Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVII. Gustavus II. Adolphus. The German War. A.D. 1628—1632
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
^’^^^i ’’^h’e fleet’assembTes.’^"- GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. GERMAN WAR. ^rn"fThtaZr^" 20-1
him .that if he crossed into Germany, the electors
would unite with the emperor against him; the same
prince had refused to receive his letter directed
to the electors^; he knew besides from a good
hand (he added smiling), that the first who would
take arms against him were Bavaria and the
Catholic League, as whose protector France wished
to enter into this confederacy. He presented in-
deed his terms, but when difficulties arose, did not
wait for tlie answer of France, and determined, as
Richelieu himself observes, on the war,
" without
being assured of the alliance of France "."
Meanwhile the king continued the preparations
with his wonted activity, and even, when necessary,
with rigom*. The towns of the realm, which at
the diet of 1629 had engaged to equip sixteen good
and serviceable ships before the end of the year,
had not fulfilled their promise by the specified
time. Their deputies were brought before the
council, where they were arraigned by the ad-
vocate-fiscal of the palace court, Anders Bergius ;
and " forasmuch as we wex’e sufficiently convinced
by him" (their renewed engagement of Dec. 9,
1629, declares),
" that we had negligently failed of
our promise and assui’ance given, therefore we
confess that we have deserved chastisement and
disgrace from his majesty, taking our refuge in
prayers, and submissively entreat that his majesty
will not enforce the law against us." They now
promised that in May, 1630, the ships should be
in the stream at Stockholm. The division of the
Swedish fleet ^
destined for the transport of the
army, subsequently assembled in the harbour of
Elfsnabben, in the islets of Suthermanland. It con-
sisted of twenty-eight vessels of war, large and small,
not including several merchant-ships in which the
cavalry was conveyed, with various smaller flat-
bottomed boats for landing ti’oops and river navi-
’ At length, after a year, came the answer of the electors to
this note, transmitted in A|iiil, 1629. The king’s rejoinder was ;
" that he had hesitated to open the letter, as the title which
he had received from God and his ancestors, which he had
maintained for twenty years with such courage as became a
man, and would defend tii the death, was not given to him
on the superscription of the letter. He had, however, opened
it, under reservation that this might not be drawn to his
future prejudice. Yet he must lament, that in reference to
the ground of his complaints no answer was made therein."
Collegio Electorali. Stockholm, April 7, ItiSO. Reg.
8 Tandis que dura ce pourparler avec Charnace, le roi de
Suede—se resolvait a la guerre sans etre assure de I’alliance
du roi. Rich. The king writes to the chancellor, Stockholm,
March 17, 1630-—"The cause for which we have not been
able this time to agree with Charnace at Westeras is, tliat
we have not found it good in this condition of things to tie
ourselves so closely to the nod and arbitreraent of the king
of France only for three tuns of gold." Reg.
3 The whole fleet numbered in 162S—72 vessels larger or
smaller, namely, 4 great ships, 8 middle-sized, 20 lesser,
8 small, 30 galleys, and 2 ketclies. Hallenberg, MS.
1
Dated April 12. Reg. for 1630.
2 " The king’s artillery was of larger and smaller pieces,
especially an admirable sort of smaller regimental guns, with
which he could shoot so quickly, that he fired eight times ere
an expert musketeer could manage to fire si.x." Khewen-
hiiller, Annales Ferdinandi, xi. 1290. The king’s cannon
were therefore discharged at a more rapid rate than the
enemy’s small arms.
3 The army transported to Germany is stated by Chemnitz,
i. 94, as follows ;
—Of horse, eipht companies of Smalanders
under count Peter Brahe, and eiglit of West-Gothlanders
under Eric Soop. Of foot, the two companies of Lignofsky
gation, every one provided with three field-pieces,
and roomy enough to hold a hundred men. The
strength of the army which the king transported
to Germany cannot be determined with complete
accuracy. In the above-mentioned negotiations
with France he would never state it, probably in
order to conceal its weakness ;
and we may regard
as a measure of precaution for the same object, his
order in the spring of 1630, that no man should be
allowed to quit the kingdom without a pass ’.
By
an approximate reckoning, the ninety-two com-
panies of foot and sixteen of horse, with which he
crossed to Germany, might amount to about fifteen
thousand men. The cavalry, towards three thou-
sand men, was entirely Swedish ;
the infantry only
in the half ;
the rest consisted of Germans, and
one regiment of Scots. Besides the army, the
king took with him a great store of munitions of
all kinds, and an excellent artillery ^. Torsteuson,
now colonel of the artillery, afterwards its chief,
had already made himself a name in this arm of
the service. Provision of shovels, spades, pick-
axes, and palisades was also made, that retrench-
ments for defence might be quickly constructed in
case of need ^.
The government at home was entrusted by the
king to the council of state, but more particularly
to ten of the councillors, who were to remain con-
stantly in the capital, unless their presence was
required in some of the provinces by any emer-
gency. The council might likewise take cognizance
of and settle ap])eal causes as the law required *.
The activity displayed by this administration did
not correspond to the king’s demands. This also
he had partly foreseen, and therefore committed
the supervision of tlie war department, in Sweden
more particularly, to his brother-in-law, the pals-
grave John Casimir*, a nobleman distinguished
and Hensler, four Svfedish regiments, each of eight com-
panies, under count Nicholas Brahe, George Johnson, Lau-
rence Kagg and Charles Hard ;
three Swedish squadrons,
under count Joachim Brahe, Axel Lilye, and Axel Duvall.
(Squadron, in the phrase of that time, means a division of
troops, either of foot or horse, just as the word is used of a
division of a fleet ; from the sum of the foot companies we
see, that here four were reckoned to one squadron of infan-
try.) Of Germans ; the regiments of colonels Theodoric
Falkenberg and Clas Theodoric, both of eight companies ;
two companies of the regiment of colonel Hall, twelve of
major-general Kniphausen’s, and eight newly levied of
colonel Mitschefal’s, with colonel Mackay’s eight companies
of Scots ; together, sixteen companies of horse and ninety-
two of foot. The strength of the companies was not always
alike, and varied in the Swedish regiments, for example,
from one hundred to two hundred men. The counts Peter,
Nicholas, and Joachim Brahe were brothers. The first com-
manded the cavalry of Smaland, the two last the Upland and
Norrland regiments of foot. Joachim Brahe died after the
passage, on the 18th September, at Stettin.
* Instruction for the council in the king’s absence. Reg.
The ten councillors of administration were —the high-
steward count Magnus Brahe, the high-marshal count
Jacob de la Gardie, the high-admiral and free baron Charles
Carlson Gyllenhielm, the free baron Gabriel Oxenstierna
Bennetson, Clus Horn, the free baron Gabriel Oxenstierna
Gustaveson (brother of the chancellor), Peter Baner, John
Sparre, Clas Fleming, Herman Wrangel.
5 Instruction for the Palsgrave, how he shall manage the
military business during the absence of his majesty. Stock-
holm, May 17, ICSO. Reg. He was consequently joined
in tliis department with the high-marshal general Jacob
<le la Gardie. In a separate Instruction for the latter, of
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
