1641-3] Death of Banér.-Peace conferences arranged 385

upon the Empire by the War, was rudely surprised in the midst of its deliberations.

Whether or not in secret conference with Duke George of Lüneburg, Banér had, in December, 1640, returned to Erfurt, where he was joined by Guébriant and the Bernardines. Early in January, 1641, he began a march which about a month later brought him so close to Ratisbon that he was able to fire a few cannon-balls into the city across the Danube. But stress of weather prevented him from crossing the river, and obliged him gradually to retreat to his old quarters at Zwickau, while Guébriant, with whom he had been involved in more than one dispute, established himself in Thuringia. In April Banér received the news of the death of Duke George of Lüneburg, one of the shrewdest of the Protestant Princes, though intent upon dynastic ends rather than on the victory of the "common cause"; and on May 20 Banér himself succumbed at Halberstadt to his fatigues, or perhaps to his excesses; thus ending, in his forty-fifth year, a career distinguished by rare military and political ability.

Meanwhile the Diet at Ratisbon had continued its deliberations on the gravamina preferred on both sides, and was not dissolved till October, 1641, after an Abschied announcing an amnesty from which the Emperor's hereditary dominions were excluded. Moreover, it was rendered nugatory by being made conditional upon an actual reconciliation with the Emperor of the Estates desirous of benefiting by it— in other words upon their renunciation of their adherence to Sweden and France. These two Powers had, on August 21, renewed the treaty of alliance concluded for three years in March, 1638; and their proposal that future negotiations for peace should be carried on at Münster and Osnabrück was accepted by the Emperor and Spain (December, 1641), March 25, 1642, being appointed as the day of the opening of the congress at these two places. The Ratisbon Diet had agreed that the Electors and other Estates were entitled to take part in these negotiations; but the meeting of the Deputationstag at Frankfort, which the Diet had arranged for the following May, was delayed till February, 1643.

The desire for peace, to which the restricted amnesty granted at Ratisbon was regarded as a preliminary step, was intensified by the successful recovery of the Swedes from the difficulties which had followed upon the death of Banér. The bonds of discipline had of late been utterly relaxed in his army, in which the Swedish troops formed a quite small minority, amounting, according to one account, to not more than 600 men; and there was a serious danger of the army falling hopelessly into pieces. But Guébriant, who had rejoined Banér shortly before his death, contrived to infuse new spirit into what had been a malcontent and leaderless host. On June 29, 1641, Archduke Leopold William and Piccolomini, intent upon relieving the Imperialist garrison at Wolfenbüttel, which the Brunswick Dukes were seeking to recover, made an

C. M. H. IV.

25

386

Battle of Breitenfeld

[1641-2

attack upon the allies. It was successfully repulsed, and the impetuosity of Königsmarck and Wrangel drove the Imperialists into precipitate flight. But the victory of Wolfenbüttel had no further result; and the heterogeneous army of the allies was only preserved from dissolution when Torstensson, who brought with him 7000 freshly landed Swedish troops, assumed the command.

Lennart Torstensson, Count of Ortala, the last of the Swedish generals distinguished in the War who had been trained by Gustavus himself, was worthy of his master, not only by virtue of his strategic gifts, but also by his power of maintaining among his troops a discipline at once firm and humane. No sooner had he arrived on the Aller (November 25) than Guébriant, who had been pressing for his recall from an intolerable position, took his departure for the Rhine with the Bernardines. These troops, though their complaints continued to testify to their corporate survival, were soon afterwards formally absorbed in the French army, which was also joined by over 3000 Hessians. On January 16, 1642, at Hulst, between Kempen and Crefeld, he gained a victory over the Imperialists under General Lamboy, who was taken prisoner with a large number of his officers. After allowing his army a few months' rest, Guébriant (now Marshal) recommenced operations early in the summer of 1642. But though he entered into communications with Frederick Henry of Orange, he declined to confine himself to acting in conjunction with the Stadholder, and early in October once more crossed the Rhine and marched upon the Weser. In November he was in Thuringia, where in the following month he had an interview with Torstensson, soon after the Swedish victory at Breitenfeld; but no reunion of their forces took place.

Torstensson, after recovering from a severe attack of illness, had begun operations with extraordinary energy. His purpose was a direct attack upon the Austrian lands. After taking up his quarters at Salzwedel in the Mark Brandenburg he advanced, in April, 1642, into Silesia; took Glogau; penetrated (May) into Moravia, whose capital Olmütz he occupied (June), sending forward some of his light troops within a distance of not much more than twenty-five miles of Vienna. In July, however, he was obliged by the approach of the Imperialists in numbers superior to his own to withdraw into Silesia, whence he passed into Saxony. Here, in the face of the Elector's unchanged attitude of resistance, he was besieging Leipzig, when the Imperialists, coming up with him, forced him to give them battle. On November 2, 1642, the second battle of Breitenfeld was fought, in which the losses of the Imperialists in dead, wounded, and prisoners reached a total not far short of 10,000, and their commander-in-chief, Archduke Leopold William, barely made his own escape. The remnants of the Imperialist force did not rally till they had reached Bohemia; but, as Torstensson's junction with Guébriant had not been effected, the

1641-4]

Torstensson invades Denmark

387

beginning of the year 1643 found the Swedish commander-in-chief still besieging Freiberg in Saxony, though Oxenstierna was urging him to transfer the seat of war to the banks of the Danube. The Imperialists succeeded in obliging him to raise the siege; but during the greater part of the year his movements to and fro, more especially in Moravia, and the possibility of his receiving active aid from George Rakoczy, Prince of Transylvania, kept the fears of Vienna alive.

Of a sudden the Swedish commander-in-chief, whose marches and counter-marches, menacing Bavaria as well as Austria, had begun to perplex his own army, disclosed to his officers a design which elicited their enthusiastic approval. Christian IV of Denmark, never tired of essaying tasks beyond his power of achievement, had long sought to play the part of mediator in the European conflict. In December, 1641, he had succeeded in bringing about the adoption, at Hamburg, of preliminaries of peace, which were to be discussed at Münster and Ösnabrück in the following year. But the actual effects of this formal agree

ment had been slight; and from about the middle of 1642 Christian's jealous animosity against Sweden revived. The Emperor was assured that Denmark would definitively espouse his cause in the War if he would give consideration to her special claims and requirements. These were for the most part connected with the archiepiscopal see of Bremen, and with the long-cherished designs of the Danish Crown upon Hamburg, which in the spring of 1643 led to a blockade of that city. Christian IV, notwithstanding the unsatisfactory condition of his finances, was once more prepared to rush into war; but the far-sighted statesmanship of Oxenstierna anticipated his intentions. In September of the same year Torstensson received instructions to invade the Danish dominions. Though disabled by disease, he quickly completed his preparations; and by the middle of December his army had reached Holstein, where Duke Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp at once came to terms. Early in January, 1644, the frontier of Jutland was crossed, and by the end of the month the whole province had been reduced to submission. Once more Christian IV's arrogant rashness had brought him to the brink of ruin. While Poland had disappointed him by declining to create a diversion against Sweden, the United Provinces seemed disposed to favour her. Torstensson approached Zeeland from the west, and Horn (liberated from his imprisonment) blockaded Malmö, so as to coöperate from the other side of the Sound in an attack upon Copenhagen. The attempt of the Archbishop of Bremen to come to his father's aid was easily frustrated by a Swedish force under Königsmarck.

It was not until the end of May, 1644, that the Imperialists under Gallas, unchecked by the Transylvanian, began to move slowly from Bohemia into Saxony and thence towards Holstein. An indecisive naval battle (paradoxically known as that of Kolberg Heath) fought on July 1, failed to open a prospect of a successful attack on the Danish capital.

388

Guébriant's difficulties and death

[1642-4

In August Torstensson, execrating his ill luck, left Wrangel to carry on the Danish War (the further course of which is narrated elsewhere), and moved south with his main force. In November he stood on the Saale, face to face with Gallas; but for this year it was impossible to do more than inflict a defeat upon him at Jüterbok, and oblige him to withdraw into winter-quarters in Bohemia. Gallas' force had dwindled to 4000 men, less than a third of its former number; and the disfavour incurred by him was such that he had to resign his command.

In the west, too, the affairs of the Franco-Swedish alliance had once more begun to prosper. After his interview with Torstensson, Marshal Guébriant - whether or not in pursuance of a plan concerted between them for an attack upon Bavaria - had marched towards the Neckar (December, 1642). The Bavaro-Imperialist army of defence was commanded by Field-Marshal Franz von Mercy, while a cavalry force under Johann von Werth was near at hand. Tired of the pleasures of his French captivity, the renowned commander had, early in the year, been exchanged for the Swedish Field-Marshal Horn, and was now once more at the front. Guébriant, though much discouraged by the death of Cardinal Richelieu, was assured by the new Minister, Cardinal Mazarin, of his confidence, and warmly congratulated on the successful repulse of an attempt by Johann von Werth. But the French Marshal was unable to undertake any offensive action without further assistance; and his operations were hampered by the death of Louis XIII, though immediately afterwards Enghien's great victory of Rocroi (May 19, 1643), assured the safety of the northern frontier of France. It was not till the latter part of October that Enghien, drawing near from Lorraine, sent to Guébriant a reinforcement of 5000 men under the command of the Holstein Count Rantzau. Guébriant hereupon designed to march upon Munich; but, while engaged in the siege of Rottweil, he was wounded, and died on November 24, 1643. On the same day, his troops, commanded by Rantzau, were routed at Tuttlingen by the Imperialists, whose entire cavalry had been now placed under Johann von Werth; and Rantzau himself was taken prisoner with a large number of officers.

But, as is related elsewhere, the French Government and its new chief, Mazarin, whom Richelieu had himself designated as his successor, were resolved to adhere to the course marked out by him. On Guébriant's death, Turenne, who had recently earned fresh laurels by the conquest of Piedmont, was appointed to the command of the army of the Rhine; and at the head of 10,000 men, including the remnants of the Bernardines and Guébriant's other troops, held the left bank of the Rhine as far down as Breisach against the Bavarians under Mercy. After, in June, 1644, he had crossed the Rhine and was advancing upon the sources of the Danube, Enghien at last joined him; and their superior forces now confronted those of Mercy and Johann von Werth. A protracted series of battles now ensued (August 4, 5, and 9) near Freiburg in the Breisgau,

1644-5]

Battle of Jankau.- Rakoczy

389

which ended in a hurried retreat by Mercy, whom however Enghien was unable to overtake. Hereupon, he moved rapidly upon Philippsburg, which was quite unprepared for his approach, and took the place (September 12). The campaign ended with a well-ordered and almost unresisted advance of the French army down the Rhine as far as Mainz; which surrendered on September 17. Its fall was followed by that of Landau; and Turenne also captured Bingen, Oppenheim, and Worms. The readiness with which the population on the left bank of the Rhine submitted to French control was attributable not only to the skill with which Enghien with Turenne's aid carried out the comprehensive plan of operations long cherished in vain by Guébriant, but also to the wise humanity that characterised their proceedings. "If," Grotius wrote about this time to Oxenstierna, "the French continue by their acts to show that they have come to make themselves not masters, but protectors of German liberty, they will also be able to allure other German States to their side."

Thus in the following year (1645) the Emperor's enemies were able to close in upon his hereditary dominions and upon those of his Bavarian ally. Every effort was made by Ferdinand to meet the approach from Saxony of Torstensson, who had with Oxenstierna's assent postponed a resumption of the Danish campaign. In February, after securing the coöperation of Rakoczy, he set forth to meet the Imperialist army, commanded by Hatzfeldt, Götz, and the ubiquitous Johann von Werth, and animated by the arrival of the Emperor at Prague and the news that the Blessed Virgin had in a vision promised victory to his arms. At Jankau, near Tabor, the two armies met on March 5, each numbering about 16,000 men, when a battle in which no quarter was given on either side resulted in a complete victory for the Swedes-mainly, it would seem, due to their artillery. In the end they surrounded the Imperialist centre, making prisoners of between four and five thousand officers and men, including the commander-in-chief Hatzfeldt, with all their field gear. The Emperor made his way back to Vienna, which once more trembled for its safety. Gallas was substituted for Hatzfeldt, and the defence of Upper Austria was entrusted to Archduke Leopold William; the Court withdrew to Grätz. By the end of April Torstensson was within little more than 30 miles of Vienna, but diverged to lay siege to Brünn. Fortunately for Ferdinand III and the safety of his archduchy, the Transylvanian, George Rakoczy, after concluding, in April, 1645, a treaty with France, which, in return for liberal subsidies, pledged his services to her and Sweden, was during his advance through Hungary repeatedly defeated by the Imperialists under Götz and Puchheim, and finally stopped in his march by a message from Constantinople. Ordered by the weak Sultan Ibrahim to cease at once from hostilities against the Emperor, Rakoczy concluded a peace, in which he entirely disengaged himself from the Franco-Swedish alliance (August).