1629-30]

Christian William at Magdeburg,

195

wholly Imperialist. His neighbour, John George of Saxony, might be relied upon to remain quiescent, at all events till after the convention of Protestant Princes summoned by him to Leipzig for January, 1631, should have met. Even Landgrave William of Hesse-Cassel, whose grievances had brought him to the brink of an alliance with the King, was taken aback by the Swedish demand of complete military control. Though the Landgrave's aid and that of the Weimar Dukes could hardly fail Gustavus, for a time it seemed as if the only princely support on which he could depend in Germany was that of the Brandenburg Prince Christian William, the deposed Administrator of Magdeburg, who had spent the latter half of 1629 at Stockholm, lodging in the castle there with another fugitive, Count Thurn.

In March, 1629, at the time of the issue of the Edict of Restitution, Wallenstein, incensed by the refusal of Magdeburg to receive and maintain an Imperial regiment or pay an accommodation of 300,000 dollars, had laid siege to the city; but after seven months he had raised the blockade, accepting, for appearance' sake, the modest payment of 30,000 dollars. Elated by this repetition of the fiasco of Stralsund, the Magdeburgers joined in an agreement formed by six Hanseatic towns to arm in common defence (November, 1629), and establish a more democratic town council. This body entered into communication with the exiled Christian William, who in his turn presented himself at a meeting of the Hanse Towns at Lübeck, and obtained from it a contingent promise of support for the Swedish cause. Finally, Gustavus Adolphus undertook to become Christian's surety for a supply of money, and to assist him as opportunity offered to recover the Magdeburg see.

Though even the new town council at Magdeburg as yet hesitated about openly promoting Christian William's return, the citizens became more and more agitated by the continued encroachments of the emissaries of the Catholic Restitution, who even ventured to affix a mandate to the door of the cathedral. Christian now contrived to make his way into Magdeburg incognito, in the company of his confidential agent Stalmann, who brought with him a commission from Gustavus, inviting Magdeburg to ally itself with him, in return for a promise of protection. Soon Stalmann revealed the presence of the "Administrator," and unfolded their plan (August 1, 1630). Christian William had in readiness a force of some 3500 men, and the Dukes of Weimar were prepared to furnish nearly as many more; if with the aid of this force Magdeburg kept open the passage of the Elbe, and the armies of the Emperor and the League were consequently drawn to this centre of resistance, the King of Sweden must march to meet them, and round him would gather all the upholders of that Protestant cause with which the city was above all others identified. An alliance was hereupon actually concluded between Christian William, the King's agent, and the town council, against the disturbers of the spiritual and temporal peace of the Empire ;

196

Gustavus in Mecklenburg and Pomerania

[1630-1 and the "Administrator" at the head of an enthusiastic following at once proceeded to his "residential" capital, Halle. But soon he found it prudent to return to Magdeburg; for Pappenheim had been detached by Tilly, now in supreme command of both the League and the Imperial forces, and had approached along the left bank of the Elbe to within a few miles north of the city. Christian William was with some reluctance allowed to quarter his soldiery in the suburbs; but on October 29 a distinguished Swedish officer, Dietrich von Falkenberg, at last arrived to take command of the troops.

The provocation had been given prematurely; but Gustavus Adolphus was desirous of showing that he would if possible support more effective movements that might follow. On his arrival in Pomerania he found a considerable Imperial force still in control of the greater part of the country under the command of General Torquato Conti, who had taken measures for protecting the Oder against a Swedish advance. After securing Stettin, where he established a fortified camp, Gustavus took Stargard (July, 1630), and then, doubtless with a view to drawing nearer to Magdeburg, made a diversion from the line of the Oder into Mecklenburg (September). But no favourable reception was given to the proclamation which from his fortified camp he addressed to the Mecklenburgers, admonishing them in angry terms to throw off the authority usurped by Wallenstein in defiance of the law of God and the Gospel. There was little love in the land for its lawful Dukes; and Wallenstein's administration, orderly, impartial, and expeditious, was unmistakably popular. Into Rostock the Imperialists, regardless of past compacts, had contrived to throw a garrison. The King's reinforcements from Prussia had not yet arrived; and he did not yet feel strong enough for more extensive operations at a distance from his base. The Mecklenburg campaign therefore remained a mere demonstration (October); and, while Gustaf Horn invested Kolberg (which did not capitulate till March, 1631), the King resumed the campaign on the Oder. Here, less than twenty miles above Stettin, the Imperial forces, under the command of Haimbald von Schaumburg, were massed at Garz, which was connected by a bridge with the fortress of Greifenhagen, likewise in their occupation. A series of successful operations, accompanied by some hard fighting on Christmas Eve and Day, put both places into the hands of the Swedes; and Schaumburg's army, disorganised and demoralised, and suffering terribly from the severity of the winter, hastily returned to Küstrin, whose gates were opened to it. Thence it made its way to Frankfort-on-the-Oder, whither Landsberg-such bodies of Imperialists as had remained scattered through Pomerania likewise retreated. Such was the virtual end of Wallenstein's great army of the north. The whole of the duchy, with the exception of Kolberg, Greifswald, and Demmin, was now in Gustavus' hands. The effect of this success was great with both friend and foe, and with the

or to

1630-1]

Hesitation of the Protestant Electors

197

watchful statesman in the west. Gustavus' own imagination was fired to conceive of a great combination of five armies, amounting together to more than a hundred thousand men, in the face of which all resistance would melt away in Germany. But, for the present, even his advance along the line of the Oder could not continue, so long as the three Brandenburg fortresses which had served as a refuge to the Imperialists shut their gates upon the Swedes.

During the eventful six months which had passed since the landing of Gustavus Adolphus in Usedom, the two Protestant Electors had drawn no nearer to the deliverer. John George of Saxony, though in the past two years he had been plied by Gustavus himself, by Bernard of Weimar, coming from the Hague, by the Mecklenburg Dukes, by the "Administrator," and by the city of Magdeburg, remained unmoved; and to the Magdeburgers he gave the plain advice, to remain in obedience to the Emperor. George William of Brandenburg deeply resented the hard measure which his brother-in-law had dealt out to him in Pillau. After Gustavus' landing he had asked to be allowed to remain neutral, but had been answered by a flat refusal, accompanied, however, by conciliatory assurances. Gustavus would not even bind himself to give up ultimately any places occupied by him in Brandenburg or Pomerania unless George William would become his ally. Left to his own devices by the Elector of Saxony, the Brandenburg Elector was now in the depths of irresolution, and, as to the fortress of Küstrin-on-the-Oder, issued instructions which revealed his utter helplessness.

At Ratisbon, where, as has been seen, the Electors were at this time in conference with the Emperor, the agreement at which they had arrived on the critical question of the chief military command could not bode well for any change in the policy of Restitution favourable to the Protestants. Nevertheless, the two Protestant Electors signed the letter of remonstrance addressed by the Electoral College, simultaneously with one from the Emperor, to the Swedish invader (August, 1630). But the patience of John George was not inexhaustible. When about this time he, on behalf of George William as well as of himself, applied to the Emperor for the revocation of the obnoxious Edict and was met by an arrogantly-worded refusal, coupled with a demand for aid in both men and money, he was at last found prepared with a suitable retort. His announcement of the proposed convention of Protestant Estates at Leipzig was not actual revolt, but it indicated that revolt was possible. He maintained, however, a waiting attitude, and as late as March, 1631, vouchsafed no reply to a renewed appeal from Gustavus Adolphus.

Meanwhile, the neutrality of Brandenburg had proved untenable. The successes of the Swedish arms at the close of 1630 led to a summary demand on the part of Gustavus Adolphus, first, for free transit by water

198

Treaty of Bärwalde

[1631 and by land at Küstrin, and then for the surrender into his hands of the fortress itself. Urged by Tilly to refuse, and advised by John George to enter into no engagements with Sweden, George William entreated Gustavus not to insist upon a "conjunction" between them; right of transit should be granted if Brandenburg as a whole were not to become the seat of war, and if the King would undertake to leave untouched the Elector's capital and fortresses (January, 1631).

While unable to reach an understanding with the two Protestant Electors, Gustavus Adolphus arrived at a definite settlement with France. Charnacé, whose last negotiations with him had been broken off on a trivial point of form, resumed them at Bärwalde; where, though the chief difficulty was the money part of the bargain, some heat was infused into the discussion. On January 13, 1631, however, a treaty of alliance between the Kings of France and Sweden was signed by their commissaries, for the protection, as it purported, of their common friends, and for assuring the security of the Baltic and of the open sea, freedom of commerce, and the restitution of the oppressed Estates of the Empire. The King of Sweden (for the treaty was practically dated as from a year back) was to conduct an army of 30,000 foot and 6000 horse into Germany, and France to pay an annual subsidy of 400,000 dollars, with an additional 120,000 for the year spent in negotiation. The alliance was to continue till March 3, 1636, and to be renewable should peace not have been concluded by that date; but neither of the allies was to make peace without the assent of the other. The adhesion of German and other Princes and Estates was to be permitted, unless they were openly or secretly acting with the enemy-a clause intended as a warning to malevolent neutrals. With Bavaria and the League there was to be friendship and neutrality, should they incline to accept it. In all localities conquered by the King of Sweden he was to observe the laws of the Empire, and not to interfere with the exercise of the Catholic religion. To this last clause, and to that concerning the League, Gustavus had only with difficulty been induced to assent.

It will be remembered that, after Wallenstein's dismissal, the forces of both Emperor and League had been placed under the supreme command of Tilly. The removal of Wallenstein inevitably had an injurious effect upon so much of the Imperial army as had been kept under arms; and Richelieu had taken care to close all present prospect of any reinforcements from Italy. The 12,000 troops, or thereabouts, still left of the Imperial army of the north were demoralised by want of pay as well as of success, and could clearly no longer be relied upon for the defence of Oder and Elbe. The forces of the League, on the other hand, which it was at first intended to employ for covering the lands of the west and south, were reckoned at 27,000 in the field and more than half this number in garrisons. But Tilly, after making his dispositions at Ratisbon, waited patiently in the Weser country till his numbers should be

1631]

Sack of Neu-Brandenburg

199

complete; nor was it till the middle of January, 1631, that, after making a transient appearance before Magdeburg, his army reached Frankforton-the-Oder. After his junction with Schaumburg, Tilly was in command of 34,000 troops; but his Imperialist reinforcements were in a sorry plight. The news having now reached Tilly that Gustavus was about to enter Mecklenburg, the General of the League, by a rapid march, crossed the Middle Mark south of Berlin and approached the line of the Havel, so as to place himself in the way of the Swedish advance upon the Elbe and Magdeburg.

Immediately after the conclusion of the Treaty of Bärwalde, Gustavus, regarding the line of the Oder as temporarily closed, had, though it was mid-winter, started for Mecklenburg with a division of his army amounting to nearly 12,000 men. Before the middle of February he easily took Demmin, on the Mecklenburg frontier, and after detaching a division to besiege Greifswald, was preparing to advance, when he learnt that Tilly was approaching Neu-Brandenburg (in MecklenburgStrelitz, nearly thirty miles south of Demmin), where 3000 Swedes under Kniphausen lay in garrison. Gustavus seems to have hoped to divert Tilly towards Schwedt, where the Swedes would have been nearer to their base at Stettin; but he sent instructions to Kniphausen to conclude an honourable capitulation if it became necessary. The messenger fell into Tilly's hands, and on March 19 he took NeuBrandenburg by storm, and put the whole garrison to the sword. "Neu-Brandenburg quarter," though it only carried out the accepted principle that no mercy need be shown to a garrison holding out after surrender has become inevitable, in its turn set a precedent soon afterwards followed at Frankfort and at Magdeburg, and thus opened a more savage epoch in the conduct of the war.

After this success Tilly stood still for some days, and then, perhaps feeling incapable of moving Gustavus from his position at Schwedt, where he continued to be in touch with the other Swedish division under Horn, marched south-west, towards the towns of Neu-Ruppin and Brandenburg. On the march he received an explicit order from Maximilian of Bavaria to lose no time in setting about the siege of Magdeburg, before whose walls and trenches Pappenheim was fretting in enforced inactivity.

To

No sooner was Gustavus sure of Tilly's departure than, once more leaving Horn behind to finish the siege of Greifswald (it did not fall till June), he marched with 14,000 men upon Frankfort-on-the-Oder. secure this fortress had long been an object of anxiety to him; but we have the explicit statement of his secretary Grubbe that his immediate purpose was to draw Tilly away from Magdeburg. Passing Küstrin without any hindrance and constructing a redoubt in face of its walls, he arrived before Frankfort, where lay a force of 5000 men, more or less, with Field-Marshal von Tiefenbach and other officers of note - the