The Thirty Years War, book 2 | Page 8

on the Rhine
to cover the Lower Palatinate.
So long as such an arm fought for him, the cause of the Elector
Frederick was not irretrievably lost. New prospects began to open, and
misfortune raised up friends who had been silent during his prosperity.
King James of England, who had looked on with indifference while his
son-in-law lost the Bohemian crown, was aroused from his insensibility
when the very existence of his daughter and grandson was at stake, and
the victorious enemy ventured an attack upon the Electorate. Late
enough, he at last opened his treasures, and hastened to afford supplies

of money and troops, first to the Union, which at that time was
defending the Lower Palatinate, and afterwards, when they retired, to
Count Mansfeld. By his means his near relation, Christian, King of
Denmark, was induced to afford his active support. At the same time,
the approaching expiration of the truce between Spain and Holland
deprived the Emperor of all the supplies which otherwise he might
expect from the side of the Netherlands. More important still was the
assistance which the Palatinate received from Transylvania and
Hungary. The cessation of hostilities between Gabor and the Emperor
was scarcely at an end, when this old and formidable enemy of Austria
overran Hungary anew, and caused himself to be crowned king in
Presburg. So rapid was his progress that, to protect Austria and
Hungary, Boucquoi was obliged to evacuate Bohemia. This brave
general met his death at the siege of Neuhausel, as, shortly before, the
no less valiant Dampierre had fallen before Presburg. Gabor's march
into the Austrian territory was irresistible; the old Count Thurn, and
several other distinguished Bohemians, had united their hatred and their
strength with this irreconcileable enemy of Austria. A vigorous attack
on the side of Germany, while Gabor pressed the Emperor on that of
Hungary, might have retrieved the fortunes of Frederick; but,
unfortunately, the Bohemians and Germans had always laid down their
arms when Gabor took the field; and the latter was always exhausted at
the very moment that the former began to recover their vigour.
Meanwhile Frederick had not delayed to join his protector Mansfeld. In
disguise he entered the Lower Palatinate, of which the possession was
at that time disputed between Mansfeld and the Bavarian general, Tilly,
the Upper Palatinate having been long conquered. A ray of hope shone
upon him as, from the wreck of the Union, new friends came forward.
A former member of the Union, George Frederick, Margrave of Baden,
had for some time been engaged in assembling a military force, which
soon amounted to a considerable army. Its destination was kept a secret
till he suddenly took the field and joined Mansfeld. Before
commencing the war, he resigned his Margraviate to his son, in the
hope of eluding, by this precaution, the Emperor's revenge, if his
enterprize should be unsuccessful. His neighbour, the Duke of
Wirtemberg, likewise began to augment his military force. The courage
of the Palatine revived, and he laboured assiduously to renew the

Protestant Union. It was now time for Tilly to consult for his own
safety, and he hastily summoned the Spanish troops, under Corduba, to
his assistance. But while the enemy was uniting his strength, Mansfeld
and the Margrave separated, and the latter was defeated by the
Bavarian general near Wimpfen (1622).
To defend a king whom his nearest relation persecuted, and who was
deserted even by his own father-in-law, there had come forward an
adventurer without money, and whose very legitimacy was questioned.
A sovereign had resigned possessions over which he reigned in peace,
to hazard the uncertain fortune of war in behalf of a stranger. And now
another soldier of fortune, poor in territorial possessions, but rich in
illustrious ancestry, undertook the defence of a cause which the former
despaired of. Christian, Duke of Brunswick, administrator of
Halberstadt, seemed to have learnt from Count Mansfeld the secret of
keeping in the field an army of 20,000 men without money. Impelled
by youthful presumption, and influenced partly by the wish of
establishing his reputation at the expense of the Roman Catholic
priesthood, whom he cordially detested, and partly by a thirst for
plunder, he assembled a considerable army in Lower Saxony, under the
pretext of espousing the defence of Frederick, and of the liberties of
Germany. "God's Friend, Priest's Foe", was the motto he chose for his
coinage, which was struck out of church plate; and his conduct belied
one half at least of the device.
The progress of these banditti was, as usual, marked by the most
frightful devastation. Enriched by the spoils of the chapters of Lower
Saxony and Westphalia, they gathered strength to plunder the
bishoprics upon the Upper Rhine. Driven from thence, both by friends
and foes, the Administrator approached