although he had been his old friend and companion in arms.
Albert was engaged in plundering the archbishopric of
Magdeburg, when Maurice came up with him at Sievershausen. A
murderous engagement took place (A. D. 1553). Three of the
princes of Brunswick were slain. Albert was severely wounded,
and Maurice fell at the moment when victory declared in his
favour, in the 33d year of his age, in the midst of his
promising career. ... Every obstacle was now removed, and a
peace, known as the religious peace of Augsburg, was concluded
by the diet held in that city, A. D. 1555. This peace was
naturally a mere political agreement provisionally entered
into by the princes for the benefit, not of religion, but of
themselves. Popular opinion was dumb, knights, burgesses, and
peasants bending in lowly submission to the mandate of their
sovereigns. By this treaty, branded in history as the most
lawless ever concerted in Germany, the principle 'cujus regio,
ejus religio,' the faith of the prince must be that of the
people, was laid down, By it not only all the Reformed
subjects of a Catholic prince were exposed to the utmost
cruelty and tyranny, but the religion of each separate country
was rendered dependent on the caprice of the reigning prince;
of this the Pfalz offered a sad example, the religion of the
people being thus four times arbitrarily changed. ... Freedom
of belief, confined to the immediate subjects of the empire,
for instance, to the reigning princes, the free nobility, and
the city councillors, was monopolized by at most 20,000
privileged persons. ... The false peace concluded at Augsburg
was immediately followed by Charles V. 's abdication of his
numerous crowns [see NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555]. He would
willingly have resigned that of the empire to his son Philip,
had not the Spanish education of that prince, his gloomy and
bigoted character, inspired the Germans with an aversion as
unconquerable as that with which he beheld them.
{1465}
Ferdinand had, moreover, gained the favour of the German
princes. Charles, nevertheless, influenced by affection
towards his son, bestowed upon him one of the finest of the
German provinces, the Netherlands, besides Spain, Milan,
Naples, and the West Indies (America). Ferdinand received the
rest of the German hereditary possessions of his house,
besides Bohemia and Hungary. ... Ferdinand I., opposed in his
hereditary provinces by a predominating Protestant party,
which he was compelled to tolerate, was politically
overbalanced by his nephew, Philip II., in Spain and Italy,
where Catholicism flourished. The preponderance of the Spanish
over the Austrian branch of the house of Habsburg exercised
the most pernicious influence on the whole of Germany, by
securing to the Catholics a support which rendered
reconciliation impossible. ... The religious disputes and
petty egotism of the several estates of the empire had utterly
stifled every sentiment of patriotism, and not a dissentient
voice was raised against the will of Charles V., which
bestowed the whole of the Netherlands, one of the finest of
the provinces of Germany, upon Spain, the division and
consequent weakening of the powerful house of Habsburg being
regarded by the princes with delight. At the same time that
the power of the Protestant party was shaken by the peace of
Augsburg, Cardinal Caraffa mounted the pontifical throne as
Paul IV., the first pope who, following the plan of the
Jesuits, abandoned the system of defence for that of attack.
The Reformation no sooner ceased to progress, than a
preventive movement began [see PAPACY: A. D. 1537-1563]. ...
Ferdinand I. was in a difficult position. Paul IV. refused to
acknowledge him on account of the peace concluded between him
and the Protestants, whom he was unable to oppose, and whose
tenets he refused to embrace, notwithstanding the expressed
wish of the majority of his subjects. Like his brother, he
intrigued and diplomatized until his Jesuitical confessor,
Bobadilla, and the new pope, Pius IV., again placed him on
good terms with Rome, A. D. 1559. ... Augustus, elector of
Saxony, the brother of Maurice, alarmed at the fresh alliance
between the emperor and pope, convoked a meeting of the
Protestant leaders at Naumberg. His fears were, however,
allayed by the peaceful proposals of the emperor (A. D. 1561).
... A last attempt to save the unity of the German church, in
the event of its separation from that of Rome, was made by
Ferdinand, who convoked the spiritual electoral princes, the
archbishops and bishops, for that purpose to Vienna, but the
consideration with which he was compelled to treat the pope
rendered his efforts weak and ineffectual. ... The
Protestants, blind to the unity and strength resulting from
the policy of the Catholics, weakened themselves more and more
by division."
W. Menzel,
History of Germany,
sections 197-198 (volume 2).
GERMANY: A. D. 1556-1558.
Abdication of the emperor, Charles V., and election of his
brother, Ferdinand.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555.
GERMANY: A. D. 1556-1609.
The degeneracy of the Reformation.
Internal hostilities of Protestantism.
Tolerant reigns of Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II.
Renewed persecution under Rudolf II.
The risings against him.
His cessions and abdications.
"Germany was externally at peace. When the peace was broken in
Protestant states, the Protestants themselves, that is, a part
of their divines, were the cause of' the disturbance. These
were 'frantic' Lutherans. The theologian Flacius, at Jena,
openly attacked Melancthon as a 'traitor to the church,' on
account of his strivings for peace. The religious
controversies in the bosom of the adherents of the Augsburg
Confession had been since Luther's death inflamed to madness
by a strict Lutheran party, by slaves of the letter, who raged
not only against the Zwinglian and Calvinistic reformations,
but against Melancthon and those who sympathized with him. The
theological pugilists disgraced Protestantism, and aroused such
a spirit of persecution that Melancthon died on the 19th of
April, 1560, 'weary and full of anxiety of soul about the
future of the Reformation and the German nation.' His
followers, 'Lutheran' preachers and professors, were
persecuted, banished, imprisoned, on account of suspicion of
being inclined to the 'Reformed' [Calvinistic] as
distinguished from 'Evangelical' views; prayers for the
'extirpation of heresy' were offered in the churches of
Saxony, and a medal struck 'to commemorate the victory of
Christ over the Devil and Reason,' that is, over Melancthon
and his moderate party. ... Each parson and professor held
himself to be a divinely inspired watchman of Zion, who had to
watch over purity of doctrine. ... The universal prevalence of
'trials for witchcraft' in Protestant districts, with their
chambers of torture and burnings at the stake, marked the new
priestcraft of Lutheran Protestantism in its debasement into a
dogmatizing church. This quickly degenerating Protestant Church
comprised a mass of separate churches, because the vanity and
selfishness of the court clergy at every court, and the
professors of every university, would have a church of their
own. ... Every misfortune to the 'Reformed' churches caused a
malevolent joy in the Lutheran camp, and every common measure
against the common enemy was rejected by the Lutheran clergy
from hatred to the 'Reformed.' ... The emperor Ferdinand I.
had long been convinced that some change was required in the
Church of Rome. As he wrote to his ambassador in Trent, 'If a
reform of the Church did not proceed from the Church herself,
he would undertake the charge of it in Germany.' He never
ceased to offer his mediation between the two religious
parties. He thought, and thought justly, that a compromise was
possible in Germany. ... The change which gradually took place
in the head and heart of Ferdinand had not extended to those
who sat in St. Peter's chair. Ferdinand I., to improve the
moral state of the old Church, insisted most strongly on the
abolition of the celibacy of the clergy; this the Pope
declared the most indispensable prop of the Papacy. As thus
his proposals came to naught, he attempted to introduce the
proposed reformation into his hereditary domains; but just as
he was beginning to be the Reformer of these provinces, death
removed him from the world, on the 25th of July, 1564. ... His
oldest son and successor, Maximilian II., ... was out and out
German. Growing up in the great movement of the time, the
Emperor Maximilian II. was warmly devoted to the new ideas. He
hated the Jesuits and the Papacy. ...
{1466}
He remained in the middle between Protestants and Catholics,'
but really above both. ... He favored the Reformation in his
Austrian dominions; at the very time when Philip II. of Spain,
the son of Charles V., had commenced the bloodiest persecution
against the Reformed Church in the Netherlands ... ; at the
very time when the French court, ruled and led by Jesuits, put
into execution the long-prepared conspiracy of St.
Bartholomew. ... He never ceased to call the kings of France
and Spain to gentleness and toleration. ... 'I have no power,'
said the emperor, 'over consciences, and may constrain no
man's faith.' The princes unanimously elected the son of
Maximilian as King of the Romans, and Max received another
gratification: he was elected king by the gallant nation of
the Poles. Thus the house of Austria was again powerfully
strengthened. Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, and Germany, united
under one ruler, formed a power which could meet Turkey and
Russia. The Turks and the Russians were pressing forward. The
Turkish wars, more than anything else, prevented Max from
carrying out his long-cherished plan and giving a constitution
to the empire and church of the Germans. He who towered high
above the Papal party and the miserable controversies of
Protestant divines, and whose clear mind saw what the times
required, would have had every qualification for such a task.
But in the midst of his great projects, Maximilian II. died,
in his 49th year, on the 12th of October, 1576; as emperor,
honest, mild and wise, and elevated above all religious
controversies to a degree that no prince has ever reached. He
had always been a rock of offence to the Catholic party. ...
But Rudolf [son of Maximilian II.], when he became emperor
[1576], surrounded by secret Jesuits who had been his teachers
and advisers, became the humblest slave of the order and let
it do what it would. Rudolf had been sent by his father for
the interests of his own house to the Spanish court; a
terrible punishment now followed this self-seeking. Rudolf
confirmed liberty of conscience only to the nobles, not to the
citizens or peasants. He forbade the two latter classes to
visit the Evangelical churches, he closed their schools,
ordered them to frequent Catholic churches, threatened
disobedience with banishment, and even in the case of nobles
he dismissed from his court charges all who were not strict
papists. The people of Vienna and Austria hated him for these
orders. ... Without any judicial investigation he threatened
free cities with 'execution.' Aix la Chapelle expelled his
troops. Gebhard, the elector of Cologne, married a Countess
von Mansfeld and went over to Protestantism. ... The
Protestants supported him badly; Lutherans and Calvinists were
at bitter feud with each other, and weakened themselves in the
struggle. ... It was a croaking of ravens, and a great field
of the dead was not far off. ... The Emperor Rudolf, ... on a
return journey from Rome, vowed to Our Lady of Loretto, 'his
Generalissima,' to extirpate heretics at the risk of his life.
In his hereditary estates he ordered all who were not papists
to leave the territory. Soon afterwards he pulled down the
Evangelical churches, and dispersed the citizens by arms. He
intended soon to begin the same proceedings in Hungary and
Bohemia; but in Hungary the nation rose in defence of its
liberty and faith. The receipt of the intelligence that the
Hungarian malcontents were progressing victoriously
produced--what there had been symptoms of before--insanity.
The members of the house of Austria assembled, and declared
'The Emperor Rudolf can be no longer head of the house,
because unfortunately it is too plain that his Roman Imperial
Majesty ... was not competent or fit to govern the kingdoms.'
The Archduke Matthias [eldest brother of Rudolf] was elected
head of the Austrian house [1606]. He collected an army of
20,000 men, and made known that he would depose the emperor
from the government of his hereditary domains. Rudolf's
Jesuitical flatterers had named him the 'Bohemian Solomon.' He
now, in terror, without drawing sword, ceded Hungary and Austria
to Matthias, and gave him also the government of Moravia.
Matthias guaranteed religious liberty to the Austrians. Rudolf
did the same to the Bohemians and Silesians by the 'Letters of
Majesty.' Rudolf, to escape deposition by Matthias, abdicated
the throne of Bohemia."
W. Zimmerman,
Popular History of Germany,
book 5, chapter 2 (volume 4).
ALSO IN:
F. Kohlrausch,
History of Germany,
chapter 21.
GERMANY: A. D. 1608-1618.
The Evangelical Union and the Catholic League.
The Jülich-Cleve contest.
Troubles in Bohemia.
The beginning of the Thirty Years War.
"Many Protestants were alarmed by the attempts Rudolf had made
to put them down, and especially by his allowing the Duke of
Bavaria to seize the free city of Donauwörth, formerly a
Bavarian town, and make it Catholic. In 1608 a number of
Protestants joined together and formed, for ten years, a
league called The Union. Its formation was due chiefly to the
exertions of Prince Christian of Anhalt, who had busily
intrigued with Henry IV. of France; but its head was the
Elector Palatine. As the latter belonged to the Reformed
Church, the Lutherans for the most part treated the Union
coldly; and the Elector of Saxony would have nothing to do
with it. It soon had an opportunity of acting. Duke William of
Jülich, who held Jülich, Cleve, and other lands, died in 1609.
John Sigmund, Elector of Brandenburg, and the Palsgrave of
Neuberg, both members of the Union, claimed to be his heirs,
and took possession of his lands. The Emperor Rudolf sent his
brother, the Archduke Leopold, Bishop of Passau, to drive out
these princes. The Union thereupon formed an alliance with
Henry IV. of France [see FRANCE: A. D. 1599-1610], and, coming
to the aid of its members, scattered the forces of the
Archduke in 1610. The Catholics now took fright, and hastened
to form a League which should hold the Union in check. It was
formed for nine years, and the supreme command was given to
Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria. The death of Henry IV. took away
from the Union its chief source of strength, so that it shrank
from a general war. The two princes, however, who had given
rise to the quarrel, kept for a time the Jülich-Cleve
territory. In 1611 [1618] the power of the Elector of
Brandenburg was further increased by his succeeding to the
Duchy of Prussia. From this time East Prussia was always
joined to the Mark or Electorate of Brandenburg. It was now,
therefore, that the house of Brandenburg laid the foundations
of its future greatness. Matthias, in order to pacify the
Austrian States, granted them full religious liberty.
{1467}
In 1609 the Bohemian States also obtained from Rudolf a Royal
Charter, called 'The Letter of Majesty,' conceding to
nobility, knights and towns perfect freedom in religious
matters, and the right to build Protestant churches and
schools on their own and on the royal lands. Bohemia showed no
gratitude for this favour. Suspecting his designs, the
Bohemians even shut Rudolf up in his castle at Prague in 1611,
and asked Matthias to come to their aid. He did so, and seized
the supreme power. Next year Rudolf died. Matthias was crowned
at Frankfurt with great pomp, but he was no better fitted for
the throne than his brother. He was compelled to yield much to
the Protestants, yet favoured the Jesuits in their continued
efforts to convert Germany. His government was so feeble that
his brothers at length made him accept Ferdinand, Duke of
Styria, as his coadjutor. In 1617 Ferdinand was elected as
Rudolf's successor to the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary, and
from this time all real power in the Habsburg possessions was
wielded by him. Ferdinand was a young man, but had already
given proof of great energy of character. ... The Protestants
looked forward with dread to his reign if he should receive
the Imperial crown. Styria had become almost wholly Lutheran.
When Ferdinand succeeded his father, he had driven out the
Protestant families, and made the land altogether Catholic. No
Catholic prince had ever shown himself more reckless as to the
means by which he served his church. The Protestants,
therefore, had good reason to fear that if he became Emperor
he would renew the policy of Charles V., and try to bring back
the old state of things, in which there was but one Church as
there was but one Empire. Events proved that these fears were
well founded. The last days of Matthias were very troubled.
Two Protestant churches were built in Bohemia, one in the
territory of the Archbishop of Prague, the other in that of
the Abbot of Braunau. These princes, with permission of the
Emperor, pulled down one of the churches and shut up the
other. The Protestants complained; but their appeal was met by
the reply that the Letter of Majesty did not permit them to
build churches on the lands of ecclesiastics. This answer
excited great indignation in Bohemia; and a rumour was got up
that it had not come from the Emperor, but had been written in
Prague. On May 23, 1618, a number of Protestants, headed by Count
Thurn, marched to the Council Hall of the Royal Castle, and
demanded to be told the real facts. When the councillors
hesitated, two of them, with the private secretary, were
seized and thrown out of the window.
See BOHEMIA: A. D. 1611-1618.
The Protestants then took possession of the Royal Castle,
drove the Jesuits out of Bohemia, and appointed a council of
thirty nobles to carry on the government." These events formed
the beginning of the "Thirty Years War."
J. Sime,
History of Germany,
chapter 14.
"The Thirty Years' War was the last struggle which marked the
progress of the Reformation. This war, whose direction and
object were equally undetermined, may be divided into four
distinct portions, in which the Elector Palatine, Denmark,
Sweden, and France played in succession the principal part. It
became more and more complicated, until it spread over the
whole of Europe. It was prolonged indefinitely by various
causes.
I. The intimate union between the two branches of the house of
Austria and of the Catholic party--their opponents, on the
other hand, were not homogeneous.
II. The inaction of England, the tardy intervention of France,
the poverty of Denmark and Sweden, &c. The armies which took
part in the Thirty Years' War were no longer feudal militias,
they were permanent armies, although their sovereigns were
incapable of supporting them. They lived at the expense of the
countries which they laid waste. The ruined peasant turned
soldier and sold himself to the first comer."
J. Michelet,
Summary of Modern History,
chapter 12.
ALSO IN:
A. Gindely,
History of the Thirty Years' War,
chapters 1-3 (volume 1).
T. Carlyle,
History of Frederick the Great,
book 3, chapter 14 (volume 1).
GERMANY: A. D. 1612.
Election of the Emperor Matthias.
GERMANY: A. D. 1618-1620.
The Thirty Years War: Hostilities in Bohemia precipitated by
Ferdinand.
His election to the imperial throne and his deposition in
Bohemia.
Acceptance of the Bohemian crown by Frederick, the Palatine
Elector.
His unsupported situation.
The Treaty of Ulm.
"The emperor was not a little disconcerted when he received
the news of what was passing [in Bohemia]. For whence could he
receive the aid necessary to put down these revolutionary acts
and restore order in Bohemia? Discontent, indeed, was scarcely
less formidably expressed even in his Austrian territories,
whilst in Hungary its demonstration was equally as serious.
Conciliation appeared to be the only means of preserving to
the house of Austria that important country, and even the
confessor and usual counsellor of the emperor, Cardinal
Klesel, the most zealous opponent of the Protestants, advised
that course. But such considerations were most strenuously
opposed by young Ferdinand. ... At his instigation, and that
of the other archdukes, backed by the pope, the pacific
Cardinal Klesel was unexpectedly arrested, and charged with a
variety of crimes. The intention was to remove him from the
presence of the old and weak emperor, who was now without
support, and obliged to resign all to the archdukes. From this
moment the impotency of the emperor was complete, and all
hopes of an amicable pacification of Bohemia lost. The
Bohemians, likewise, took to arms, and possessed themselves of
every city in their country as far as Budweis and Pilsen,
which were still occupied by the imperial troops. They
obtained assistance, quite unlooked for, in the person of one
who may be regarded as one of the most remarkable heroes of
that day. ... Count Ernest of Mansfield, a warrior from his
youth, was of a bold and enterprising spirit; he had already
encountered many dangers, and had just been raising some
troops for the Duke of Savoy against the Spaniards. The duke,
who now no longer required them, gave him permission to serve
in the cause of the Evangelical Union in Germany; and by that
body he was despatched with 3,000 men to Bohemia, as having
apparently received his appointment from that country. He
appeared there quite unexpectedly, and immediately took from
the imperial army the important city of Pilsen [November 21,
1618]. ... The Emperor Matthias died on the 10th of March,
1619 ... and the Bohemians, who acknowledged his sovereignty
while living, now resolved to renounce his successor
Ferdinand, whose hostile intentions were already too clearly
expressed. Ferdinand attained the throne under circumstances
the most perplexing.
{1468}
Bohemia in arms, and threatening Vienna itself with invasion;
Silesia and Moravia in alliance with them; Austria much
disposed to unite with them; Hungary by no means firmly
attached, and externally menaced by the Turks; besides which,
encountering in every direction the hatred of the Protestants,
against whom his zeal was undisguised. ... Count Thurn
advanced upon Vienna with a Bohemian army. ... He came before
Vienna, and his men fired, even upon the imperial castle
itself, where Ferdinand, surrounded by open and secret foes,
had taken up his quarters. He dared not leave his capital, for
by so doing Austria, and with it the preservation of the
empire itself, must have been sacrificed. But his enemies
looked upon him as lost; and they already spoke of confining
him in a convent, and educating his children in the Protestant
faith. ... Count Thurn was obliged soon to return to Bohemia,
as Prague was menaced by the armies of Austria, and Ferdinand
availed himself of this moment in order to undertake another
hazardous and daring project. ... He ... resolved to proceed
to Frankfort to attend the election of emperor. The spiritual
electors had been gained over; Saxony also adhered closely to
the house of Austria; Brandenburg was not unfriendly; hence
the opposition of the palatinate alone against him could
accomplish nothing; accordingly Ferdinand was unanimously
chosen emperor on the 28th of August, 1619." Just two days
previously, on the 26th of August, the Bohemians, at a general
assembly of the states, had formally deposed Ferdinand from
the kingship of their nation, and proceeded to elect another
king in his place. "The Catholics proposed the Duke of Savoy
and Maximilian of Bavaria, whilst, in the Protestant interest,
the Elector John George of Saxony, and Frederick V., of the
palatinate, were put forward. The latter obtained the
election, being a son-in-law of King James I. of England, from
whom they expected assistance, and who personally was regarded
as resolute, magnanimous, and generous. The incorporated
provinces of Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia supported the
election, and even the Catholic states of Bohemia pledged
their fidelity and obedience. Frederick was warned against
accepting so dangerous a crown by Saxony, Bavaria, and even by
his father-in-law; but his chaplain, Scultetus, and his own
consort, Elizabeth, who as the daughter of a king aspired to a
royal crown, persuaded him with all their influence to accept
it. Frederick was accordingly ruled by them, received the
regal dignity in Bohemia, and was crowned at Prague with great
pomp on the 25th of October, 1619. ... Ferdinand in returning
from Frankfort passed on to Munich, and there concluded with
the Duke of Bavaria that important treaty which secured to him
the possession of Bohemia. These two princes had been
companions in youth, and the Evangelical Union had by several
incautious proceedings irritated the duke. Maximilian
undertook the chief command in the cause of the Catholic
party, and stipulated with the house of Austria that he should
be indemnified for every outlay and loss incurred, to the
extent even, if necessary, of the surrender of the territories
of Austria itself into his hands. With Spain, also, the
emperor succeeded in forming an alliance, and the Spanish
general, Spinola, received orders to invade the countries of
the palatinate from the Netherlands. Subsequently the Elector
of Mentz arranged a convention at Mülhausen with the Elector
John George of Saxony, the Elector of Cologne, and the
Landgrave Lewis of Darmstadt, wherein it was determined to
render all possible assistance to the emperor for the
maintenance of his kingdom and the imperial dignity.
Frederick, the new Bohemian king, was now left with no other
auxiliary but the Evangelical Union; for the Transylvanian
prince, Bethlen Gabor, was, notwithstanding all his promises,
a very dubious and uncertain ally, whilst the troops he sent
into Moravia and Bohemia were not unlike a horde of savage
banditti. Meanwhile the union commenced its preparations for
war, as well as the league. The whole of Germany resembled a
grand depot for recruiting. Every eye was directed to the
Swabian district, where the two armies were to meet; there,
however, at Ulm, on the 3rd of July, 1620, they unexpectedly
entered into a compact, in which the forces of the union
engaged to lay down their arms, and both parties pledged each
other to preserve peace and tranquillity. The unionists felt
themselves too weak to maintain the contest, since Saxony was
now likewise against them, and Spinola threatened them from
the Netherlands. It was, however, a great advantage for the
emperor, that Bohemia was excluded from this treaty, for, now
the forces of the league were at liberty to aid him in
subjugating his royal adversary. Maximilian of Bavaria,
therefore, immediately took his departure, and on his war
reduced the states of Upper Austria to the obedience due to
Ferdinand, joined the imperial army, and made a spirited
attack upon Bohemia. On the other side, the Elector of Saxony
took possession of Lusatia in the name of the emperor."
F. Kohlrausch,
History of Germany,
chapter 22.
ALSO IN:
S. R. Gardiner,
History of England, 1603-1642,
chapters 29-32 (volume 3).
W. Coxe,
History of the House of Austria,
chapters 46-48 (volume 2).
Miss Benger,
Memoirs of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia,
chapters 6-9 (volumes 1-2).
GERMANY: A. D. 1620.
The Thirty Years War: Disappointment of the Bohemians in
their elected king.
Frederick's offensive Calvinism.
Defeat of his army before Prague.
Loss of Bohemian liberties.
Prostration of Protestantism.
"The defection of the Union accelerated the downfall of
Frederick; but its cordial support could scarcely have
hindered it. For the Bohemians had been disappointed in their
king, disappointed in the strength they had expected from him
through his connexions, equally disappointed in the man, and
in the hopes of protection and sympathy which they had
expected from him in the exercise of their religion. Within a
month of his coronation the metropolitan church was spoiled of
its images, the crucifix cut in pieces, the statues of the
saints cast out, broken, and burnt, the ornaments used in
divine service, and venerable in the eyes of Catholics and
Lutherans alike, scattered here and there, and turned upside
down with contempt and execration. These proceedings, which
were presumed, not without reason, to have the king's
authority--for during their enactment the court chaplain
addressed the people in praise of this purgation of the
temple--called forth loud complaints and increased the
disaffection which, more than any external force brought
against Frederick, produced his ruin.
{1469}
Early in November Maximilian appeared before Prague, and found
the Bohemians, under Christian van Anhalt, skilfully and
strongly posted on the Weissenberg [White Mountain] to offer
battle. The cautious Bucquoi would have declined the offer,
and attacked the city from another point; but an enthusiastic
friar who broke in upon the conference of the leaders, and,
exhibiting a mutilated image of the Virgin, reproached them
with their hesitation, put to flight all timid counsels. The
battle began at twelve o'clock. It was a Sunday, the octave of
the festival of All Saints [November 8, 1620]. ... In the
Catholic army Bucquoi was at the head of the Imperial
division. Tilly commanded in chief, and led the front to the
battle. He was received with a heavy fire; and for half an
hour the victory trembled in the balance: then the Hungarians,
who had been defeated by the Croats the day before, fled, and
all the efforts of the Duke of Saxe Weimar to rally them
proved fruitless. Soon the whole Bohemian army, Germans,
English, horse and foot, fled in disorder. One gallant little
band of Moravians only, under the Count of Thurn and the young
Count of Sehlick, maintained their position, and, with the
exception of their leaders, fell almost to a man. The battle
lasted only an hour; but the victory was not the less
complete. A hundred banners, ten guns, and a rich spoil fell
into the hands of the victors. Four thousand of the Bohemian
army, but scarcely as many hundreds of their opponents (if we
may believe their account), lay dead upon the field. ...
Frederick had returned from the army the day before, with the
intelligence that the Bavarians were only eight (English)
miles distant; but relying on the 28,000 men which he had to
cover his capital, he felt that night no uneasiness. ... He
had invited the English ambassadors to dine; and he remained
to entertain them. After dinner he mounted his horse to ride
to the Star Park; but before he could get out of the city
gate, he was met with the news of the total overthrow of his
army. His negotiations with Maximilian failing, or receiving
no answer, the next morning he prepared for flight. ...
Accompanied by his queen, Van Anhalt, the Prince of Hohenlohe,
and the Count of Thurn, he made a precipitate retreat from
Prague, leaving behind him the insignia of that monarchy which
he had not the wisdom to firmly establish, nor resolution to
defend to the last. It must be confessed, however, that his
position, after the defeat at Prague, was not altogether so
promising, and consequently his abandonment of his capital not
altogether so pusillanimous, as some have represented."
B. Chapman,
History of Gustavus Adolphus,
chapter 5.
"Frederick fled for his life through North Germany, till he
found a refuge at the Hague. The reign of the Bohemian
aristocracy was at an end. ... The chiefs perished on the
scaffold. Their lands were confiscated, and a new German and
Catholic nobility arose. ... The Royal Charter was declared to
have been forfeited by rebellion, and the Protestant churches
in the towns and on the royal estates had nothing to depend on
but the will of the conqueror. The ministers of one great body
--the Bohemian Brethren--were expelled at once. The Lutherans
were spared for a time."
S. R. Gardiner,
The Thirty Years' War,
chapter 3, section 1.
ALSO IN:
C. A. Peschek,
Reformation and Anti-Reformation in Bohemia,
volume 1, chapter 9.
See, also, BOHEMIA: A. D. 1621-1648;
and HUNGARY: A. D. 1606-1660.
GERMANY: A. D. 1621-1623.
The Thirty Years War:
The Elector Palatine placed under the ban.
Dissolution of the Evangelical Union.
Invasion and conquest of the Palatinate.
Transfer of the electoral dignity to the Duke of Bavaria.
"Ferdinand, though firm, patient, and resigned in adversity,
was stern, vengeful, and overbearing in prosperity. He was
urged by many motives of resentment, policy, and zeal to
complete the ruin of the elector Palatine, and he did not
possess sufficient magnanimity to resist the temptation.
Having squandered away the confiscated property among his
Jesuits and favourites, he had still many allies and adherents
whose fidelity he was desirous to reward; he was anxious to
recover Upper Austria, which he had mortgaged to the duke of
Bavaria, as a pledge for the expenses of the war; he wished to
regain possession of Lusatia; and he was bound in honour to
satisfy the elector of Saxony for his opportune assistance.
... These motives overbearing an considerations of justice and
prudence, Ferdinand published the ban of the empire [January
22, 1621], of his own authority, against the elector Palatine
and his adherents the prince of Anhalt, the count of
Hohenlohe, and the duke of Jaegendorf. The execution of this
informal sentence he intrusted to the archduke Albert, as
possessor of the circle of Burgundy, and to the duke of
Bavaria, commanding the former to occupy the Lower, and the
latter the Upper Palatinate. This vigorous act was instantly
followed by the most decisive effects; for the Protestants
were terrified by the prospect of sharing the fate of the
unfortunate elector. The members of the union now felt the
fatal consequences of their own indecision and want of
foresight. ... Threatened at once by Spinola [commanding the
Spanish auxiliaries from the Netherlands] and the duke of
Bavaria, and confounded by the growing power of the emperor,
they vied in abandoning a confederacy which exposed them to
his vengeance. On the 12th of April, 1621, they concluded at
Mentz a treaty of neutrality, by which they promised not to
interfere in the affairs of the Palatinate, agreed to disband
their troops within a month, and to enter into no new
confederacy to the disadvantage of the emperor. This
dishonourable treaty was followed by the dissolution of the
union, which, on its expiration, was not renewed. During these
events, Spinola, having completed the reduction of the Lower
Palatinate, was occupied in the siege of Frankendahl, which
was on the point of surrendering, and its capture must have
been followed by the submission of Heidelberg and Manheim. The
duke of Bavaria had been still more successful in the Upper
Palatinate, and had rapidly subjugated the whole province,
together with the district of Cham. The elector Palatine,
deserted by the Protestant union, and almost abandoned by his
relatives, the kings of England and Denmark, owed the first
revival of his hopes of restoration to Mansfeld, an
illegitimate adventurer, with no other resources than plunder
and devastation. Christian of Brunswick, administrator of
Halberstadt, distinguished indeed by illustrious birth, but
equally an adventurer, and equally destitute of territory or
resources, espoused his cause, as well from ties of affinity
[he was the cousin of Elizabeth, the electress Palatine, or
queen of Bohemia, as she preferred to be called] as from a
chivalrous attachment to his beautiful consort; and George
Frederic, margrave of Baden, even abdicated his dignity to
devote himself to his support."
{1470}
Mansfeld, who had held his ground in Bohemia for nearly a year
after the battle of the White Mountain, now became hard
pressed there by Tilly, and suddenly escaped by forced marches
(October, 1621,) into the Lower Palatinate. "Here he found a
more favourable field of action; for Spinola being recalled
with the greater part of the Spanish forces, had left the
remainder to Gonzales de Cordova, who, after reducing several
minor fortresses, was pressing the siege of Frankendahl. The
name of the brave adventurer drew to his standard multitudes
of the troops, who had been disbanded by the Protestant union,
and he was joined by a party of English, who had been sent for
the defence of the Palatinate. Finding himself at the head of
20,000 men, he cleared the country in his passage, relieved
Frankendahl, and provided for the safety of Heidelberg and
Manheim. Unable, however, to subsist in a district so recently
the seat of war, he turned into Alsace, where he increased his
forces; from thence he invaded the neighbouring bishoprics of
Spire and Strasburgh, levying heavy contributions, and giving
up the rich domains of those sees to the devastations of his
troops. Encouraged by this gleam of hope, the elector Palatine
quitted his asylum in Holland, passed in disguise through
Loraine and Alsace, joined Mansfeld, and gave his name and
countenance to this predatory army." Mansfeld, recrossing the
Rhine, effected a junction with the margrave of Baden; and
Christian of Brunswick, after pillaging the rich sees of Lower
Saxony, was on his way with a considerable force to unite with
both. "At the same time the duke of Wirtemberg, the landgrave
of Hesse, and other Protestant princes, began to arm, and
hopes were even entertained of the revival of the Protestant
union. Tilly, who had followed Mansfeld from Bohemia, had in
vain endeavoured to prevent his junction with the margrave of
Baden. Defeated at Mingelsheim by Mansfeld, on the 29th of
April, 1622, he had been reduced to the defensive, and in this
situation saw a powerful combination rising on every side
against the house of Austria. He waited therefore for an
opportunity of attacking those enemies singly, whom he could
not resist when united, and that opportunity was presented by
the separation of the margrave of Baden from Mansfeld, and his
attempt to penetrate into Bavaria. Tilly suddenly drew
together the Spanish troops, and with this accession of force
defeated, on the 6th of May, the margrave at Wimpfen, with the
loss of half his army, and took his whole train of artillery
and military chest. Leaving Mansfeld employed in the siege of
Ladenburgh, he next directed his attention to Christian of
Brunswick, routed him on the 20th of June, at Hoechst
[Höchst], as he was crossing the Main, pursued him till his
junction with Mansfeld, and drove their united forces beyond
the Rhine, again to seek a refuge and subsistence in Alsace.
These successes revived the cause of Ferdinand; the margrave
of Baden retired from the contest; the duke of Wirtemberg and
the other Protestant princes suspended their armaments; and
although Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick laid siege to
Saverne, and evinced a resolution to maintain the contest to
the last extremity, yet the elector Palatine again gave way to
that weakness which had already lost him a crown." He was
persuaded by his witless father-in-law, James I. of England,
to trust his cause to negotiations in which the latter was
being duped by the emperor. He consented, accordingly, "to
disavow his intrepid defenders, to dismiss them from his
service, to retire again into Holland, and wait the mercy of
the emperor. By this disavowal, Mansfeld and Christian were
left without a name to countenance their operations; and after
various negotiations, feigned or real, for entering into the
service of the emperor, Spain, or France, they accepted the
overtures of the Prince of Orange and forced their way through
the Spanish army which attempted to oppose their passage, to
join at Breda the troops of the United Provinces. The places
in Alsace and the bishopric of Spire which had been occupied
by the enemy were recovered by the archduke Leopold; and
Tilly, having completed the conquest of the Palatinate by the
capture of Heidelberg and Manheim, directed his attacks
against the forces which Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick
had again assembled. After a short continuance in Holland,
Mansfeld, in November, had led his predatory army into the
rich province of East Friesland, conquered the principal
fortresses, and extorted enormous contributions from the duke,
who was in alliance with Spain. On the other hand, Christian,
passing into Lower Saxony, persuaded the states of the circle
to collect an army of observation amounting to 12,000 men, and
intrust him with the command; and he soon increased this army
to almost double that number, by the usual incitements of
pillage and plunder. These levies attracting the attention of
the emperor, his threats, together with the advance of Tilly,
compelled the Saxon states to dismiss Christian and his army.
Thus left a second time without authority, he pushed towards
Westphalia, with the hope of joining Mansfeld and renewing
hostilities in the Palatinate; his design was however
anticipated by Tilly, who overtook him at Loen [or Stadtlohn],
in the district of Munster, and defeated him with the loss of
6,000 killed and 4,000 prisoners, in August, 1623. The
victorious general then turned towards East Friesland; but
Mansfeld, who had hitherto maintained himself in that country,
avoided an unequal contest by disbanding his troops, and
withdrawing into Holland, in January, 1624. ... Having
despoiled the elector Palatine of all his dominions, and
delivered himself from his enemies in Germany, Ferdinand had
proceeded to carry his plans into execution, by transferring
the electoral dignity to the duke of Bavaria, and dividing the
conquered territories among his adherents. ... He gained the
elector of Saxony, by promising him the revenues and perhaps
the cession of Lusatia; and the landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt,
by offering to favour his pretensions to the succession of
Marburgh, which he was contesting with the landgrave of Hesse
Cassel. ... Having thus gained those whose opposition was most
likely to frustrate his design, he paid little regard to the
feeble threats of James, and to the remonstrances of the king
of Denmark. ... He summoned, on the 25th of February, 1623, a
meeting of the electors and princes who were most devoted to
his cause at Ratisbon, and, in concurrence with the majority
of this irregular assembly, transferred the Palatine
electorate, with all its honours, privileges, and offices, to
Maximilian, duke of Bavaria.
{1471}
To keep up, however, the hopes of the elector Palatine and his
adherents, and not to drive his family and connections to
desperation, the whole extent of the plan was not developed;
the partition of his territories was deferred, the transfer of
the electorate was made only for the life of Maximilian, and
the rights of the sons and collateral heirs of the unfortunate
elector were expressly reserved."
W. Coxe,
History of the House of Austria,
chapter 49 (volume 2).
ALSO IN:
A. Gindely,
History of the Thirty Years' War,
volume 1, chapter 7.
F. Schiller,
History of the Thirty Years' War,
book 2.
C. R. Markham,
The Fighting Veres;
part 2, chapter 3.
GERMANY: A. D. 1624-1626.
The Thirty Years War:
Alliance of England, Holland, and Denmark to support the
Protestant cause.
Creation of the imperial army of Wallenstein, and its first
campaigns.
"Had the Emperor been as wise as he was resolute, it is
probable that, victorious in every direction, he might have
been able to conclude a permanent peace with the Protestant
Party. But the bigotry which was a very part of his nature was
spurred on by his easy triumphs to refuse to sheathe the sword
until heresy had been rooted out from the land. In vain did
the Protestant princes, who had maintained a selfish and
foolish neutrality, remonstrate against the continuance of
hostilities after the avowed object for which those
hostilities were undertaken had been gained. In the opinion of
Ferdinand II. the real object still remained to be
accomplished. Under these critical circumstances the
emigrants, now grown numerous [see BOHEMIA: A. D. 1621-1648],
and the awakened Protestant princes, earnestly besought the
aid of a foreign power. It was their representations which at
length induced three nations of the reformed faith--England,
Holland, and Denmark--to ally themselves to assist their
oppressed brethren.
See, also, FRANCE: A. D. 1624-1626.
England agreed to send subsidies, Holland to supply troops.
The command of the delivering army was confided to Christian
IV., King of Denmark (1625). He was to be supported in Germany
by the partisan Mansfeldt, by Prince Christian of Brunswick,
and by the Protestants of Lower Saxony, who had armed
themselves to resist the exactions of the Emperor. Ferdinand
II., after vainly endeavouring to ward off hostilities by
negotiations, despatched Tilly to the Weser to meet the enemy.
Tilly followed the course of that river as far as Minden,
causing to be occupied, as he marched, the places which
commanded its passage. Pursuing his course northwards, he
crossed the river at Neuburg (midway between Minden and
Bremen), and occupied the principality of Kalenberg. The King
of Denmark was near at hand, in the Duchy of Brunswick,
anxious, for the moment, to avoid a battle. Tilly, superior to
him in numbers, was as anxious to fight one. As though the
position of the King of Denmark were not already sufficiently
embarrassing, the Emperor proceeded at this period to make it
almost unendurable by launching upon him likewise an imperial
army. ... Up to the period of the complete overthrow and
expulsion from the Palatinate of Frederic V., ex-King of
Bohemia, Ferdinand had been indebted for all his successes to
Maximilian of Bavaria. It was Maximilian who, as head of the
Holy League, had reconquered Bohemia for the Emperor: it was
Maximilian's general, Tilly, who had driven the Protestant
armies from the Palatinate; and it was the same general who
was now opposing the Protestants of the north in the lands
watered by the Weser. Maximilian had been rewarded by the
cession to him of the Palatinate, but it was not advisable
that so near a neighbour of Austria should be made too strong.
It was this feeling, this jealousy of Maximilian, which now
prompted Ferdinand to raise, for the first time in this war,
an imperial army, and to send it to the north. This army was
raised by and at the expense of Albert Wenzel Eusebius of
Waldstein, known in history as Wallenstein. A Czech by
nationality, born in 1583 of noble parents, who belonged to
one of the most advanced sects of the reformers but who died
whilst their son was yet young, Wallenstein had, when yet a
child, been committed to the care of his uncle, Albert
Slavata, an adherent of the Jesuits, and by him educated at
Olmütz in the strictest Catholic faith." By marrying, first, a
rich widow, who soon died, and then an heiress, daughter of
Count Harrach, and by purchasing with the fortune thus
acquired many confiscated estates, he had become possessed of
enormous wealth. He had already won distinction as a soldier.
"For his faithful services, Ferdinand in 1623 nominated
Wallenstein to be Prince, a title changed, the year following,
into that of Duke of Friedland. At this time the yearly income
he derived from his various estates, all economically managed,
was calculated to be 30,000,000 florins--little short of
£2,500,000." Wallenstein now, in 1625, "divining his master's
wishes, and animated by the ambition born of natural ability,
offered to raise and maintain, at his own cost, an army of
50,000 men, and to lead it against the enemy. Ferdinand
eagerly accepted the offer. Named Generalissimo and Field
Marshal in July of the same year, Wallenstein marched at the
head of 30,000 men, a number which increased almost daily,
first to the Weser, thence, after noticing the positions of
Tilly and of King Christian, to the banks of the Elbe, where
he wintered. ... In the spring ... Mansfeldt, with the view to
prevent a junction between Tilly and Wallenstein, marched
against the latter, and, though his troops were fewer in
number, took up a position at Dessau in full view of the
imperial camp, and there intrenched himself. Here Wallenstein
attacked (25 April 1626) and completely defeated him. Not
discouraged by this overthrow, and still bearing in mind the
main object of the campaign, Mansfeldt fell back into
Brandenburg, recruited there his army, called to himself the
Duke of Saxe-Weimar and then suddenly dashed, by forced
marches, towards Silesia and Moravia, with the intention of
reaching Hungary, where Bethlen Gabor had promised to meet
him." Wallenstein followed and "pressed him so hard that,
though Mansfeldt did effect a junction with Bethlen Gabor, it
was with but the skeleton of his army. Despairing of success
against numbers vastly superior, Bethlen Gabor withdrew from
his new colleague, and Mansfeldt, reduced to despair,
disbanded his remaining soldiers, and sold his camp-equipage
to supply himself with the means of flight (September).
See HUNGARY: A. D. 1606-1660.
{1472}
He died soon after (30th November). ... Wallenstein then
retraced his steps to the north. Meanwhile Tilly, left to deal
with Christian IV., had followed that prince into Lower
Saxony, had caught, attacked, and completely defeated him at
Lutter (am Barenberge), the 27th July 1626. This victory gave
him complete possession of that disaffected province, and,
despite a vigorous attempt made by the Margrave George
Frederic of Baden to wrest it from him, he held it till the
return of Wallenstein from the pursuit of Mansfeldt. As two
stars of so great a magnitude could not shine in the same
hemisphere, it was then decided that Tilly should carry the
war into Holland, whilst to Wallenstein should be left the
honour of dealing with the King of Denmark and the Protestant
princes of the north."
G. B. Malleson,
The Battle-fields of Germany,
chapter 1.
ALSO IN:
W. Zimmermann,
Popular History of Germany,
book 5, chapter 2 (volume 4).
GERMANY: A. D. 1627-1629.
The Thirty Years War:
Wallenstein's campaign against the Danes.
His power and his oppression in Germany.
The country devoured by his army.
Unsuccessful siege of Stralsund.
First succor from the king of Sweden.
The Peace of Lubeck.
The Edict of Restitution.
"Wallenstein opened the campaign of 1627 at the head of a
refreshed and well-equipped army of 40,000 men. His first
effort was directed against Silesia; and the Danish troops,
few in number, and ill commanded, gave way at his approach. To
prevent the fugitives from infringing on the neutrality of
Brandenburg, he occupied the whole electorate. Mecklenburg and
Pomerania soon shared the same fate. Remonstrances and
assurances of perfect neutrality were treated with absolute
scorn; and Wallenstein declared, in his usual haughty style,
that 'the time had arrived for dispensing altogether with
electors; and that Germany ought to be governed like France
and Spain, by a single and absolute sovereign.' In his rapid
march towards the frontiers of Holstein, he acted fully up to
the principle he had laid down, and naturally exercised
despotic power, as the representative of the absolute monarch
of whom he spoke. ... He ... followed up the Danes, defeated
their armies in a series of actions near Heiligenhausen,
overran the whole peninsula of Jutland before the end of the
campaign, and forced the unhappy king to seek shelter, with
the wrecks of his army, in the islands beyond the Belt. ...
Brilliant as the campaign of 1627 proved in its general
result, few very striking feats of arms were performed during
its progress. ... Now it was that the princes and states of
Lower Germany began to feel the consequences of their
pusillanimous conduct; and the very provinces which had just
before refused to raise troops for their own protection, were
obliged to submit, without a murmur, to every species of
insult and exaction. Wallenstein's army, augmented to 100,000
men, occupied the whole country; and the lordly leader
following, on a far greater scale, the principle on which
Mansfeld had acted, made the war maintain the war, and
trampled alike on the rights of sovereigns and of subjects.
And terrible was the penalty now paid for the short-sighted
policy which avarice and cowardice had suggested, and which
cunning had vainly tried to disguise beneath affected
philanthropy, and a generous love of peace. Provided with
imperial authority, and at the head of a force that could no
longer be resisted, Wallenstein made the empire serve as a
vast storehouse, and wealthy treasury for the benefit of the
imperial army. He forbade even sovereigns and electors to
raise supplies in their own countries, and was justly termed
'the princes' scourge, and soldiers' idol.' The system of
living by contributions had completely demoralised the troops.
Honour and discipline were entirely gone; and it was only
beneath the eye of the stern and unrelenting commander, that
anything like order continued to be observed. Dissipation and
profligacy reigned in all ranks: bands of dissolute persons
accompanied every regiment, and helped to extinguish the last
sparks of morality in the breast of the soldier. The generals
levied arbitrary taxes; the inferior officers followed the
example of their superiors; and the privates, soon ceasing to
obey those whom they ceased to respect, plundered in every
direction; while blows, insults, or death awaited all who
dared to resist. ... The sums extorted, in this manner, prove
that Germany must have been a wealthy country in the 17th
century; for the money pressed out of some districts, by the
imperial troops, far exceeds anything which the same quarters
could now be made to furnish. Complaints against the author of
such evils were, of course, not wanting; but the man
complained of had rendered the Emperor all-powerful in
Germany: from the Adriatic to the Baltic, Ferdinand reigned
absolute, as no monarch had reigned since the days of the
Othos. This supremacy was due to Wallenstein alone; and what
could the voice of the humble and oppressed effect against
such an offender? Or when did the voice of suffering nations,
arrest the progress of power and ambition? During the winter
that followed on the campaign of 1627, Wallenstein repaired to