He refused to gratify this feeling
of cruel revenge, and forbade, under pain
of death, any destruction or molestation
of the inhabitants.
of cruel revenge, and forbade, under pain
of death, any destruction or molestation
of the inhabitants.
Abelous - Gustavus Adolphus - Hero of the Reformation
org/access_use#pd
? GusTAvus Adolphus. 133
whose triumphs are known in all the
world.
" With delight he enters here, that one
who directs the battles of the Lord ; this
other David who has brought Goliath
low ; this valiant man whose heart is with-
out fraud, and who seeks only the glory
of God. Where is there an object more
worthy of admiration ! "
On leaving Nuremberg, Gustavus pre-
sented himself and his army before Dona-
werth, noted for the misfortunes which its
ardent zeal for the Reformation had drawn
upon it. A strong Bavarian garrison de-
fended it, but it could not resist the im-
petuosity of the Swedes. The evangelical
worship w^as soon re-established there.
The king now found himself on the
frontiers of Bavaria and was master of the
Danube. The little river Lech was the
only barrier separating him from the States
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? 134 GusTAvus Adolphus.
of Maximilian, from tlie boulevard of Ca-
tholicism in Germany. '
Protected by tliis river, whicli the melt-
ing of the snows, accumulated upon the
mountains of the Tyrol, had converted
into a raging torrent, the Bavarians, under
the leadership of Tilly and of their duke,
seemed to defy all efforts of the enemy.
The bravest and most skillful Swedish
generals regarded this position as invul-
nerable, and any attack as dangerous folly.
Gustavus Horn, illustrious through recent
triumphs, opposed with more energy than
all the others this perilous undertaking.
" How," cried the king, " we have crossed
the Baltic, we have passed all the great
rivers of Germany, and shall we stop now
before a miserable little rivulet like the
Lech? "
Having himself been out to reconnoiter,
and that at the peril of his life, his eagle-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 135
glance marked for him immediately the
spot where he could effect a passage and
engage in conflict. He marked that the
shores of the Lech were not of equal height
on both sides. This would give an advan-
tage to the Swedish artillery, which could
be so placed as to command the Bavarian
camp. With an unheard of audacity and
address he succeeded in throwing a bridge
across the river, and, on A^^ril 5, after a hot
struggle, he put the Bavarians to flight,
and the old Tilly, mortally wounded, had
to take the young and victorious Gustavus
as the minister of divine justice, who was
chosen to punish him for the atrocities
committed at Magdeburg.
When the king saw closely the enemies'
camp and the admirable intrenchments
which defended it, he said, " If I had been
in the place of this Bavarian I should
have rather had my beard shot away
9
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? 136 GusTAvus Adolphus.
by a bullet than liave abandoned snch a
position. "
This victory opened Bavaria to Gus-
tavus Adolphus. He conld enter it with-
out fear; but he desired first to deliver
Augsburg, that city around which hung,
for every Protestant, so many dear remem-
brances. The Edict of Restitution had
deprived the inhabitants of the liberty of
worship, and put a Catholic administration
at their head ; so that Protestant Germany
had the sorrow of seeing the Confession of
Augsburg outraged, even in its cradle.
Gustavus Adolphus drove out the Ba-
varian garrison which occupied the city,
and replaced the Catholic authorities by a
Protestant magistracy, which swore fidelity
to him. Then he and his cortege directed
themselves toward one of the churches
which he had devoted to the reform wor-
ship. Here, his chaplain, Doctor Fabri-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 137
cms, preached from Psa. xii, 5 : " For the
oppression of the poor, for the sighing of
the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord ;
I will set him in safety from him that
puffeth at him. " After the sermon the one
hundred and third Psalm was sung, with
a beautiful accompaniment.
It was not without great emotion that
the citizens of Augsburg chanted this
psalm, which expressed so well the senti-
ments of gratitude with which their hearts
were filled, and which depicted, so to
speak, their own deliverance. Several
days were passed in feasts and public
rejoicing.
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? CHAPTER VI.
Last Campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus.
Siege of Ingolstadt -- Conquest of Bavaria -- Expedition of Wal-
lenstein against Nuremberg.
MAXIMILIAN, after his defeat, fled
behind the walls of Ingolstadt. Gus-
tavus Adolphus, tearing himself away from
the pleasures of Augsburg, resolved to
take that fortress, in order to have a good
point for finishing the destruction of the
Bavarian army. But the bravery of the
garrison, aided by the troops of Maximil-
ian and the strength of the ramparts, frus-
trated his attempts.
The king came near losing his life there-
by. He was examining the works of the
enemy when a twenty-four pounder swept
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 139
his horse from under him, entangling him
somewhat in its fall. Those who sur-
rounded him uttered a cry of fright and
flew to his side, fearing to find a corpse.
Gustavus arose, at the same moment, cov-
ered with blood and dust, and said, "The
apple is not yet rijper His horse was
dead, and his young friend, the Margrave
of Baden, who was near him, had his head
shot off a few moments after. On his re-
turn to camp, the king was congratulated
by his officers on account of his own safety,
wdiile they regretted the premature death
of the young margrave. The king replied,
"The death of the margrave and the bullet
which passed so near me recall to my mind
this ancient decree : ' Man, thou shalt die ! '
Neither my high birth, nor my royal
crown, nor my w^eapons, nor my many
victories, can save me from it. I submit
to the will of God; if he takes me from
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? 140 GusTAvus Adolphus.
the world, lie will not abandon the sacred
cause which I defend. "
The king, like all true disciples of Christ,
often thought of the end of life, and pre-
pared himself earnestly to be ready to
meet his Judge. He knew that only a
breath separates time from eternity, and
that death is but the beginning of a new
life. The prestiges of pomp and grandeur
had not so dazzled him as to make him
forget his frailty, and the account that he
would have to settle beyond the tomb.
The cloud of glory that hung over him
had not hidden heaven out of his sight.
This is proved by that deep humility, that
constant recognition of his sins, that con-
tinual recourse to the grace of God, which
we have so often remarked in his words
and conduct. The farther he advanced in
life the more he occupied himself with the
salvation of his soul, and the more he pre-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 141
pared himself not to be surj)rised at the
coming of his Master. We may almost
think that a presentiment of the future
abided ever with him.
After leaving Ingolstadt, Gnstavus Adol-
phus took the Bavarian road and marched
straight for Munich. France had sent an
embassador to stop him. "Truly," said
Louis XIII. , "it is time to put a limit to
the enterprises of this Goth. " But to all
argumentation in favor of Maximilian and
of his pretended neutrality, the King of
Sweden replied, "I knov^ too well the
Elector of Bavaria; he wears a double
cloak, and, according to circumstances, he
turns out the red or the blue. . . . This
time I will not be entrapped. " The em-
bassador, then passing from soliciting to
threats, talked loudly of the powerful mili-
tary forces of France, which could, he said,
abandon Sweden to herself, and furnish
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? 142 GusTAYus Adolphus.
Bavaria witli forty thousand men. "If
France withdraws from me her alliance," im-
mediately said Gustavus Adolphus, "then
I shall have that of the Turks, and the
Turks are not worse allies than the papists.
In any event, I know that I can count
upon the aid of the All Powerful, and that
it is He who has sent me into Germany. "
In spite, then, of Louis XIII. the Goth
advanced upon the Bavarian territory, with-
out meeting a single soldier to dispute his
passage. But fanaticism had been so ex-
cited by the clergy, that every Bavarian
considered it as a sacred duty to preserve
his country from the impure contact of the
heretics. For them, the King of Sweden
was Antichrist, and in their prayers they
besought God to preserve them from the
Swedish demon. To slay a Swede was
thought a meritorious act, no matter how
accomplished. Bands of the peasantry
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 143
were formed, and woe to the soldier who
fell into their hands. Romish fanaticism
has ever known how to invent new and
varied tortures. In Bavaria, as in Spain,
it had the genius of cruelty.
Gustavus Adolphus, at the sight of these
horrors, felt his blood boil with indigna-
tion, and thoughts of vengeance presented
themselves before him. But he soon con-
quered these feelings, and instead of mal-
treating these madmen who were making
martyrs of his soldiers, and taking him for
an agent of Satan, he proved to them, by
his goodness and patience, that he was
more Christian and less heretic than they.
He watched more closely than ever to
maintain perfect army discipline, and met
the most bitter hatred by the most inex-
haustible clemency.
At Landshut, as soon as the Swedish
army appeared under the walls, the garri-
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? 144 GusTAvus Adolphus.
son fled and the inhabitants concealed
themselves, in order to escape a treatment
which they looked upon as just and inevi-
table. Ke-assnred by the peaceful attitude
of their victors, struck with the mildness
and order which reigned in their ranks,
they came forth, and the chiefs of the
authorities fell at the king's feet, and en-
treated him for their lives and for the lives
of the inhabitants. Gustavns replied to
them, '' When 1 think of the cruelties that
you have perpetrated on my soldiers, I
may truly ask myself whether you are men
or ferocious beasts, and I scarcely know
how to have compassion on you. " He
wished to make no promises, and departed
from the city, which kept a death-like si-
lence, without having made any decision.
The sky was covered with clouds, and
while setting out, the king was dazzled
by a vivid flash of lightning, followed by
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 145
a fearful clap of thunder. This incident
called to the mind of the king the living
God, who does not pardon those who will
not pardon, and Landshut was only con-
demned to pay a contribution to help carry
on the war.
From Landshut, Gustavus Adolphus
went toward Munich, which city he en-
tered May 7, 1632, with his usual cortege
of princes and Swedish generals. Fred-
erick, the unhappy King of Bohemia, was
by his side and saw his most cruel enemy
meet with an adversity similar to what had
befallen himself when, ten years before,
Maximilian invaded Bohemia, and drove
him from his capital. Now he, in his turn,
was exiled from his estates, and Frederick
sat down triumphant in his palace. What
a striking example of the instability and
changeability of human affairs ! At dinner,
Gustavus remarked to Frederick, "After
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? 146 GusTAvus Adolphus.
such unexpected revolutions, you may yet
hope to dine, in peace and repose, one day,
in your own capitoI"
Many sought to induce the king to
avenge upon this city the sacking of Mag-
deburg.
He refused to gratify this feeling
of cruel revenge, and forbade, under pain
of death, any destruction or molestation
of the inhabitants. This conduct concili-
ated the minds of all. No one could help
rendering homage to so generous an adver-
sary. Even the Jesuits praised his nobil-
ity of soul. Toward the latter, Gustavus
manifested an extreme clemency. He not
only did not expel them, but he visited
them in their convent. The Superior ad-
dressed him with a speech in Latin, exalting
his eminent qualities. The king replied
in the same language, and engaged in a
discussion on the subject of the sacrament.
He vigorously sustained the evangelical
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? GusTAVus Adolphus. 147
doctrines upon this important point, with-
out once departing from language of the
most perfect courtesy, or failing to show a
sincere respect for the opinions of his an-
tagonists. His old generals complained
of so much complaisance, and said, "The
king would do better to put to flight these
Jesuits, than to discuss with them thus. "
Gustavus divined their thoughts, and
on leaving the convent he pleasantly re-
marked,
" Why would you persecute these men ?
Do you not see how much they injure the
cause which they defend, and how much
they help on the one which they oppose ? "
Wise words, and full of meaning, which
contain a lesson by which we, in our times,
as well as the King of Sweden in his,
might profit.
Gustavus Adolphus did not remain long
in Munich, whose magnificence he much
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? 148 GusTAYus Adolphus.
admired, and whicli, on account of its arid
surroundings, he called a golden saddle on
a poor liorse.
Wallenstein, at the head of a large army,
was coming to meet him. Already, Gus-
tavus possessed in Germany, Franconia, the
Electorate of Mayence, a part of Swabia,
and Bavaria; and his ally, the Elector of
Saxony, had just taken Bohemia from the
emperor. The different generals held well
their conquests. The Catholic League was
dissolved, and Austria lay open on all
sides. Ferdinand was trembling at Vienna.
He had no more troops, nor even a general.
The enemy was approaching. He now
humbled himself before the haughty Duke
of Friedland, and in a few months forty
thousand men were ready to defend him,
under the command of the greatest general
of the empire. Wallenstein began the
campaign by expelling the Saxons from
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 149
Boliemia. By the end of May there was
not a single Saxon soldier left in the coun-
try. Maximilian then conjured the victor
to save his States, and, like Ferdinand,
humbly besought succor from, and put
himself at the mercy of, the man whom he
had previously disgraced. The Duke of
Friedland, after this event, said to his
officers, "Finally, I have constrained my
mortal enemy to implore my pardon and
my support. I am avenged for all the evil
he has caused me. "
The two armies united amounted to
sixty thousand men, and the Swedes were
only twenty thousand, when it was ru-
mored that Wallenstein proposed to attack
Nuremberg. If Gustavus had only list-
ened to the cold counsels of selfishness, in-
stead of gathering up his troops dispersed
about Germany, he w^ould have avoided
meeting the enemy, and abandoned Nu-
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? 150 GusTAvus Adolphus.
remberg to its own resources. But the
terrible fate of Magdeburg was not effaced
from his memory, and he decided to perish
with his little army, rather than expose a
city from which he had received such ar-
dent affection and devotion, to the fury of
the savage imperials. He did not hesitate,
but hastened to make all possible prepara-
tion against danger. On arriving, he made
haste to surround the city with a fortified
camp, which formed a second rampart, and
gave a place for lodging the soldiers with-
out inconveniencing the inhabitants. Aid-
ed by the anxious zeal of the citizens and
neighboring peasantry, the soldiers soon
made ready their immense works. The
magistrates made all efforts to collect an
abundance of provisions, and to organize a
numerous guard of citizens, which should
maintain order or contribute to a defense.
"Nuremberg," said Gustavus, "is the
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 151
apple of my eye, and I will defend it with
all my power. " There was a most com-
plete union between soldiers and inhabit-
ants. The people sang, "Nuremberg, thou
ornament of the empire, the enemy has
sworn thy destruction. But God has looked
upon thee with a compassionate eye, and
has sent thee, from Sweden, a father. There
he is, yonder under the vault of heaven,
which, with his troop of heroes, watches
over thee. Let nothing be found wanting
by them. Thy safety depends upon them.
Magdeburg now wishes that she had done
yet more for her defense; but prudence
often comes too late, and after the whole
evil is accomplished. "
It was with such feelings of confidence
and mutual sympathy that they prepared
to receive the enemy. And they waited not
long. But instead of attacking the city,
Wallenstein established his camp opposite
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? 152 GusTAvus Adolphus.
to it, at less than a league's distance from
that of the Swedes, and in an impregnable
position. "Up to the present we have
had enough battles," said he; "I wish to
teacli the King of Sweden another mode
of warfare. "
He hoped to conquer the Swedes by
starving them. He was ignorant of the
resources that the city had furnished for
its defenders, and had not foreseen that he
and his army might be the first to suffer
from the scourge which he wished to draw
upon the enemy. The inhabitants of the
country around had fled, and borne all
away with them. The Duke of Friedland,
not findiug any thing for the feeding of his
army, was obliged to send to his ally, the
Elector of Bavaria, for provisions. In
order to supply their daily wants, the im-
perials disputed with the Swedes the little
provisions that yet remained in the coun-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 153
try. Hence there followed frequent skir-
mishes, in which there was but little profit,
and a loss of time and men. The two
armies were thus exhausting themselves in
these fruitless struggles. Want began to
be felt on both sides, and contagion fol-
lowed in its train. So, only a few days
after the arrival of a re-inforcement of
forty thousand men, sent by Oxenstiern,
August 24, Gustavus Adolphus resolved
to attack the imperials in their camp, since
they refused battle. He hoped thus to
escape that slow agony which had been
diminishing the strength of his valiant
army for three months.
But the heights occupied by Wallen-
stein hurled out death by the mouths of
several hundred cannon, while . the assail-
ants made the most desperate efforts to
pass over that barrier of bullets and fire.
Exposed on all sides to the fire of an
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? 154 GusTAVus Adolphus.
enemy admirably sheltered beliind its in-
trenchments, the Swedes gained no inch
of space except to lose it a moment after.
The combat was terrible. Wallenstein had
his horse killed from under him, and a
cannon-ball grazed the sole of the boot
of the king. The battle raged with fury
until night. Gust ay us had two thousand
men less, and Wallenstein yet held his
position. The Swedish troops withdrew
in good order, the enemy not daring to fol-
low them.
The war of famine began afresh ; and
the laws of discipline were broken, even in
the Swedish camp. The German troops
first set the example, and the rest of the
army found the aggravation of their suffer-
ings sufficient reason for imitating them.
On hearing, through the complaints of the
maltreated peasantry, that his soldiers were
tarnishing their ancient reputation, and
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 155
causing the name Swede, which had ever
before been so much loved, to be now
hated, Gustavus was grievously afflicted,
and his displeasure fell upon the first au-
thors of these disorders. He called too;ether
the German princes and their officers. He
then talked to them with an extraordinary
measure of severity :
" Complaints are coming to me from all
sides," said he. " concernino^ the conduct of
our troops. The peo|)le say that their
friend, the King of Sweden, is doing them
more evil than their implacable enemy,
Wallenstein. The Swedes, say they, make
war like the Croatians. These reproaches
afflict my heart above all, knowing the
fact that they are only too well founded.
However, I am innocent of these disorders
-- I have ever forbidden them and severely
punished them. It is you, you miserable
Germans, who ravage your own country,
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? 156 GusTAvus Adolphus.
rob your fellow-citizens, and urge on to
despair your brethren in the faith, whom
you have sworn to protect ! Your pres-
ence recalls to me all vour infamies, and
my heart is stirred with indignation. You
horrify me ! If you were true Christians
at all, you would strive to do your duty
to your country and your brethren, and
you would recall to mind what I have
done for you. It is for you that I risk my
life and sacrifice my ease. It is for you
that I have depopulated my kingdom and
emptied my coffers. I have spent for you
immense sums of gold, and I have not re-
ceived of you, nor of all Germany, enough
to purchase a doublet. x\ll that God has
given me, I have given you without re-
serve, nor do I demand any thing of you
in return ; for I would rather return home
poor and naked than to enrich myself at
your expense.
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 157
" If you murmur, if you forget God and
honor enough to abandon me, I will sur-
round m3^self with my Swedes and my
Fins; we will defend ourselves to the last,
and the whole world shall see that, as a
Christian king, I would rather lose life
than sully by crime the sacred work
which God has intrusted to me. I pray
you, in the name of divine mercy, to look
within yourselves, to question your own
consciences. Kemember that you must ren-
der an account to God for your conduct,
and that you must one day appear before
the tribunal of that Judge who sees all
things. "
The situation of his army was no longer
tolerable. For a long time, the two armies
had been in presence of each other, and
Wallenstein remained ever within his in-
trenchments. The losses on both sides
were immense. The heat of dog-days in-
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? 158 GusTAvus Adolphus.
creased the general distress. The corpses
in both camps sent forth an infectious
odor, and provisions became every day
more rare. Deprived of food, and breath-
ing a pestilential air, the soldiers seemed
all condemned to perish, conquered by
disease and famine.
Gustavus could not impose so inglorious
and cruel death upon so many brave men.
On September 8, 1632, he left the territory
of Nuremberg, leaving a garrison in the
city sufficient to protect it from a surprise.
? GusTAvus Adolphus. 133
whose triumphs are known in all the
world.
" With delight he enters here, that one
who directs the battles of the Lord ; this
other David who has brought Goliath
low ; this valiant man whose heart is with-
out fraud, and who seeks only the glory
of God. Where is there an object more
worthy of admiration ! "
On leaving Nuremberg, Gustavus pre-
sented himself and his army before Dona-
werth, noted for the misfortunes which its
ardent zeal for the Reformation had drawn
upon it. A strong Bavarian garrison de-
fended it, but it could not resist the im-
petuosity of the Swedes. The evangelical
worship w^as soon re-established there.
The king now found himself on the
frontiers of Bavaria and was master of the
Danube. The little river Lech was the
only barrier separating him from the States
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? 134 GusTAvus Adolphus.
of Maximilian, from tlie boulevard of Ca-
tholicism in Germany. '
Protected by tliis river, whicli the melt-
ing of the snows, accumulated upon the
mountains of the Tyrol, had converted
into a raging torrent, the Bavarians, under
the leadership of Tilly and of their duke,
seemed to defy all efforts of the enemy.
The bravest and most skillful Swedish
generals regarded this position as invul-
nerable, and any attack as dangerous folly.
Gustavus Horn, illustrious through recent
triumphs, opposed with more energy than
all the others this perilous undertaking.
" How," cried the king, " we have crossed
the Baltic, we have passed all the great
rivers of Germany, and shall we stop now
before a miserable little rivulet like the
Lech? "
Having himself been out to reconnoiter,
and that at the peril of his life, his eagle-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 135
glance marked for him immediately the
spot where he could effect a passage and
engage in conflict. He marked that the
shores of the Lech were not of equal height
on both sides. This would give an advan-
tage to the Swedish artillery, which could
be so placed as to command the Bavarian
camp. With an unheard of audacity and
address he succeeded in throwing a bridge
across the river, and, on A^^ril 5, after a hot
struggle, he put the Bavarians to flight,
and the old Tilly, mortally wounded, had
to take the young and victorious Gustavus
as the minister of divine justice, who was
chosen to punish him for the atrocities
committed at Magdeburg.
When the king saw closely the enemies'
camp and the admirable intrenchments
which defended it, he said, " If I had been
in the place of this Bavarian I should
have rather had my beard shot away
9
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? 136 GusTAvus Adolphus.
by a bullet than liave abandoned snch a
position. "
This victory opened Bavaria to Gus-
tavus Adolphus. He conld enter it with-
out fear; but he desired first to deliver
Augsburg, that city around which hung,
for every Protestant, so many dear remem-
brances. The Edict of Restitution had
deprived the inhabitants of the liberty of
worship, and put a Catholic administration
at their head ; so that Protestant Germany
had the sorrow of seeing the Confession of
Augsburg outraged, even in its cradle.
Gustavus Adolphus drove out the Ba-
varian garrison which occupied the city,
and replaced the Catholic authorities by a
Protestant magistracy, which swore fidelity
to him. Then he and his cortege directed
themselves toward one of the churches
which he had devoted to the reform wor-
ship. Here, his chaplain, Doctor Fabri-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 137
cms, preached from Psa. xii, 5 : " For the
oppression of the poor, for the sighing of
the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord ;
I will set him in safety from him that
puffeth at him. " After the sermon the one
hundred and third Psalm was sung, with
a beautiful accompaniment.
It was not without great emotion that
the citizens of Augsburg chanted this
psalm, which expressed so well the senti-
ments of gratitude with which their hearts
were filled, and which depicted, so to
speak, their own deliverance. Several
days were passed in feasts and public
rejoicing.
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? CHAPTER VI.
Last Campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus.
Siege of Ingolstadt -- Conquest of Bavaria -- Expedition of Wal-
lenstein against Nuremberg.
MAXIMILIAN, after his defeat, fled
behind the walls of Ingolstadt. Gus-
tavus Adolphus, tearing himself away from
the pleasures of Augsburg, resolved to
take that fortress, in order to have a good
point for finishing the destruction of the
Bavarian army. But the bravery of the
garrison, aided by the troops of Maximil-
ian and the strength of the ramparts, frus-
trated his attempts.
The king came near losing his life there-
by. He was examining the works of the
enemy when a twenty-four pounder swept
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 139
his horse from under him, entangling him
somewhat in its fall. Those who sur-
rounded him uttered a cry of fright and
flew to his side, fearing to find a corpse.
Gustavus arose, at the same moment, cov-
ered with blood and dust, and said, "The
apple is not yet rijper His horse was
dead, and his young friend, the Margrave
of Baden, who was near him, had his head
shot off a few moments after. On his re-
turn to camp, the king was congratulated
by his officers on account of his own safety,
wdiile they regretted the premature death
of the young margrave. The king replied,
"The death of the margrave and the bullet
which passed so near me recall to my mind
this ancient decree : ' Man, thou shalt die ! '
Neither my high birth, nor my royal
crown, nor my w^eapons, nor my many
victories, can save me from it. I submit
to the will of God; if he takes me from
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? 140 GusTAvus Adolphus.
the world, lie will not abandon the sacred
cause which I defend. "
The king, like all true disciples of Christ,
often thought of the end of life, and pre-
pared himself earnestly to be ready to
meet his Judge. He knew that only a
breath separates time from eternity, and
that death is but the beginning of a new
life. The prestiges of pomp and grandeur
had not so dazzled him as to make him
forget his frailty, and the account that he
would have to settle beyond the tomb.
The cloud of glory that hung over him
had not hidden heaven out of his sight.
This is proved by that deep humility, that
constant recognition of his sins, that con-
tinual recourse to the grace of God, which
we have so often remarked in his words
and conduct. The farther he advanced in
life the more he occupied himself with the
salvation of his soul, and the more he pre-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 141
pared himself not to be surj)rised at the
coming of his Master. We may almost
think that a presentiment of the future
abided ever with him.
After leaving Ingolstadt, Gnstavus Adol-
phus took the Bavarian road and marched
straight for Munich. France had sent an
embassador to stop him. "Truly," said
Louis XIII. , "it is time to put a limit to
the enterprises of this Goth. " But to all
argumentation in favor of Maximilian and
of his pretended neutrality, the King of
Sweden replied, "I knov^ too well the
Elector of Bavaria; he wears a double
cloak, and, according to circumstances, he
turns out the red or the blue. . . . This
time I will not be entrapped. " The em-
bassador, then passing from soliciting to
threats, talked loudly of the powerful mili-
tary forces of France, which could, he said,
abandon Sweden to herself, and furnish
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? 142 GusTAYus Adolphus.
Bavaria witli forty thousand men. "If
France withdraws from me her alliance," im-
mediately said Gustavus Adolphus, "then
I shall have that of the Turks, and the
Turks are not worse allies than the papists.
In any event, I know that I can count
upon the aid of the All Powerful, and that
it is He who has sent me into Germany. "
In spite, then, of Louis XIII. the Goth
advanced upon the Bavarian territory, with-
out meeting a single soldier to dispute his
passage. But fanaticism had been so ex-
cited by the clergy, that every Bavarian
considered it as a sacred duty to preserve
his country from the impure contact of the
heretics. For them, the King of Sweden
was Antichrist, and in their prayers they
besought God to preserve them from the
Swedish demon. To slay a Swede was
thought a meritorious act, no matter how
accomplished. Bands of the peasantry
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 143
were formed, and woe to the soldier who
fell into their hands. Romish fanaticism
has ever known how to invent new and
varied tortures. In Bavaria, as in Spain,
it had the genius of cruelty.
Gustavus Adolphus, at the sight of these
horrors, felt his blood boil with indigna-
tion, and thoughts of vengeance presented
themselves before him. But he soon con-
quered these feelings, and instead of mal-
treating these madmen who were making
martyrs of his soldiers, and taking him for
an agent of Satan, he proved to them, by
his goodness and patience, that he was
more Christian and less heretic than they.
He watched more closely than ever to
maintain perfect army discipline, and met
the most bitter hatred by the most inex-
haustible clemency.
At Landshut, as soon as the Swedish
army appeared under the walls, the garri-
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? 144 GusTAvus Adolphus.
son fled and the inhabitants concealed
themselves, in order to escape a treatment
which they looked upon as just and inevi-
table. Ke-assnred by the peaceful attitude
of their victors, struck with the mildness
and order which reigned in their ranks,
they came forth, and the chiefs of the
authorities fell at the king's feet, and en-
treated him for their lives and for the lives
of the inhabitants. Gustavns replied to
them, '' When 1 think of the cruelties that
you have perpetrated on my soldiers, I
may truly ask myself whether you are men
or ferocious beasts, and I scarcely know
how to have compassion on you. " He
wished to make no promises, and departed
from the city, which kept a death-like si-
lence, without having made any decision.
The sky was covered with clouds, and
while setting out, the king was dazzled
by a vivid flash of lightning, followed by
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 145
a fearful clap of thunder. This incident
called to the mind of the king the living
God, who does not pardon those who will
not pardon, and Landshut was only con-
demned to pay a contribution to help carry
on the war.
From Landshut, Gustavus Adolphus
went toward Munich, which city he en-
tered May 7, 1632, with his usual cortege
of princes and Swedish generals. Fred-
erick, the unhappy King of Bohemia, was
by his side and saw his most cruel enemy
meet with an adversity similar to what had
befallen himself when, ten years before,
Maximilian invaded Bohemia, and drove
him from his capital. Now he, in his turn,
was exiled from his estates, and Frederick
sat down triumphant in his palace. What
a striking example of the instability and
changeability of human affairs ! At dinner,
Gustavus remarked to Frederick, "After
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? 146 GusTAvus Adolphus.
such unexpected revolutions, you may yet
hope to dine, in peace and repose, one day,
in your own capitoI"
Many sought to induce the king to
avenge upon this city the sacking of Mag-
deburg.
He refused to gratify this feeling
of cruel revenge, and forbade, under pain
of death, any destruction or molestation
of the inhabitants. This conduct concili-
ated the minds of all. No one could help
rendering homage to so generous an adver-
sary. Even the Jesuits praised his nobil-
ity of soul. Toward the latter, Gustavus
manifested an extreme clemency. He not
only did not expel them, but he visited
them in their convent. The Superior ad-
dressed him with a speech in Latin, exalting
his eminent qualities. The king replied
in the same language, and engaged in a
discussion on the subject of the sacrament.
He vigorously sustained the evangelical
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? GusTAVus Adolphus. 147
doctrines upon this important point, with-
out once departing from language of the
most perfect courtesy, or failing to show a
sincere respect for the opinions of his an-
tagonists. His old generals complained
of so much complaisance, and said, "The
king would do better to put to flight these
Jesuits, than to discuss with them thus. "
Gustavus divined their thoughts, and
on leaving the convent he pleasantly re-
marked,
" Why would you persecute these men ?
Do you not see how much they injure the
cause which they defend, and how much
they help on the one which they oppose ? "
Wise words, and full of meaning, which
contain a lesson by which we, in our times,
as well as the King of Sweden in his,
might profit.
Gustavus Adolphus did not remain long
in Munich, whose magnificence he much
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? 148 GusTAYus Adolphus.
admired, and whicli, on account of its arid
surroundings, he called a golden saddle on
a poor liorse.
Wallenstein, at the head of a large army,
was coming to meet him. Already, Gus-
tavus possessed in Germany, Franconia, the
Electorate of Mayence, a part of Swabia,
and Bavaria; and his ally, the Elector of
Saxony, had just taken Bohemia from the
emperor. The different generals held well
their conquests. The Catholic League was
dissolved, and Austria lay open on all
sides. Ferdinand was trembling at Vienna.
He had no more troops, nor even a general.
The enemy was approaching. He now
humbled himself before the haughty Duke
of Friedland, and in a few months forty
thousand men were ready to defend him,
under the command of the greatest general
of the empire. Wallenstein began the
campaign by expelling the Saxons from
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 149
Boliemia. By the end of May there was
not a single Saxon soldier left in the coun-
try. Maximilian then conjured the victor
to save his States, and, like Ferdinand,
humbly besought succor from, and put
himself at the mercy of, the man whom he
had previously disgraced. The Duke of
Friedland, after this event, said to his
officers, "Finally, I have constrained my
mortal enemy to implore my pardon and
my support. I am avenged for all the evil
he has caused me. "
The two armies united amounted to
sixty thousand men, and the Swedes were
only twenty thousand, when it was ru-
mored that Wallenstein proposed to attack
Nuremberg. If Gustavus had only list-
ened to the cold counsels of selfishness, in-
stead of gathering up his troops dispersed
about Germany, he w^ould have avoided
meeting the enemy, and abandoned Nu-
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? 150 GusTAvus Adolphus.
remberg to its own resources. But the
terrible fate of Magdeburg was not effaced
from his memory, and he decided to perish
with his little army, rather than expose a
city from which he had received such ar-
dent affection and devotion, to the fury of
the savage imperials. He did not hesitate,
but hastened to make all possible prepara-
tion against danger. On arriving, he made
haste to surround the city with a fortified
camp, which formed a second rampart, and
gave a place for lodging the soldiers with-
out inconveniencing the inhabitants. Aid-
ed by the anxious zeal of the citizens and
neighboring peasantry, the soldiers soon
made ready their immense works. The
magistrates made all efforts to collect an
abundance of provisions, and to organize a
numerous guard of citizens, which should
maintain order or contribute to a defense.
"Nuremberg," said Gustavus, "is the
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 151
apple of my eye, and I will defend it with
all my power. " There was a most com-
plete union between soldiers and inhabit-
ants. The people sang, "Nuremberg, thou
ornament of the empire, the enemy has
sworn thy destruction. But God has looked
upon thee with a compassionate eye, and
has sent thee, from Sweden, a father. There
he is, yonder under the vault of heaven,
which, with his troop of heroes, watches
over thee. Let nothing be found wanting
by them. Thy safety depends upon them.
Magdeburg now wishes that she had done
yet more for her defense; but prudence
often comes too late, and after the whole
evil is accomplished. "
It was with such feelings of confidence
and mutual sympathy that they prepared
to receive the enemy. And they waited not
long. But instead of attacking the city,
Wallenstein established his camp opposite
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? 152 GusTAvus Adolphus.
to it, at less than a league's distance from
that of the Swedes, and in an impregnable
position. "Up to the present we have
had enough battles," said he; "I wish to
teacli the King of Sweden another mode
of warfare. "
He hoped to conquer the Swedes by
starving them. He was ignorant of the
resources that the city had furnished for
its defenders, and had not foreseen that he
and his army might be the first to suffer
from the scourge which he wished to draw
upon the enemy. The inhabitants of the
country around had fled, and borne all
away with them. The Duke of Friedland,
not findiug any thing for the feeding of his
army, was obliged to send to his ally, the
Elector of Bavaria, for provisions. In
order to supply their daily wants, the im-
perials disputed with the Swedes the little
provisions that yet remained in the coun-
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 153
try. Hence there followed frequent skir-
mishes, in which there was but little profit,
and a loss of time and men. The two
armies were thus exhausting themselves in
these fruitless struggles. Want began to
be felt on both sides, and contagion fol-
lowed in its train. So, only a few days
after the arrival of a re-inforcement of
forty thousand men, sent by Oxenstiern,
August 24, Gustavus Adolphus resolved
to attack the imperials in their camp, since
they refused battle. He hoped thus to
escape that slow agony which had been
diminishing the strength of his valiant
army for three months.
But the heights occupied by Wallen-
stein hurled out death by the mouths of
several hundred cannon, while . the assail-
ants made the most desperate efforts to
pass over that barrier of bullets and fire.
Exposed on all sides to the fire of an
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? 154 GusTAVus Adolphus.
enemy admirably sheltered beliind its in-
trenchments, the Swedes gained no inch
of space except to lose it a moment after.
The combat was terrible. Wallenstein had
his horse killed from under him, and a
cannon-ball grazed the sole of the boot
of the king. The battle raged with fury
until night. Gust ay us had two thousand
men less, and Wallenstein yet held his
position. The Swedish troops withdrew
in good order, the enemy not daring to fol-
low them.
The war of famine began afresh ; and
the laws of discipline were broken, even in
the Swedish camp. The German troops
first set the example, and the rest of the
army found the aggravation of their suffer-
ings sufficient reason for imitating them.
On hearing, through the complaints of the
maltreated peasantry, that his soldiers were
tarnishing their ancient reputation, and
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 155
causing the name Swede, which had ever
before been so much loved, to be now
hated, Gustavus was grievously afflicted,
and his displeasure fell upon the first au-
thors of these disorders. He called too;ether
the German princes and their officers. He
then talked to them with an extraordinary
measure of severity :
" Complaints are coming to me from all
sides," said he. " concernino^ the conduct of
our troops. The peo|)le say that their
friend, the King of Sweden, is doing them
more evil than their implacable enemy,
Wallenstein. The Swedes, say they, make
war like the Croatians. These reproaches
afflict my heart above all, knowing the
fact that they are only too well founded.
However, I am innocent of these disorders
-- I have ever forbidden them and severely
punished them. It is you, you miserable
Germans, who ravage your own country,
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? 156 GusTAvus Adolphus.
rob your fellow-citizens, and urge on to
despair your brethren in the faith, whom
you have sworn to protect ! Your pres-
ence recalls to me all vour infamies, and
my heart is stirred with indignation. You
horrify me ! If you were true Christians
at all, you would strive to do your duty
to your country and your brethren, and
you would recall to mind what I have
done for you. It is for you that I risk my
life and sacrifice my ease. It is for you
that I have depopulated my kingdom and
emptied my coffers. I have spent for you
immense sums of gold, and I have not re-
ceived of you, nor of all Germany, enough
to purchase a doublet. x\ll that God has
given me, I have given you without re-
serve, nor do I demand any thing of you
in return ; for I would rather return home
poor and naked than to enrich myself at
your expense.
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? GusTAvus Adolphus. 157
" If you murmur, if you forget God and
honor enough to abandon me, I will sur-
round m3^self with my Swedes and my
Fins; we will defend ourselves to the last,
and the whole world shall see that, as a
Christian king, I would rather lose life
than sully by crime the sacred work
which God has intrusted to me. I pray
you, in the name of divine mercy, to look
within yourselves, to question your own
consciences. Kemember that you must ren-
der an account to God for your conduct,
and that you must one day appear before
the tribunal of that Judge who sees all
things. "
The situation of his army was no longer
tolerable. For a long time, the two armies
had been in presence of each other, and
Wallenstein remained ever within his in-
trenchments. The losses on both sides
were immense. The heat of dog-days in-
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? 158 GusTAvus Adolphus.
creased the general distress. The corpses
in both camps sent forth an infectious
odor, and provisions became every day
more rare. Deprived of food, and breath-
ing a pestilential air, the soldiers seemed
all condemned to perish, conquered by
disease and famine.
Gustavus could not impose so inglorious
and cruel death upon so many brave men.
On September 8, 1632, he left the territory
of Nuremberg, leaving a garrison in the
city sufficient to protect it from a surprise.
