READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

A HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE : A.D. 1453-1900

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE SWEDES IN GERMANY

THE Peace of Lübeck, and the withdrawal from the German Protestants of the protection of Denmark, encouraged the Emperor to carry out the Edict of Restitution, which had been published two months previously (March 29th, 1629). This celebrated edict forms a turning point in the Thirty Years' War. Hitherto matters had gone prosperously with Ferdinand; but this measure excited desperate opposition, and was one of the chief causes that brought Gustavus Adolphus into Germany. The general object of the edict was to restore ecclesiastical affairs to the state they were in at the Peace of Passau in 1552; and the three main points in it were: 1. That the Catholics were to receive back all the mediate convents and other mediate ecclesiastical foundations, of which they had been deprived since that treaty. 2. Members of the Confession of Augsburg holding immediate bishoprics and prelacies were to surrender them back to the Catholics. 3. Catholic States were to enjoy the right of making their subjects conform to their faith, and of removing those who would not, after paying proper compensation; just as the Princes of the Augsburg Confession had acted on that principle. The Emperor further declared that the Peace of Passau, as submitted to Charles V, included only Catholics and members of the Lutheran Confession; and that all other sects, present or future, were not entitled to its benefits, and ought not to be tolerated.

After the promulgation of the Edict of Restitution, Ferdinand proceeded to appoint his son, the Archduke Leopold, who already enjoyed so many bishoprics, to the metropolitan sees of Bremen and Magdeburg. This last appointment attacked the claims of the Elector of Saxony. When Wallenstein entered the Archbishopric of Magdeburg in January, 1628, the Protestant Chapter, in order to conciliate the Emperor, and at the same time to secure a Protestant head, had deposed the Margrave Christian William of Brandenburg, the lay Archbishop in possession, who had been put under the ban of the Empire; and had demanded in his stead Augustus, second son of the Elector John George, then only in his fourteenth year. Ferdinand, however, referred the matter to the Pope, who nominated Leopold; and John George, though vexed and alarmed by the Edict of Restitution, was soon pacified by the assurance that his ancient secularized possessions should not be touched. In Augsburg, Kaufbeuren, Würtemberg, Halberstadt, and other places, the edict was forcibly carried out; the evangelical preachers were expelled, the Protestant churches shut up, and even private worship forbidden under severe penalties.

The Emperor had been assisted in his plans by the want of spirit and patriotism displayed by most of the German Protestant Princes. The Duke of Würtemberg, the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Thuringian Dukes alone showed any anxiety to vindicate the cause of their country and their religion: the political as well as the religious liberties of Germany were to be saved by a foreign Prince. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden had viewed with alarm the progress of Wallenstein, and especially the plan for extending the domination of Austria to the Baltic. He had been offended by the exclusion of his ambassadors from the congress of Lübeck, and by the help given to the Poles by the Imperialists. He was also, no doubt, being himself a zealous Protestant, moved with indignation at the oppression exercised against the Protestants of Germany : although this was properly no casus belli, and was not even alluded to in the manifesto which he published shortly after his landing in that country. Gustavus was also induced to engage in the great German struggle by the help of France. Richelieu, to effect so favorable a diversion to the war then carrying on in Italy between France and the House of Austria respecting the Mantuan succession, had, through his ambassador, Charnace, negotiated a truce between Sweden and Poland, and promised to furnish Gustavus with an annual subsidy. It must not, however, be supposed that the support of France, though of course important, was the main cause of bringing Sweden into the field. Gustavus began the war before he had concluded any agreement with that Power, in order both to be and to show himself independent. The treaty of Barwalde between France and Sweden was not definitively signed till January 23rd, 1631, several months after Gustavus had landed in Germany; nor, as Voltaire remarks, was the stipulated subsidy of a million livres per annum alone sufficient to have induced the Swedish King to enter on such a war.

Gustavus Adolphus set sail from the harbor of Elfsnabben, May 30th, 1630. Before his departure he took a formal leave of the States assembled at Stockholm, when he presented to them his little daughter, Christina, not yet six years of age; and tenderly embracing her, commended her to their fidelity as heiress of his Kingdom in a speech which drew tears even from those northern eyes. To conduct the government in his absence, he appointed a Council of Regency consisting of ten persons, who were to reside constantly at Stockholm. After an adverse and tedious navigation, he landed with an army of some 15,000 men in the isle of Usedom, off the coast of Pomerania, June 24th. Another division of his army was conveyed to Stralsund. Gustavus prided himself on being the first to set foot on German soil. No sooner was he landed than he seized a pickaxe and began to open a trench; after which he fell upon his knees and offered up a prayer. In his army were several thousand British soldiers, most of whom had served in the German wars. After taking possession of the isles of Usedom and Wollin, which lie off the mouth of the Oder, Gustavus proceeded towards Stettin, the residence of Boguslaus XIV, Duke of Pomerania Boguslaus after a vain attempt to assert his neutrality, found himself compelled to submit to the Swedes; and being old and childless, made little difficulty in promising that the Duchy of Pomerania should remain in the hands of Sweden till the costs of the war were paid. Gustavus caused Stettin to be fortified anew, and then proceeded to occupy Damm and Stargard. By the junction of the troops at Stralsund and others, his army was now increased to upwards of 25,000 men, and there was no force competent to oppose him; for the Imperial army was dispersed in various directions, and that of Tilly was far from the seat of war, in the Upper Palatinate, Franconia, and Westphalia. An imprudent step on the part of the Emperor increased the advantages of Gustavus.

Ferdinand II had convened a Diet at Ratisbon in July, 1630, for the purpose of procuring the election of his son as King of the Romans. The opportunity was seized to thwart and impede the Emperor's policy. Maximilian of Bavaria, jealous of the progress of Wallenstein and having satisfied his own ambition by securing the Upper Palatinate and the Electoral dignity, would willingly have seen an end put to the war; and he resolved to clog the wheels of Austria by procuring the disgrace and ruin of the Duke of Friedland, and establishing a secret intelligence with the French Court. Wallenstein, in order to acquire new principalities, under pretense of carrying out the Edict of Restitution, had withdrawn his troops from Mecklenburg and the rest of Lower Saxony, thus leaving North Germany open to the invader. After ravaging the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, Wallenstein at last laid formal siege to that city; but as Ferdinand was then contemplating the nomination of his son as King of the Romans, and required for that purpose the votes of the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, both of whom had claims on Magdeburg, Wallenstein was ordered to abandon the siege. He then cast his eyes on the smaller lands and bishoprics. Wolfenbüttel, from which Duke Frederick Ulrich of Brunswick had been deposed by a decree of the Imperial Council, was to be made over as a principality to Wallenstein's general, Pappenheim; Calenburg was to be given to Tilly; Würtemberg had also felt the effects of military violence: and everywhere, in carrying out the Edict of Restitution, no particular inquiries were made whether the Church property seized had been secularized before or after the Treaty of Passau.

These proceedings had given great dissatisfaction, not only to Duke Maximilian, but also to other Electors and Princes. Maximilian openly joined the party which demanded the dismissal of Wallenstein and the reduction of the Imperial army as conditions without which they would not consent to the election of the Emperor's son, Ferdinand, as King of the Romans. The Emperor, the Elector of Bavaria, and the spiritual Electors appeared in person at Ratisbon, but Brandenburg and Saxony sent only deputies. At this assembly also appeared the French envoys, Leon Brulart and Father Joseph, ostensibly about the affairs of Italy, but with secret instructions to do all in their power still further to embitter Maximilian, who had already a secret intelligence with the French Court, and the spiritual Electors against Wallenstein, to effect the disarmament of the Empire, and to prevent the election of Ferdinand's son. In all these objects they were completely successful. The Emperor, after a long struggle, consented to dismiss Wallenstein, and to reduce the Imperial army to 40,000 men, while the League still kept on foot a force of 30,000; yet, so far from securing the election of his son by these concessions, the Electors even talked of making the Duke of Bavaria his successor on the Imperial throne. Wallenstein, after remaining at Halberstadt till January, had proceeded into Bohemia to reduce some of his Protestant peasants to obedience, after which he returned to the head­quarters of his army at Memmingen, in Swabia; and it was here that he received, in August, the order of the Emperor to lay down his command. He surprised all by his ready compliance with the Emperor's order, of which he had been previously informed by his cousin. Max Wallenstein. When the Imperial envoys appeared, he received them in a friendly manner, gave them a splendid entertainment, and when, after long hesitation, they began a carefully prepared speech, he interrupted them by reading a Latin paper, in which were indicated the nativity of the Emperor, that of the Elector of Bavaria, and his own, adding, "You may see, gentlemen, from the stars, that I was acquainted with your commission, and that the spiritus of the Elector dominates over that of the Emperor. I cannot therefore blame the Emperor; and though I grieve that his Majesty should support me so little, I shall obey". He now again repaired to his Bohemian estates, but spent much of his time at Prague, where he lived with regal splendor. The dismissal of Wallenstein's army, which the policy of Richelieu had not a little contributed to effect, was, of course, most favorable to the operations of Gustavus Adolphus. Richelieu's envoys also succeeded in adjusting the affairs of the Mantuan succession, of which we must here say a few words.

The Mantuan Succession

Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Marquis of Montferrat, died December 26th, 1627. His next heir in the Duchy of Mantua was the Duke of Nevers, descended with Vincenzo from a common grandfather, Frederick II, though by a younger son of this Duke. Vincenzo's successor in Montferrat was his niece, Maria Gonzaga, who shortly before her uncle's death had been married to Charles Count of Rethel, son of the Duke of Nevers, in which House, therefore, the whole inheritance was united, and the Duke of Nevers took possession of it in January, 1628. The Court of Spain, however, was unwilling to see so important an Italian possession fall into the hands of a Prince long naturalized in France; and they raised up a counter-claimant in the person of Caesar Duke of Guastalla, descended from Ferdinand, a brother of Duke Frederick II, founding his pretensions on the circumstance that, though of the younger branch, he was the offspring of the eldest son of Ferdinand, while the Duke of Nevers sprang from the third son of Frederick. The Duke of Savoy also disputed the title of his grand-daughter, Maria Gonzaga, to Montferrat, and revived the claims of his house, made a century before, to that marquisate, but condemned by the Emperor Charles V. The Spaniards incited the Duke of Guastalla to appeal to the Emperor, as Suzerain of the Mantuan duchy, and made an alliance with the Duke of Savoy, promising to give him Trino and other places in Montferrat adjoining his dominions. As the Emperor delayed to give his decision, a Spanish force, under the Count of Montenegro, entered the Mantuan territory, whilst another body laid siege to Casale, the capital of Montferrat, Charles Emmanuel engaging to secure, meanwhile, the passes of the Alps against the advance of the French. After the fall of La Rochelle, Richelieu was hindered by the intrigues of the Queen-Mother from immediately interfering in the affairs of Italy; but early in 1629 he persuaded Louis XIII, whom he accompanied, to cross Mont-Genevre with his army; the Pass of Susa was carried against the Piedmontese (March), and the Duke of Savoy was compelled to accept a treaty, to which, as the French were preponderant in force, the Spanish Governor of Milan was also glad to accede.

The French, who held Casale, leaving a garrison of 6,000 men in Susa till the treaty should be ratified by Spain, now recrossed the Alps, in order to reduce the last remains of the Huguenots, who, under the Duke of Rohan, still held out in Languedoc and other southern parts of France. The hands of Richelieu were left the more free for this undertaking by the peace concluded with England, April 4th, 1629, by which Charles I, engrossed by his quarrels with his subjects, consented to renounce his protection of the Huguenots. The Court of Spain, despite its bigotry, entered into an agreement to assist Rohan and his heretics (May), but it was too late; the Huguenots failed, and their extinction as a political party was consummated by the reduction of Montauban in August, 1629. Meanwhile an Imperial army, withdrawn, as already mentioned, from North Germany, had entered the territory of the Grisons, had seized Chur and the passes of the Upper Rhine, and on the 5th of June the French were summoned by proclamation of the Emperor to evacuate the Imperial fiefs in Italy. The summer was spent in negotiations, during which, with an eye to future contests, the veteran captain, Spinola, was made Governor of Milan by Philip IV. At the end of September the Imperialists, under Collalto, descended into Lombardy, and laid siege to Mantua, whilst Spinola invaded Montferrat. Richelieu now raised an army, composed chiefly of foreign mercenaries, and, as Louis XIII was detained at home by domestic occurrences, the Cardinal crossed the Alps at their head in February, 1630, with the title and authority of Lieutenant-General of the King. The ravages of disease had compelled the Imperial army to abandon the siege of Mantua; but the Duke of Savoy was intractable, and to put an end to his evasions, Richelieu made a feint on Turin, near which Charles Emmanuel was posted with his army. In this march the Cardinal appeared as generalissimo at the head of the cavalry, with cuirass, helmet, and plume, a sword by his side, and pistols in his holsters. But instead of marching on Turin, Richelieu suddenly retraced his steps towards the Alps, and seized Pinerolo after a three days' siege, thus securing the key of Italy. Louis, in person, effected the reduction of Savoy in June, whilst in Piedmont Charles Emmanuel was defeated at Vegliana by the Duke of Montmorenci, July 10th. Grief and vexation at these events caused the death of the Duke of Savoy, who expired July 26th, at the age of sixty-eight. To balance, however, these successes of the French, the almost impregnable fortress of Mantua was surprised and captured by the lieutenants of Collalto in the night of July 17th.

Victor Amadeus, the new Duke of Savoy, who had married a sister of Louis XIII, was not so uncompromising an enemy of France as his father. By the intermediation of Giulio Mazarini, the Pope's agent, a truce was signed, to last from September 8th to October 15th; and Victor Amadeus promised to join the French if a reasonable peace were not effected by the 13th of October. The town of Casale was put into Spinola's hands, who was at that time besieging it; the citadel was still held by the French under Toiras; who, however, engaged to surrender it, if not relieved before the end of October. On the 17th of that month, the truce being expired, Marshals La Force, Schomberg, and Marillae marched to the relief of Casale. Spinola had died during the truce. On the 26th of October, the French and Spanish armies were in presence before the town; a battle was on the eve of commencing, when suddenly a cavalier dashed from the Spanish line, and rode towards the French, waving a white handkerchief, and exclaiming in Italian, "Pace! pace! alto! alto!" (Peace! peace! halt! halt!) He advanced at the risk of his life, for several of the French soldiers fired on him.

It was Giulio Mazarini, who was really the bearer of a treaty of peace effected by Brulart and Richelieu's factotum, Father Joseph, at Ratisbon. Richelieu, however, declared that they had exceeded their commission; and it is not very clear whether they had been induced to hurry on a treaty by the news of the King's dangerous illness, of the factions which prevailed in the French Court, and the critical situation of Casale, the capture of which appeared inevitable, or whether the Cardinal, by what a French historian calls “a somewhat Machiavellian combination”, had furnished his Capuchin with secret instructions to conclude a treaty which he might afterwards find a pretext to disavow. It was, however, accepted by the French generals. It was agreed that both the French and Spaniards should evacuate Casale and the rest of Montferrat; the town and citadel were to be given up to Ferdinand, second son of the Duke of Mantua; and the garrisons were to be composed entirely of native troops. The French, however, with very bad faith, left behind them some of their own soldiers, clothed in the Montferrat uniform; and when the Spaniards had recrossed the Po, two French regiments returned and introduced a convoy of provisions into Casale. Yet hostilities were not resumed. The appearance of Gustavus Adolphus in Germany induced the Emperor to abandon the war in Italy, in spite of the endeavors of Philip IV to persuade him to continue it; and a treaty of peace was concluded at Cherasco, in Piedmont, April 6th, 1631. By this treaty Ferdinand II agreed to invest the Duke of Nevers with Mantua and Montferrat, on his ceding a large portion of the latter, including Alba and Trino to Victor Amadeus, to to whom also France was to restore all that she occupied in Piedmont and Savoy. Richelieu, however, by a secret agreement with the Duke of Savoy, contrived to evade this part of the treaty, in so far as Pinerolo was concerned, which he had resolved never to restore.

Such was the conclusion of the war of the Mantuan succession, which forms a sort of episode in the great drama of the Thirty Years' War. Richelieu did not mean to let the Italian peace divert him from the less open warfare which he was pursuing against the House of Austria in Germany. Intrigues against the Cardinal during the dangerous illness of Louis XIII had threatened to overthrow his policy and put an end to his ministry, perhaps even to his life. They were frustrated by the unexpected recovery of the King. The failure of the plots against him served to place his power and influence on a firmer basis, and to give him freer scope to pursue his plans of foreign policy.

Progress of Gustavus Adolphus

Having wrested Pomerania, with the exception of a few towns, from the Imperialists under Torquato Conti, Gustavus entered Mecklenburg, after concluding a treaty with the deposed Dukes of that country; but he in vain endeavored to persuade the Elector of Saxony, and the Elector of Brandenburg, his brother-in-law, to ally themselves with him in defence of their religion. Gustavus was detained some time at Stralsund, engaged in negotiations with the French envoy, Charnace, which ended in the treaty of Barwalde, already mentioned. To the surprise of the enemy, the Swedes, according to their custom, continued the campaign during the winter; and Greifenhagen was assaulted and taken, under the conduct of Gustavus on Christmas eve. Early in 1631, Kolberg, Frankfurt-on-Oder, and Demmin yielded to his arms, before Tilly thought it prudent to oppose him. The Leaguist general, distrustful of the Elector of Saxony, whom the Emperor had offended in the matter of Magdeburg, demanded this town, as well as Leipsic and Wittenberg, on the ground that they were necessary for his operations on the Elbe; and, after taking New Brandenburg and putting the Swedish garrison to the sword, he proceeded to Magdeburg.

Gustavus expected that Tilly's attack upon a city to which the Electors both of Saxony and Brandenburg had claims, would procure him the alliance of those Princes; but as both of them continued to decline his proposals, he was compelled to leave Magdeburg to its fate. Early in 1631, John George had assembled the Protestant Princes and Free Cities at Leipzig to come to some decision respecting the Edict of Restitution and the wrongs done to the Protestants; but the Conventus of Leipzig, as it was called, though it roused the indignation and resentment of the Emperor, had, like most German meetings, little practical result. All alliance with Gustavus, the only man who could save Germany, was declined; but there was some talk, which ended in nothing, of applying to the already vanquished King of Denmark. The King of Sweden had demanded from the Elector of Brandenburg Küstrin and Spandau; George William would grant only the former of these towns; and Gustavus finding, after an interview, that he could not persuade his brother-in-law, determined to march on Berlin. He approached that city with only 1,000 musketeers; but his whole army followed and encamped round it; and the Elector found himself compelled to abandon Spandau to the Swedes, on condition that it should be evacuated when Magdeburg had been relieved. But this was too late to accomplish. Magdeburg, besieged since March, was taken by storm, May 10th, and dreadfully handled. Count Pappenheim, who served under Tilly, irritated by the prolonged resistance of some of the citizens, is said to have caused their houses to be fired: in the night the flames spread over the whole city, and left only the Cathedral, and some houses round about it, undestroyed. Between 20,000 and 30,000 inhabitants are said to have perished.

Battle of Leipzig

Gustavus was forced again to threaten Berlin before his brother-in-law would consent to join him; and at last, on the 11th of June, 1631, a formal treaty was concluded. George William agreed to pay 30,000 dollars monthly to the Swedes, and to place Spandau and Küstrin at their disposal. But Gustavus could not plunge deeper into Germany till he had made terms with the Elector of Saxony, who had now on foot an army of 18,000 men under the command of Arnim, formerly a colonel of Wallenstein's. John George had refused to help the Swedes in their attempt to relieve Magdeburg, and had even contested their passing the Elbe. After the fall of Magdeburg, Gustavus therefore again marched northwards into Mecklenburg and Pomerania, and wrested Greifswald from the Imperialists. He and Tilly seemed to avoid each other; for Tilly proceeded into the middle districts of Germany to rob and hector the Protestant Princes. Duke William of Weimar fled before him to Leipsic; but Duke Bernhard, in conjunction with William, Landgrave of Hesse, resolved on a stout resistance; and the latter rejected Tilly's demands to surrender Cassel and Ziegenhain, and to pay a contribution. Upon the approach of Gustavus, who had crossed the Elbe, and established a fortified camp near the little town of Werbeu, opposite the confluence of the Havel, Tilly was obliged to withdraw his troops from Hesse, and the Landgrave reoccupied his fortresses. While the Swedish army was at Werben, Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar entered the service of Gustavus, and the Landgrave of Hesse concluded with him at the same place the Treaty of Werben. The Swedish King supplied the Landgrave with money to levy troops, and appointed him general of all the forces that should be raised in the Rhenish Circles and Upper Germany. In August, the Dukes of Mecklenburg were solemnly reinstated in their dominions at Güstrow, although the Imperialists continued to maintain themselves at Rostock till October, and at Wismar till January, 1632. During the summer both Gustavus and Tilly had received considerable reinforcements; the Swedish King had been rejoined by General Gustavus Horn with 4,000 men, while the Imperial general had added to his army many of the troops dismissed from the war in Italy. Tilly was repulsed in an attempt to storm the camp of Gustavus at Werben; and afterwards by an impolitic endeavor to overawe the Elector of Saxony, who, as we have said, had excited the anger and suspicion of the Imperialists by the Leipzig Conventus, he threw that Prince into the arms of Gustavus. The Imperialists, 40,000 or 50,000 strong, entered Saxony; Tilly proceeded with his usual ferocity, and when the Elector heard that 200 of his villages were in flames, he formed an alliance with Gustavus, and on the 5th of September joined the Swedes with an army of some 18,000 men. Tilly had entered Leipzig, but on the approach of Gustavus and John George he offered them battle at Breitenfeld, near that town. The Battle of Leipzig, one of the most splendid victories of Gustavus Adolphus, was won entirely by the Swedes, September 7th, 1631; the Saxons, consisting of raw recruits, were speedily routed; the Elector, who had taken post in the rear, joined the flight with his body-guard, and stopped not till he reached Eilenburg; where he refreshed himself with a draught of beer. After an engagement of five hours, Tilly was completely defeated; he lost his guns and half his men, and he himself narrowly escaped with his life.

After this decisive victory Germany seemed to lie at the mercy of the Swedish King. Many were of opinion that he should have marched directly on Vienna, and among those who thought so were two of the most eminent statesmen of Europe, Richelieu and Gustavus's own Chancellor, Oxenstiern. It does not, however, follow that the capture of Vienna would have put an end to the war. That capital had been taken before, yet Austria continued to subsist. Gustavus resolved to march to the Rhine : a course to which he seems to have been determined by the advice of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, by a pressing invitation from the Protestant States assembled at Frankfurt-on-Main, and by the prospect of making the Catholic Bishoprics contribute to the support of his army. While the Saxons under Arnim were to proceed through Lusatia and Bohemia into Moravia, the Swedish King pressed on his march through the Thuringian forest, often continuing it at night by the light of torches. Tilly retired with the remnant of his forces by Halle into Westphalia; where he rallied all the dispersed bodies of Imperialists, intending to intercept the Swedes on their march through Franconia. A Swedish officer who preceded Gustavus, succeeded in gaining to his alliance the towns of Nuremberg, Ulm, and Strassburg; and Erfurt, Gotha, and all that lay on the road to Franconia, were occupied before the end of September. On the 13th of October, the Swedes appeared before Würzburg, which was soon captured, though the Castle held out till November 7th. Hanau was surprised; Frankfurt opened its gates; Gustavus passed through the city, and on the same evening occupied Hochst (November 17th).

Tilly had in vain endeavored to intercept the triumphant progress of the Swedes. He and Pappenheim had quarreled; the latter went into Westphalia, while Tilly, after a vain attempt to succor Würzburg, marched to Nuremberg. Gustavus heard, soon after his arrival at Hochst, that his enemies had separated : one portion of their force had been dispatched to Bohemia, another to Bavaria, while the third and smallest portion remained in Franconia. Tilly, with tears, complained that Maximilian of Bavaria had forbidden him to undertake anything decisive, as his army formed the last reserve. Yet Gustavus, who, on his march from Würzburg to Hanau, had only 7,500 foot and 4,000 cavalry, had never been seen so disturbed and indecisive as on the approach of Tilly. Mainz surrendered to Gustavus, December 13th. Gustavus had been called the "Snow-King", whose forces, it was said, would melt away as he approached the south. It was therefore a surprise to see him established, at Christmas, 1631, on the banks of the Rhine, the recognized head of Protestant Germany, accompanied by his consort, and surrounded by a crowd of princes and ambassadors. His Chancellor, Oxenstiern, who brought thither some reinforcements from Prussia, viewed with dissatisfaction and alarm the many princes who composed his staff. The Swedish arms appeared everywhere successful. Tott had completed the conquest of Mecklenburg by capturing Rostock, Wismar, and Domitz; Horn, though beaten by Tilly at Bamberg, had succeeded in penetrating to the Neckar; Baner had taken possession of Magdeburg after its evacuation by Pappenheim; Duke Bernhard of Weimar had driven the enemy from the Lower Palatinate, with the exception of Frankenthal and Heidelberg; the Landgrave William IV of Hesse had recovered his dominions, occupied Paderborn and Southern Westphalia, and raised a considerable army. Thus the greater part of Germany was in the hands of the Swedes and their allies. The Catholic League had been dissipated. Some of its members had lost their possessions to Gustavus; others had joined the Emperor, or thrown themselves into the arms of France. In February, 1632, the Elector Palatine Frederick V, at the invitation of Gustavus, joined that monarch at Frankfurt-on-Main. He was received with great honor by Gustavus, whose behavior, however, was equivocal. Frederick was in hopes that he should be restored to his dominions; but Gustavus was angry and disappointed at getting neither subsidies nor troops from Charles I, although that King was continually pressing for his brother-in-law's restoration. Frederick, however, continued to accompany the Swedish army, in the hope that he should at last obtain his rights.

But notwithstanding the apparently triumphant ascendancy of Gustavus Adolphus, clouds had already begun to obscure his success. He found that he could not rely upon the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, both of whom had joined him by compulsion; George William’s minister, Schwarzenberg, a Catholic, was privately sold to the Emperor; Arnim, the commander of the Saxon army, an ex-colonel of Wallenstein's, remained secretly connected with his former general. When Arnim marched with the Saxons to Prague he did not disturb his old commander's tranquility; he left his palaces and lands untouched; and when Wallenstein again assumed the supreme command, he made no attempt to hinder him from levying an army. John George he cajoled with the idea of making himself the head of a third party in Germany.

Lorraine

The success of Gustavus had been more rapid and decisive than Richelieu had hoped or expected, and seemed to threaten the existence of French influence in Germany. The Cardinal would rather have fomented the divisions in Germany by a league with the Duke of Bavaria and such other Catholic Princes and States as were opposed to the Emperor, than by assuming the protection of the German Protestants; but Maximilian still hesitated. The three ecclesiastical Electors had invoked the mediation of France in November. Louis XIII and Richelieu had proceeded to Metz to reduce to obedience the Duke of Lorraine, who had placed some of his towns in the hands of the Imperialists, and had himself joined the army of Tilly. The French Court arrived at Metz soon after Gustavus had entered Mainz; and here Louis XIII received the submission of the Duke of Lorraine, who had been advised to make his peace with the King. By the treaty of Vic, January 6th, 1632, Charles IV. of Lorraine descended from the rank of a Prince of the Empire to something very like a French vassal. He abandoned all his relations with the Emperor and the King of Spain, promised to contract no alliance without the consent of Louis, and engaged not only to permit French forces to pass through Lorraine, but also to join them with his own. At Metz also arrived the now landless Bishop of Würzburg, to beseech the King and Cardinal for aid in the name of religion. A more important suppliant was Philip Christopher von Sotern, Archbishop and Elector of Treves. By the approach of Gustavus to the Rhine, and the entry of the French army into Lorraine, the Electorate of Treves was threatened on both sides. The Elector, who was at variance with his Chapter, by a treaty concluded with the French, December 21st, 1631, had made over to them the fortress of Philippsburg on the Rhine, in his Bishopric of Spires, also Coblenz and the opposite fortress of Hermannstein, now called Ehrenbreitstein. The French thus obtained a footing on the Rhine, which they maintained till the Peace of Westphalia. But the Chapter and municipality of Treves called in the Spaniards from the Netherlands, who anticipated the French in taking possession of Coblenz and Treves; and as France and Spain were then at peace, they could not, of course, be driven out without declaring war.

In this conjuncture, in which the views and interests of Louis and Gustavus seemed to clash, the Swedish King behaved with firmness and dignity. He declined an interview with Louis and Richelieu. He would make no concessions to those Princes of the Catholic League whose domains he had occupied, as the Elector of Mainz and the Bishops of Würzburg and Worms; and he refused to restore them anything till a general peace. He reserved the right of punishing the Bishop of Bamberg, alleging that he had violated his capitulation. Towards the other members of the League he agreed to observe neutrality, and to restore what he had taken from the Duke of Bavaria and the Electors of Treves and Cologne, except Spires; but he demanded in return that the Duke of Bavaria and his allies should restore all that they had taken from the Protestants since 1618; though a brief delay was to be accorded to arrange, under the mediation of France and England, an accommodation between Maximilian and the Palatine.

Bavaria

The Duke of Bavaria could not resign himself to these conditions; he beat about to gain time and raise troops, and thus brought the storm of war upon his dominions. Gustavus, after a rapid march into Franconia, where he punished the Bishop of Bamberg, pursued Tilly and his retreating army into Bavaria. The Danube was passed at Donauworth without opposition; but Tilly, strongly posted at the little town of Rain, disputed the passage of the Lech. The Swedes, under cover of their guns, with difficulty threw a bridge across that rapid stream, and succeeded in passing, despite the furious resistance of Tilly (April 15th) : a cannon-ball having carried away that commander's thigh, the Bavarians abandoned their position. Maximilian who came up towards evening, ordered a retreat to Ingolstadt, where on the following day the veteran Tilly died of his wound. Maximilian now took the sole command, and determined to struggle on till he should be helped by the Imperialists.

After the battle of Leipzig Ferdinand II had looked around in various quarters for assistance. He had invoked Spain, the Pope, the King of Poland, the Italian Princes, his son Ferdinand, now King of Hungary; but none of these could afford him any effectual succor. The only chance of safety seemed to be to recall the Duke of Friedland. The Emperor had remained on friendly terms with Wallenstein after his dismissal, and continued to address him as "Duke of Mecklenburg, Friedland, and Sagan." Wallenstein was first sounded about resuming the command in October, but he excused himself, pleading indisposition from gout; and the Emperor was compelled to make the most humble and pressing appeal to him for assistance. It was not till towards the end of December that he consented to raise another army, when he engaged to serve for three months only, declining, however, the title of generalissimo and all the emoluments of the office. As the term of the three months drew nigh, and the advance of the Swedes inspired fresh alarm, the Emperor's solicitations that Wallenstein should continue in command were redoubled. The sound of his drum attracted recruits from all quarters, and he was soon at the head of 40,000 men. The time was come when he might make his own terms. He drew up a capitulation for the Emperor's signature which seemed to reverse the situation of sovereign and subject. He insisted on being absolute commander, not only of the Imperial, but also of the Spanish troops in Germany; he stipulated that the Emperor's son, Ferdinand, should not appear in the army, still less hold any command in it, and that when Bohemia was recovered he should reside at Prague, under a Spanish guard of 12,000 men, till a general peace was effected. Wallenstein demanded as his reward an Imperial hereditary estate, together with many other rights and privileges. No Imperial pardon or reward was to be valid except it was confirmed by Wallenstein, and he alone was to have the bestowal of confiscated lands. The Duke and his private interests, particularly his lost Duchy of Mecklenburg, were to be considered and provided for in any general peace. In short, Wallenstein usurped some of his Sovereign's most important functions; yet, such was Ferdinand's necessity, he submitted with apparent cheerfulness to all his general's demands.

Before the end of May Wallenstein had driven the Saxons under Arnim from the greater part of Bohemia. Meanwhile Gustavus was pushing on his conquests. After a fruitless attempt on Ingolstadt, where his horse was shot under him, the Swedish King occupied Augsburg, and caused the citizens to do homage to him; and he prized as one of his highest triumphs the restoration of Protestantism in this cradle of its infancy. He then entered Bavaria, where, however, he encountered a formidable resistance from the fanaticism of the peasantry, forming a strong contrast to the reception he had met with in other parts of Germany. Munich was entered May 17th, and the Elector Palatine, who accompanied the Swedes, had the transitory satisfaction of passing a brief time in the capital of his arch-enemy. Hence Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar was dispatched with the van towards Tyrol. Vienna was in consternation; even Italy began to tremble. Wallenstein had now an opportunity to indulge his grudge against Maximilian, the principal author of his disgrace. The Duke of Bavaria found himself reduced to congratulate on his success the man whom he had so loudly denounced at Ratisbon, and to solicit his aid. Prague had been recovered early in May, and it would have been easy for Wallenstein to march into Bavaria; but he did not stir a foot till towards the end of June, and then on conditions the most humiliating to Maximilian. The Duke of Bavaria, who was in the Upper Palatinate with his army, was obliged to put himself under the control of Wallenstein. When they met at Eger all eyes were turned on two such enemies to note their bearing; and the inquisitive remarked that his Serene Highness the Elector had learned the art of dissembling better than the Duke of Friedland. After the junction of their armies Wallenstein assumed the chief command. Gustavus, who had in vain endeavored to prevent this junction, now hastened to seize Nuremburg, leaving Bernhard of Weimar and General Baner to protect his conquests in Bavaria and Upper Swabia. Nuremberg offered him many advantages both in a strategical and tactical point of view. He could easily communicate there with his allies both in North and South Germany, while the situation of the place rendered it easy of defence; and the town, with its immediate environs, was converted into one vast fortified camp, capable of sheltering 50,000 men. But Wallenstein, with equal tact, took up a position which neutralized all these advantages. On a height called the Alte Feste, a few miles north of Nuremberg, he also established a fortified camp, whence he infested the convoys and communications of the Swedes. Here the two great captains of the Thirty Years' War sat nine weeks watching each other. Wallenstein's forces were the more numerous; but, being mostly composed of raw recruits, he resolved to stand on the defensive. Gustavus, whose army, after calling in Duke Bernhard, Baner, and other generals, with their forces, amounted to the number mentioned, found difficulty in feeding them; and having in vain offered battle at the foot of the wooded height where Wallenstein was encamped, he was rash enough to attack the position; but after an assault which lasted ten hours, and in which every regiment in the Swedish army was successively engaged, he was repulsed with the loss of several thousand men (August 24th), and the capture of Torstenson, one of his best generals. In this affair the sole of Gustavus's boot was carried away by a cannon-ball. It was his first failure of any importance, and increased the reputation of Wallenstein. How critical the situation of the Swedish King was may be judged from the circumstance of his sending to Wallenstein proposals for peace; and the communications which passed between the two commanders on this occasion afterwards afforded the Court of Vienna a pretext for charging Wallenstein with having held a treasonable correspondence with Gustavus. A fortnight afterwards (September 7th) Gustavus broke up from his entrenched camp, and again took the road to Bavaria, in the hope of inducing Wallenstein to follow him, and of thus saving Saxony. Maximilian separated from Wallenstein at Coburg, and marched to Ratisbon to defend his dominions, while Wallenstein proceeded into Saxony. Gustavus was preparing to besiege Ingolstadt, when he received a pressing message for assistance from the Saxon Elector, and immediately took the road through Nuremberg, sending his Queen with three brigades of infantry by Schweinfurt. They met at Erfurt towards the end of October. When Gustavus reviewed his army at this place, he found that he had only 12,000 infantry and 6,500 horse. He was never, indeed, desirous of large forces, and he was accustomed to say that all above 40,000 men were an incumbrance; while Wallenstein, on the contrary, had a maxim that the Deity favored strong battalions. But though Gustavus's force was small compared with that of his adversary, it must be remembered that the Swedish army was composed of veteran troops of the best description, including a large body of British soldiers. In the campaign of 1632 Gustavus had in his service six British generals, thirty colonels, and fifty-one lieutenant-colonels.

Battle of Lützen

The Elector of Saxony was in a critical situation. The Saxon army under Arnim was in Silesia when the Elector's territories were entered by Wallenstein's troops, who had occupied Leipsic before the approach of the Swedes. The march of the latter, however, had been so rapid that Wallenstein was astonished to hear they were at Naumburg early in November. Gustavus had taken a tender leave of his wife at Erfurt, apparently not without forebodings of his impending death. Wallenstein had no idea that he would be attacked at that advanced season: he was putting his troops into winter-quarters, and had detached Pappenheim to the Rhine with a large force, though with orders to seize Halle on his way; and he was at the latter place when he received an order from Wallenstein to rejoin the main body. The Swedes had advanced through Weissenfels to Lützen, and stood in battle array on the great plain which stretches from that place to Leipzig (November 16th). Wallenstein's infantry was drawn up in heavy masses to the north of the high road, the ditches of which had been deepened to serve as breastworks; his right wing rested on the village of Lützen and the windmills before it; his left stretched far along the plain, almost to the canal which connects the Elster and the Saal. It was on this side that Pappenheim was to join. To the left of the infantry were drawn up in strong squadrons Piccolomini's cuirassiers; on the right were also large masses of cavalry, and again more infantry; while at the extremities of each wing were posted the Croats. In front of the line, on the high road, was planted a battery of seven guns; the remainder of the artillery was spread along the front in an oblique direction from the windmills. Wallenstein's strength has been variously estimated. He himself, in a letter to the Emperor after the battle, rated it at only 12,000 men, which is incontestably too low. It probably consisted of near 30,000 men. The Swedes were drawn up, as at Leipzig, in two lines; the infantry in each six deep; the cavalry on each wing, interspersed with platoons of musketeers. Gustavus himself led the right wing, consisting of six cavalry regiments, and was thus opposed to Piccolomini's cuirassiers; Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar commanded the left wing, also composed of six cavalry regiments. Behind the infantry were two regiments in reserve, under Henderson, a Scotsman. Such were the preparations for the Battle of Lützen.

After offering up a prayer, the Swedish troops sung Luther's hymn; and Gustavus then addressed them; while Wallenstein by his looks alone, and the sternness of his silence, gave his men to understand that he would either reward or punish them according to his custom. Gustavus, after concluding his address, which was received with loud cheers and the clash of arms, cried out, as he raised his eyes to Heaven, "And now, my hearts, let us bravely on against our enemies! Jesu, Jesu, let us fight today for the honor of Thy holy Name!" which said, he drew his sword, and waving it over his head while he gave the word "Forwards!" he himself advanced in front of all his army.

Just at this moment Lützen was seen to be in flames; for Wallenstein, as a contemporary writer observes, usually marked his advance "like Jupiter in the poet, all in thunder and lightning, all in fire and tempest". The sun, which broke through the fog about ten o'clock, enabled the cannonade to begin. The Swedish infantry of the centre, led by Count Nils Brahe, passed the high road under a murderous fire, broke two columns of the enemy's infantry, and were attacking the third, when they were repulsed by the reserve and the cavalry. Gustavus now ordered a charge against the dark and threatening masses of the Imperial cuirassiers, clothed from head to foot in black armour; and putting himself at the head of the Smaaland horse, whose colonel had been wounded, he led the attack in person. His ardor carried him beyond his troops, and the fog again coming on, he got entangled, with two or three attendants, among the enemy's cuirassiers. His horse was shot in the neck, and a pistol ball having shattered his arm—for that day he wore no armor on account of a recent wound—he besought the Duke of Lauenburg to conduct him from the field. At this moment another shot brought him to the ground, and his horse dragged him some way by the stirrup. Lauenburg fled; of the King's two grooms, one had been killed, the other wounded; the only attendant who remained with him was a German youth of eighteen, named Leubelfing, who died a few days after of some wounds he had received. In his last moments Leubelfing testified that as the King lay on the ground, some of the enemy's cuirassiers rode up and asked who he was? The youth, pretending not to know, replied, he supposed it was some officer; but the King made himself known, when a cuirassier shot him through the head; others gave him some sword thrusts, and stripped him to his shirt. Leubelfing was also wounded. The battle was still raging when Pappenheim came up with part of his cavalry. Soon after his appearance on the field, that commander was shot by Colonel Stalhanske, who had just borne off from the fray the dead body of Gustavus. The arrival of Pappenheim's troops served to prolong the struggle; but the Swedes, now under command of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, enraged by the death of their King, fought with a fury and desperation which nothing could resist; after a struggle of nine hours Wallenstein's troops at last gave way, carrying away with them in their flight Pappenheim's infantry, which had come up about sunset.

Thus perished, in his thirty-eighth year, Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, the greatest Sovereign of his age. That his expedition into Germany was partly prompted by a love of glory and conquest can scarcely be doubted; his incessant wars, the part which he personally played in them, his professed admiration of Caesar and Alexander, show him animated with the spirit of a conqueror. But his best title to immortality is, that he set a limit to religious persecution; and it is for this, as a Swedish historian observes, that all mankind may reckon him among their heroes.

The Finnish cavalry, under Stälhanske, who had rescued the King's body from the field, brought it to the village of Meuchen, whence it was afterwards taken to Stockholm.

The account of the battle transmitted by Wallenstein to the Imperial Court, led Ferdinand to think that he had won the day. A Te Deum was sung at Vienna and other places "for the glorious victory at Lützen"; while at Madrid popular festivals were given in honor of the occasion, and a melodrama, in which the death of Gustavus Adolphus was represented, was performed a dozen times before the Court. But meanwhile the reputed conqueror was glad to shelter himself behind the mountains of the Bohemian frontier. After the battle, Wallenstein found it necessary to evacuate Saxony in all haste; and, leaving garrisons at Leipsic, Plauen, Zwickau, Chemnitz, Freiburg, Meissen, and Frauenstein, he reached Bohemia without further loss, and put his army into winter-quarters. After his arrival at Prague, he caused many of his officers to be put to death for their conduct at Lützen, among whom were several who belonged to families of distinction, nor would he allow them to plead the Emperor's pardon. A few he rewarded. The harshness of his proceedings increased the hatred already felt for him by many of his officers, and especially the Italian portion of them, who gave him the name of Il Tiranno, or the Tyrant.

Oxenstiern

Axel Oxenstiern, the Swedish Chancellor, succeeded, on the death of Gustavus Adolphus, to the supreme direction of the affairs of Sweden in Germany, and was invested by the Council at Stockholm with full powers both to direct the army and to negotiate with the German Courts. Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar retained the military command of the Swedish-German army, divisions of which were cantoned from the Baltic to the Danube. After driving the Imperialists from Saxony, Bernhard had hastened into Franconia, where the Bishoprics of Würzburg and Bamberg, according to a promise of Gustavus, were to be erected in his favour into a secular Duchy; but, after taking Bamberg, his assistance was invoked by General Horn, on the Upper Danube.

One of the first cares of Oxenstiern was to consolidate the German alliance; and, in March, 1633, he summoned a meeting at Heilbronn of the States of the four Circles of the Upper and Lower Rhine, Franconia, and Swabia, including of course deputies from Nuremberg, Strassburg, Frankfurt, Ulm, Augsburg, and other Imperial cities. The assembly was also attended by ambassadors from France, England, and Holland; and on April 9th was effected the Union of Heilbronn. Brandenburg and Saxony stood aloof; nor was France, though she renewed the alliance with Sweden, included in the Union. The French minister at Heilbronn assisted, however, in the formation of the Union, although he endeavored to limit the power of Oxenstiern, to whom the conduct of the war was entrusted. At the same time the Swedes also concluded a treaty with the Palatinate, now governed, or rather claimed to be governed, by Louis Philip, brother of the Elector Frederick V, as guardian and regent for the latter's youthful son, Charles Louis. The unfortunate Frederick had expired at Mainz in his thirty-seventh year, not many days after the death of Gustavus Adolphus. He had always rejected the hard conditions on which the Swedish King had offered to restore him; nor were those now accepted by Louis Philip much more favorable. Swedish garrisons were to be maintained in Frankenthal, Bacharach, Kaub, and other places; Mannheim was to be at the disposal of the Swedes so long as the war should last; and the Palatinate, besides paying a heavy contribution, was to be subject to all the burdens incident to the quartering of troops. Moreover, he was to give equal liberty to the Lutheran and Calvinist worship.

After the junction of Duke Bernhard with Horn, the Swedish army—for so we shall continue to call it, though composed in great part of Germans—endeavored to penetrate into Bavaria; but the Imperial General Altringer, aided by John von Werth, a commander of distinction, succeeded in covering Munich, and enabled Maximilian to return to his capital. The Swedish generals were also embarrassed by a mutiny of their mercenaries, as well as by their own misunderstandings and quarrels; and all that Duke Bernhard was able to accomplish in the campaign of 1633, besides some forays into Bavaria, was the capture of Ratisbon in November. Meanwhile Wallenstein, engrossed with building and planting at Gitschin and his other estates in Bohemia, had not crossed the frontiers of that Kingdom; and hostilities there were terminated by a truce which he concluded with Arnim, the commander of the Saxon army, June 7th, 1633; a step taken both by Wallenstein and Arnim without the knowledge of their respective Courts. Wallenstein also made proposals of peace to the Swedes, by whom, however, they were regarded only as a blind; and he entered into secret negotiations with the Marquis of Feuquières, the French ambassador extraordinary to the Protestant Powers of Germany, in order to obtain the help of France in procuring for himself the Crown of Bohemia. These negotiations have been represented by Wallenstein's defenders as only a snare laid for the French Court; but, however this may be, it is certain that Louis XIII promised to assist him in his ambitious plans. After the capture of Ratisbon, Wallenstein thought proper to display at least an attempt to aid Maximilian by entering the Upper Palatinate; but though he drew Duke Bernhard and Horn from Bavaria, the lateness of the season prevented any operations of importance, and after a little while he returned into Bohemia. His officers Wallenstein's unauthorized negotiations with Arnim, the resignation. Swedes, and Feuquières, had naturally roused the suspicion of the Imperial Court; a suspicion strengthened by the rigid capitulation he had exacted on reassuming the command, and by the jealousy he had displayed in excluding from any share of power the Emperor's son Ferdinand, King of Hungary. Wallenstein had moreover a strong party against him both at the Court of Vienna and in his own army, consisting of the priests and Jesuits who directed the Emperor's conscience, and of the Spanish, Italian, and Belgian officers who were subjects of Spain. He had given offence to the Emperor by neglecting his express orders, and returning into Bohemia instead of attempting to retake Ratisbon. Hence Ferdinand II. formed the resolution of depriving Wallenstein of his command; though he seems to have adopted it with reluctance, as he first of all sent Count Questenberg, whom he knew to be acceptable to Wallenstein, to endeavor to persuade him to march into Bavaria. Through his secret agents, Wallenstein was acquainted with all the Emperor's plans. In order to defeat them, he called early in January, 1634, a council of his officers at Pilsen; and through Field-Marshal Ilow, who was entirely devoted to him, he obtained from them an opinion that it would be impossible to march into Bavaria before the spring. But Wallenstein went further than this. He told his colonels he was so disgusted with the Court of Vienna that he was determined to lay down his command; a communication which was received with great dissatisfaction and anger. Most of his officers had spent all their substance in raising men and fitting themselves out; they looked to maintain themselves by the war; and if Wallenstein resigned they could expect no compensation from the Emperor. Led by Ilow and Count Terzka they protested against such an act; they reminded their commander of his promise to stand by them; and on the 12th of January they signed a paper requiring Wallenstein to keep the army together, and promising to stand by him to the last drop of their blood. This document bore the signatures of forty superior officers, including Piccolomini's, who was no friend of Wallenstein.

It was this step, of which Wallenstein seems afterwards to have repented, that proved his destruction. Wallenstein, as we have said, had many enemies. Not among the least of them was Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, who had advised Wallenstein's dismissal in December, and who, towards the end of January, sent to the Emperor a detailed account of Wallenstein's practices, at the same time beseeching him to adopt some "sudden and heroical resolution". The counsellors by whom Ferdinand was surrounded, and who possessed his ear, offered the same advice with perhaps more effect. Such were the Archbishop of Vienna, the Emperor's confessor Lamormain, Counts Eggenberg, Trautmannsdorf, and Schlick, the Emperor's son Ferdinand, and others. The Spanish ambassador Onate was one of the foremost in these counsels; he blamed the Emperor's delays, and suggested that a dagger or a pistol ball would at once untie the knot. It was some time before Ferdinand's confidence in his general could be shaken. At length secret commands were issued to Piccolomini and some of the officers known to be dissatisfied with Wallenstein, to withdraw from him the obedience of the troops, to incite them against him, and to transfer the command to General Gallas. On the 24th of January the Emperor issued a declaration, releasing the officers and soldiers of Wallenstein's army from all allegiance towards their general, and granting a pardon to all who had signed the document at Pilsen, with the exception of the Duke of Friedland himself, Ilow, and Terzka. This document was despatched to Gallas, with orders to seize the Duke of Friedland and bring him to some place where he might be put on his defence; and at all events to get possession of his person, whether dead or alive. Piccolomini, whom Wallenstein held to be his best friend, as the astrologers had cast the same nativity for both, and who could therefore, it was thought, the more easily deceive him, was ordered to enter, in a friendly manner, the town of Pilsen, with 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 dragoons, and there to lay snares against the Duke's life. One of the worst features in this transaction is, that the Emperor, with extraordinary hypocrisy, continued a friendly correspondence with Wallenstein for three weeks after he had thus secretly deposed and outlawed him; and in his last letter, dated February 13th. 1634, only twelve days before Wallenstein's murder, particularly recommends Bohemia to his care, to the Crown of which country he was accused of aspiring.

It was not till the date of this last letter that Gallas issued public orders to the army no longer to obey the commands of Wallenstein, or his adherents Ilow and Terzka, but instead of them either his own, or those of Altringer and Piccolomini. Soon afterwards (February 20th) orders came from Vienna to employ force, and secret instructions were issued for the confiscation of Wallenstein's possessions : the grounds assigned being Wallenstein's and Terzka's "perjured rebellion and flight to the enemy", though they were still at Pilsen. On that very day Wallenstein had drawn up a document to explain and justify that of January 12th, in which he declared that it was not his wish that anything should be undertaken against the Emperor, or to the detriment of religion. This paper was signed by himself and many of his adherents. He also required that his officers should continue to respect him as their generalissimo, as he had received no dismissal from the Emperor, and the order of Gallas he could only regard as an act of mutiny against himself. A day or two after he dispatched two envoys to Vienna to assure the Emperor "that he was ready to lay down the command, and to appear and answer the charges against him wherever the Emperor might appoint." But both these envoys were arrested by Piccolomini and Diodati, and Ferdinand did not receive the message till Wallenstein was already dead.

When Wallenstein heard of the schemes against his power and his life—for he opened all secrets with a golden key—he resolved to proceed to the fortress of Eger, near the Bohemian frontier, where he thought he should be safer, as its commandant was one Gordon, a Scotchman, colonel of a regiment of his devoted friend and adherent Count Terzka. When tidings reached Wallenstein that the Imperial declaration had been openly posted at Prague, he left Pilsen, February 22nd, travelling in a litter on account of his gout, and taking with him only a few troops. The generals of the Spanish-Italian party, Piccolomini, Gallas, Maradas, Caretto, Marquis of Grana, and others, now broke up on all sides in order to follow him, and Diodati and Tavigni entered Pilsen without opposition. Wallenstein arrived at Eger on the afternoon of the 24th February with a few coaches and baggage-waggons, accompanied by his brother-in-law Count Kinsky, Terzka, Ilow, and Captain Neumann. He was escorted by two troops of cavalry, and 200 dragoons, commanded by Colonel Butler, an Irishman, who was already prepared to betray him, and who gave Piccolomini notice of all Wallenstein's movements.

At Eger, Wallenstein was lodged in the house of the burgo­master on the market-place, while apartments were assigned to Terzka, Kinsky, and their wives, in the back building which usually forms part of a German dwelling. On his road from Pilsen Wallenstein had determined to go over to the enemy, as his only chance of safety, and he had opened communications to that effect with Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar; which, however, from a suspicion of his real intentions, were coldly received. On arriving at Eger, he immediately opened himself to Gordon and his lieutenant Leslie, another Scot, as well as to Butler, whom he thought to be his friends, and especially Gordon, to whom he had given a regiment only a little while before; he acquainted them with his intention of going over to the enemy, and left them to decide whether they would follow him or not. Gordon and Leslie promised to stand by him; but when, in Gordon's apartments in the Castle, Butler acquainted them with the Imperial declaration, and the orders of Gallas and Piccolomini, and painted to them in glowing colors the rewards and the booty they would obtain by betraying their general, they swore, with drawn swords, to kill the Duke of Friedland and the friends who accompanied him, and resolved that the assassination of the latter should be accomplished at a carnival feast to which they were to be invited by Gordon on the following evening.

Murder of Wallenstein's friends

Butler engaged in the plot Fitzgerald, the major of his regiment, with Captains M'Donald, Birch, Brown, and Devereux, and Pestaluz, a captain in Terzka's regiment; and Butler it was who also arranged all the details of the murder. At six o'clock on the evening of February 25th, Terzka, Kinsky, Ilow, and Neumann went together in a coach to Gordon's apartments in the Citadel, where they were received by the three conspirators; the drawbridge was raised behind the unsuspecting guests, who soon found themselves seated at a well-furnished table. In an apartment adjoining the banqueting-room was stationed Captain Devereux with twenty-four dragoons; in another, Major Fitzgerald, with six more. The servants of the guests had been sent away; the dinner was ended, when about eight o'clock a preconcerted signal was given to the soldiers. On a sudden Fitzgerald, followed by his men, enters at one door, crying, "Long live the House of Austria!", on the other side appears Devereux, shouting, "Who's for the Emperor?". At these words Butler, Gordon, and Leslie seize each a candlestick, and drawing their swords, cry, Vivat Ferdinandus. The dragoons now rush upon their victims; Kinsky falls first under their blows; Ilow is stabbed in the back while taking his sword from the wall; Terzka alone succeeds in reaching his weapon. Planting himself in a corner of the room, he challenges in vain his treacherous hosts to mortal combat; two of the dragoons he cuts down, breaks Devereux's sword, and, protected by his doublet of elk-leather, holds out so long that his assailants take him to be, like Wallenstein, "frozen," or wound-proof. At last he falls. Neumann, after receiving some wounds, escaped from the apartment, but, not knowing the watchword, was cut down by the guard. Butler, Gordon, and Leslie then took counsel together, and resolved to complete their plot by the murder of Wallenstein, who had remained at his quarters in the town. The execution of it was entrusted to Devereux and six of his dragoons. Butler undertook to guard the burgomaster's house and the market­place; Leslie meanwhile administered to the main guard, who belonged to Terzka's regiment, a new oath of fidelity to the Emperor, and a hundred dragoons patrolled the streets to prevent any attempt at rescue.

Wallensteins's assassination, 1634

It was midnight. Wallenstein had been engaged in surveying the stars, and considered the constellations favorable; but Seni, his astrologer, was of opinion that the danger was not yet over. The Duke had not long retired to bed when he was startled by a noise in the street. Devereux had obtained admission into the house on pretense of delivering a message to Wallenstein, but was stopped in an ante-room by a valet, who begged him not to disturb his master's sleep. Devereux demanded with threats the key of the Duke's apartments; and, on the valet delaying, burst open the door by force, and, followed by his dragoons, entered the Duke's room. Wallenstein, alarmed by the shrieks of Terzka's and Kinsky's wives, who had just learnt the murder of their husbands, had rushed to the window to inquire of the sentinel the cause of the tumult: at the entrance of the soldiers he turned, and, as Devereux exclaimed, "You must die!" received, with, outstretched arms, a mortal thrust in his "bosom. Next came the scene of plunder. Wallenstein's property was divided like the spoils of a conquered enemy. Piccolomini seized his military chest, his plate wagons, his horses, his baggage; and from the proceeds every man in the army was presented with two ducats. His officers vied with one another in endeavoring to obtain some part of the Duke's vast confiscated possessions; and among them Caretto, Marquis of Grana, distinguished himself by the meanness and importunity of his solicitations.

The death of Wallenstein is one of the basest political murders ever committed by the House of Austria. Not that we hold, with his German biographer, that Wallenstein was innocent up to the last moment of his flight from Pilsen. We think, on the contrary, that from the Duke's whole conduct after his resumption of the command—the arrogant capitulation which he extorted, his constant refusal to obey orders from Vienna, his inactivity in Bohemia during the campaign of 1633, his negotiations and treaties with the Saxons, Swedes, and French, and, lastly, the paper which he procured his generals to sign at Pilsen—the only inference which can be drawn is, that, as he had clearly set himself above the duties and obligations of a subject, it was his intention to extort from the Emperor, either through fear or force, the position of a Sovereign and independent Prince of the Empire, if not the Crown of Bohemia. But, on the other hand, it must be recollected that such designs had not been proved against him; and that Ferdinand was bound to observe the greatest forbearance and generosity towards a man to whom he had twice owed the safety of his Crown. Yet he not only sanctioned Wallenstein's assassination, but also publicly praised and rewarded his murderers. Leslie, who brought him the report of what had been done at Eger, was made a chamberlain, a captain in the Imperial body­guard, and colonel of a regiment belonging to King Ferdinand. Butler was also received at the Hofburg with distinguished marks of approbation and honor; Ferdinand gave him his hand, caused the Archbishop of Vienna to place a gold chain round his neck, created him a Count and chamberlain, and presented him with some of the estates of Terzka in Bohemia. Colonel Gordon obtained the possessions of Count Kinsky. Devereux, who had stabbed Wallenstein with his own hand, received from the Emperor a gold chain, a present in money, and some confiscated property in Bohemia. Yet, while Ferdinand was thus rewarding the instruments of his crime, his superstition made him tremble for the consequences which it might have entailed on his victims; and, tortured by pangs of conscience, he paid for 3,000 masses to redeem the souls which he had hurried into Purgatory unprepared, and with all their sins upon them!

A modern writer has endeavored to clear Ferdinand's memory from the charge of having authorized Wallenstein's murder. His principal argument is, that the Imperial warrant, directing Wallenstein to be taken dead or alive, is not extant. It is hardly probable that Piccolomini and the rest of Ferdinand's officers should have taken upon themselves to authorize such a deed without his sanction, as he himself would surely be suspected of it. It is a damning fact that Ferdinand rewarded with honors and emoluments the actual murderers, thus rendering himself an accomplice after the fact, and showing that he must have considered it desirable beforehand; so that, in a moral point of view, the difference in criminality is small.

The confusion which necessarily ensued in the Imperial army upon the murder of the generalissimo and his companions, and the apprehension of many other officers, was at length calmed by the dismissal of all suspected commanders, and by giving the dissatisfied regiments three months' pay; after which, the Emperor's son, King Ferdinand, was appointed to the chief command, but under the direction of General Gallas. Neither the Swedes nor the Saxons took advantage of the conjuncture to attempt anything against the Imperialists; and indeed the whole campaign of 1634 offers but few events of importance besides the battle of Nordlingen. The Saxons under Arnim, in conjunction with the Swedes under Baner, gained a victory at Liegnitz, May 13th, which enabled them to invest Prague; but Arnim, who was negotiating with the Emperor for a peace, at length refused to assist Bauer, and both generals evacuated Bohemia. Duke Bernhard had been more intent on establishing his Duchy of Franconia than on the progress of the war; the Swedish general Horn had obtained some successes in Swabia, and was preparing to invade the Austrian dominions when he was compelled to join Bernhard, threatened by the forces of Maximilian. The Duke of Bavaria assembled in the spring an army at Ingolstadt, which, under Altringer and John von Werth, took Straubing, and proceeded to lay siege to Ratisbon, where they were joined by the King of Hungary and Gallas with the Imperial forces. Bernhard and Horn, after taking Landshut by storm, where Altringer was killed (July 22nd), marched to the relief of Ratisbon; but, hearing on the road the fall of that place, they again separated, while the Imperial army proceeded to Donauworth. Bernhard employed himself with marches and counter-marches between the Danube and the Main, while Horn proceeded towards Tyrol, to dispute the passes with a Spanish army that was marching from Italy into the Netherlands. He had scarcely, however, reached Fussen, when the news that the Imperialists, after storming Donauworth, were threatening Nordlingen, obliged him again to join Bernhard. This movement having left the passes free, the Spaniards entered Bavaria, and formed a junction with King Ferdinand under the walls of Nordlingen. They were under the command of the Cardinal-Infant Ferdinand, brother of Philip IV of Spain, who was proceeding into the Netherlands as successor of Isabella Clara Eugenia in the government. He had the reputation of being the only Spanish Prince, since Don John of Austria, who possessed any military talent.

Battle of Nördlingen, 1634

Bernhard and Horn, after uniting their armies at Günzburg, had also summoned from the Upper Rhine another force under the Rheingraf Otto Louis; but, as Nordlingen was hard pressed, Bernhard, against the advice of Horn, determined on an immediate battle, although their army was not only considerably less numerous than that of the enemy, but also inferior in quality. The engagement commenced on the evening of the 6th of September, and lasted through the following day, when the Spaniards, who had taken only a passive part on the first day, lending a vigorous assistance to the Imperialists, the Swedes were completely defeated, with the loss of 12,000 killed, 300 standards, 80 guns, and 6,000 prisoners, among whom were Horn and three other generals. Duke Bernhard narrowly escaped the same fate. He was hotly pursued to Goppingen, where he met Otto Louis and his division.

The Battle of Nordlingen was from its consequences one of the most important and decisive in the Thirty Years' War. Bernhard of Weimar's contemplated Duchy of Franconia vanished altogether from his sight, and instead of being an independent Prince, he found himself compelled to enter the service and accept the pay of France. Thus French influence acquired an immense ascendancy in Germany; and it will be necessary to cast our eyes a little while on the affairs and policy of that country.

The death of Gustavus Adolphus was not altogether unwelcome to Richelieu, who had at first willingly conceded to the Swedish King the leading part in the great political drama; but the success of Gustavus had been more rapid and complete than was agreeable to the French Court; his appearance on the Rhine had created both jealousy and alarm; and after his passage of the Lech, Louis XIII had observed to the Venetian minister, "It is time to set a limit to the progress of this Goth". When Gustavus fell at Lützen, Richelieu determined to seize the direction of the affairs of Europe. His policy was, to maintain the alliance between the Swedes and the German Protestants, to endeavor to effect a reasonable accommodation between them and the Princes of the Catholic League, and thus compel the Emperor to treat for a peace through the mediation of France. Maximilian of Bavaria was to be dazzled with the prospect of the Imperial Crown, in order to which it was necessary to prevent the election of a King of the Romans during the Emperor's lifetime. Another object was to prevent the Dutch from making a separate peace with Spain.

Besides his schemes against the Emperor, Richelieu was busy with plans for extending the French frontier towards the Rhine. Charles Duke of Lorraine had again given trouble, and was again reduced, and on the 25th of September, 1633, Louis XIII entered Nanci, his capital. Richelieu now announced to the Duke that it was the King's intention to reestablish the French monarchy in all its primitive grandeur, and with that view to annex Lorraine, as part of old Austrasia, to France. Early in 1634 the French occupied the whole of Lorraine, crossed the Vosges mountains, and obtained a permanent footing in Alsace. A new Parliament, called the Parliament of Austrasia, was erected at Metz, the jurisdiction of which was intended one day to extend to the Rhine. Thus was broken the last effectual link which connected the Three Bishoprics (Metz, Toul, and Verdun), with the Empire; appeals, which had been formerly made to the Imperial Chamber at Spires, were now heard by the new Parliament, and everywhere the Germanic eagle was displaced by the fleurs-de-lis. Charles of Lorraine, finding resistance hopeless, abdicated the Duchy in favour of his brother, the Cardinal Nicholas Francis; and, betaking himself with what soldiers still remained to him into the service of the Emperor, became, instead of a bad Sovereign, a valiant adventurer and skillful leader. From this period the house of Lorraine long remained fugitive.

Affairs of the Netherlands

The Duke's sister, Margaret, having escaped into Belgium, had married the King's brother, Gaston Duke of Orleans, then an exile in that country; which so offended Louis that he instituted a suit against the marriage. Both Gaston and his mother had retired into Belgium after Richelieu's triumph over his political enemies, and Mary de' Medici was received at Brussels with all the solemnity due to an illustrious ally. She was never again to enter France. Spinola, who had been called to Italy in 1629, was succeeded in military command in Belgium by Count van den Berghe, a good soldier. After Spinola's departure, Prince Frederick Henry of Orange resolved, by way of compensation for the loss of Breda, to take Herzogenbusch (Bois-le-Duc). The siege, which occupied the years 1629 and 1630, is among the most remarkable of that period in a military point of view; but the most important circumstance about it is, that by engaging the whole Spanish forces in the Netherlands, it facilitated the conquests of Gustavus Adolphus. Although Van den Berghe came to the relief of the town with 30,000 foot and 10,000 horse, he could not prevent its surrender. He was soon after superseded in the command by the Marquis of Santa Croce, who neither possessed much ability nor enjoyed the confidence of the Spanish Netherlanders. Hence Frederick Henry, whose military operations were supported with the greatest ardor by the Dutch, although deputies were appointed by the States to accompany all his movements, was able to find sufficient employment for the Spaniards. In the years 1629 and 1630 the Dutch had about 120,000 men in the field, who were partly supported by voluntary contributions. After the capture of Herzogenbusch, the Prince directed his operations chiefly against Gelderland, and in 1632 he took Maestricht. While the Prince was besieging this place, Santa Croce, with 15,000 men, not venturing to attack his fortified camp, Cordova, with 20,000 men, was recalled from Germany to Santa Croce's help; yet such was the strength of Frederick Henry's position that the Spaniards with their combined forces declined to assault it. The Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia now besought the help of Pappenheim, at that time in Westphalia with a considerable army. Pappenheim led his veterans against the Dutch trenches, August 7th; but the Spaniards, offended by his boast that he would relieve Maestricht, would give him no aid, and coolly looked on while he suffered two bloody repulses on the same day. The Infanta, who was much beloved by the Belgians, and showed as much consideration for them as the Court of Madrid would allow, died in December, 1633, after which Belgium again fell under the direct government of Spain.

Richelieu had been for some time desirous of entering into a close alliance with the Dutch; and in April, 1634, Charnace had brought about a treaty by which France engaged to pay a subsidy of two million livres per annum, besides supporting a body of auxiliary troops. This treaty was followed in February, 1635, by a still more effective alliance, offensive and defensive, based on Richelieu's plans for extending the French frontier. Each of the contracting parties engaged to invade the Spanish Netherlands with an army of 30,000 men. The Belgians were to be invited to form themselves into a free and independent State; but a strip of land upon the coast, two leagues in depth, from Gravelines to Blankenberghe, besides the towns of Namur and Diedenhofen, was to be ceded to France; while the United Provinces were to have Hulst and the Pays de Waes, Breda, Geldern, and Stephanswend. If the Belgians persisted in their allegiance to Spain they were to be conquered and partitioned: France was to have Luxemburg, Namur, Hainault, Artois, Flanders, and the Cambrésis; while the share of the United Provinces was to include Antwerp, Brabant, and the coast of Flanders, north of Blankenberghe. England was to be invited to neutrality.

Treaty between France and Sweden, 1635

About the same time Richelieu had also made a new treaty with the Swedes. The defeat at Nordlingen, and the knowledge that the Elector of Saxony was endeavoring to effect a peace with the Emperor, left the Swedes no alternative but to throw themselves into the arms of France; and in September envoys were sent to Paris to request that the 6,000 men so often promised should be dispatched to their aid, and to urge the French King to break openly with Spain and Austria. Oxenstiern at length procured a treaty to be executed at Paris in November, 1634, by which France engaged to maintain 12,000 men, Germans or others, under the command of a German Prince, and to keep a body of troops on the Rhine, to act in case of need. France was to hold all fortresses conquered on the right bank of the Rhine, from Breisach to Constance; on the left bank she was to have Alsace and its fortresses, and the free use of the bridge at Strassburg, till a future peace. The Swedes, in the places which they should conquer, were not to molest the Catholics in the exercise of their religion. By this treaty, France obtained a seat and vote in the Heilbronn League. Oxenstiern was very much dissatisfied with it, because Bennfelden was given up without payment, and still more because the generalissimo of the allied armies was to be a German Prince, a circumstance which lowered his position in the Empire; he therefore refused to ratify it, dismissed Loffler, the plenipotentiary who had made it, and early in 1635 sent Hugo Grotius to Paris to procure that it should be altered. Grotius having failed in his mission, Oxenstiern himself proceeded into France in April, and had an interview with Louis XIII at Compiegne. Richelieu, however, would not consent to make any material alteration in the terms, and all that the Swedish Chancellor could obtain was that a fresh treaty should be drawn up for his signature. Oxenstiern arrived in Sweden in the summer of 1636, and never returned into Germany.

In these transactions Richelieu endeavored to avoid an open breach with the Emperor though the French and Imperial troops could not avoid coming into collision. In December, 1634, Marshals La Force and Brezé compelled the Imperialists and Bavarians to raise the siege of Heidelberg, defended by a Swedish garrison. In January, 1635, the Imperialists took Philippsburg from the French, and two months after a Spanish corps surprised Treves, cut the French garrison to pieces, and carried off the Elector, Philip Christopher, a prisoner to Antwerp. This event had important consequences. Richelieu immediately demanded the Elector's liberation from the Cardinal-Infant, the new Governor of the Netherlands, and on his delaying, on the pretext that he must await the orders of the Imperial and Spanish Courts, war was openly declared by a French herald at Brussels, May 26th, 1635. So haughty was the tone adopted by France that the Spanish ambassador at Paris departed without taking leave, while the French ambassador at Madrid was arrested. On the 6th of June Louis XIII published a declaration of the motives which had led to this rupture, a prelude to the colossal strife that was to follow. The Elector of Treves, who, like several other Princes of the Empire, had been put under the Imperial ban for admitting French troops into Ehrenbreitstein and other places, was finally carried to Vienna, where he was kept a prisoner ten years. Another grave cause of offence was his having named Richelieu his coadjutor, a step by which that Cardinal might have eventually secured a vote as one of the Imperial Electors; but his nomination was disallowed by Pope Urban VIII.

Peace of Prague, 1635

In Germany, meanwhile, affairs had assumed a new face by the Peace of Prague. After the overthrow at Nordlingen, the only Swedish force consisted of Baner's army, encamped at Leitmeritz in Bohemia, which immediately broke up and proceeded into Thuringia. The difficulties of Baner's position were increased by his disputes with the Elector of Saxony. John George had been long wavering, and the disaster at Nordlingen determined him to go over to the Emperor. Negotiations were opened at Pirna; better terms were offered to the Elector than he might reasonably have anticipated, particularly the permanent cession to him of Lusatia, which had been made over to him as a pledge in 1621; preliminaries were signed at Pirna in November, 1634, and on May 30th, 1635, was definitely concluded the Peace of Prague. By this treaty it was agreed, with regard to the affairs of religion, that all mediate possessions of the Church secularized before the Peace of Passau should remain to the Protestants for ever, and that all other mediate possessions, and such immediate ones as had been confiscated since the Peace of Passau, should remain to them for forty years, before the expiration of which term a mixed commission was to settle how such property should be proceeded with at the end of it. The immediate nobility and the Imperial cities were to be allowed the Lutheran worship, a privilege, however, granted only to Silesia among the lands subject to the House of Austria. With regard to political affairs, the hereditary right of the House of Austria to the Bohemian Crown was acknowledged; Lusatia was ceded to the Elector of Saxony as a Bohemian fief, and his son was invested with the administration of Magdeburg; Pomerania was to be made over to the Elector of Brandenburg, in case he acceded to the treaty; a general amnesty was to be granted; all leagues were to be dissolved, and the paramount authority of the Emperor was to be everywhere acknowledged. It was also agreed that the Duke of Lorraine should be re-established in his Duchy. The Emperor could not be induced to make any concessions respecting the Palatinate or the Bohemian Protestants. By an express article, the Elector was to assist in expelling the Swedes from Germany, and thus Saxony was pledged to a war. Such was the return made by John George to the Swedes, whose King had fallen in defending his Electorate!

This peace brought a storm of obloquy on John George; he was accused of sacrificing the family of the unfortunate Palatine to the vengeance of the Emperor, and of arming Germany against the Swedes, who had thrice been the means of saving his dominions. Nevertheless by degrees all the Princes and States of the Empire acceded to the treaty of Prague, with the exception of Hesse-Cassel and the other Calvinist States. The Swedish Government also desired peace, and Oxenstiern, whom they accused of opposing it, while Richelieu was reproaching him with having lost all courage for the prosecution of the war, was placed in a most difficult situation. The Swedish States, however, assembled in the autumn of 1635, recognized the impossibility of acceding to the Treaty of Prague. The Elector of Saxony, who had made it, was, after all, only a subject, and any treaty that Sweden should enter into must, with regard both to her dignity and safety, be made directly with the Emperor. But Oxenstiern's proposals to the Court of Vienna remained unanswered.

Towards the end of May, 1635, the French, after defeating the Spanish forces under the Piedmontese Prince of Carignano, who had endeavored to obstruct their passage, formed a junction with the Dutch at Maastricht, when the Prince of Orange took the command in chief of the allied forces. The campaign, however, went against the Allies. The brutality displayed by both armies at the taking of Tirlemont exasperated the Belgians, who, instead of listening to the offers of independence, threw themselves into the arms of the Spaniards. The Peace of Prague enabled the Emperor to send Piccolomini, with 20,000 men, into Belgium; another division threatened the Isle of Batavia; and the allies, instead of conquering Belgium, found themselves reduced to defend Holland. The Imperialists, under Gallas, were also successful on the Rhine. The French, pressed on all sides, were compelled to abandon the Middle Rhine, the course of the Main and Neckar, and even of the Lower Moselle and Sarre, without fighting a single great battle.

Italy

The French campaign in Italy was not more successful. A league had been concluded at Rivoli, July 11th, 1635, between Louis XIII and the Dukes of Savoy, Parma, and Mantua, for the invasion and partition of the Milanese. The share of each Power was to be proportioned to the troops furnished, but France promised to renounce her portion in consideration of receiving some places in Piedmont. In general, however, the alliance of France was regarded in Italy with suspicion. Pope Urban VIII was not disposed to join a league against the House of Austria, and had, as we have seen, shown himself hostile to Richelieu in the matter of the coadjutorship of Treves. Venice also excused herself, and Genoa was too closely connected by commercial and other interests with Spain to undertake anything against her. The Duke of Rohan, who commanded some French detachments in the Valtellina, distinguished himself against the Austrians; but the projected invasion of the Milanese proved a failure, chiefly through the tardiness and want of zeal of the Duke of Savoy.

The Italian campaign in 1636 was not more glorious or important, while France herself was threatened by the progress of the Imperialists. In September King Ferdinand issued from his head-quarters at Breisach a manifesto in which he detailed the acts of hostility committed by Louis XIII against the Emperor, and expressed his determination to invade France, but promised to protect the inhabitants. In pursuance of this declaration, Gallas and the Marquis of Grana entered French Burgundy, in October, with 20,000 men, and took Mirebeau; but they were soon compelled to retreat, chiefly through the lateness of the season and the nature of the country, with great loss of artillery and baggage. At another point the Spanish Imperialists, under Piccolomini and John von Werth, had been more successful. They had crossed the Somme in August, and invaded Picardy; bands of Croats and Hungarians wasted the country between that river and the Oise with fire and sword, and filled Paris itself with terror. The roads from that capital swarmed with fugitives. Richelieu was loudly accused of having provoked the war; of his alliance with heretics; of leaving Paris unfortified while he was building his "Palais Cardinal". But the Imperialists, instead of marching on Paris, contented themselves with taking Corbie, whence, however, they were driven by a large force quickly raised by Richelieu. Their retreat was unmolested. In the same year the Spaniards made an abortive descent on Brittany. In the south they were more successful, where, crossing the Bidasoa, they occupied Hendaye, St.-Jean de Luz, and Socoa; but these places they were forced to evacuate in 1637 by their ill success in Languedoc. In the same year Rohan was driven from the Valtellina.

With regard to Germany, Duke Bernhard had concluded in October, 1635, a treaty with the French Court, by which Louis XIII engaged to pay him annually 4,000,000 livres for the maintenance of an army of 12,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. This was the commencement of the short but brilliant career which ended with Bernhard's death in 1639. His motives, in the situation of Germany at that time, could only have been selfish. He hoped to cut out for himself, amidst the chaos of confusion, a Kingdom, or at least a Duchy. By a secret article of his agreement with France he was to be invested with the Landgraviate of Alsace, together with Hagenau, and all the rights before possessed in Alsace by the House of Austria. On the other hand he agreed not to molest the Catholics in their religion.

After the Peace of Prague, Baner found himself in a critical situation, especially as the truce with Poland was on the point of expiring. King Wladislaus VII, who had ascended the throne of Poland on the death of Sigismund III, in 1632, seemed inclined for war, and the Swedes might thus be exposed to another enemy in their rear. The danger was enhanced by the suspicion that Denmark would also resort to arms; but Christian IV was propitiated by ceding the Arch­bishopric of Bremen to his second son, Duke Frederick, who had been appointed coadjutor of the deceased titular Arch­bishop. Baner, to secure himself, determined on marching into Mecklenburg, and amused the Elector of Saxony two months with negotiations respecting his accession to the Treaty of Prague. He was relieved, in September, from any danger on the side of Poland by the prolongation for twenty-six years of the truce, effected through French mediation, assisted by ambassadors from England, Holland, and Brandenburg, on condition of the Swedes restoring West Prussia. Torstenson, the Swedish commander in Prussia, was thus enabled to aid his countrymen with reinforcements. Baner had marched through Magdeburg to the Aller, where, on the west, he was threatened by Duke George of Luneburg, on the south by the Saxons under Baudis. After Baner had concluded his pretended negotiations, the Saxon Elector appeared personally in his army, and directed Baudis to attack the Swedes. This is usually called the "Saxon Blood-Order". Baudis, however, could not prevent Baner from crossing the Elbe; and the Swedes even obtained a superiority over the Saxons by defeating, under the conduct of General Ruthven, a Scotchman, a Saxon division of 6,000 or 7,000 men near the little Mecklenburg town of Domitz. Baner himself also gained some advantages at Goldberg and Kiritz; and, being joined by Torstenson and his troops from Prussia, he not only compelled the Saxons to evacuate Pomerania, but also found himself enabled to recross the Elbe. Early in 1636 he pressed forwards as far as Halle, and even sent parties over the Saale. The Saxons remained quiet till joined towards the end of March by the Imperial General Hatzfeld; when they attacked and defeated the Swedes near Magdeburg, and forced that town to capitulate. This reverse, however, was soon compensated by a decisive victory. John George attempting to form a junction with the Brandenburg general Klitzing, Baner attacked and completely defeated him at Wittstock (October 4th), capturing all the Elector's artillery, and even his baggage and plate. John George fled precipitately to Meissen. Instead of pursuing him, Baner first proceeded into Hesse, where the Landgrave, William V, had been gaining some advantages. William had been persuaded by his wife, Amelia Elizabeth, hereditary Countess of Hanau, a zealous Protestant, to break off all negotiations for acceding to the Peace of Prague, and to unite with Alexander Leslie, a Scotch general trained in the service of Gustavus Adolphus, who commanded, in Lower Saxony and Westphalia, some regiments raised with French money. In December Baner proceeded through Erfurt into Saxony, defeated the Saxons at Eilenburg early in January, 1637, and captured several of their regiments; when all the men and some of the officers entered the Swedish service. After a vain attempt upon Leipzig, Baner crossed the Elbe and took up a position at Torgau; but here he was surrounded by the enemy, and for nearly five months lay in a most critical situation.

This period was marked by the death of the Emperor, who expired at Vienna, February 15th, 1637, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. He was, in the main, a well-meaning man, but led into an ill-policy, arbitrary and illegal proceedings, and even crime, by the bigoted and sophistical ideas instilled into him by priests and Jesuits, and by mistaken notions of his duty as a Sovereign. He was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand III, who had been elected King of the Romans in the cathedral of Ratisbon only a little while before (December 22nd, 1636), by the Electors of Saxony, Brandenburg, Mainz, Cologne, and Bavaria; but as the Elector of Treves was then a prisoner, and as the son of the Palatine Frederick was also absent from Ratisbon, France and Sweden took occasion to protest against the validity of the proceedings.

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA