204 LORRAINE BECOMES SUBJECT TO FRANCE. [CHAP. XXXIII. 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 State 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 Mentz; 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 intelligence 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 Sötern, 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 pos session 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 CHAP. XXXIII.] WALLENSTEIN RECALLED. 205 Elector of Mentz 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. 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 Donauwörth 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 procrastinate the war till he should be helped by the Imperialists. After the battle of Leipsic 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 succour. 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, 206 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ENTERS MUNICH. [CHAP. XXXIII. however, the title of generalissimo and all the emoluments of the office. His conduct resembled that of a coquette, who seeks by feigned reluctance to enhance, the value of her favours. 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; in which the latter might not unnaturally find a little satisfaction for the affront put upon him by his dismissal two years before, as well as a means of securing himself from any future caprices of the Emperor. 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 Förster, Wallenstein, S. 179. CHAP. XXXIII.] WALLENSTEIN'S CAMP. 207 passing a brief time in the capital of his arch-enemy. Hence Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar was despatched 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 make a virtue of necessity, and put himself under the control of an upstart condottiere like 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.1 After the junction of their armies Wallenstein assumed the chief command. Gustavus, who had in vain endeavoured to prevent this junction, now hastened to seize Nurenburg, leaving Bernhard of Weimar and General Baner to protect his conquests in Bavaria and Upper Suabia. 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 "Doch haben die curiosi vermerkt, dass Ihre Kurfürstliche Durchlaucht die Kunst zu dissimuliren besser als der Herzog gelernt."-Khevenhiller, B. xii. 208 GUSTAVUS PROCEEDS INTO SAXONY. [CHAP. XXXIII. 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 (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 Ingoldstadt, 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 favoured 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.3 2 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 1 Förster's Wallenstein, S. 190 f. The barbarity of the war is shown by Wallenstein's rejecting another proposal of Gustavus, that quarter should be given, as in the Netherlands. Ibid. Harte, Gust. Adolphus, Introd. p. Xxxviii. 3 Ibid. vol. i. p. 210. On this subject see Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes Hamilton, p. 16 sqq. (ed. 1677). |