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1615.]
Oliicers of the army of the
Danube mutiny.
CHRISTINA. THE REGENCY. Dissensions of the Swedish
and German generals.
299
14,000 men, was sent under duke George of Luiie-
burg, and general, now field-marshal Kniphausen,
to the Weser, and into Westphalia, which was oc-
cupied by the enemy ;
the smaller, under duke
Bernard, across the Thuringian forest to the Maine,
whence he was to put himself in connexion with
the army of the Danube. The estates of Swabia,
who did not feel themselves a match for the supe-
rior force of the enemy, had meanwhile called
Horn to reinforce this army, whereupon the Pals-
grave of Birkenfeld (after I3audissin had taken his
leave) received the command of the troops on the
Lower Rhine. The command in Silesia, where
mattei-s had hitherto proceeded irregularly, was
committed to old count Thuru. There he was to
renew his connexions with the Protestants of the
country, and to preserve as much as possible unison
with the generals of Saxony and Brandenburg ^.
The various divisions of these large masses of
troops, of whom the Swedes formed the least part,
continued for some time longer their victorious
progress. Soon, however, the absence of the guiding
hand was remarked. The colonels of the army of
the Danube, which was at last united under Horn
and Bernard of Weimar, met in the month of
April, 1633, and declared, "That in the capitulation
entered into with them, the late king had promised
them punctual disbursement of their pay every
half-year, and besides a liberal recompense in land
and vassals, which he had already conquered or
expected to win ; they had followed him truly,
summer and winter, without rest or repose, to
siege and battle, and finally, after his fall, con-
quered under duke Bernard’s command at Lutzen,
driven the enemy out of Saxony, and for the most
part also out of Franconia, and on the other side,
under field-marshal Horn, shown themselves not
less unwearied on the Rhine ;
but after Gustavus
Adolphus, the deprivation of whom, as their head,
must shake even a body of iron, they had neither
seen nor heard any thing of payment or thanks
from the lord high-chancellor ; they wished to
know whom they served ;
at the convention of
Heilbronn, no thought had been given to them, but
to the satisfaction of Sweden, to lieutenants, com-
missaries, presidents, and residents; therefore they
had resolved to advance no farther against the
enemy, but rather with the soldiers under their
command to hold the conquered territories for
themselves as a legitimate hypothec, which
opinion of theirs they intended also to impart to
the other armies in Westphalia, Saxony, and the
circle of the Rhme ’’." These points of complaint
they reduced to writing, and demanded an answer
within four weeks. Horn, who severely rebuked
the confederates, repaired to his father-in-law the
high-chancellor, in order to consult with him.
Bernard of Weimar, who remained in camp, de-
clared, "that the demands were reasonable, but
5
Chemnitz, ii. 35.
6 Id. li. 700, &c.
7
Rose, 1. 211.
8 Cette cabale fut formee par le due meme, she remarks.
Mem. de Christine, iii. 92, n.
9 PuffGndortr, v. § 40. (£1,102,500.) See the formulary
of the letters donatory issued in Oxenstiern’s name in Rose,
i. paper 3C. Wallenstein is said to have declared that the
emperor had not given away more in ten years.
1
Rose, 1. 237.
2 ’ He caused the king’s body to be brought in front of the
the expressions too strong ’." Christina accuses
him of having been the secret head of the cabal *.
It is certain that the duke did not ill choose his
time for enforcing his own demands on the high-
chancellor, who was vainly incensed at this occur-
rence. The others it was found necessary to satisfy
in the same manner, namely, by Swedish letters of
investiture to estates and lordships in Germany, to
the value (together with the money then expended)
of 4,900,000 rix-dollars". The distribution was
made by duke Bernard ’, according to agreement
with Oxenstierna, in Frankfort. In respect of the
possessions granted to them, the officers were to be
regarded as members of the league of Heilbronn,
and the army as bound to this league and the
crown of Sweden conjointly.
After the sedition thus quelled, victory still con-
tinued for some time to illustrate the arms of Gus-
tavus Adolphus. But they were soon to be parted.
The mutiny we have just described was likewise a
rupture between the king’s general staff of princes
and the Swedish commanders ;
for although only
the colonels appeared, higher interests were mani-
festly at stake. Among the princes who had entered
the service of Gustavus Adolphus, Bernard of
Weimar considered himself as the nearest heir of
his fame. He had avenged the king’s death. When
at Weissenfels, after the battle of Lutzen, he showed
the hero’s body to the troops, and conjured them
to pursue the career of victory, the whole army is
said to have cried that they would follow him
whithersoever he led, even to the end of the
world 2. He requested the command-in-chief, but
was hindered from obtaining his object, not only by
his elder brother William, whom Gustavus Adol-
phus had named his lieutenant-general, but espe-
cially by Oxenstierna, who availed himself of the
dissensions of the brothers to evade the claims of
both, and insisted on placing field-mai’shal Horn,
victor with Gustavus Adolphus at Leipsic, at the
head of the army. Weimar and Horn in one com-
mand foreboded disaster.
Neither were duke George of Limeburg and
Kniphausen on the best terms, though meanwhile
they made progress. The duke, according to the
plan of operations pi’escribed to him by Oxen-
stierna, swept the enemy from northern West-
phalia, afterwards crossed the Weser with success,
and besieged Hameln. The landgrave William V.
of Hesse, whom the Swedish major-general Kagg
was ordered to succour, made himself master of
southern Westphalia, and besieged Paderborn. In
order to relieve Hameln, the imperialist general,
count Gronsfeldt, who had assembled his ai-my in
the district of Hildesheim, called count Merode out
of Westphalia to his support. Duke George, on the
other hand, requested and obtained a reinforce-
ment from the landgrave of Hesse, under generals
Kagg and Melander. On the 28th June, 1633, the
army, which lie harangued, saying among other things, that
he did not wish longer to conceal the misfortune which had
happened, of the death of so great a prince ; and conjured
them all, by the glory they had acquired in following him,
to aid him in taking vengeance, and in letting all the earth
see that he commanded soldiers who had made him invin-
cible, and even after death the terror of his enemies. All the
army answered by crying that they would follow him wher-
ever he wished, and even to the end of the world." (II fit
amener le corps du roi, &c.) Memoires de Richelieu, vii.
263.
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