CHAP. XXXI.] COUNT TILLY. 129 Preparatory to the Bohemian war, the Emperor, before the end of 1619, endeavoured to conciliate his Protestant subjects in Austria, and, with the consent of the Pope,' he offered entire religious freedom to the States of Lower Austria, on condition that they should renounce their alliance with the Bohemian rebels; and though they at first hesitated they were soon reduced to obedience. Immediately after the treaty of Ulm, Maximilian, with the greater part of the army of the League, had occupied Upper Austria, which was made over to him as security for his expenses. Towards the end of August he began his march towards Bohemia; and being joined by Bucquoi and his forces, the united army amounted to 32,000 men, to whom Frederick could oppose little more than 20,000. In Maximilian's army2 Tilly held the second command; a name only inferior to that of Wallenstein in the annals of the THIRTY YEARS' WAR. John Tzerklaes, Count Tilly, whose uncouth name is said to be a compound of Herr Klass, or Nicholas, was a native of Brabant; but having been bred at the Court of the Infanta at Brussels he affected something of the Spaniard. This ferocious soldier was remarkable for his morality and religion. If business broke in upon his usual hours of prayer, the lost time was made up at night; and he had the reputation of inviolate sobriety and chastity.3 He was a little man, and Marshal Gramont, who once saw him at the head of his army on the march, describes him as mounted on a white Croatian pony, and dressed in a green satin doublet with slashed sleeves, and trousers of the same material. On his head he had a little cocked hat, with a drooping plume of red ostrich feathers that reached down to his loins; round his waist a belt two inches broad, from which hung his sword, and a single pistol in his holsters; which, as he informed Gramont, he had never fired, though he had gained seven decisive battles.* The most disgraceful part of these transactions for the German Princes was, that they stood by and saw their country spoiled by the Spaniards; for Count Khevenhiller, Ferdinand's ambassador at Madrid, prevailed upon Philip III. to lend him the help of been transferred. Engel, Gesch. der Ukraine und der Kosaken, §§ 53, 56, 116, in the Hallische Allg. Weltgesch. Khevenhiller, Th. ix. p. 1175. 2 René Descartes, the celebrated metaphysician, was in the Bavarian army as a volunteer. For the Thirty Years' War may be consulted: Westenrieder's Gesch. des dreissigjährigen Krieges; Barthold's Geschichte des grossen deutschen Krieges (for the latter half of it, after the death of Mém. de Gramont, t. i. p. 130 SPINOLA WASTES THE PALATINATE. [CHAP. XXXI. Spinola and the Spanish troops in the Netherlands before the twelve years' truce with the Dutch should have expired. Had not the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt promised to stand by the Emperor, Spinola would never have ventured so far from his base of operations, as to enter, as he did in the autumn of 1620, the Lower Palatinate with 20,000 Spanish and Netherland troops, while the army of the Union retreated before him, first from Oppenheim and then from Worms. Early in November the Spaniards ravaged all the fertile districts between the Rhine, the Moselle, and the Nahe, and pressed on into the Wetterau. The Dutch, observed by another Spanish army under Velasco, faithfully kept their truce with Spain, which did not expire till April, 1621, and thus allowed time enough for the overthrow of Frederick, the warmest supporter of the synod of Dort. At the same time the Elector of Saxony entered Lusatia with his army, thus depriving the Bohemian King of all hopes of relief from that marquisate and from Silesia. James I. did nothing for his son-in-law except allow Colonel Grey to raise some 3,000 men, who were disembarked in the Elbe in May, 1620; but they were inhospitably received, especially at Berlin, and, being attacked with sickness, few succeeded in reaching Bohemia. Thus Frederick's expectations were deceived on all sides. His fall, which could not perhaps have been averted, was hastened by his own misconduct. The troops of the Emperor and the League were in a terrible state of destitution and sickness; the Bavarian army alone lost 20,000 men, and Tilly himself, exclaiming, "I am dying of hunger," is said to have snatched an apple from the hand of a Carmelite. Although the Bohemian army was in abad a condition, it is possible that Frederick, by remaining within the walls of Prague, might have worn out his enemies; but he was advised to offer them battle on the White Hill, near that capital. His army, commanded by Christian of Anhalt and Count Hohenlohe-for Count Mansfeld, his best general, disgusted at being postponed to those commanders, kept aloof at Pilsenwas routed and almost annihilated in a single hour (November 8th, 1620). In the forenoon of that eventful Sunday, Frederick had heard a sermon by Scultetus, and had sate down to dinner with his Queen, when news of the attack was brought. He mounted his horse with the intention of proceeding to the field; but from the ramparts he beheld that his army was already routed; horses were running about without their riders, and officers and soldiers Zschokke, Baierische Gesch. B. iii. S. 225, Anm. CHAP. XXXI.] FREDERICK FLIES FROM PRAGUE. 131 were clambering up the fortifications in order to enter the city. At a council at which Digby the English ambassador assisted, it was resolved that the King and Queen should fly, for neither the roops nor the townspeople could be trusted. But whither ? In grasping at the shadow Frederick had lost the substance. The Lower Palatinate, with the exception of Lautern, Mannheim, Heidelberg, and Frankenthal, was already in possession of Spinola and his Spaniards. Frederick, therefore, took the road to Breslau with his family, and with such haste and confusion that he lost his Order of the Garter. On the same day the Imperialists entered Prague, and shortly afterwards the Bohemians swore allegiance afresh to Ferdinand II.1 Frederick was received with respect at Breslau; the States of Silesia showed a friendly disposition; but the ex-King saw no hope of making head against his opponents, and on the 3rd of January, 1621, he quitted Breslau for the March of Brandenburg. Elizabeth, who was pregnant, gave birth to Prince Maurice at Küstrin, January 6th; and after she had recovered from her accouchement, the exiled Sovereigns proceeded into Holland. On the 23rd of January, Frederick, together with Prince Christian of Anhalt, the Margrave John George of Brandenburg-Jägerndorf, and Count Hohenlohe were put under the ban of the Empire. An offer was made to Elizabeth some years after, that, if her eldest son were permitted to receive his education and religion at Vienna, matters might be accommodated, and that he might espouse one of the Emperor's daughters; but though she was advised to accept this offer by her brother Charles I., Elizabeth replied," that she would sooner cut her son's throat with her own hands."2 Forty-three Bohemian gentlemen who had not been fortunate enough to escape were condemned at Prague; twenty-seven of them were put to death, and the remainder sentenced to lighter punishments. Thirty more who had fled, and among them Count Thurn, were put under ban and deprived of their lands. A systematic plan, which we shall here pursue to its conclusion, was now adopted by Ferdinand II. to root out Protestantism in Bohemia and the annexed States, as well as in his Austrian. dominions. Soon after the battle of Prague, all Calvinists were expelled the city. In May, 1622, a mandate was issued, directing, under the severest penalties, all who had taken any part in 1 Harte, Gustavus Adolphus, vol. i. p. 245. 2 Ibid. vol. i. Introd. Essay, p. xlix. and Hist. p. 290. 132 PROTESTANTISM UPROOTED IN BOHEMIA. [CHAP. XXXI. the disturbances to acknowledge their guilt before the Stadholder, when 728 landed proprietors appeared, and sued for mercy. The lives of these men were spared, but their property was confis cated, either wholly or in part, and incorporated with the Crown lands, or made over to those who had adhered to the Emperor and to the Catholic religion. After the Diet of Ratisbon, in 1623, Ferdinand II. went into Bohemia, the Papal Nuncio, Caraffa, preceding him by a day's journey. The feelings and prejudices of the Bohemians were now insulted in the most wanton and childish manner. The sepulchre of John Ziska, at Czaslau, was destroyed; at Prague, the stone cup, which in the time of George Podiebrad was placed in the Tein-Kirche, or principal church in the Altstadt, was removed; the bones of Rokyzana and of the Utraquist bishop Augustine Lucian were dug up and burnt in the churchyard. The use of the cup in the Lord's Supper, which had been conceded by Pope Pius IV. in 1564, after the Counci of Trent, to subjects of the Austrian dominions, was now forbidden. On the other hand, the revenues transferred during the predominance of Protestantism were restored to the Catholic churches and convents: but to fill these last it was necessary to bring monks from Poland. In 1626 a mandate was issued forbidding those who would not return to the Catholic faith to exercise any trade or profession. These proceedings of course excited partial disturbances, but the times were over when the Bohemians could hope to resist the royal power. Yet 30,0 families, and among them 185 of noble or knightly rank, adoptel the alternative allowed them of quitting the Kingdom. The places of the emigrants were filled by Germans. Many peasan: families, however, secretly retained their religious faith; and when a century and a half later, in the reign of Joseph II., religious freedom was proclaimed, the numbers who declared themselves Protestants excited much surprise. Ferdinand II. attempted not, however, to infringe the civil rights of the Bohemians; on the contrary, in May, 1627, he confirmed all their privileges, except the Majestäts-Brief, or Royal Charter of Rodolph; from which he tore off the seal and cut away the signature and to gratify the national pride of the Bohemians, and to provide them another hero in place of Ziska, he caused statues to be erected, especially on bridges, to John Nepomuk; who, according to tradition, had by order of the Emperor Wenceslaus been thrown into the Moldau in 1383, for refusing to reveal what had been intrusted to him by the Empress in confession. Nepomuk CHAP. XXXI.] DISSOLUTION OF THE PROTESTANT UNION. 133 was at length canonized in 1729. Ferdinand proceeded in a similar manner with his Protestant subjects in Upper, and ultimately in Lower Austria; as well as in the States dependent on Bohemia, though in Silesia, some traces of Protestantism were preserved, through the care of the Elector of Saxony. James I., besides that his theory of the divire right of Kings caused him to regard with displeasure the acceptance by his sonin-law of the Bohemian Crown, was also unwilling at this time to break openly with the House of Austria, in consequence of the prospect held out to him by Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, of a marriage between Charles, Prince of Wales, and the second Infanta of Spain; yet as the English nation and Parliament manifested the most enthusiastic interest in the cause of the Palatine, which they identified with that of Protestantism, he could not with decency withhold all assistance from that unfortunate Prince in endeavouring at least to maintain him in his hereditary dominions. Towards the end of 1620 James raised a considerable English force, which, uniting with the Dutch under Prince Frederick Henry, marched into the Palatinate, and succeeded in defending Frankenthal, Heidelberg, and Mannheim against Spinola, who was in possession of all the other towns and was ravaging the open country. Had these forces been adequately supported by the German Union, the restoration of Frederick in the Palatinate might probably have been effected; but the Elector of Mentz, and Louis Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, persuaded the Duke of Würtemberg and the Margrave Joachim Ernest of Brandenburg to join them in concluding a treaty with Spinola, April 12th, 1621, by which Frederick was left to his fate, and the Palatinate abandoned to the Spaniards. These Princes engaged that the Union should meddle no more with his affairs; and, indeed, after a last meeting at Heilbronn, in May, 1621, that confederacy was dissolved. The only Princes who staunchly adhered to the Palatine's cause, were Count Ernest of Mansfeld, Prince Christian of Brunswick, and George Frederick, Margrave of Baden-Durlach. After the battle of Prague Mansfeld had maintained himself awhile against the superior forces of Maximilian and Tilly, first in Bohemia and then in the Upper Palatinate;1 and at last succeeded in escaping the united forces of both by a masterly retreat through Nuremberg, Windsheim, and Rothenburg, into the Lower Palatinate; and, at his approach The Upper Palatinate, with Amberg for its capital, adjoined the western frontier of Bohemia. |