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1632.]
Wallenstein threat.-ns
Saxony.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. GERMAN WAR. State of the war after the
actions at Nuremberg. 277
berg Baner was early woiiiuled, Torstensoti was
talien at the assault on Wallenstein’s camp. A
cannon-ball carried away the sole of the king’s
stirrup, and an oftieer fell at his side. Duke Ber-
nard of Weimar had a horse shot under him.
Both the king and the duke of Friedland divided
their armies after breaking up from Nuremberg.
Gustavus Adolphus left Bernard of Weimar in
Franconia to guard the Maine, but himself re-
crossed the Danube and the Lech, and bi’oke anew
into Bavaria, where the enemy, reinforced by im-
pex’ial troops from Italy, had again made some pro-
gress. Wallenstein despatched a division of the
Bavarian force to Austria, to quell the revolt of
the peasants, sent Gallas to Meissen, whither Hoik
with his wild bands had preceded him, and himself
approached Thuringia *.
Unquestionably Gustavus
Adolphus had it at heart to secure his advantages
in southern Germany, where Horn, in possession of
Strasburg, stood victor on the Upper Rhine, and
the king himself now founded the league between
the Protestants of the four upper circles, which,
after his death, was actually concluded at Heil-
bronn *. But it is equally indubitable, that his
movement to the southward of Nuremberg was
also calculated to entice the enemy to the same
direction, and that to save Saxony he wished to
remove the war again to Bavaria ’. This purpose
miscarried. The elector of Bavaria indeed now
parted from Wallenstein to defend his own coun-
try ;
but the latter went not a step out of his way
for Bavaria. The accounts of contemporaries de-
scribe his plan with as much completeness as veri-
similitude. It was calculated for a longer time.
Gustavus Adolphus broke through it
suddenly, but
at the cost of his life.
These two great antagonists in our days, the king
of Sweden and the duke of Friedland, says the
narrator, were now become the most famous per-
5 Swedish Intelligencer, iii. 82. Compare Khevenhiiller,
xii. 1"5, and Francheviile, 203. Khevenhiiller says, that
the king’s first view, when he quitted Nuremberg, was to
allure the enemy to an assault upon the town, and during it
to attack them . After Wallenstein’s upbreak he actually came
in haste to Nuremberg, examined the deserted camp of the
enemy, and judged thereby that they were not so numerous
as they had been stated. Of Hoik’s Croats in Saxony Gualdo
(himself an officer of Wallenstein) says,
"
They had ima-
gined a new kind of torture to draw the last penny from the
unfortunate Saxons. They despoiled men and women with-
out distinction, and in this state caused them to be torn by
famished dogs, whom they carried with them for that in-
famous use." Francheviile, 192. "Their villany was so
great, that after abusing the women; in satisfying their filthy
lusts, they did burn them and their families." Monro, ii.
156. The king’s second passage of the Lech was made on
the 1st and 2nd October; on the 3rd he retook the town of
Rain, lately given up by the Swedish commandant colonel
Mitschefal, for which he was tried by court-martial and be-
headed. The king was reinforced upon his march to Bavaria
by from four thousand to five thousand Swiss (others say
more), levied upon his account, who were afterwards among
the troops left behind to maintain Bavaria. Swed. Intel,
iii. 60, 64.
s " The king indeed had particular alliances with the
majority of the evangelical estates ; but these not being able
to raise the stone, it was found that completely to heal all
mischief, an unanimous general ordinance was highly needful.
To lay as it were the foundation-stone thereto, the king re-
solved to call together at Ulm a convention of the four upper
circles, the Swabian, Franconian, and two Rhenane." Chem-
nitz, i. 435.
sons in the Christian world, and there was hardly
a man, however insignificant he might be, in the
whole Protestant party, who did not feel the influ-
ence of the Swedish king’s enterprises upon himself,
his activity and fortunes. The Swedish arms were
still in the ascendant. Horn was victorious in
Triers and ALsatia, whence he had driven away Ossa
and Montecueuli. Arnheim with the Saxons, and
Duwall, whom the king had sent to his reinforce-
luent, had overcome almo.st all resistance in Silesia.
In Bavaria there was little to do, until Montecu-
euli, just at this time, broke into that country.
Duke Julius of Wurteraberg and sir Patrick Ruth-
ven had still the upper hand in Swabia. The Swe-
dish garrisons in Pomei’ania and Mecklenburg had
no enemy. The Spaniards and Lorrainers were
about this time expelled from Germany. Of all
the Imperialist generals Pappenheim was the only
one who still carried on a partisan war in Lower
Sa.xony, and the court of Vienna had ordered him
to unite with Wallenstein. Such was the position
of the Swedish armies when the king and Wal-
lenstein broke up from Nuremberg.
—On Wed-
nesday, the 12ih September, the latter crossed the
Rednitz with his army. The soldiers set on fire
their huts and the country round about ;
for Wal-
lenstein ever encompassed himself with flames.
While the Imperialists marched off, the Swedish
foi’ce left in Nuremberg stood under arms in and
near the town, and exchanged some balls with the
rear. From want of horses the enemy had been
obliged to leave great stores in the camp, where
the remnant became the prize of the Nurembergers.
At some distance from the town the Imperial army
was divided, as mentioned before. The dukes of
Friedland and Bavaria marched onwards by the
left bank of the Rednitz. The dragoons went in
the front, the Croats wei’e ever the last to leave
quarters *. After the parcition, and w ith the loss
^ Theatrum Europaeum, which quotes both the opinions
and narrations of this time, says that it was the king’s
intent,
"
by capturing the strong places of Bavaria, to draw
the enemy’s power to himself, to secure the Danube, and
forthwith to transfer the seat of the war into the Austrian
hereditary dominions ;" ii. 746. " It is easy to perceive that
the king wished to save Saxony by a diversion to Bavaria.
But that was calculated as against an ordinary general, and
Wallenstein showed here that he did not belong to that
class.’ Billow, Campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus in Ger-
many (Gustaf Adolfs Falttag i Tyskland).
8 " These dragoons, or horse-musketeers, were all picked
men. Their duty wa^ to sustain the cavalry, and when
occasion offered, they dismounted and filed on the enemy.
They served as an escort to convoys, formed sudden am-
buscades, &c. These dragoons were armed with ordinary
muskets, of which the match was turned on a small piece of
wood fixed at their horse’s headstall ;
their sword was short,
and at their saddle-bow hung a little hatchet, which served
to cut wood. These troops are of new formation. Others
pretend that he who formed the first dragoons was count
Ernest (de Mansfeld), who was placed under the ban of the
empire; obliged to live like a man without fire or home,
wandering from one place to another with his little array, he
had, it is said, set his infantry on horseback that they might
move more quickly." Gualdo, in Francheviile, 164. Gus-
tavus Adolphus first introduced dragoons into the Swedish
army ; they are said to have shot better tiian the Imperialists,
and had probably already laid aside the matchlock. The
Croats corresponded to the hussars of later times.—"
The
Croats did marvels in the little war. Wallenstein used them
at all seasons to alarm the king’s camp, and harass his
cavalry. Gustavus found but one means of getting rid of
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