gustavus Adolphus. The Swedish troops in Silesia were in the main officered by Bohemian Protestant exiles, with Count Thura at their head as royal commissary; and Bohemian agents in plenty were at hand to take part in secret negotiations, from Major-General Bubna to Sezyma Rasin, who in the end turned Crown witness against Wallenstein and contributed more than any man to make the record of his last years a perplexing tangle of truth and fiction. Of a different type was Count William Kinsky, a Bohemian noble who had contrived to preserve his ample estates from confiscation, but was obliged to reside at Dresden, the ordinary place of refuge for his exiled compatriots. He was brother-in-law to Count Adam Erdmann Trezka, another Bohemian noble, who had himself married a younger sister of Wallenstein’s second wife, commanded a regiment under him and enjoyed his confidence. Kinsky kept himself closely informed of all Wallenstein’s movements; and was consulted by Feuquières, when, after influencing the deliberations at Heilbronn (April, 1633), he paid a visit to Dresden.

Wallenstein’s negotiations with the Bohemians.    

By the middle of May, and probably earlier, the Bohemian malcontents were in communication with Nicolai, the Swedish resident at Dresden, as to the revived project of placing Wallenstein on the Bohemian throne; which, on being reported to Oxenstierna, received his general approval. Hereupon Kinsky furnished Nicolai with a list of the commanders fully trusted by Wallenstein. Whether or not this list, in which both Holk and Gallas figured; had been obtained at first hand, Wallenstein about this time actually had an interview with Bubna at Gitschin. It seems certain that Wallenstein here made no declaration as to his intentions with regard to the Bohemian Crown, and that his present object was to become enabled by a junction between Thurn’s army and his own to dictate peace. There was as yet no question of his abandoning the Emperor, but he obviously meant to leave both Saxony and Bavaria out in the cold. Oxenstierna, though he had no intention of binding himself, was prepared to carry on negotiations, like Gustavus Adolphus before him, in furtherance of the Bohemian project.

But in the meantime matters had assumed a different aspect in Silesia. Here, with the opening of the summer of 1633, some military action had become unavoidable; and in May Wallenstein began operations against the combined army of Saxons, Brandenburgers, and Swedes. Their commander, Arnim, had as has been seen, always advocated an accommodation with the Emperor, and was practically the head of the peace party at the Saxon Court. But Wallenstein had a special reason for desiring not to prolong the campaign which he had just begun. Official news had reached him from Vienna that Feria, instead of merely passing through the western borderlands of the Empire, was to be instructed to operate there against the French, and that Aldringer was to be placed under his supreme command. Thus, not only was Spain to control Alsace but Wallenstein’s own position as generalissimo of all Imperialist and Spanish troops in the Empire was to be impaired.

Early in June, when a decisive battle, was supposed to be imminent between Wallenstein and Arnim, a fortnight’s truce was agreed upon between them, to the bitter disappointment of the Bohemians. Feuquières, who had been intriguing to secure the Saxon army for France, began to fear that Wallenstein intended to attack Bavaria; and Richelieu as well as Oxenstierna came to the conclusion that any agreement with Wallenstein must be conditional upon his open abandonment of the Emperor. But, although in  the concessions which he offered as to the Palatinate Wallenstein went beyond the Emperor’s wishes, and although he placed no restraint upon his cavils against the Jesuits and their religious policy, the negotiations which he carried on with Arnim during the truce had the Emperor’s distinct sanction. Had they been successful, Wallenstein might possibly have in the end, without either France and Bavaria or Spain, have dictated a peace which would have brought back the Empire to a condition of things resembling that before 1618. But, though Brandenburg was willing, John George of Saxony, who hoped with the aid of Denmark to settle matters in his own way at a “composition” meeting to be summoned to Breslau, was not to be persuaded.

When, after the trace had come to an end, Wallenstein, notwithstanding his superiority in numbers, went on negotiating with Arnim (July), the Court of Vienna no longer heeded protests made by him against Feria’s march. If, therefore, Wallenstein still meant to impose a pacific settlement at the head of an overpowering military force he had no time to lose. Holk’s renewed raid into the Voigtland (the south-western part of the Saxon Electorate), which was even more savage than the first, and in the course of which he contrived to frighten the Leipzigers out of their wits, seems to have been intended by his chief to prevent a Saxon invasion of Bohemia; and it was only his fear of Bernard of Weimar’s marching against him at the Elector of Saxony’s request that caused Holk to withdraw his army, which was suffering terribly from the plague. On his way back to Bohemia, Holk, who had not yet completed his fortieth year, fell a victim to the disease at Adorf (September 19); and the most faithful of Wallenstein’s lieutenants was inopportunely lost to the commander-in-chief, to whom in his own phrase he “belonged”. His place was ill supplied by Gallas.

On September 19 Arnim, as to the course of whose latest negotiations with Wallenstein nothing is known, reached Gelnhausen (near Hanau), whither Oxenstierna had come from Frankfort to meet him. Arnim’s account to the Swedish Chancellor of Wallenstein’s view of the situation was that the Emperor had always aimed at a separate peace with Saxony and her German allies, but this Sweden could not allow Saxony to accept. On the other hand Wallenstein himself would not submit to a repetition, with Spanish aid, of the Ratisbon proceedings of 1630. He was not quite sure of all his officers, but had already removed some whom he could not trust; if Sweden would support him he would break with the Emperor, lead his army, after uniting it to the Swedish force, from Silesia into Bohemia, and invade Austria. France (with whose ambassador Arnim avoided contact at Gelnhausen) was to be induced by Sweden to resume the offensive against Spain in Italy.

Although the complement and crown of these vast designs, the accession of Wallenstein to the Bohemian throne, remained as yet unmentioned, they suggest the inspiration of Thurn and his Bohemian fellow-partisans; and, indeed, they breathe the spirit of Anhalt and of the early years of the war. They were received with approval by Oxenstierna, though with his usual caution, he for the present made no change in his course of action. The Swedish diplomatists, at Dresden and Berlin mistrusted Wallenstein; and Bernard of Weimar shrewdly questioned whether his control over his army was such that he could induce it to abandon the Emperor. But Arnim, though even he had his doubts, persuaded the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg to unite their armies in Silesia with Wallenstein’s. The armies under Arnim’s command were to meet for a general muster on October 11; and he had pointed out to Oxenstierna that a junction of the Saxons, and Brandenburgers with Wallenstein’s troops would not signify a rupture between Saxony and Sweden. But just before the intended juncture, Duwall, who under Thurn commanded the Swedish force in Silesia, refused to move without direct instructions from the Chancellor or from Stettin. And Arnim found to his dismay and indignation that Wallenstein himself had taken up a new attitude, and one in the circumstances more incomprehensible than ever. He, now refused to join the Saxons and Brandenburgers, unless their common action were directed against the Swedes—or, if Duke Francis Albert of Lauenburg’s report of a passionate altercation between him and Wallenstein is authentic, against the enemies of the Empire, the Swedes and the Bavarians (October). The reasons for this extraordinary change are unknown. Not long before this (September) Wallenstein must have received a memorandum, written in Kinsky’s hand at the dictation of Feuquières, in which he was urged to make common cause with the Emperor’s foes, now stronger than ever, thanks to the League of Heilbronn, and with their aid to place the Crown of Bohemia upon his head. As about this time he seems to have positively declined to enter into any dealings with France, so he drew back from alliance with Sweden and immediate rupture with the Emperor. He was, in short, not prepared to sacrifice the strength of his personal position by attaching himself to either of the foreign Powers, and enabling them to pursue their own ambitious policy. Yet how could he, without the alliance of one or both of them, force the Emperor to a peace which would either satisfy the Protestants or meet his personal ends? By seeking to play a double game he was accomplishing nothing, and at the same time making himself so generally distrusted that, as Irmer well puts it, when at last he determined to break with the Emperor, not one of the Emperor’s adversaries would credit his intention.

1633] Wallenstein\ advances, and returns into Bohemia.   

Arnim having refused Wallenstein’s demand that the Saxons should march with him to the Rhine—a movement which in any case would hardly have been executed so late in the year—negotiations between them were entirely broken off. But Wallenstein seems still to have cherished hopes of bringing about a peace with Saxony and Brandenburg from which the Swedes should be excluded; and to this end resolved on driving them from Silesia. In October, the Swedish camp at Steinau capitulated to him; a large proportion of the 6000 troops, according to the easy fashion of the age, accepting service under his standard. Count Thurn, who had been taken prisoner, was liberated by Wallenstein without ransom; and his long political career was now virtually at an end. Liegnitz and Glogau followed suit; and very soon Silesia was clear of all Swedish soldiery. Wallenstein, instead of taking heed of the sore straits of his old adversary the Elector of Bavaria, hereupon proceeded to put pressure upon Brandenburg and Saxony. His forces invaded Brandenburg, where Frankfort-on-the-Oder and other places speedily surrendered; and he then advanced into Lusatia, as far as Gorlitz and Bautzen, while in the rear of Arnim, whose army had withdrawn to the neighborhood of Dresden, Gallas approached with the force formerly commanded by Holk (November).

The effect of these successes was undoubtedly great; once more it seemed as if Wallenstein were about to become the arbiter of northern Germany, and as if his desire of bringing about an equitable political and religious peace for the Empire at large were after all to be realized. Victory was the best assurance of the fidelity of his army; and, with this assured, his dictatorship must become irresistible. But at this point, when it was too late to save Ratisbon from the approach of Bernard of Weimar, the Emperor joined in solicitations with Maximilian of Bavaria, and Wallenstein gave way. Leaving Gallas with 4000 men at Leitmeritz, he started on November 18 with the bulk of his army to meet Bernard of Weimar, whose advance upon Ratisbon he had insisted upon disbelieving. Undeceived by the news of its fall, he hoped for a moment either to retake it, or, by intercepting Bernard’s march along the line of the Danube upon Passau, to prevent him from invading Upper Austria and even menacing Vienna. Ordering Baron de Suys to post himself with a couple of regiments in Upper Austria, Wallenstein directed his own march upon the Upper Palatinate, where he halted at Fürth, in an angle between the Bohemian and Bavarian frontiers, in order to take Cham, about ten miles further south, where lay a small Swedish garrison (end of November).

Bernard of Weimar, delighted to have drawn Wallenstein at last, and believing that Gallas with his whole division had reinforced the garrison of Passau, was retracing his steps in order to relieve Cham, when the astounding news reached him that Wallenstein had given up the investment of Cham and led his army back into Bohemia. The immediate reason for this movement, one of the most perplexing of all the shifts and turns in Wallenstein’s career, seems to have been that, with Arnim advancing on the Oder and the Swedish Marshal Kniphausen advancing from the Weser, he feared, for his own rear; moreover, the season was certainly far advanced.

Bernard, on learning that Wallenstein had returned to Bohemia, himself fell back upon Ratisbon. When hereupon Feria and Aldringer approached to carry out the protection of Bavaria which Wallenstein had abandoned, Horn, instead of uniting with, Bernard against them, maneuvered separately in the rear of Feria’s advance. In the end the Spanish-Bavarian forces took up their winter-quarters to the south-west of the great lakes which themselves lie south-west of Munich, and Horn led his own force into southern Swabia. The line of the Danube still remained in Bernard’s hands. It was while thus holding their ground with the western section of their adversaries between their own two armies, that the Swedes received the news of the catastrophe of Wallenstein.

At Vienna the indignation aroused against Wallenstein by his retreat had passed all bounds. The partisans of Bavaria and Spain were up in arms against him and his decision to let his army whiter in the Emperor’s own lands, instead of in Franconia and Thuringia. Even Eggenberg, hitherto Wallenstein’s best friend at Court, declared; “Amicus Socrates; amicus Plato; amiciar autem religio et patria”. The Emperor himself, complaining that he seemed to have another sovereign by his side, issued an order, bidding Wallenstein return at once into Bavaria, and refused point-blank his request that the defence of the electorate should be committed to Aldringer with part of Feria’s troops. At the same time Suys was instructed to move back towards the Inn. Finally, two Imperial councilors, Trautmansdorff and Questenberg, were sent to Wallenstein in his camp at Pilsen, to impress upon him the Emperor’s “categorical commands”.

Wallenstein could not but recognize that a crisis had been reached in his relations with the Emperor and the Imperial Government. With Count Schlick, the President of the Hofkriegsrath, he had for some time been on unfriendly terms; and he had another influential adversary in Baron von Stadion, the Grand Master of the German Order. Together with Eggenberg, Bishop Anton of Vienna was passing into the ranks of his opponents, who continued to be urged on by the Jesuits, and in particular by the Emperor’s Walloon confessor, Father Lamormain. Maximilian of Bavaria was well served by his ambassador Richel, whose correspondence with his master supplies much information as to the course of things at Vienna. All these agencies, as Wallenstein knew, were at work to break down his absolute authority as commander-in-chief, on which the whole strength of his position and political influence depended. But most formidable of all was the influence of Spain, represented at Vienna by Castaneda, and from October, 1633, also by Oñate, whose efforts were systematically directed towards bringing about a joint action between the two Habsburg Courts not less intimate, and more effective, than that which he had negotiated at the beginning of the war. The circumstances of the times were propitious; for an heir had recently (September 8) been born to the young King Ferdinand of Hungary and his Spanish consort Maria Anna, and the dynastic interests of the two lines seemed more closely blended than ever. But Wallenstein had persistently withstood the proposal of levying an army in the Empire to fight on the Rhine under Spanish direction; and he would not even listen to the young King’s wish to hold a command in the Imperial forces. The policy of Spain, ran directly counter to Wallenstein’s; while the latter aimed at an equitable peace in the Empire, the former was wholly directed to uniting Austria with Spain in the war against France. The commander in such a war could not be Wallenstein, who was, among many other things, accused of having entered into treasonable correspondence with Richelieu. The Bavarian ambassador had already suggested to the Emperor that the obnoxious general should be removed from the supreme command. Oñate now threatened that unless this were done the Spanish subsidies would be stopped—and at the same time, no doubt, the private pensions paid under Olivares’ reckless system of expenditure, not only to the King of Hungary, who was wholly in the Spanish interest, but also to other personages of note. Before the close of the year the Emperor sent secret communications to Gallas, Aldringer, and some of the commanders in Moravia; but the purport of these remains unknown.

It seems to have been while Trautmahsdorff and Questenberg were still awaiting Wallenstein’s answer at Pilsen that the young King of Hungary’s confessor, Father Quiroga—one of the Capuchin diplomatists—proposed to the Commander-in-chief, by way of testing his intentions, that he should send a division of 6000 horse to Alsace, to accompany the Cardinal Infante on his march to the Netherlands. In Pilsen rumors were rife that Wallenstein intended to resign his command; indeed he had talked in this vein to Quiroga, though probably only by way of ruse. He had, in any case, made up his mind to yield neither to the unwarranted orders of the Emperor nor to Quiroga’s insulting suggestion. Acting strictly within his rights, he sent ex­plicit orders to Suys not to move. Then, on January 11, 1634, he, notwithstanding Trautmansdorff’s protests, called together a Council of War consisting of his principal commanders. About fifty attended, including Piccolomini (Gallas and Aldringer were not at Pilsen); and Field-Marshal Ilow laid the Imperial demands before the meeting on Wallenstein’s behalf, and stated his intention, as matters stood, to resign. The commanders declared the Imperial demands impracticable, and sent two successive deputations to Wallenstein entreating him to remain. On January 12 he consented, and on the same day, at a banquet given by Ilow, a resolution of inviolable fidelity to him was signed by the commanders in the midst of a drunken uproar. According to Oñate, a clause in the copy of this resolution first shown to the officers, which limited their oath of fidelity by the words “so long as he remains in the Emperor’s service” was struck out by Wallenstein with his own hand; clearly, the resolution would have been of little use to him had the clause remained in it. Basing his refusal on this resolution, and on the fact that the safety of the Emperor and his House depended on the preservation of his army, Wallenstein apprised the Imperial Commissioners that the winter-quarters of his troops must be mainly in Bohemia, Silesia, Moravia, and Upper Austria. The resolution of the commanders was circulated for further signatures in Austria and Silesia, and also sent to Dresden; for the idea of a peace with the Protestant Electors, which so late as December had still found favor at Vienna, was still uppermost with Wallenstein. During January he was through Kinsky (whom the Emperor had now allowed to reside on his Bohemian estates), and then through other agencies and to some extent with the Emperor’s cognizance, seeking to reopen direct negotiations with Arnim, who in his turn had persuaded both the Electors to seek a pacific settlement through Wallenstein, if it could not be obtained direct from the Emperor. But Wallenstein was at the same time seeking through his secret agents to ascertain from Oxenstierna and Feuquières what sacrifices would content Sweden and France respectively in the event of a pacification. As yet he had formed no design of treason, or of cooperation with Sweden, and still less with France; but he clearly meant to force the Emperor’s hand.

The removal of Wallenstein determined.  [1633-4

While thus the Protestant Electors and even the cautious Oxenstierna continued to recognize Wallenstein’s importance for a possible settlement, and Richelieu’s agent had not ceased to hold out to him the prospect of the Bohemian Crown, his own position was being gradually undermined. We cannot say how and to what extent the fidelity of Gallas, Piccolomini, and Aldringer to their chief had already been tampered with before the final step was taken; but it can hardly have been a surprise to Gallas. Before the end of the year 1633 the Emperor had appointed a secret commission to consult about the measures to be taken against Wallenstein. It consisted of Eggenberg, Trautmansdorff, and the Bishop of Vienna. Oñate, who had made up his mind that everything depended upon not allowing Wallenstein to “leap the ditch”—i.e., settle the problem by his own action—was, with the King of Hungary, admitted to the sittings of the commission, and hinted at the most expeditious way out of the difficulty. The news of the Pilsen resolution, by which Wallenstein had hoped to safeguard his position, finally made it untenable.

On January 24 a patent (perhaps post-dated) was drawn up, which deposed Wallenstein and appointed the King of Hungary commander-in-chief of the Imperial armies, while absolving all superior and inferior officers from their obedience to Wallenstein and assigning independent commands to Gallas and Aldringer. The patent also referred to the dismissal and penal prosecution of two of Wallenstein’s chief officers (Trezka and Ilow being those intended); and named Piccolomini and Colloredo as Field-Marshals. This patent was not as yet made public; but on February 3 and 4 it was communicated through Wallmerode to Piccolomini and Aldringer, and doubtless also to Gallas. These men had no doubt been in some measure prepared for what was to follow; but it was not till they were made acquainted with the patent and with the verbal instructions brought by Wallmerode that they began to look the situation in the face, Piccolomini coolly proposing to arrest or kill Arnim and Francis Albert if they should come to negotiate at Pilsen. Still, though the necessary measures seem to have been left by the anxious Emperor to the generals, there was much hesitation on their part, due partly to the belief that the army as a whole would adhere to Wallenstein, partly to a faint hope that Wallenstein might peaceably throw up the command. Aldringer, having paid a visit to Vienna, and been informed there through Oñate that the Imperial instructions were to seize Wallenstein dead or alive, the three generals formed a secret plan to arrest him at Pilsen. But the design broke down, and Aldringer preferred not to re-enter the town. On February 13 Gallas, and on the 17th Piccolomini, took their departure, leaving behind them a general order declaring Wallenstein’s command, and those of Trezka and Ilow, vacant and referring the commanding officers of the army to themselves and Aldringer for directions. After their departure this order was transmitted to the commanding officers, a copy having been already on the 15th sent to the garrison at Prague. On February 18 a second patent was issued from Vienna (although, like the first, it did not bear the Imperial signature) denouncing the resolution of the commanders at Pilsen as a plot against the Emperor, confirming the deposition of the “late” commander-in-chief, as guilty of a design to seize and despoil the Emperor and his House of their hereditary kingdoms and crowns, and to extirpate the House of Austria. At the same time a commission was secretly appointed for the confiscation of all the estates of Wallenstein, How, and Trezka.

Two days later a second “resolution” was signed by the commanders at Pilsen, who, this time, however, numbered not more than thirty. One of the generals—Diodati—had already taken his departure without orders. This resolution was in response to Wallenstein’s promise to relieve them of their commands should he (“which had never entered into his mind”) undertake aught against the Emperor, and to his declaration that he desired to secure himself against the machinations of his adversaries. It promised that the signatories, should he remain with the army, would hold out by him to the last. Wallenstein sent word of this resolution to Vienna, intending himself to march on Prague, there carry through the negotiations with Arnim, and conclude peace with Saxony. He believed himself still strong enough to force the Emperor to do his bidding, but sought to keep open a door of retreat by a series of messages of which one, offering to resign the command if no force were used against him, was actually delivered to Ferdinand by the Duke’s cousin Maximilian von Wallenstein. At the same time he sent Francis Albert of Lauenburg to Bernard of Weimar at Ratisbon, requesting the Swedish general to move a few thousand horse to the Bohemian frontier. But while he was thus seeking to safeguard himself front and rear the ground crumbled away under his feet.

On February 24, 1634, the whole of Wallenstein’s army was to have assembled on the White Hill at Prague, there, on conditions which still remained untold, to dictate peace. Before that day arrived—if an insignificant movement in Wallenstein’s favor in Silesia be left out of account—the whole of that army had fallen away from him, with the exception of Ilow’s and Trezka’s regiments. The garrison of Prague, upon which troops had been concentrated even before the issue of the patent, set the example by renouncing its obedience. The commanding officers, returning to their various stations from Pilsen, heard the news; and the defection set in. At Pilsen Wallenstein announced to the officers around him that he proposed to muster all his forces at Laun, near the Saxon frontier, and bade them meet him in person at Eger, whither he was about to proceed. Fresh messages were sent to Bernard of Weimar, who received these overtures very coolly, both suspecting their authenticity and doubting the fidelity of Wallenstein’s troops; nor did he advance upon Bohemia till all was over.

On February 24 Wallenstein held his entry into Eger, Trezka’s and Ilow’s regiments pitching their tents round the place. Baffled and abandoned, Wallenstein deceived himself even as to the fidelity of those upon whom his personal security at Eger depended. The chief officers of the fortress, Gordon and Leslie, were two Protestant Scotchmen, whose sense of military honor seems to have revolted against the arguments pressed on them by Trezka and Ilow. Colonel Walter Butler, whom Wallenstein had half accidentally invited to accompany him, was an Irish Catholic of a similarly conscientious frame of mind. At a banquet given by Gordon to the officers, Kinsky, Trezka, and Ilow were massacred. After a last hesitation whether it would suffice to arrest the traitor-in-chief, it was resolved to kill him; and some of Butler’s Irish dragoons, with their captain Devereux in command, accomplished the deed (February 25).

Francis Albert of Lauenburg, returning from his bootless errand to Bernard of Weimar was taken prisoner; so were Colonel von Schlieff, who had been sent to warn Wallenstein’s faithful adherent General von Schaffgotsch in Silesia, with Schaffgotsch himself, and Wallenstein’s Chancellor Elz. All the threads of the great politician’s intrigues were severed; and the whole of his mighty army had fallen away from the famous commander who had created it. He died as an outlawed traitor.

No personality occupies a place in the history of the Thirty Years’ War at once so characteristic of that war and so unique in itself as that of Wallenstein. But his greatness—if such it was—lies not in his achievements either as a creator or as a leader of armies, though this “general without victories” both crushed Mansfeld and foiled Gustavus. Nor does it lie in his consummate insight and capacity as a politician, who could use all circumstances and all conjunctures, and would not permit himself to be used by any of his fellow-players in the game. It lies rather in the innermost purposes of his statesmanship, and above all in his supreme ambition to become the pacificator of the Empire, in the interests of that Empire as a whole, and to liberate it both from the encroachments of the foreigner and from the internal dominion of the Reaction. Herein he showed a farsightedness due to the inspiration of a grand self-reliance rather than to communings with the stars. The Peace of Prague, as will be seen, differed from the settlement which Wallenstein would have concluded on behalf of, or even without, the Emperor; but he was fully justified as against that Emperor and his Spanish and Bavarian allies by the treaties which France and Sweden enforced at Minister and Osnabruck, and of which the bitterness remained with the Empire for many generations. Moreover, the gain for religious freedom secured by the peace which ended the war could not have been achieved, had Wallenstein’s sword, when the issues of the conflict so largely depended upon it, been thrown into the scale of an uncompromising intolerance.