But the
king of Denmark, Christian IV.
king of Denmark, Christian IV.
Abelous - Gustavus Adolphus - Hero of the Reformation
?
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 47
bequeathed to him, so that, until his hands
were free from these, he could only remain
a distant and sympathetic witness of the
trials of his suffering brethren, and leave
his projects for assisting them to a future
need.
The peace of Augsburg, forced from
Charles Fifth by the victorious Lutherans,
in granting liberty of conscience seemed to
have ended the struggle between Catholi-
cism and Protestantism. But this peace
was only of short duration. The Jesuits,
spread every-where through the country,
ever faithful to the Roman Church, which
has never tolerated any other religious
faith than its own, and has ever held, as
rebels and enemies of the divine trath, all
those who refused to accept without re-
serve its doctrines and its practices, pushed
to an open rupture, and loudly demanded
a more speedy conversion of the hei'etics,
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? 48 GusTAvus Adolphus.
by means of arms taken np under sanction
of the emperor. But there must be some
pretext for renewing hostilities; Bohemia
was not long in giving one. The country
of John Huss, the forerunner of the Befor-
mation, whose funeral pile lighted up the
deliberations of the Council of Constance,
commenced by separating itself from Bome
in the celebration of the Lord's Supper,
and ended by embracing Protestantism.
The Emperor Budolph 11. was obliged to
authorize there the free exercise of Protest-
ant worship. He recognized also their
right to build new churches, to establish
schools according to need, and to convoke
their ecclesiastical council. All these con-
cessions, demanded by a people ready to
take them with weapons in their hands
should they be refused, were granted, July
2, 1609, in a famous letter called the Let-
ter of Majesty. Mathias, brother and sue-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 49
cesser of Rudolph, not only confirmed, but
increased the religious liberties of Bohemia,
and gave to her for king, his nephew,
Ferdinand de Gratz, the inheritor of the
imperial crown and Archd-uke of Styria.
This king promised, at first, to maintain
the privileges stipulated for in the Letter
of Majesty. But he did not long remain
faithful to his promise. Devoted to the
interests of Catholicism, and a docile sub-
ject of the Eomish court, he was sure
the Pope would sanction his perjury, and
thought, with other Catholic jDrinces, v^hose
example had encouraged him, that there
was no virtue in keeping either faith or
word of honor with a heretic. "It were
preferable," said he, " to rule over a desert
than over a country of heretics. " With
such a man, intolerance and religious per-
secution were inevitable. The Protestant
nobility were excluded from all honors
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? 50 GusTAvus Adolphus.
and deprived even of their employments.
The officers of the crown were chosen from
among the open enemies of the faith of the
majority of the people, and they subjected
them to all manner of vexations. Soon,
Ferdinand, sporting with every right, with
all treaties and promises, opposed all
claims of his subjects sent to his uncle, the
emperor, and managed to bring about the
interdiction of their religious assemblies.
The harsh reply, sent in answer to a
statement of their grievances, excited the
indignation of the Bohemians to its high-
est. Not satisfied with imposing on them
himself, Mathias approved all the violent
measures of which they were the victims,
and was the first to proclaim openly the
abolition of their privileges, and to tyran-
nize over their consciences. The Council
of Kegency, composed of rigid Catholics,
was regarded by the people as the real
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 51
author of the imperial response, and, in all
cases, as the instigator of the unjust orders
issued at Vienna. They immediately has-
tened to the council chamber at Prague
where the councilors were in session. The
deputies of the Protestant provinces, who
marched at the head of the excited crowd,
summoned the president and his colleagues
to an explanation, and to inform them
whether the imperial response had not been
first prepared there, and then sent to Ma-
thias for his signature. Two of these high
officers of the empire replied with calm-
ness and dignity, and the crowd went no
further than to chase them from the palace.
The other two received the representatives
of the nation with insults and threats ; this
changed the indignation of the people into
rage, and they hurled the two councilors
out of the window into the ditch surround-
ing the royal edifice. They then seized
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? 52 GusTAvus Adolphus.
the secretary, who was an accomplice, and
subjected him to the same fate. "The
whole civilized world," says Schiller, " was
astonished at this savage procedure. The
Bohemians excused themselves by saying
that it was an ancient custom of the coun-
try, and declared that they saw nothing
remarkable in this event, save that the
judges, after such a leap, should have risen
up safe and sound. They really owed this
good fortune to the mass of filth upon
which they fell, which, in softening the
shock of their fall, saved their lives. "
This affair, known in history under the
name of Defenestration of Prague, inau-
gurated the Thirty Years' War, May 25,
1618.
After such a step of violence, there re-
mained no other course for the Bohemians
to pursue than to fly to arms to protect
their persons and their religion. There
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 58
were no possible negotiations to be made,
and force of arms alone could give them
again their rights.
With an energy and promptitude worthy
of the gravity of the circumstances and the
importance of their cause, they constituted
a national government, and gave their king,
Ferdinand, to understand that they felt
themselves freed from every engagement
with a prince who, since he came into
power, had not ceased to conspire against
the faith and laws of his subjects.
The Jesuits, who had caused all these
evils, and destroyed, by their intrigues,
the tranquillity of Bohemia, were banished.
The thirty directors, chosen among the
deputies, to administer public affairs, in-
vited all the Protestants of the kingdom
to second the national movement, and
raised an army, the command of which was
given to Count Thurm, the author of the
4
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? 54 GusTAVUs Adolphus.
revolt which had constrained Rudolph to
sign the Letter of Majesty, and the main
defender of civil and religious liberty in
Bohemia.
At the same time they sent a call to
Hungary, to Moravia, to Silesia, and also
to their brethren of the Evangelical Union,
a powerful league formed, by the Prot-
estant princes of Germany, against their
common enemies, the emperor and the
Pope. Mathias, with the funds and the
soldiery of the Church, formed an army
and sent it against the rebels. Two de-
feats, however, soon taught the imperials
how difficult it is to conquer a people who
fight for their religion and independence.
About this time, and in order to follow up
these first successes, the Evangelical Union
sent to the aid of its brethren a re-inforce-
ment of four thousand men, under the
leadership of Count Mansfeld. This able
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 55
general signalized his arrival in Boliemia
bv the takinof of Pilsen, the stronefest of
the three cities of the kingdom in which
the Catholics had the ascendancy, and the
one most devoted to the emperor. This
new loss seemed to have assured the Bo-
hemians of triumph. Mathias was pre-
paring peace measures at the moment when
death snatched him from the scene, and
left the imperial crown to Ferdinand of
Styria, the irreconcilable enemy of the
Reformation. All hoj)e of settling affairs
was then lost. Count Thurm took up
his march again after his short respite,
and proceeding from victory to victory,
he soon arrived even at Vienna. Ever in-
creased upon its passage, by recruits from
all the Protestant provinces, which Ferdi-
nand had enraged against him by his vio-
lent and unjust fanaticism, the Bohemian
army was ready to dictate to the emperor
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? 56 GusTAvus Adolphus.
himself, in Ms palace even, and to dis-
pose of the empire according to its own
mind.
The Austrian garrison was exhausted.
Several of their barons rushed into the
king's chamber to urge and, if possible,
compel him to deliver his capital up to the
Bohemians ; but he stubbornly refused, and
while they were discussing, the Flemish
army, sent to his support, appeared in the
city, and this put to flight the insurgents
of the city, and they fled for safety to the
Bohemians, who soon broke up camp and
returned to Prague.
In order to more fully deliver them-
selves from the domination of Ferdinand,
the Bohemians elected for king the Elector
Palatine, Frederick V. , who was at the head
of the Evangelical Union. This choice
was hailed with cries of joy, and the crown-
ing took place August 26, 1619, but it
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 57
was a reio^n of short duration. Throuo^h
a few missteps, Frederick gave offense to
the Hussites and Lutherans, and he soon
found himself abandoned by all the Prot-
estant princes, of whose support he was in
so much need. He found himself alone
with his subjects, against the united troops
of Austria and of the Catholic league.
The Bohemians, overwhelmed and dis-
couraged by the number of the enemy,
were defeated in a battle near Prague,
Nov. 8, 1621. The next day the city was
taken, and the unfortunate Frederick, with
the chief leaders, fled. All the other cities
soon surrendered, and the chiefs of the
states gave oath of fidelity to the emperor.
Master of the situation, Ferdinand fei^rned
for three months to have forgotten his ran-
cors against the Bohemians, but as soon as
the chiefs of the revolt, deceived by an ap-
parent amnesty, returned to Prague, he
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? 58 GusTAvus Adolphus.
cast aside Ms mask. In one day, forty-
eight of the principal ones in the rebellion
were arrested and taken before a court-
martial. Twenty-seven of them fell under
the executioner's ax, and a great many of
the citizens were condemned to the same
fate. Confiscation of property and exile
were also the portion of many. All Prot-
estant churches were closed, and at a
solemn sitting of the Council, Ferdinand
II. tore the Letter of Majesty and burned
the pieces. Then, in order more complete-
ly to crown his vengeance, he put the
Elector Frederick under the ban of the
empire and deprived him of his hereditary
estates, which latter he bestowed on Maxi-
milian, as recompense for his services.
In vain did several Protestant princes
who were indignant at this example, which
was a threat to all their crowns, wish to
oppose this despotism. The commander
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? GusTAYus Adolphus. 59
of tlie Bavarian army, General Tilly, con-
quered them, and Ferdinand knew no
other limit to his power than his own will.
He ruled over Protestant Germany with a
scepter of iron, and treated it as a con-
quered country. Tilly swept over the
land, pillaging and ravaging every-where.
This standing army to support, and the
ever-increasing unjust deeds of the Court
of Vienna, urged on the Protestants to
take a last stand. They knew that these
violent acts were but the prelude to their
near extermination. Ferdinand had vowed
that he would defend his religion, at the
peril even of his life, every-where that his
arms and power could go.
Under this state of things, weary of the
yoke which weighed upon them, irritated
by persecution, anxious for the future, the
states of Lower Saxony finally joined in a
treaty to defend themselves against unjust
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? 60 GrusTAvus Adolphus.
aggressions, and to repel force by force.
Too weak to do this alone, they sought,
before engaging in the struggle, allies
outside of Germany, and turned toward
the powers of the North that professed
the same faith. Gustavus Adolphus, still
retained in Poland by the troops of
Sigismond, whom ever-increasing reverses
seemed only to make more obstinate, nev-
ertheless would have accepted the com-
mand of the Protestant league, which none
merited more than he. He offered also a
large army accustomed to war.
But the
king of Denmark, Christian IV. , brother-in-
law of the Elector Palatine, was preferred
to him.
Jealous of the glory of Gustavus Adol-
phus, and happy to have an opportunity
of winning an equal renown. Christian
opened the campaign in March, 1625,
with sixty thousand men. His incapacity,
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 61
shown in several indecisive eogagements,
was fast compromising the cause which he
wished to serve. He lost the battle of
Hutter, and was driven back by Tilly,
even to his own dominions. To complete
his misfortunes, at the moment when he
essayed to repair his defeat by re-enforce-
ments from England and Scotland, Ferdi-
nand opposed him with an adversary more
formidable even than Tilly. Wallen stein
appeared, to second the efforts of the Cath-
olic League, and to take the first rank as
commander.
Wallenstein was celebrated for his riches
and for his military genius. In several
campaigns he had given proofs of his
power and of his devotion to the house
of Austria. He had been rapidly promot-
ed, had justified his promotion by driving
the Hungarians out of Moravia, and had
received for this brilliant success a part
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? 62 GusTAvus Adolphus.
of the spoils of his -anfortunate fellow-
countrymen. He proposed to the emperor
to furnish an army which should be his
own, and free from the League. Ferdinand
agreed to his desires, and W alien stein
" soon had united under his banner, in the
hope of rapid promotion and rich booty, a
multitude of warlike men, gathered from
all parts of Germany. "
This army, fifty thousand strong, after
having conquered and dispersed the troops
of Mansfeld, the most valuable auxiliary
of the King of Denmark, soon brought
under subjection Silesia, Lower Saxony,
,and Holstein. Trembling for his own
kingdom, which the emperor had openly
promised to Wallenstein, Christian has-
tened to take advantage of the check of
the Imperials before Stralsund, in order to
retake Jutland, Schleswig, and Holstein,
and to obtain peace. A treaty was con-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 63
eluded at Liibeck, May 22, 1629. Austria
restored to the King of Denmark his pos-
sessions, but forbade him all intervention in
the affairs of Germany. Christian basely
sacrificed for his own safety, not only his
allies, but the principles in the name of
which he had taken up arms. He allowed
to be insulted, even in his presence, the
Swedish embassadors, who, before the
treaty was finished, interceded in behalf
of the Dukes of Mecklenburg, who had
been set aside to make place for Wallen-
stein, already made Duke of Friedland.
Ferdinand wished to make of entire Ger-
many another Bohemia, and even before
being freed from the Danes he published,
March 6, 1629, the Edict of Restitution,
which enjoined on all Protestants the giv-
ing back of all bishoprics and benefices
which the peace of Augsburg had put into
their hands. This was to decree the ruin
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? 64 GusTAYus Adolphus.
of the Reformation by depriving it of all
means of living. It was, as says Schiller,
to deprive the Lutherans of a fortune which
descended to them from their ancestors as
much as it did to the Catholics from
theirs. It v^^as, in a word, to replace under
the domination of the Romish clergy the
countries which had overthrown it.
The Catholic sovereigns had the right,
besides, to banish those of their Protestant
subjects, who refused compliance with these
demands.
Wallen stein was charged with execut-
ing this edict. "Impatient of all depend-
ence, he levied enormous contributions,
and encouraged horrible depredations of
the soldiery every- where. " The Jesuits tri-
umphed, and provoked persecution by dis-
courses in which was plainly depicted, in
cynical language, the implacable hate which
they had of Protestantism.
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 65
History has preserved the nanie of one
of them, Lorenzo Forer, who said to the
troops that came to Dillingen, with the
commissaries appointed to take the Prot-
estant possessions, in the name of the em-
peror : " Be active, my friends, and if any
resist you, kill them and throw them into
a fire hot enough to melt the stars, and
oblige the angels to draw back their feet. "
A prolonged cry of terror was heard
from all parts of Germany. The Catholics
even, having suffered by Wallenstein and
his soldiers, also gave in complaints to the
emperor. His own brother wrote to him :
"Your Majesty can have no idea of the
conduct of the troops. I, myself, have been
a warrior, and I know well that an army
seldom advances without leaving some
traces of violence in its path. But when,
for mere amusement, windows are broken,
walls thrown down, noses and ears cut off;
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? 66 GusTAvus Adolphus.
when persons are tortured, violated, assas-
sinated, these are certainly irregularities
which superior officers should and can pre-
vent. I know that many efforts are made
to persuade your majesty that these reports
are without foundation, but I hope you will
place as much confidence in me, in regard
to this, as in those others who fill their
purses with the blood and sweat of the
poor people. I could name to you many
officers who, a short time ago, had not
wherewith to clothe themselves, but who,
to-day, have three or four thousand florins.
Discontent is every- where increasing at an
alarming rate, and my conscience permits
me no longer to conceal from you the true
state of affairs. "
Thanks to the Duke Maximilian of Ba-
varia and several Catholic princes, this
able but notorious general was deposed
and his terrible troops disbanded. But
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 67
the violent measures against the Protest-
ants were not suspended. This frightful
oppression lasted a whole year.
"All the princes of Germany," says
Richelieu, in his Memoirs, "injured and
ravaged, looked toward the King of Swe-
den in their misery, as navigators look to-
ward the port of safety. The truce that
Gustavus Adolphus concluded the same
year which sent forth the Edict of Restitu-
tion, permitted him to answer their hopes,
which, for so long a time, had been his
own.
Sweden was the asylum of all the vic-
tims of Austrian fanaticism, and so she was
not astonished to see her king prepare to
combat the emperor. Gustavus called the
senate together at Upsal, and depicted to
them the ever-increasing oppressions which
the Protestants of Germany were under-
going, also the imminent danger which
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? 68 GusTAvus Adolphus.
threatened Sweden if she awaited the op-
pressors at home, instead of forestalling
them by making the first attack.
His friend and chancellor, Oxenstiern,
did not approve of this war; not that it
did not appear to him just, but because,
with the careful prudence of a statesman,
he did not like to engage his king and
country in a ruinous or uncertain enter-
prise. Gustavus laid his hopes and his
plans before him, and ended with these
words: "That which can or cannot be
done, God only knows. He alone can
change desires into projects, carry into
execution what is willed, and give a happy
end to a good beginning. "
The language in which he replied to the
senators who wished to retain him, and
who advised him to repose after so many
combats, was, at once, so fall of elevation
and humility that no one could longer
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? GusTAVus Adolphus. 69
doubt that he was moved by a divine im-
pulsion. Said he, " There is no other repose
to be expected than that of eternity. "
From that time Gustavus Adolphus met
with no more opposition to his designs.
Richelieu, who then had great power in
France, favored them, and sent an embas-
sador to invite him to enter on the cam-
paign as soon as possible, assuring him
that all Germany would receive him as a
Messiah. To these flatterers the Swedish
hero replied with noble frankness, that he
had received from Germany messages very
different from that; that the Elector of
Saxony, although Protestant, was allied to
the emperor, and that Bavaria and the
whole Catholic League would take up
arms against him, and that he counted
more on the people than on the princes,
and upon God and his sword more than
on all besides.
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? 70 GusTAvus Adolphus.
Then, animated by a praiseworthy senti-
ment of independence, he refused the aid
offered him. He wrote to his chancellor,
"I have not found it advisable to unite
with the King of France. "
He did not like to unite the sacred cause
of the Keformation to the cunning politics
of Richelieu, who had no other aim than
that of humbling Austria, whose immense
power excited his fears and wounded his
pride. Above all, he disliked to join with
the cardinal who had taken Eochelle and
conquered the French Protestants.
With his own resources Gustavus Adol-
phus did not fear to enter the struggle
against a sovereign feared by all Europe,
and who thought himself invincible. He
demanded of him the re-establishment of
Germany in all her ancient rights, and
promised him peace on no other condition.
The imperial emissary who received this
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 71
bold message said, "The Kiug of Sweden
would not speak otherwise if he were al-
ready in the heart of Germany with a vic-
torious army. *"
In the meantime, Gustavus Adolphus
made all preparations for the expedition.
Hearing of this, Ferdinand said, with dis-
dain, " We have now one more little enemy
to fight. " And Wallenstein boasted that
he would chase this impudent aggressor
with a few strokes of his whip. He even
proposed to give to any one who would
spare him this trouble, by assassinating
the Swede, thirty thousand thalers.
Without halting for these disdainful
boastings, the King of Sweden assembled
thirty vessels of war and two hundred ves-
sels of transport in the port of Elfsuaben,
with fifteen thousand picked soldiers, com-
manded by intelligent and intrejDid gen-
erals. He did not forget, however, to look
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? 72 GusTAYus Adolphus.
to tlae well-being and safety of his people
during liis absence. He confided the gov-
ernment into the hands of ^ve senators,
and sent Oxenstiern, as skillful as a gen-
eral as he was able as an administrator,
with ten thousand men to oversee all move-
ments in Poland. A reserve corps was
charged with the care of the kingdom, and
with furnishing the necessary recruits.
Finally, in the early part of May, 1630,
the fleet and the army were ready, and
awaited their king. Gustavus, after having
regulated his private affairs, as a good
servant of God who sets his house in order
before death, convoked the States to give
them his last instructions, and to bid
them a solemn farewell. He entered the
hall of assembly accompanied by his little
daughter, aged four years. He took her
in his arms and commended her, in the
most touching manner, to the Assembly
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 73
and Senate, as their future sovereio^n, and
besought them to give her the same affec-
tion which they had ever shown toward
him. The Assembly, moved to tears, unan-
imously pledged fidelity to the only heir
of their beloved king.
After waiting a moment to regain his
composure, the king continued to speak:
^'I have not thoughtlessly engaged in this
perilous war which calls me far from you.
Heaven is my witness that it is neither for
my satisfaction nor personal interest that
I go into this conflict. The emperor has
ruthlessly insulted me in the person of my
embassadors ; he has sustained my enemies
and persecuted my friends, my brethren ;
and he has stretched out his arm to snatch
from me my crown. Ready to sink down
under the weight of oppression which
hangs over them, the German Protestants
stretch out suppliant hands to us. if it
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? 74 GusTAVUs Adolphus.
? GusTAvus Adolphus. 47
bequeathed to him, so that, until his hands
were free from these, he could only remain
a distant and sympathetic witness of the
trials of his suffering brethren, and leave
his projects for assisting them to a future
need.
The peace of Augsburg, forced from
Charles Fifth by the victorious Lutherans,
in granting liberty of conscience seemed to
have ended the struggle between Catholi-
cism and Protestantism. But this peace
was only of short duration. The Jesuits,
spread every-where through the country,
ever faithful to the Roman Church, which
has never tolerated any other religious
faith than its own, and has ever held, as
rebels and enemies of the divine trath, all
those who refused to accept without re-
serve its doctrines and its practices, pushed
to an open rupture, and loudly demanded
a more speedy conversion of the hei'etics,
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? 48 GusTAvus Adolphus.
by means of arms taken np under sanction
of the emperor. But there must be some
pretext for renewing hostilities; Bohemia
was not long in giving one. The country
of John Huss, the forerunner of the Befor-
mation, whose funeral pile lighted up the
deliberations of the Council of Constance,
commenced by separating itself from Bome
in the celebration of the Lord's Supper,
and ended by embracing Protestantism.
The Emperor Budolph 11. was obliged to
authorize there the free exercise of Protest-
ant worship. He recognized also their
right to build new churches, to establish
schools according to need, and to convoke
their ecclesiastical council. All these con-
cessions, demanded by a people ready to
take them with weapons in their hands
should they be refused, were granted, July
2, 1609, in a famous letter called the Let-
ter of Majesty. Mathias, brother and sue-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 49
cesser of Rudolph, not only confirmed, but
increased the religious liberties of Bohemia,
and gave to her for king, his nephew,
Ferdinand de Gratz, the inheritor of the
imperial crown and Archd-uke of Styria.
This king promised, at first, to maintain
the privileges stipulated for in the Letter
of Majesty. But he did not long remain
faithful to his promise. Devoted to the
interests of Catholicism, and a docile sub-
ject of the Eomish court, he was sure
the Pope would sanction his perjury, and
thought, with other Catholic jDrinces, v^hose
example had encouraged him, that there
was no virtue in keeping either faith or
word of honor with a heretic. "It were
preferable," said he, " to rule over a desert
than over a country of heretics. " With
such a man, intolerance and religious per-
secution were inevitable. The Protestant
nobility were excluded from all honors
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? 50 GusTAvus Adolphus.
and deprived even of their employments.
The officers of the crown were chosen from
among the open enemies of the faith of the
majority of the people, and they subjected
them to all manner of vexations. Soon,
Ferdinand, sporting with every right, with
all treaties and promises, opposed all
claims of his subjects sent to his uncle, the
emperor, and managed to bring about the
interdiction of their religious assemblies.
The harsh reply, sent in answer to a
statement of their grievances, excited the
indignation of the Bohemians to its high-
est. Not satisfied with imposing on them
himself, Mathias approved all the violent
measures of which they were the victims,
and was the first to proclaim openly the
abolition of their privileges, and to tyran-
nize over their consciences. The Council
of Kegency, composed of rigid Catholics,
was regarded by the people as the real
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 51
author of the imperial response, and, in all
cases, as the instigator of the unjust orders
issued at Vienna. They immediately has-
tened to the council chamber at Prague
where the councilors were in session. The
deputies of the Protestant provinces, who
marched at the head of the excited crowd,
summoned the president and his colleagues
to an explanation, and to inform them
whether the imperial response had not been
first prepared there, and then sent to Ma-
thias for his signature. Two of these high
officers of the empire replied with calm-
ness and dignity, and the crowd went no
further than to chase them from the palace.
The other two received the representatives
of the nation with insults and threats ; this
changed the indignation of the people into
rage, and they hurled the two councilors
out of the window into the ditch surround-
ing the royal edifice. They then seized
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? 52 GusTAvus Adolphus.
the secretary, who was an accomplice, and
subjected him to the same fate. "The
whole civilized world," says Schiller, " was
astonished at this savage procedure. The
Bohemians excused themselves by saying
that it was an ancient custom of the coun-
try, and declared that they saw nothing
remarkable in this event, save that the
judges, after such a leap, should have risen
up safe and sound. They really owed this
good fortune to the mass of filth upon
which they fell, which, in softening the
shock of their fall, saved their lives. "
This affair, known in history under the
name of Defenestration of Prague, inau-
gurated the Thirty Years' War, May 25,
1618.
After such a step of violence, there re-
mained no other course for the Bohemians
to pursue than to fly to arms to protect
their persons and their religion. There
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 58
were no possible negotiations to be made,
and force of arms alone could give them
again their rights.
With an energy and promptitude worthy
of the gravity of the circumstances and the
importance of their cause, they constituted
a national government, and gave their king,
Ferdinand, to understand that they felt
themselves freed from every engagement
with a prince who, since he came into
power, had not ceased to conspire against
the faith and laws of his subjects.
The Jesuits, who had caused all these
evils, and destroyed, by their intrigues,
the tranquillity of Bohemia, were banished.
The thirty directors, chosen among the
deputies, to administer public affairs, in-
vited all the Protestants of the kingdom
to second the national movement, and
raised an army, the command of which was
given to Count Thurm, the author of the
4
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? 54 GusTAVUs Adolphus.
revolt which had constrained Rudolph to
sign the Letter of Majesty, and the main
defender of civil and religious liberty in
Bohemia.
At the same time they sent a call to
Hungary, to Moravia, to Silesia, and also
to their brethren of the Evangelical Union,
a powerful league formed, by the Prot-
estant princes of Germany, against their
common enemies, the emperor and the
Pope. Mathias, with the funds and the
soldiery of the Church, formed an army
and sent it against the rebels. Two de-
feats, however, soon taught the imperials
how difficult it is to conquer a people who
fight for their religion and independence.
About this time, and in order to follow up
these first successes, the Evangelical Union
sent to the aid of its brethren a re-inforce-
ment of four thousand men, under the
leadership of Count Mansfeld. This able
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 55
general signalized his arrival in Boliemia
bv the takinof of Pilsen, the stronefest of
the three cities of the kingdom in which
the Catholics had the ascendancy, and the
one most devoted to the emperor. This
new loss seemed to have assured the Bo-
hemians of triumph. Mathias was pre-
paring peace measures at the moment when
death snatched him from the scene, and
left the imperial crown to Ferdinand of
Styria, the irreconcilable enemy of the
Reformation. All hoj)e of settling affairs
was then lost. Count Thurm took up
his march again after his short respite,
and proceeding from victory to victory,
he soon arrived even at Vienna. Ever in-
creased upon its passage, by recruits from
all the Protestant provinces, which Ferdi-
nand had enraged against him by his vio-
lent and unjust fanaticism, the Bohemian
army was ready to dictate to the emperor
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? 56 GusTAvus Adolphus.
himself, in Ms palace even, and to dis-
pose of the empire according to its own
mind.
The Austrian garrison was exhausted.
Several of their barons rushed into the
king's chamber to urge and, if possible,
compel him to deliver his capital up to the
Bohemians ; but he stubbornly refused, and
while they were discussing, the Flemish
army, sent to his support, appeared in the
city, and this put to flight the insurgents
of the city, and they fled for safety to the
Bohemians, who soon broke up camp and
returned to Prague.
In order to more fully deliver them-
selves from the domination of Ferdinand,
the Bohemians elected for king the Elector
Palatine, Frederick V. , who was at the head
of the Evangelical Union. This choice
was hailed with cries of joy, and the crown-
ing took place August 26, 1619, but it
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 57
was a reio^n of short duration. Throuo^h
a few missteps, Frederick gave offense to
the Hussites and Lutherans, and he soon
found himself abandoned by all the Prot-
estant princes, of whose support he was in
so much need. He found himself alone
with his subjects, against the united troops
of Austria and of the Catholic league.
The Bohemians, overwhelmed and dis-
couraged by the number of the enemy,
were defeated in a battle near Prague,
Nov. 8, 1621. The next day the city was
taken, and the unfortunate Frederick, with
the chief leaders, fled. All the other cities
soon surrendered, and the chiefs of the
states gave oath of fidelity to the emperor.
Master of the situation, Ferdinand fei^rned
for three months to have forgotten his ran-
cors against the Bohemians, but as soon as
the chiefs of the revolt, deceived by an ap-
parent amnesty, returned to Prague, he
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? 58 GusTAvus Adolphus.
cast aside Ms mask. In one day, forty-
eight of the principal ones in the rebellion
were arrested and taken before a court-
martial. Twenty-seven of them fell under
the executioner's ax, and a great many of
the citizens were condemned to the same
fate. Confiscation of property and exile
were also the portion of many. All Prot-
estant churches were closed, and at a
solemn sitting of the Council, Ferdinand
II. tore the Letter of Majesty and burned
the pieces. Then, in order more complete-
ly to crown his vengeance, he put the
Elector Frederick under the ban of the
empire and deprived him of his hereditary
estates, which latter he bestowed on Maxi-
milian, as recompense for his services.
In vain did several Protestant princes
who were indignant at this example, which
was a threat to all their crowns, wish to
oppose this despotism. The commander
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? GusTAYus Adolphus. 59
of tlie Bavarian army, General Tilly, con-
quered them, and Ferdinand knew no
other limit to his power than his own will.
He ruled over Protestant Germany with a
scepter of iron, and treated it as a con-
quered country. Tilly swept over the
land, pillaging and ravaging every-where.
This standing army to support, and the
ever-increasing unjust deeds of the Court
of Vienna, urged on the Protestants to
take a last stand. They knew that these
violent acts were but the prelude to their
near extermination. Ferdinand had vowed
that he would defend his religion, at the
peril even of his life, every-where that his
arms and power could go.
Under this state of things, weary of the
yoke which weighed upon them, irritated
by persecution, anxious for the future, the
states of Lower Saxony finally joined in a
treaty to defend themselves against unjust
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? 60 GrusTAvus Adolphus.
aggressions, and to repel force by force.
Too weak to do this alone, they sought,
before engaging in the struggle, allies
outside of Germany, and turned toward
the powers of the North that professed
the same faith. Gustavus Adolphus, still
retained in Poland by the troops of
Sigismond, whom ever-increasing reverses
seemed only to make more obstinate, nev-
ertheless would have accepted the com-
mand of the Protestant league, which none
merited more than he. He offered also a
large army accustomed to war.
But the
king of Denmark, Christian IV. , brother-in-
law of the Elector Palatine, was preferred
to him.
Jealous of the glory of Gustavus Adol-
phus, and happy to have an opportunity
of winning an equal renown. Christian
opened the campaign in March, 1625,
with sixty thousand men. His incapacity,
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 61
shown in several indecisive eogagements,
was fast compromising the cause which he
wished to serve. He lost the battle of
Hutter, and was driven back by Tilly,
even to his own dominions. To complete
his misfortunes, at the moment when he
essayed to repair his defeat by re-enforce-
ments from England and Scotland, Ferdi-
nand opposed him with an adversary more
formidable even than Tilly. Wallen stein
appeared, to second the efforts of the Cath-
olic League, and to take the first rank as
commander.
Wallenstein was celebrated for his riches
and for his military genius. In several
campaigns he had given proofs of his
power and of his devotion to the house
of Austria. He had been rapidly promot-
ed, had justified his promotion by driving
the Hungarians out of Moravia, and had
received for this brilliant success a part
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? 62 GusTAvus Adolphus.
of the spoils of his -anfortunate fellow-
countrymen. He proposed to the emperor
to furnish an army which should be his
own, and free from the League. Ferdinand
agreed to his desires, and W alien stein
" soon had united under his banner, in the
hope of rapid promotion and rich booty, a
multitude of warlike men, gathered from
all parts of Germany. "
This army, fifty thousand strong, after
having conquered and dispersed the troops
of Mansfeld, the most valuable auxiliary
of the King of Denmark, soon brought
under subjection Silesia, Lower Saxony,
,and Holstein. Trembling for his own
kingdom, which the emperor had openly
promised to Wallenstein, Christian has-
tened to take advantage of the check of
the Imperials before Stralsund, in order to
retake Jutland, Schleswig, and Holstein,
and to obtain peace. A treaty was con-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 63
eluded at Liibeck, May 22, 1629. Austria
restored to the King of Denmark his pos-
sessions, but forbade him all intervention in
the affairs of Germany. Christian basely
sacrificed for his own safety, not only his
allies, but the principles in the name of
which he had taken up arms. He allowed
to be insulted, even in his presence, the
Swedish embassadors, who, before the
treaty was finished, interceded in behalf
of the Dukes of Mecklenburg, who had
been set aside to make place for Wallen-
stein, already made Duke of Friedland.
Ferdinand wished to make of entire Ger-
many another Bohemia, and even before
being freed from the Danes he published,
March 6, 1629, the Edict of Restitution,
which enjoined on all Protestants the giv-
ing back of all bishoprics and benefices
which the peace of Augsburg had put into
their hands. This was to decree the ruin
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? 64 GusTAYus Adolphus.
of the Reformation by depriving it of all
means of living. It was, as says Schiller,
to deprive the Lutherans of a fortune which
descended to them from their ancestors as
much as it did to the Catholics from
theirs. It v^^as, in a word, to replace under
the domination of the Romish clergy the
countries which had overthrown it.
The Catholic sovereigns had the right,
besides, to banish those of their Protestant
subjects, who refused compliance with these
demands.
Wallen stein was charged with execut-
ing this edict. "Impatient of all depend-
ence, he levied enormous contributions,
and encouraged horrible depredations of
the soldiery every- where. " The Jesuits tri-
umphed, and provoked persecution by dis-
courses in which was plainly depicted, in
cynical language, the implacable hate which
they had of Protestantism.
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 65
History has preserved the nanie of one
of them, Lorenzo Forer, who said to the
troops that came to Dillingen, with the
commissaries appointed to take the Prot-
estant possessions, in the name of the em-
peror : " Be active, my friends, and if any
resist you, kill them and throw them into
a fire hot enough to melt the stars, and
oblige the angels to draw back their feet. "
A prolonged cry of terror was heard
from all parts of Germany. The Catholics
even, having suffered by Wallenstein and
his soldiers, also gave in complaints to the
emperor. His own brother wrote to him :
"Your Majesty can have no idea of the
conduct of the troops. I, myself, have been
a warrior, and I know well that an army
seldom advances without leaving some
traces of violence in its path. But when,
for mere amusement, windows are broken,
walls thrown down, noses and ears cut off;
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? 66 GusTAvus Adolphus.
when persons are tortured, violated, assas-
sinated, these are certainly irregularities
which superior officers should and can pre-
vent. I know that many efforts are made
to persuade your majesty that these reports
are without foundation, but I hope you will
place as much confidence in me, in regard
to this, as in those others who fill their
purses with the blood and sweat of the
poor people. I could name to you many
officers who, a short time ago, had not
wherewith to clothe themselves, but who,
to-day, have three or four thousand florins.
Discontent is every- where increasing at an
alarming rate, and my conscience permits
me no longer to conceal from you the true
state of affairs. "
Thanks to the Duke Maximilian of Ba-
varia and several Catholic princes, this
able but notorious general was deposed
and his terrible troops disbanded. But
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 67
the violent measures against the Protest-
ants were not suspended. This frightful
oppression lasted a whole year.
"All the princes of Germany," says
Richelieu, in his Memoirs, "injured and
ravaged, looked toward the King of Swe-
den in their misery, as navigators look to-
ward the port of safety. The truce that
Gustavus Adolphus concluded the same
year which sent forth the Edict of Restitu-
tion, permitted him to answer their hopes,
which, for so long a time, had been his
own.
Sweden was the asylum of all the vic-
tims of Austrian fanaticism, and so she was
not astonished to see her king prepare to
combat the emperor. Gustavus called the
senate together at Upsal, and depicted to
them the ever-increasing oppressions which
the Protestants of Germany were under-
going, also the imminent danger which
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? 68 GusTAvus Adolphus.
threatened Sweden if she awaited the op-
pressors at home, instead of forestalling
them by making the first attack.
His friend and chancellor, Oxenstiern,
did not approve of this war; not that it
did not appear to him just, but because,
with the careful prudence of a statesman,
he did not like to engage his king and
country in a ruinous or uncertain enter-
prise. Gustavus laid his hopes and his
plans before him, and ended with these
words: "That which can or cannot be
done, God only knows. He alone can
change desires into projects, carry into
execution what is willed, and give a happy
end to a good beginning. "
The language in which he replied to the
senators who wished to retain him, and
who advised him to repose after so many
combats, was, at once, so fall of elevation
and humility that no one could longer
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? GusTAVus Adolphus. 69
doubt that he was moved by a divine im-
pulsion. Said he, " There is no other repose
to be expected than that of eternity. "
From that time Gustavus Adolphus met
with no more opposition to his designs.
Richelieu, who then had great power in
France, favored them, and sent an embas-
sador to invite him to enter on the cam-
paign as soon as possible, assuring him
that all Germany would receive him as a
Messiah. To these flatterers the Swedish
hero replied with noble frankness, that he
had received from Germany messages very
different from that; that the Elector of
Saxony, although Protestant, was allied to
the emperor, and that Bavaria and the
whole Catholic League would take up
arms against him, and that he counted
more on the people than on the princes,
and upon God and his sword more than
on all besides.
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? 70 GusTAvus Adolphus.
Then, animated by a praiseworthy senti-
ment of independence, he refused the aid
offered him. He wrote to his chancellor,
"I have not found it advisable to unite
with the King of France. "
He did not like to unite the sacred cause
of the Keformation to the cunning politics
of Richelieu, who had no other aim than
that of humbling Austria, whose immense
power excited his fears and wounded his
pride. Above all, he disliked to join with
the cardinal who had taken Eochelle and
conquered the French Protestants.
With his own resources Gustavus Adol-
phus did not fear to enter the struggle
against a sovereign feared by all Europe,
and who thought himself invincible. He
demanded of him the re-establishment of
Germany in all her ancient rights, and
promised him peace on no other condition.
The imperial emissary who received this
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 71
bold message said, "The Kiug of Sweden
would not speak otherwise if he were al-
ready in the heart of Germany with a vic-
torious army. *"
In the meantime, Gustavus Adolphus
made all preparations for the expedition.
Hearing of this, Ferdinand said, with dis-
dain, " We have now one more little enemy
to fight. " And Wallenstein boasted that
he would chase this impudent aggressor
with a few strokes of his whip. He even
proposed to give to any one who would
spare him this trouble, by assassinating
the Swede, thirty thousand thalers.
Without halting for these disdainful
boastings, the King of Sweden assembled
thirty vessels of war and two hundred ves-
sels of transport in the port of Elfsuaben,
with fifteen thousand picked soldiers, com-
manded by intelligent and intrejDid gen-
erals. He did not forget, however, to look
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? 72 GusTAYus Adolphus.
to tlae well-being and safety of his people
during liis absence. He confided the gov-
ernment into the hands of ^ve senators,
and sent Oxenstiern, as skillful as a gen-
eral as he was able as an administrator,
with ten thousand men to oversee all move-
ments in Poland. A reserve corps was
charged with the care of the kingdom, and
with furnishing the necessary recruits.
Finally, in the early part of May, 1630,
the fleet and the army were ready, and
awaited their king. Gustavus, after having
regulated his private affairs, as a good
servant of God who sets his house in order
before death, convoked the States to give
them his last instructions, and to bid
them a solemn farewell. He entered the
hall of assembly accompanied by his little
daughter, aged four years. He took her
in his arms and commended her, in the
most touching manner, to the Assembly
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 73
and Senate, as their future sovereio^n, and
besought them to give her the same affec-
tion which they had ever shown toward
him. The Assembly, moved to tears, unan-
imously pledged fidelity to the only heir
of their beloved king.
After waiting a moment to regain his
composure, the king continued to speak:
^'I have not thoughtlessly engaged in this
perilous war which calls me far from you.
Heaven is my witness that it is neither for
my satisfaction nor personal interest that
I go into this conflict. The emperor has
ruthlessly insulted me in the person of my
embassadors ; he has sustained my enemies
and persecuted my friends, my brethren ;
and he has stretched out his arm to snatch
from me my crown. Ready to sink down
under the weight of oppression which
hangs over them, the German Protestants
stretch out suppliant hands to us. if it
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:39 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/loc. ark:/13960/t6m04wr5k Public Domain / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd
? 74 GusTAVUs Adolphus.
