The Thirty Years War, book 4 | Page 8

conditions
they insisted on, were that certain towns should be assigned to each
regiment for the payment of arrears. Four weeks were allowed to the
Swedish Chancellor to comply with these demands; and in case of
refusal, they announced that they would pay themselves, and never
more draw a sword for Sweden.
These pressing demands, made at the very time when the military chest
was exhausted, and credit at a low ebb, greatly embarrassed the
chancellor. The remedy, he saw, must be found quickly, before the
contagion should spread to the other troops, and he should be deserted
by all his armies at once. Among all the Swedish generals, there was
only one of sufficient authority and influence with the soldiers to put an
end to this dispute. The Duke of Weimar was the favourite of the army,
and his prudent moderation had won the good-will of the soldiers,
while his military experience had excited their admiration. He now
undertook the task of appeasing the discontented troops; but, aware of
his importance, he embraced the opportunity to make advantageous
stipulations for himself, and to make the embarrassment of the
chancellor subservient to his own views.
Gustavus Adolphus had flattered him with the promise of the Duchy of
Franconia, to be formed out of the Bishoprics of Wurtzburg and
Bamberg, and he now insisted on the performance of this pledge. He at
the same time demanded the chief command, as generalissimo of

Sweden. The abuse which the Duke of Weimar thus made of his
influence, so irritated Oxenstiern, that, in the first moment of his
displeasure, he gave him his dismissal from the Swedish service. But
he soon thought better of it, and determined, instead of sacrificing so
important a leader, to attach him to the Swedish interests at any cost.
He therefore granted to him the Franconian bishoprics, as a fief of the
Swedish crown, reserving, however, the two fortresses of Wurtzburg
and Koenigshofen, which were to be garrisoned by the Swedes; and
also engaged, in name of the Swedish crown, to secure these territories
to the duke. His demand of the supreme authority was evaded on some
specious pretext. The duke did not delay to display his gratitude for this
valuable grant, and by his influence and activity soon restored
tranquillity to the army. Large sums of money, and still more extensive
estates, were divided among the officers, amounting in value to about
five millions of dollars, and to which they had no other right but that of
conquest. In the mean time, however, the opportunity for a great
undertaking had been lost, and the united generals divided their forces
to oppose the enemy in other quarters.
Gustavus Horn, after a short inroad into the Upper Palatinate, and the
capture of Neumark, directed his march towards the Swabian frontier,
where the Imperialists, strongly reinforced, threatened Wuertemberg.
At his approach, the enemy retired to the Lake of Constance, but only
to show the Swedes the road into a district hitherto unvisited by war. A
post on the entrance to Switzerland, would be highly serviceable to the
Swedes, and the town of Kostnitz seemed peculiarly well fitted to be a
point of communication between him and the confederated cantons.
Accordingly, Gustavus Horn immediately commenced the siege of it;
but destitute of artillery, for which he was obliged to send to
Wirtemberg, he could not press the attack with sufficient vigour, to
prevent the enemy from throwing supplies into the town, which the
lake afforded them convenient opportunity of doing. He, therefore,
after an ineffectual attempt, quitted the place and its neighbourhood,
and hastened to meet a more threatening danger upon the Danube.
At the Emperor's instigation, the Cardinal Infante, the brother of Philip
IV. of Spain, and the Viceroy of Milan, had raised an army of 14,000
men, intended to act upon the Rhine, independently of Wallenstein, and
to protect Alsace. This force now appeared in Bavaria, under the

command of the Duke of Feria, a Spaniard; and, that they might be
directly employed against the Swedes, Altringer was ordered to join
them with his corps. Upon the first intelligence of their approach, Horn
had summoned to his assistance the Palsgrave of Birkenfeld, from the
Rhine; and being joined by him at Stockach, boldly advanced to meet
the enemy's army of 30,000 men.
The latter had taken the route across the Danube into Swabia, where
Gustavus Horn came so close upon them, that the two armies were only
separated from each other by half a German mile. But, instead of
accepting the offer of battle, the Imperialists moved by the Forest
towns towards Briesgau and Alsace, where they arrived in time to
relieve Breysack, and to arrest the victorious progress of the
Rhinegrave, Otto Louis. The latter had, shortly before, taken the Forest