GERMANY
FROM THE
EARLIEST PERIOD
BY
WOLFGANG MENZEL
TRANSLATED FROM THE FOURTH GERMAN EDITION
By MRS. GEORGE HORROCKS
WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER OF RECENT EVENTS
By EDGAR SALTUS
VOLUME III
NEW YORK
PETER FENELON COLLIER
MDCCCXC1X
Stack
Annex
.5
ILLUSTRATIONS
GERMANY
VOL. III.
Frontispiece — Battle of Rossbacb
King William I. .
Battle of Hohenfriedberg .
THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
CXCVIIL Preponderance of the Spaniards and
Jesuits — Courtly Vices
THE false peace concluded at Augsburg was immedi-
ately followed by Charles V. 's abdication of his nu-
merous crowns. He would willingly have resigned
that of the empire to his son Philip, had not the Spanish
education of that prince, his gloomy and bigoted character,
inspired the Germans with an aversion as unconquerable as
that with which he beheld them. Ferdinand had, moreover,
gained the favor of the German princes. Charles, neverthe-
less, influenced by affection toward his son, bestowed upon
him one of the finest of the German provinces, the Nether-
lands, besides Spain, Milan, Naples, and the West Indies
(America). Ferdinand received the rest of the German
hereditary possessions of his house, besides Bohemia and
Hungary. The aged emperor, after thus dividing his do-
minions, went to Spain and entered the Hieronymite mon-
astery of Justus, where he lived for two years, amusing
himself, among other things, with an attempt to make a
number of clocks keep exact time; on failing, he observed,
"Watches are like men." His. whim for solemnizing his
own funeral service proved fatal ; the dampness of the coffin
hi which he lay during the ceremony brought on a cold,
which terminated a few days afterward in death, A.D. 1558.
Charles, although dexterous in the conduct of petty intrigues,
(925)
926 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
was entirely devoid of depth of intellect, and ever misunder-
stood his age; magnanimous in some few instances, he was
unendowed with the greatness of character that had empow-
ered Charlemagne to govern and to guide his times. Pos-
sessed of far greater power than that magnificent emperor,
the half of the globe his by inheritance, he might, during the
thirty years of his reign, have molded the great Reformation
to his will ; notwithstanding which, he left at his death both
the church and state in far more wretched disorder than at
his accession to the throne of Germany. Frederick III. was
too dull of intellect to rule a world; Charles V. was too cun-
ning. He overlooked great and natural advantages, and
buried himself in petty intrigue. Luther remarked of him
during his youth, "He will never succeed, for he has openly
rejected truth, and Germany will be implicated in his want
of success." Time proved the truth of this opinion. The
insufficiency of the Reformation was mainly due to this
emperor.
Ferdinand I., opposed in his hereditary provinces by a
predominating Protestant party, which he was compelled to
tolerate, was politically overbalanced by his nephew, Philip
II., in Spain and Italy, where Catholicism flourished. The
preponderance of the Spanish over the Austrian branch of
the house of Habsburg exercised the most pernicious influ-
ence on the whole of Germany, by securing to the Catholics
a support which rendered reconciliation impossible, to the
Spaniards and Italians admittance into Germany, and by
falsifying the German language, dress, and manners.
The religious disputes and petty egotism of the several
Estates of the empire had utterly stifled every sentiment of
patriotism, and not a dissentient voice was raised against
the will of Charles V., which bestowed the whole of the
Netherlands, one of the finest of the provinces of Germany,
upon Spain, the division and consequent weakening of the
powerful house of Habsburg being regarded by the princes
with delight.
At the same time that the power of the Protestant party
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 92 7
was shaken by the peace of Augsburg, Cardinal Caraffa
mounted the pontifical throne as Paul IV., the first pope
who, following the plan of the Jesuits, abandoned the sys-
tem of defence for that of attack. The Reformation no
sooner ceased to progress than a preventive movement be-
gan. The pontiffs, up to this period, were imitators of Leo
X., had surrounded themselves with luxury and pomp, had
been, personally, far from bigoted in their opinions, and had
opposed the Reformation merely from policy, neither from
conviction nor fanaticism. But the Jesuits acted, while the
popes negotiated ; and this new order of ecclesiastics, at first
merely a papal tool in the council of Trent, ere long became
the pontiff's master. An extraordinary but extremely natu-
ral medley existed in the system and the members of this
society of Jesus. • The most fervent attachment to the an-
cient faith, mysticism, ascetic extravagance, the courage of
the martyr, nay, desire for martyrdom, reappeared in their
former strength the moment the church was threatened ; the
passions, formerly inspiriting the crusader, burst forth afresh
to oppose, not, as in olden times, the sensual pagan and Ma-
hometan, but the stern morality and well-founded com-
plaints of the nations of Germany, to which a deaf ear was
turned ; and religious zeal, originally pure, but now misled
by a foul policy, indifferent alike to the price and to the
means by which it gained its aim, sought to undermine the
Reformation. Among the Jesuits there were saints equal-
ling in faith the martyrs of old ; poets overflowing with phi-
lanthropy; bold and unflinching despots; smooth-tongued
divines, versed in the art of lying. The necessity for ac-
tion, in opposing the Reformation, naturally called forth the
energies of the more arbitrary and systematic members of
the order, and threw the dreamy enthusiasts in the shade.
Nationality was also another ruling motive. Was the au-
thority of the foreigner, so long exercised over the German,
to be relinquished without a struggle? This nationality,
moreover, furnished an excuse for immoral inclinations and
practices, for all that was unworthy of the Master they nom-
THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
inally served. The attempts for reconciliation made by both
parties in the church no sooner failed, and the moderate
Catholic party in favor of peace and of a certain degree of
reform lost sight of its original views, than the whole sov-
ereignty of the Catholic world was usurped by this order.
The pope was compelled to throw himself into its arms, and
Paul IV., putting an end to the system pursued by his pre-
decessors, renounced luxury and license, publicly cast off
his nephews, and zealously devoted himself to the Catho-
lic cause. At the same time he was, notwithstanding the
similarity in their religious opinions, at war with Philip of
Spain, being unable, like his predecessors, to tolerate the
temporal supremacy of the Spaniard in Naples. Rome, be-
sieged by the duke of Alba, was defended by German Prot-
estants, and the pope was reduced to the necessity of seeking
aid from the Turk and the French. Peace was concluded,
A.D. 1557. Philip afterward treated the pope with extreme
reverence, and confederated with him for the restoration of
the church.
The settlement of the Jesuits throughout the whole of
Catholic Germany was the first result of this combination.
William, duke of Bavaria, granted to them the university
of Ingolstadt, where Canisius of Nimwegen, the Spaniard,
Salmeron, and the Savoyard, Le Jay, were the first Jesuit-
ical professors. Canisius drew up a catechism strictly Catho-
lic, the form of belief for the whole of Bavaria, on which,
A.D. 1561, all the servants of the state were compelled to
swear, and to which, at length, every Bavarian subject was
forced, under pain of banishment, to subscribe. This exam-
ple induced the emperor Ferdinand to invite Canisius into
Austria, where Lutheranism had become so general that by
far the greater number of the churches were either in the
hands of the Protestants or closed, and for twenty years not
a single Catholic priest had taken orders at the university of
Vienna. Canisms was at first less successful in Austria than
he had been in Bavaria, but nevertheless effected so much
that even his opponents declared that without him the whole
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 929
of Southern Germany would have ceased to be Catholic.1
Cardinal Otto, bishop of Augsburg, a Truchsess von Wald-
burg, aided by Bavaria, compelled his diocesans to recant,
and founded a Jesuitical university at Dillingen. In Cologne
and Treves the Jesuits simultaneously suppressed the Ref-
ormation and civil liberty. Coblentz was deprived of all her
ancient privileges, A.D. 1561, and Treves, A.D. 1580.
Ferdinand I. was in a difficult position. Paul IV. re-
fused to acknowledge him on account of the peace concluded
between him and the Protestants, whom he was unable to
oppose, and whose tenets he refused to embrace, notwith-
standing the expressed wish of the majority of his subjects.
Like his brother, he intrigued and diplomatized until his
Jesuitical confessor, Bobadilla, and the new pope, Pius IV.,
again placed him on good terms with Rome, A.D. 1559. He
also found a mediator in Carlo Borromeo, archbishop of
Milan, who had gained a high reputation for sanctity by his
fearless and philanthropic behavior during a pestilence, and
who was, moreover, a zealous upholder of the external pomp
of the church and of public devotion.
Augustus, elector of Saxony, the brother of Maurice,
alarmed at the fresh alliance between the emperor and the
pope, convoked a meeting of the Protestant leaders at Naum-
burg. His fears were, however, allayed by the peaceful
proposals of the emperor, A.D. 1561, and, in point of fact,
the fitting moment for another attempt at reconciliation had
arrived. The great leaders of the Reformation were dead,
the zeal of their successors had cooled or they were at vari-
ance with one another. Disgust had driven several theolo-
gians back to the bosom of the Roman Church. The em-
peror, and even Albert of Bavaria, William's successor, were
willing to concede marriage to the priests, the sacrament
under both forms to the people, the use of the German
tongue in the church service, and several other points, for
the sake of terminating the schism in the church ; and even
1 He was in consequence mockingly termed "cania Austriacus."
930
the pope, through his talented nuncio, Commendone, made
several extremely touching representations to the assembly
at Naumburg. All was vain. Commendone was treated
with great indignity by the assembled Protestants. His
subsequent attempt to gain the princes over one by one also
failed, Brandenburg alone giving him a favorable reception.
The assembly at Naumburg was, nevertheless, extremely
peaceful in comparison with the convocation held simultane-
ously at Luneburg, where the strictest Lutherans, the pope's
most irreconcilable foes, chiefly preachers from the Hanse
towns, had assembled. John Frederick, duke of Weimar,
had also separated himself from the meeting at Naumburg,
through hatred of the electoral house.
The reconciliation so ardently hoped for by the moderate
party on both sides was no longer possible. The schism had
been too much widened ever again to close. The Protes-
tants, instead of awaiting a general discussion of ecclesias-
tical matters by a council, had, on their own responsibility,
founded a new church with new ceremonies and tenets. The
Catholics had, on their side, placed the council not over the
pope, but the pope over the council, in order to give them-
selves a head and greater unity, and this council, led by the
Jesuits, had already passed several resolutions to which
the Protestants could not accede. Neither party would re-
tract lest more might be lost, and each viewed the other
with the deepest distrust. Leonhard Haller, bishop of Eich-
stadt, said in the council, "It is dangerous to refuse the de-
mands of the Protestants, but much more so to grant them."
Both parties shared this opinion, and resolved to maintain
the schism. A last attempt to save the unity of the German
church, in the event of its separation from that of Rome,
was made by Ferdinand, who convoked the spiritual elec-
toral princes, the archbishops and bishops, for that purpose to
Vienna, but the consideration with which he was compelled
to treat the pope rendered his efforts weak and ineffectual;
those made by Albert of Bavaria, independently of the Prot-
estants, in the council, for the abolition or restriction of the
WAR OF LIBERATION IX NETHERLANDS 931
most glaring abuses in the church, were more successful,
although the whole of his demands were not conceded. The
council clearly perceived the necessity of raising the fallen
credit of the clergy by the revival of morality. A number
of abuses in this respect, more particularly the sale of in-
dulgences, were abolished ; the local authority of the bishops
was restored, and the arbitrary power of the legates re-
stricted ; a catechism for the instruction of the Catholics was
adopted in imitation of that published by the Lutherans, and,
by the foundation of the Order of Jesus, talent and learning
were once more to be spread among the monastic orders.
But the council also drew the bonds of ancient dogmatism
closer than ever, by its confirmation of the supremacy of
the pope and of his infallibility in all ecclesiastical matters.
"Cursed be all heretics!" exclaimed the cardinal of Lorraine
at the conclusion of the council, which re-echoed his words
with thunders of applause, A.D. 1563. Pius IV., who closed
the council, and, by his reconciliation with the emperor and
with Spain, had weakened the opposition of the hierarchy
and strengthened that of the Protestants, was succeeded by
Pius V., a blind zealot, who castigated himself, and, like
Philip in Spain, tracked the heretics in the State of the
Church by means of the Inquisition, and condemned num-
bers to the stake.
The Protestants, blind to the unity and strength resulting
from the policy of the Catholics, weakened themselves more
and more by division. The Reformed Swiss were almost
more inimical to the Lutherans than the Catholics were, and
the general mania for disputation and theological obstinacy
produced divisions among the Reformers themselves. When,
hi 1562, Bullinger set up the Helvetic Confession, to which
the Pfalz also assented, in Zurich, Basel refused and main-
tained a particular Confession. A university, intended by
Ferdinand I. as a bulwark against the Reformation, was
founded by him at Besangon, then an imperial city, A.D. 1564.
Ferdinand expired, A.D. 1564, and was succeeded on the
imperial throne by his son, Maximilian II., who had gained
932 THE HISTORY OF GERMAXl'
great popularity throughout Germany by his inclination to
favor the Lutherans; but, unstable in character, he com-
mitted the fault of granting religious liberty to his subjects
without embracing Lutheranism himself, and consequently
exposed them to the most fearful persecution under his suc-
cessor. No one ever more convincingly proved how much
more half friendship is to be dreaded than utter enmity.
The empire was, at this period, externally at peace.
France, embroiled by the Catholics and Huguenots, was
governed by a female monster, the widow of Henry II., the
Italian, Catherine de Medicis, who, sunk in profligacy, and
the zealous champion of the ancient church, reigned in the
name of her sons, Francis II. and Charles IX. The Hugue-
nots turned for relief to Germany. In 1562, six thousand
Hessians, and, in 1567, the Pfalzgraf, John Casimir, with
seventeen thousand men, marched to their aid. The queen
was, on her side, assisted by the Swiss Catholics, and, to his
eternal disgrace, by John William, duke of Weimar, who
sent a reinforcement of five thousand men. John Casimir
reaped still deeper shame by his acceptation of a royal bribe,
and his consequent desertion of the Huguenots.
The Turks also left the empire undisturbed. They were
opposed in Hungary by an imperial army under Castaldo,
which, instead of defending, laid the country waste. The
monk, George Mertenhausen (Martinuzzi), was more influen-
tial by his intrigues. On the death of Zapolya, to whom he
had acted both as temporal and spiritual adviser, he found
himself at the head of affairs in Hungary, and proposed a
marriage, which never took place, between Zapolya's son,
John Sigismund, and one of Ferdinand's daughters. His
first condition was the emancipation of the peasantry by the
emperor, on the .grounds that "the Turks offered liberty to
the Hungarian serfs, and thereby induced numbers to apos-
tatize, and, in this apostacy from Christianity, those alone
who tyrannized over the peasantry were to blame." Ferdi-
nand naturally refused to listen to these remonstrances, and
George was shortly afterward accused of a treacherous corre-
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 933
spondence with the Turks, and was murdered by Castaldo's
braves. The pope, who had shortly before presented him, at
Ferdinand's request, with a cardinal's hat, merely observed
on this occasion, "He ought either to have been less strongly
recommended or not to have been assassinated." The Hun-
garians, roused to desperation by the tyranny of Castaldo,
and by the devastation committed by his soldiery, at length
attacked him, killed the greater part of his men, and de-
clared in favor of John Sigismund Zapolya. This demon-
stration was rendered still more effective by an invasion of
Caruiola by the Turks, A.D. 1559. Maximilian II., on his
accession to the throne, purchased peace by an annual trib-
ute of 300,000 guilders, and by the recognition of John Sigis-
mund as prince of Transylvania. The sultan infringed the
treaty; the peace of Germany, nevertheless, remained undis-
turbed, the gray-headed sultan expiring before the walls of
Sigeth, which were gallantly defended, to the immortal honor
of his nation, by the Hungarian, Nicolas Zriny. The Turks
withdrew, and were kept in check by Lazarus Schwendi, an
old and experienced general of the time of Charles V.
Maximilian, insensible to the advantages presented by
the peaceful state of the empire, and incapable of guiding
events, merely ventured upon a few timid steps that might
easily be retraced. After having, in 1565, invited Pius IY.
to abrogate the celibacy of the clergy, against which he pro-
tested, his next step should have been the prosecution of the
Reformation independent of the pope; instead of which, un-
conscious of the deadly suspicion and of the dark assassin
that dogged his every step, he used his utmost efforts to pre-
serve amicable relations with him, while, on the other hand,
he granted the free exercise of their religion to the Austrian
nobility, and to the cities of Linz, Steyer, Enns, "Wels, Frei-
stadt, Gmunden, and Vo3cklabruck, and tolerated the in-
troduction of the new Protestant church into Austria by
Chytraius von Rostock, A.D. 1568. He afterward allowed
the Bible to be translated for the use of the Slavonians
in Carniola, Carinthia, and Styria, and protected, even in
934 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Vienna, the Protestants as well as the Jesuits, on one occa-
sion bestowing a box on the ear on his son, afterward the
emperor Rudolf II., for having attacked a Protestant church
at the instigation of the Jesuits. Half measures of this de-
scription were exactly calculated to excite the revenge of the
young emperor on the decease of his father. Had Maximil-
ian embraced the Lutheran faith, or, at all events, extended
freedom in religious matters indifferently to every class, had
he sanctioned it by a solemn decree, and placed it under the
guarantee of the rest of Protestant German}", his concessions
would have met with a blessed result and have defied the
sovereign's caprice, instead of acting, as they eventually did,
as a curse upon those among his subjects, who, under his
protection, demonstrated their real opinions, and were, con-
sequently, marked as victims by his fanatical successor. He
also tolerated the grossest papacy in his own family. His
consort, Maria, the daughter of Charles V., entirely coin-
cided with the opinions of her brother Philip, and instilled
them into the mind of her son. His brothers, Ferdinand
and Charles, were zealous disciples of the Jesuits. Maximil-
ian also gave his daughters in marriage to the most blood-
thirsty persecutors of the heretics in Europe, Anna to Philip
II. of Spain, Elisabeth to Charles IX. of France, who, on
St. Bartholomew's night, aided with his own hand in the
assassination of the Huguenots, who had been treacherously
invited by him to Paris. This event filled Maximilian with
horror; he, nevertheless, neglected to guard his wretched
subjects from the far worse fate that awaited them during
the thirty years' war. For the sake of treating each party
with equal toleration, he allowed the Jesuits, during a period
when hatred was rife in every heart, full liberty of action,
and thus encouraged a sect, which, solely studious of evil,
and animated by the most implacable revenge, shortly repaid
his toleration with poison.
A female member of the imperial family was also an ob-
ject of the hatred of the Jesuits. During the reign of Ferdi-
nand I., his son, Ferdinand of the Tyrol, became enamored
WAR OP LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 935
of the daughter of an Augsburg citizen, Philippina Welser,
the most beautiful maiden of her time, whom he secretly
married. Philippina went to the imperial court, and, throw-
ing herself under a feigned name at the emperor's feet, peti-
tioned him to guard her from the danger with which she was
threatened in case her marriage was discovered by an intol-
erant father-in-law. Ferdinand, moved by her beauty, raised
her and promised to plead in her favor. Upon this Philippina
discovered the truth, and the emperor, touched to the heart,
forgave his son. The pope confirmed the marriage, and the
happy pair spent a life of delight at the castle of Ambras, in
the Tyrol, not far from Innsbruck, until it was poisoned by
the venom instilled by the Jesuits. Their children were
created Margraves of Burgau. The family became extinct
in 1618.
The Protestants also allowed the opportunity offered to
them by the emperor to pass unheeded, and, although they
received a great accession hi number, sank, from want of
unity, in real power and influence. The rest of the German
princes, Charles and Ernest of Baden, and Julius of Bruns-
wick-Wolf enbuttel, the son of Henry the Wild, embraced
Lutheranism. Austria, Bavaria, Lorraine, and Juliers re-
mained Catholic. The Reformers were devoid of union and
energy, and oppressed by a sense of having abused and des-
ecrated, instead of having rigidly prosecuted, the Reforma-
tion. Was their present condition the fitting result of a
religious emancipation, or worthy of the sacred blood that
had been shed in the cause? Instead of one pope, the Prot-
estants were oppressed by a number, each of the princes as-
cribing that authority to himself ; and instead of the Jesuits
they had court chaplains and superintendents-general, who,
their equals in venom, despised no means, however base, by
which their aim might be attained. A new species of bar-
barism had found admittance into the Protestant courts and
universities. The Lutheran chaplains shared their influence
over the princes with mistresses, boon companions, astrolo-
gers, alchemists, and Jews. The Protestant princes, ren-
936 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
dered, by the treaty of Augsburg, unlimited dictators in
matters of faith within their territories, had lost all sense
of shame. Philip of Hesse married two wives. Branden-
burg and pious Saxony yielded to temptation. Surrounded
by coarse grooms, equerries, court fools of obscene wit, and
misshapen dwarfs, the princes emulated each other in drunk-
enness, an amusement that entirely replaced the noble and
gallant tournament of earlier times. Almost every German
court was addicted to this bestial vice. Among others, the
ancient house of Piast in Silesia was utterly ruined by it.
Even Louis of Wurtemberg, whose virtues rendered him the
darling of his people, was continually in a state of drunken-
ness. This vice and that of swearing even became a subject
of discussion in the diet of the empire, A.D. 1577, when it
was decreed, "That all electoral princes, nobles, and Estates
should avoid intemperate drinking as an example to their
subjects." The chase was also followed to excess. The
game was strictly preserved, and, during the hunt, the serfs
were compelled to aid in demolishing their own cornfields.
The Jews and alchemists, whom it became the fashion to
have at court, were by no means a slight evil, all of them re-
quiring gold. Astrology would have been a harmless amuse-
ment had not its professors taken advantage of the ignorance
and superstition of the times. False representations of the
secret powers of nature and of the devil led to the belief in
witchcraft and to the bloody persecution of its supposed
agents. Luther's belief in the agency of the devil had nat-
urally filled the minds of his followers with superstitious
fears. Julius, duke of Brunswick, embraced the Reforma-
tion, lived in harmony with his provincial Estates, founded
the university of Helmstaedt, and, during a long peace,
raised his country to a high degree of prosperity, but had
such an irresistible mania for burning witches that the
blackened stakes near "Wolfenbuttel resembled a wood. The
consort of Duke Eric the younger was compelled to fly for
safety to her brother Augustus of Saxony, Julius having,
probably from interested motives, accused her of witchcraft.
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 937
The Ascanian family of Lauenburg was sunk in vice.
The same license continued from one generation to another;
the country was deeply in debt, and how, under these cir-
cumstances, the cujus regio was maintained may easily be
conceived. The Protestant clergy of this duchy were pro-
verbial for ignorance, license, and immorality.
The imperial court at Vienna offered, by its dignity and
morality, a bright contrast to the majority of the Protestant
courts, whose bad example was, nevertheless, followed by
many of the Catholic princes, who, without taking part in
the Reformation, had thereby acquired greater independence.
CXCIX. Contests Between the Lutheran Church and
the Princes
THE whole Reformation was a triumph of temporal over
spiritual power. Luther himself, in order to avoid anarchy,
had placed all the power in the hands of the princes. The
memory of the ancient hierarchy had, however, not been
consigned to oblivion, and the new passions roused by the
Reformation constantly gave the preachers an influence of
which they well knew how to avail themselves in opposition
to the weaker princes. Had they not been defeated by their
own want of union, they might, at all events, have rendered
the triumph of the temporal power less easy.
The strict Lutherans, by whom the least tenable and
least practical theses of Luther, which fostered disunion
among the Reformers, were rigidly defended against the
attacks of the Catholics, the Zwinglians, and the Calvinists,
had fixed themselves at Jena under the youthful John Fred-
erick, the son of the expelled elector of like name. The
Illyrian, Flacius, the spiritual head of this university, was
an energetic but narrow-minded man, by whom Luther's
doctrine concerning original sin was so extremely exagger-
ated that he declared "original sin not only innate in man,
but his very essence, and that he was thoroughly bad; an
image, not of God, but of the devil." He was, it is true,
938 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
driven to this extreme by the exaggerated assertions of Agric-
ola at Berlin, and of Osiander at Koenigsberg, who main-
tained that man had the privilege, when once touched by
grace, of being no longer subject to sin, whatever his actions
might be. Between these two extremes stood the Witten-
berg party under the aged and gentle-minded Melancthon,
and that of Tubingen under the learned Brenz, who was
shortly to be followed by the diplomatizing Jacob Andrea.
The relation in which these theological parties stood to
temporal politics was extremely simple. The doctrine of
grace taught by Agricola and Osiander placed man in a high
position, flattered him, facilitated the forgiveness and also
the commission of sin by the doctrine of justification, and
therefore exactly suited the licentious princes. The founders
of this doctrine also manifested the utmost servility in the
external observances of the church, and conceded everything
to their sovereign. This sect would have triumphed over
the more gloomy tenets of the Flacians, who, inflexible in
the maintenance of external observances, bade defiance to
the princes, had it not in its pure theological dogma more
resembled Calvinism than genuine Lutheranism. The ma-
jority of the princes, decidedly biassed against Calvinism on
account of its republican tendency, preferred Lutheranism
and the hateful contest with its theologians.
John Frederick and his chancellor, Briick, actuated by
hereditary hatred of the elector, Augustus, countenanced
the attacks of the theologians of Jena upon those of Witten-
berg. The Interim furnished Flacius with an opportunity
for defending the Adiaphora (sacrificed by the followers of
Melancthon at Wittenberg as subordinate to the Interim),
which he maintained as essential ; and for carrying on a dis-
pute concerning the efficacy of good works, which he totally
rejected and declared to be a doctrine of destruction. The
most criminal wretch, possessing faith, was, according to
him, to be preferred before the most virtuous unbeliever.
An antagonist appearing at Jena in the person of Strigel, a
disciple of Melancthon, a Philipist, supported by Hugel, he
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 939
caused them both to be thrown into prison. A clever phy-
sician, named Schroeter, however, pointing out to the duke
"the advantage of making use of the clergy instead of al-
lowing them to make use of him," he excluded the whole
of the professors of Jena from the consistory, which he
composed of laymen. In the midst of these disorders,
Melancthon, who had long sighed for relief from ecclesi-
astical disputes, found peace in the grave, A.D. 1559. The
Flacians triumphantly beheld the elector's conciliatory pro-
posals scornfully rejected by John Frederick, but, deceived
by the belief of their being the cause, openly rebelling against
the ducal mandate by which they were deprived of all eccle-
siastical authority, they were deposed and expelled the coun-
try, A.D. 1562. Flacius, cruelly persecuted by his former
pupils, especially by the morose Heshusius, died in misery
at Frankfort on the Maine, A.D. 1575.
The Tubingen party, in 1558, made the extraordinary
proposition of placing a superintendent- general, consequent-
ly a Protestant pope, over the whole of the new church;
this proposition, however, failed, the princes having no in-
clination to render themselves once more subordinate to an
ecclesiastic.
Albert, duke of Prussia, was severely chastised for the
foundation of the university of Ingolstadt in 1546 — notwith-
standing the comfortable doctrine of his favorite, Osiander
— by the jealousy of the professors, some of whom, as follow-
ers of Flacius, others at the instigation of the ancient aris-
tocracy of the Teutonic Order, threw themselves, headed by
Mcerlin, into the opposition, and roused the whole country
against the talented and courtly Osiander. On his sudden
death in 1552 the duke published a mandate ordaining peace.
Moerlin bade him defiance, was deposed, and fled to Bruns-
wick; upon which the nobility, cities, and clergy confeder-
ated, and assumed such a threatening aspect that all the
Osiandrists quitted the country. Skalich, a Croatian by
birth, the duke's privy councillor, fled. The court chap-
lain, Funk, and some of the councillors, deeming them-
D40 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
selves in security, remained. Moerlin's adherents, however,
compelled the duke to discharge his mercenaries, the duchess
to retract her former declaration in Osiander's favor, and
seized the persons of the councillors in the presence of their
sovereign. Horst, one of his favorites, embraced the knees
of his master, who wept in his helplessness. Horst, Funk,
and others were beheaded, and the duke was compelled to
recall Mcerlin, A.D. 1566, whose insolence broke the heart of
the aged duke and duchess, both of whom expired on the
same day, A.D. 1568. Their son, Albert Frederick, a boy
fifteen years of age, was driven insane by the treatment he
received from Moerlin and the nobility. Mcerlin died, A.D.
1571, and bequeathed his office to Heshusius, a man of con-
genial character, possessing all the instincts of the dog ex-
cept his fidelity. Such were the horrid natures produced
by the passions of the age !
The feud carried on by John Frederick against Augustus,
elector of Saxony, terminated in blood. John Frederick, im-
plicated in an attempt made by a Franconian noble, William
von Grumbach, to revive Sickin gen's project for the down-
fall of the princes, was put with him under the ban of the
empire, which Augustus executed upon him. John Fred-
erick was taken prisoner in Gotha, borne in triumph to
Vienna, and imprisoned for life at Neustadt. Grumbach
and Briick were quartered, and their adherents hanged and
executed. On the death of John William, John Frederick's
brother, who died A.D. 1573, his infant children fell under
the guardianship of the elector, Augustus, who expelled all
the Flacian preachers, one hundred and eleven in number,
from Weimar, and reduced them to beggary. The Philip-
ists triumphed. Their leader, Peucer, Melancthon's son-in-
law, the elector's private physician, was in great favor at
court. Emboldened by success, they attempted to promul-
gate their tenets, in which they approached those of the Cal-
vinists, and published anew catechism in 1571, which aroused
the suspicion of Julius of Brunswick, who warned the elector
against his crypto- calvinistic clergy. Augustus instantly con-
WAS OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 941
voked his clergy, and a satisfactory explanation took place;
but, in 1574, influenced by his consort, Anna, a Danish
princess, who ascribed the death of their infant son to the
fact of his having been held at the font by Peucer, the
crypto-calvinist, he threw both him and his adherents, on a
supposition of treachery, into prison, assembled the whole
of the clergy at Torgau, and compelled them to retract the
tenets they had so long defended in the pulpit and by the
press. Six of their number alone, Riidiger, Crell, Wiede-
bram, Cruciger, Pegel, and Moller, refused obedience to the
electoral mandate, and were sent into banishment. Peucer
remained for twelve years in a narrow, unwholesome dun-
geon, without books or writing implements.
The fanaticism with which the Calvinists were persecuted
was increased by other causes. Their tenets being embraced
by Frederick, elector of the Pfalz, by whom the French
Huguenot refugees were protected, a confederacy was
formed against him by Christopher, duke of Wurtemberg,
Wolfgang, duke of Pfalz-Neuburg, and Charles, duke of
Baden. Frederick, rendered more obstinate by opposition,
published, A.D. 1563, the notorious Heidelberg Catechism as
form of belief, the most severe bull in condemnation of secta-
rians called forth by the Reformation, and the dispute would
have taken a serious turn had not the emperor, Maximilian
II., avoided touching upon every fresh ecclesiastical innova-
tion at the diet held at Augsburg, A.D. 1566. Frederick re-
mained isolated, and maintained Calvinism throughout his
dominions with extreme severity. A Socinian clergyman,
Sylvan, a disciple of the Pole, Socin, who denied the Trin-
ity, and merely admitted one person in the Godhead, was,
by his orders, beheaded at Heidelberg, A.D. 1572. Frederick
died A.D. 1576. His son, Louis, a zealous Lutheran, de-
stroyed his father's work. On entering Heidelberg he or-
dered all among his subjects who were not Lutheran to quit
the city, and those among the Calvinistic preachers who re-
fused to recant were expelled the country.
The various parties were now sufficiently chastised, and
942 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
the clergy demoralized, for the safe publication of a fresh
formula or concordat by the Lutheran princes. In Branden-
burg the clergy had been taught blind submission to the
court by Agricola, and, in 1571, the elector, John George,
placed the consistory under the presidency of a layman,
Chemnitz. Augustus, elector of Saxony, found a servile
tool for a similar purpose in Selneccer, who, with Andrea
of Wurtemberg, the son of a smith of Waiblingen, com-
pleted the triumvirate, who, in the name of the Lutherans
of Southern Germany, drew up the formula, A.D. 1577, with-
out the convocation of a synod, in the monastery of Bergen,
and imposed it upon the whole of the Lutheran world. "Wil-
liam of Hesse, whose father, Philip, had died, laden with
years, in 1567, Pomerania, Holstein, Anhalt, and some of
the cities, alone protested against it. The people obeyed.
Harmony had existed among the Reformers since the
covenant — by which all essential differences were smoothed
down — entered into, A.D. 1563, by the obstinate elector of
the Pfalz and Bullinger, Zwingli's successor in Zurich.
Basel alone maintained a separate confession between Luther-
anism and Zwingliism. The disputes among the Reformers,
although less important than those among the Lutherans,
nevertheless equalled them in virulence.
CO. Revolt in the Netherlands — The Geuses
CHARLES V. had assiduously endeavored to round off the
Netherlands, and to render them a bulwark against France
and the Protestants. Guelders resisted the Habsburg with
the greatest obstinacy. ' The aged and childless duke, Charles,
was compelled by the Estates, when on his deathbed, to name
William, duke of Juliers, his successor, in preference to the
Habsburg. Ghent also revolted against the enormous taxes
1 Hoog van moed,
Klein van goed,
Een Zwaard in de hand
1st wapen van Gelderland.
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 943
imposed by the emperor, who appeared, A.D. 1514, in person
before the gates, forced the citizens to submit, and beheaded
twenty of the principal townsmen. Guelders was also re-
duced, and William of Juliers was compelled to renounce
his claim in favor of the Habsburg.
The emperor vainly attempted to keep the Netherlands
free from heresy by the publication of the cruel Placates.
Tyranny merely rendered zeal extravagant, and gave rise to
secret sectarianism. In 1546, a certain Loy was executed
for promulgating the extraordinary doctrine of the existing
world being hell. From Basel, his place of refuge, the in-
fluence of David Joris, and of another Anabaptist, Menno
Simonis, greatly spread. The Mennonites were distinguished
from the rest of the Anabaptists by their gentleness and love
of peace, which caused their renunciation of the use of arms.
The French Calvinists, who had found their way into Flan-
ders, were, however, far more intractable and bold. Such
numbers were thrown into prison and sentenced to the stake
that the mercantile class addressed a petition to the emperor,
representing the injury thereby inflicted on industry and com-
merce. Material interests, nevertheless, predominated to
such a degree in the Netherlands that the victims of the
Placates, numerous as they were, excited little attention
among the mass of the population, and amid the immense
press of business.1 Charles drew large sums of money from
the Netherlands, which he at the same time provided with
every means for the acquisition of wealth. Commerce and
manufactures flourished. He also rendered himself ex-
tremely popular by his constant use of his native tongue,
Flemish, his adoption of that dress, and the favor he showed
to his countrymen even in foreign service. His father, Maxi-
milian, had greatly contributed to bring Low Dutch, which
1 The cities were at the height of their prosperity; hence the epithets, Brus-
sels the Noble, Ghent the Great, Mechlin the Beautiful, Namur the Strong.
Antwerp the Rich, Louvain the "Wise (on account of her university).
"Nobilibus Bruxella viris, Antwerpia nummis,
Gandavura laqueis, formosis Brugga puellis,
Lovanium doctis, gaudet Mechlinia stultis."
944 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
under the Burgundian rule had ceded to French, into general
use. Under the Habsburgs the literature of the Nether-
lands was greatly fostered, and chambers of rhetoric were
formed in all the cities. Charles V., a thorough Fleming
at heart, did still more for the country, notwithstanding
which, he abandoned his Germanic system, and sacrificed
the fine provinces of the Netherlands to the stranger.
The petty policy with which this monarch coquetted dur-
ing his long reign, with which he embarrassed instead of
smoothing affairs, the great cunning and power with which
he executed the most untoward and the most useless projects,
was not contradicted by his ill-starred will, by which he arbi-
trarily bestowed the Netherlands on his son, Philip II. of
Spain, deprived Germany of her finest province, and laid a
heavy burden upon Spain. By it the natural position of the
nations in regard to one another was disturbed and an artifi-
cial connection created, the dissolution of which was to cost
torrents of blood.
Philip II. at first received the most brilliant proofs of the
fidelity of the Netherlands by their opposition to the French,
who had renewed the war, and were again aided by the
Swiss. Their general, Count Egmont, victorious at St.
Quentin and Gravelines, concluded a favorable peace at
Cambresis, A.D. 1559, which restored Dunkirk — that, A.D.
1540, had been taken by the English, who, A.D. 1558, had
been deprived of it by the French — to Philip. The breast
of this monarch, nevertheless, remained impervious to grati-
tude. During the battle of St. Quentin, while others fought
for him, he remained upon his knees, and vowed, were he
victorious, to raise a splendid church in honor of St. Lau-
rence, and, in performance of this vow, erected, in the vi-
cinity of Madrid, the famous monastery of the Escurial, on
which he expended all the treasures of Spain. Being over-
taken by a storm during a sea voyage, he took a solemn
oath, in case of safety, to exterminate all the heretics in
honor of God, and, in fulfilment of this vow, spilled torrents
of the blood of his subjects with the most phlegmatic indiffer-
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 945
ence. His principal occupation consisted of repose in soli-
tary chambers. The gloom of the Escurial formed his ideal
of happiness. The bustle of public life, the expression of the
popular will, were equally obnoxious to him. He therefore
endeavored to maintain tranquillity by enforcing blind obedi-
ence or by death. l
Philip, on his departure from Spain, left his half-sister,
a natural daughter of Charles V., Margaret of Parma, a
woman of masculine appearance, stadtholderess of the Neth-
erlands, and placed near her person the Cardinal Granvella,
a man of acute and energetic mind, blindly devoted to his
service. This appointment greatly offended the Dutch, who,
instead of receiving a native stadtholder, either the Prince
of Orange or Count Egmont, in compliance with their wishes,
beheld a base-born stranger at the head of the government.
Philip, instead of making use of the nobility against the in-
ferior classes, by this step impolitically roused their anger;
suspicious and wayward, he preferred a throne secured by
violence to one, like that of his father, ill-sustained by in-
trigue. With the view of effectually checking the progress
of heresy, he decreed that the four bishoprics, until now ex-
isting in the Netherlands, should be increased to seventeen.
This unconstitutional decree gave general discontent ; to the
nobility, whose influence was necessarily diminished by the
appointment of an additional number of churchmen; to
the people, on account of their secret inclination to and
recognition of the tenets of the Reformed Church; and to
the clergy, whose ancient possessions were thus arbitrarily
partitioned among a number of newcomers. The representa-
tions made by every class were disregarded ; Granvella en-
forced the execution of the decree, erected the new bishop-
rics, and commenced a bitter persecution of the heretics.
The Dutch, nevertheless, did not overstep the bounds of
1 The best portraits of this monarch, particularly those at Naples, bear by
no means a gloomy or austere expression, but rather one of cool impudence.
The features are of a common, nay, almost knavish cast.
GERMANY. VOL. HI.— 2
946 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
obedience, but revenged tbemselves on the cardinal by open
mockery and the publication of caricatures,1 which rendered
the country hateful to him, and he took his departure, A.D.
1564.
The Netherlands had patiently permitted the imposition
of the useless bishoprics, the doubly severe Placates, the new
resolutions of the council of Trent, and would indubitably
have remained tranquil but for the attempt made to intro-
duce the Inquisition by Philip, which at once raised a serious
opposition. The very name of this institution was not heard
without a shudder. The manner in which it had in America
sacrificed thousands of Indians in bloody holocaust to the
Christian idols of Spain, and the autos-de-fe, great execu-
tional festivals, during which thousands of heretics were
burned alive, and over which the king, in his royal robes,
presided, were still fresh hi men's minds. "We are no stu-
pid Mexicans," exclaimed the Dutch, "we will maintain our
ancient rights!" The nobles signed the compromise, a formal
protest against the Inquisition, which they laid in the form
of a petition before the regent, A.D. 1566. The procession,
headed by Count de Brederode, went on foot and by two and
two to the palace. Count de Barlaimont, a zealous royalist,
on viewing their approach, said jeeringly, "Ce n'est qu'un
tas de gueux!" Margaret gave them a friendly reception,
but, incapable of acting in this affair without authority from
the king, promised to inform him of their request. Barlai-
mont's remark being afterward repeated at a banquet at-
tended by the nobility, Brederode good-humoredly sent a
beggar's wallet and a wooden goblet round the table with
the toast, "Vivent les gueux!" The name was henceforth
adopted by the faction.
The nobles, offended at the contemptuous silence with
which their petition was treated by the king, now ventured
1 They imitated his cardinal's hat with a fool's cap ; represented him under
the form of a hen, brooding over seventeen eggs, and hatching bishops. Eg-
mont's servants, even at that time, wore a bundle of arrows embroidered on their
sleeves, a symbol of union, afterward adopted as the arms of Holland.
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 947
to prescribe a term for the reception of his reply. A great
popular tumult, in which the nobles were partially impli-
cated, broke out simultaneously. The captive heretics were
released by force, the churches and monasteries were stormed,
and all the pictures, to the irreparable injury of native art,
destroyed. The nobles were, however, finally constrained by
the stadtholderess to come to terms. The Calvinists in Va-
lenciennes and Tournay alone made an obstinate defence,
but were compelled to yield. Egmont, anxious for the main-
tenance of tranquillity and for the continuance of the royal
favor, acted with great severity.
Philip, without either ratifying or declaring against the
terms of peace, proclaimed a general amnesty, and announced
his speedy arrival in the Netherlands, and his desire to fulfil
the wishes of his people. Lulled suspicion was, however,
speedily reawakened by the news of the approach, not of the
king, but of his ferocious commander-in-chief, the duke of
Alba, at the head of a powerful force. The more spirited
among the nobles advised instant recourse to arms, and the
defence of the frontier against the approaching army, but
were overruled by the moderate party, who hesitated to rebel
again&t a monarch whose intentions were merely suspected.
"William of Orange, count of Nassau, the wealthy possessor
of Chalons-Orange, stadtholuer of Holland, Seeland, and
Utrecht, surnamed the Silent, on account of his reserve,
whose talents had endeared him to Charles V., vainly warned
his friends of the danger they incurred. The Counts Egmont
and Horn remained incredulous, and William, unable to per-
suade the States to make a resolute opposition before the
mask was openly dropped by the king, resolved to secure his
safety by flight. On taking leave of Egmont he said, "I fear
you will be the first over whose corpse the Spaniards will
march!" Some of the nobles mockingly calling after him
as he turned away, "Adieu, Prince Lackland!" he rejoined,
"Adieu, headless sirs!" Numerous adherents to the new
faith and wealthy manufacturers, alarmed at the threaten-
ing aspect of affairs, quitted the country. The majority
948 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
withdrew to England.1 One hundred thousand men, more
than would have sufficed for the defence of the country
against the Spanish army, had the States been resolute and
united, emigrated. Brederode also fled, and died shortly
afterward in exile.
Alba, a monster both in body and mind, entered Brussels
in the summer of 1567, at the head of a picked force of
twelve thousand Spaniards and a body of German troops
which he raised on his march from Milan. He was received
with a death-like silence. Fear had seized every heart. He
commenced by displaying the greatest mildness, received
Egmont and the rest of the nobles with open arms and over-
whelmed them with civility, called no one to account, took
no step without convoking the Estates, and inspired the
Dutch with such confidence that numbers of the more timid,
who had withdrawn, were induced to quit their strongholds
and to return to Brussels. For three weeks the same part
was enacted; the certainty of the intended absence of the
Prince of Orange then caused him to throw off the mask,
and, inviting the Counts Egmont and Horn to a conference,
he unexpectedly placed them under arrest, September 9, 1567,
and from this moment cast away the scabbard to bathe his
sword in the blood of the unsuspecting Dutch.
The regent, Margaret, was, under pretext of a secret order
from the king, sent out of the country, and a criminal court,
which passed judgment upon all the Dutch, who confessed
heretical tenets, had signed the compromise, or been impli-
cated in the disturbances, was appointed. This court was
solely composed of Spaniards, to whom some Dutch traitors,
for instance, Hessels and the Count de Barlaimont, served
as informers. The confiscation of property was the principal
1 They were rejected by the Hanse towns from an old sentiment of jealousy,
and on account of their Calvinistic tenets. England, more clear-sighted, gave
the industrious and wealthy emigrants a warm reception. It was in this manner
that William Curten of Flanders carried his art and his capital to England, to
whose monarch he lent enormous sums ; he also settled a colony of eighteen
thousand men in the island of Barbadoes, and opened the trade between England
and China. He died poor, but his grandson presented a number of valuable an-
tiques and a collection of natural history to the British Museum.
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 949
purpose for which this court was instituted, and numerous
wealthy proprietors were accused and beheaded, though
guiltless of offence. The secret of their hidden treasures
was extorted by the application of the most horrid tortures,
after which the unhappy victims were delivered over to the
executioner. Blood flowed in torrents, Egmont and Horn
were executed, A.D. 1568, and two noble Dutchmen, Bergen
and Montmorency-Montigny, sent as ambassadors to Madrid,
were by Philip's command put to death, the one by poison,
the other in his secret dungeon.
CCI. William of Orange
WILLIAM had fled into Germany to his brother, John the
Elder of Nassau-Dillenburg, one of the noblest men of his
day, who was unfortunately sovereign over merely a petty
territory. He was the first who, from feelings of humanity
and respect for his fellow Christians, abolished bond-service.
He also engaged with his whole forces in the Dutch cause,
and aided "William, who found no sympathy among the Lu-
theran princes, to levy troops. The high Gimsburg, in the
solitary forests, was the spot where the leaders secretly met.
They succeeded in raising four small bodies of troops, com-
posed of exiles, friends of liberty, and Huguenots. John,
William, and their younger brothers, Louis, Adolf, and
Henry, generously mortgaged the whole of their posses-
sions, and entered the Netherlands with their united forces.1
Alba instantly seized William's son, Philip William, a stu-
dent at Louvain, and sent him a prisoner to Spain. The
struggle commenced, A.D. 1568. The princes of Nassau
gained a victory at Heiligerlee, which cost Adolf his life,
but the Spaniards were victorious at Groningen, where Louis
lost six thousand men, and narrowly escaped by swimming.
1 Four of these noble -spirited brethren shed their life-blood in the cause of
the freedom of conscience and of the independence of the Netherlands, Adolf,
Louis, and Henry falling on the battlefield, William by the hand of the assassin.
John was for some time stadtholder of Guelders, but returned to his native
Nassau.
950 THE HISTORY OF GERMAN}
A merely desultory warfare was afterward carried on by
petty bands in the forests (the Bush or Wood Geuses), or
on the sea, by the "Water Geuses. Hermann de Ruyter, the
grazier, boldly seized the castle of Lcewenstein, which he
blew up when in danger of falling again into the hands of
the Spanish.
There being nothing more to confiscate, Alba imposed a
tax, first of the hundredth, then of the tenth, and afterward
of the twentieth penny. He boasted that he could extract
more gold from the Netherlands than from Peru, and, never-
theless, withheld the pay from his soldiery in order to incite
them still more to pillage. Close to Antwerp he erected his
principal fortress, the celebrated citadel, from which he com-
manded the finest city in the Netherlands, the navigation of
the Scheldt, Holland on one side, and Flanders on the other.
It was here that he caused a monument, formed of the guns
he had captured, to be raised in his honor during his life-
time. The pope, in order to reward his services and to en-
courage his persecution of the heretics, sent him a consecrated
sword. The number of victims executed at his command
amounted to eighteen thousand six hundred ; putrid carcasses
on gallows and wheels infested all the country roads. The
appearance of a new and enormous star (in Cassiopeia),
which for more than a year remained motionless and then
disappeared, filling the whole of Europe with terror and as-
tonishment, and a dreadful flood on the coast of Friesland,
by which twenty thousand men were carried away, added to
the general misery. On the latter occasion, A.D. 1572, the
Spanish stadtholder, Billy, gave a noble example by the erec-
tion of excellent dikes, which found many imitators, and his
memory is still venerated on the coasts of the Northern
Ocean. Happy would it have been for Germany had all
her enemies resembled him!
It was not until 1572 that William regained sufficient
strength to retake the field. Men were not wanting, but
they were ill-provided with arms, and too undisciplined to
stand against the veteran troops of the duke. By sea alone
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 951
was success probable. "William von der Mark, Count von
Lumay, Egmont's friend, who had vowed neither to comb
nor cut his hair until he had revenged his death, a descend-
ant of the celebrated Boar of Ardennes, quitted the forests
for the sea, captured the richly-freighted Spanish ships, and
took the town of Briel by a ruse de guerre. Alba, on learn-
ing this event, remarked with habitual contempt, "wo es
nada" (it is nothing). These words and a pair of spectacles
(Brille, Briel) were placed by the Geuses on their banners.
No sooner had a fortified city fallen into their hands than the
courage of the Dutch revived. The citizens of Vliessingen,
animated by the public admonitions of their pastor, rebelled,
put the Spaniards, who had laid the foundation of another
citadel commanding the town, to death, and hanged the
architect, Pacieco. The whole of Holland followed their
example. The Spaniards were everywhere slain or expelled,
and were only able to keep their footing in Middelburg.
"William of Orange had again raised an army in Ger-
many, and his brother Louis another hi France. The faith-
less French court offered its aid on condition of receiving the
southern provinces, while "William was to retain those to
the north. Louis consented, and invaded the Hennegau,
while William entered Brabant; but this negotiation had
been merely entered into by the Catholic party in France,
for the purpose of attracting the Huguenots to Paris, where
they were assassinated. The news of the tragedy enacted
on the night of St. Bartholomew opened the eyes of the
princes of Nassau to the treachery of France, and they
hastily withdrew their troops. A plot laid for William's
capture at Mons was frustrated by the fidelity of a small
dog belonging to him, which is still to be seen sculptured
on his tomb.
Alba, burning with revenge, now marched in person upon
Mechlin, where he plundered the city and put all the inhabi-
tants to the sword, while his son, Frederick, committed still
more fearful atrocities at Zutphen. Holland was, however,
destined to bear the severest punishment. Frederick was
952 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
despatched thither with orders to spare neither age nor sex.
The whole of the inhabitants of Naarden, contrary to the
terms of capitulation, were treacherously butchered. Haar-
lem was gallantly defended by her citizens and by a troop of
three hundred women, under the widow Kenan Hasselaar,
during the whole of the winter. "William von der Mark and
William of Orange vainly attempted to raise the siege, and
the town was at length compelled by famine to capitulate,
A.D. 1573. Frederick had lost ten thousand of his men. The
inhabitants were sent to the block, and when the headsmen
were unable from fatigue to continue their office, the remain-
ing victims, three hundred excepted, were tied back to back
and thrown into the sea. Frederick then marched upon Alt-
maar, which was so desperately defended by the inhabitants,
both male and female, that one thousand of his men, and
some of the three hundred Haarlemites, fell in the trenches,
and he was compelled to withdraw. The Water Geuses were
at the same time victorious in a naval engagement, in which
thirty of the great Spanish ships were beaten, and the enor-
mous admiral's ship, the Inquisition, and six others, taken
by twenty-four of the small Dutch vessels. A Spanish fleet
of fifty-four ships was afterward beaten, and a rich convoy
of merchantmen taken. The captured vessels were manned
with Dutchmen,' and Holland ere long possessed a fine fleet
of one hundred and fifty sail, which effectually kept the
Spaniards at bay.
The Spanish court at length perceived the folly of its
cruelty and severity. Alba was recalled, and replaced by
Requesens, A.D. 1574, who sought by gentleness and mild-
ness to restore tranquillity. The Dutch, however, no longer
trusted to Spanish promises, and continued to carry on war.
Middelburg fell into their hands, and a Spanish fleet, hasten-
ing to the relief of that town, was annihilated. Success,
nevertheless, varied. During the same year, the princes
were beaten in an open engagement on the Mookerheath
near Nimwegen, where Louis and Henry fell, covered with
glory. Requesens pacified his mutinous soldiers, who de-
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 953
manded their pay, with a promise of the plunder of the rich
city of Leyden, to which Valdez suddenly laid siege before
it could provide itself with provisions. The city, surrounded
by sixty-two Spanish forts, quickly fell a prey1 to famine, the
Dutch land army had been dispersed, and the ships of the
Water Geuses were unavailable. In this distress, William's
advice to cut the dikes and to flood the country was eagerly
put into practice. "Better to spoil the land than to lose it,"
exclaimed the patriotic people. The sea poured rapidly over
the fields and villages, bearing onward the ships of the gal-
lant Geuses. It was, nevertheless, found impossible to reach
the still distant walls of Leyden, which were viewed with
bitter rage by the rough and weather-beaten skippers, on
whose broad-brimmed hats was worn a half -moon with the
inscription, "Liever turcx dan pausch," "Better Turkish
than popish." Boisot and Adrian Wilhelmssen headed the
expedition. The most profound misery reigned, meanwhile,
in the city. Six thousand of the inhabitants had already
died of hunger. The prayers of the wretched survivors were
at length heard. A sea-breeze sprang up. The water, im-
pelled by the northeast wind, gradually rose, filled the
trenches of the Spaniards, who sought safety in flight, and
reached the city walls, bearing on its broad surface the boats
of the brave Geuses, who, after distributing bread and fish
to the famishing citizens collected on the walls, went in pur-
suit of the Spaniards, of whom one thousand five hundred
were drowned or slain, A.D. 1575. The university at Leyden
was erected in memory of the persevering fidelity of the in-
habitants, and in compensation for their losses. The anni-
versary of this glorious day is still kept there as a festival.
Holland was henceforth free. William was elected stadt-
holder by the people, but still in the name of their obnoxious
monarch, and the Calvinistic tenets and form of service were
re-established, to the exclusion of those of the Catholics and
Lutherans. As early as 1574, the Reformed preachers had,
in the midst of danger, opened their first church assembly at
Dordrecht. The cruelties practiced by the Catholics were
954 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
equalled by those inflicted on the opposing party by the
Reformers. William of Orange endeavored to repress these
excesses, threw William von der Mark, his lawless rival, into
prison, where ke shortly afterward died, it is said, by poison,
and occupied the wild soldiery, during the short peace that
ensued, in the re-erection of the dikes torn down in defence
of Leyden. The most horrid atrocities were, nevertheless,
perpetrated by Sonoi, by whom the few Catholics remaining
in Holland were exterminated, A.D. 1577. A violent com-
motion also took place in Utrecht, but ceased on the death
of the last of her archbishops, Frederick Schenk (cupbearer)
von Tautenburg, A.D. 1580.
Spain remained tranquil. The armies and fleets furnished
by Philip had cost him such enormous sums that the state
was made bankrupt by the fall in the revenue. Requesens,
who was neither able nor willing to take any decisive step,
suddenly expired, A.D. 1576. His soldiery, unpaid and im-
patient of restraint, now gave way to the most unbridled
license, dispersed over Flanders, sacked one hundred and
twenty villages, and, driving in their van numbers of cap-
tive women and girls, approached the gates of Maestricht,
where, the citizens refusing to fire upon the helpless crowd,
the Spaniards forced their way into the city, where they prac-
ticed every variety of crime. This event caused the long-
suppressed wrath of the citizens of Ghent to explode. The
German citizens of this town, who favored the tenets of the
Reformers, had unresistingly submitted to Alba, and, al-
though the gallows had remained standing for years in each
of the city squares, and numbers of Iconoclasts, Reformed
preachers, and Geuses had been hanged, beheaded, and
burned, Ghent had suffered comparatively less than her
sister cities. The rumored advance of the Spanish troops
roused the whole of the inhabitants, the men flew to arms,
the women and children lent their aid in tearing up the
pavement, in order to fortify the town against the castle,
commanded by Mondragon, the brave defender of Midd el-
burg. The troops of the Prince of Orange were allowed to
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 955
garrison the city. — The Spanish soldiery, however, intimi-
dated by those preparations, and conscious of their want
of a leader, turned off toward Antwerp, which they took by
surprise, November 4, 1576. They laid five hundred houses
hi ashes, murdered, five thousand of the inhabitants, and
completely sacked the city. Numbers of the citizens fled to
Frankfort on the Maine, which they enriched by the intro-
duction of their arts and manufactures.
William of Orange, meanwhile, took advantage of the
absence of a royal stadtholder and of the universal unpopu-
larity of the Spaniards, to seize, by means of his friends
Lalaing and Glimes, the town council of Brussels that
favored the Spaniards, and to propose a union of all the
Netherlands for the confirmation of peace, the equal recog-
nition of both confessions of faith, and the expulsion of the
Spaniards. This was accomplished by the pacification of
Ghent, November 8, 1576. Ghent was the centre of the
movement, having for aim the union of the southern to the
northern provinces. Mondragon vainly attempted to defend
the citadel against the enthusiastic populace, and finally ca-
pitulated.
Don Juan, a natural son of Charles V. by Barbara Blum-
berger, the daughter of a citizen of Augsburg, the new Span-
ish stadtholder, a man already known to fame by the great
victory of Lepanto, gained by him, A.D. 1571, over the Turk-
ish fleet, arrived at this conjuncture. The mutinous soldiery
instantly submitted to him, but the Estates insisted upon his
confirmation of the pacification of Ghent in the name of the
king, to which he assented and marched to Brussels. The
Spanish troops were, in consequence of this peace, sent out
of the country, Don Juan dissembling his real projects, and
yielding to every demand with the view of weakening the
influence of the Prince of Orange, of limiting him to Holland
and Seeland, and of reconciling the southern provinces to
Spain. Several of the nobles were jealous of William of
Orange, among others, the duke of Aerschot, who, as gov-
ernor of Flanders, garrisoned the citadel of Ghent in Don
956 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Juan's name, and secretly corresponded with him. Don
Juan also broke his word, secretly quitted Brussels, threw
himself into the fortified castle of Namur, and recalled the
Spanish troops. The Estates, indignant at this act of treach-
ery, deprived him of his office, and called "William of Orange
to the head of affairs, but that prince, conscious of the jeal-
ousy with which he was beheld by the rest of the grandees,
and less intent upon his personal aggrandizement than de-
sirous of the welfare of the country, ceded his right in favor
of the Archduke Matthias, the second son of Maximilian
II., by whom the Netherlands might once more be united
with Germany, and who, moreover, appeared far from dis-
inclined to advance the cause of the Reformation. Matthias
was received with open arms by the German party, and the
foreign and Spanish faction completely succumbed on the
capture of the citadel of Ghent by the enraged populace, Oc-
tober 28, 1577. The government of this city became a pure
democracy. Iconoclasm and the assassination of Catholic
priests recommenced, and a violent feud was carried on with
the Walloon nobility, the zealous supporters of Catholicism.
These events were beheld with great uneasiness by Mat-
thias and the Prince of Orange, whose efforts were solely
directed to the union of all the Netherlands, whether Catho-
lic or Reformed, under a German prince against Spain. Wil-
liam visited Ghent in person, for the purpose of preaching
reason to the Calvinists and of renewing the article concern-
ing religious toleration contained in the Pacification of Ghent.
Soon after this, in the February of 1578, the Dutch army
under Matthias and Orange was, while attempting to take
Don Juan's camp at Gemblours by storm, defeated by the
Spanish, principally owing to the bravery and military science
of the young Duke Alexander of Parma, the son of Margaret.
This misfortune again bred dissension and disunion among
the Dutch; Matthias lost courage, and endeavored by his
promises to induce the Catholics to abandon the Spaniards,
while the citizens of Ghent, with increased insolence, again
attacked monasteries and churches, committed crucifixes and
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 957
pictures of the saints to the flames, and burned six Minorites,
accused of favoring the enemy, alive. The French, with cus-
tomary perfidy, now attempted to turn the intestine dissen-
sions of the Dutch to advantage, and Francis, Duke d'Alen-
c.on, the brother of the French monarch, Henry III., offered
aid, in the hope of seizing the government of the Nether-
lands. Elizabeth, queen of England, made a futile attempt
to assist the Reformers by sending large sums of money to
the Pfalzgraf, John Casimir, whom she commissioned to
raise troops for the Prince of Orange ; but the Pfalzgraf,
actuated by jealousy of the fame of that prince, joined the
demagogues of Ghent. Alengon, rejected by every party,
withdrew from the country, and, in revenge, allowed the
French soldiery, several thousands in number, raised for this
expedition, to join the "Walloons, who, under the name of
malcontents or beadsmen, had just commenced a bitter war
against the people of Ghent, who, under their leader, Ry-
hove, gained the upper hand, took Bruges, and required the
united efforts of the Prince of Orange and of Davidson, the
English ambassador, to keep within bounds. Don Juan ex-
pired at this period, A.D. 1578, and the Dutch, had harmony
subsisted among them, might easily have seized this oppor-
tunity, during the confusion that consequently ensued in the
Spanish camp, to expel the duke of Parma. The bigotry of
the people of Ghent long rendered every attempt at reconcili-
ation between them, the "Walloons, and the rest of the Catho-
lics, abortive, and it was not until William of Orange again
appeared in person at Ghent that a religious convention was
agreed to and peace was once more restored, December 16,
1578.
The moment for action had, however, passed. The duke
of Parma had already taken a firm footing in the southern
provinces, and, aided by the implacable "Walloons, was stead-
ily advancing. Matthias and the German Catholics tottered
on the brink of destruction . The return of the Catholic priests
to Ghent was a signal for a fresh popular outbreak, and the
treaty, so lately concluded, was infringed. The northern
958 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
provinces, resolute in the defence of their liberties, kept aloof
from these dissensions, and, on the 22d January, 1579, sub-
scribed to the Union of Utrecht, renounced all allegiance to
Spain, and founded a united republic, consisting of seven
free states, Guelders, Holland, Seeland, Zutphen, Friesland,
Oberyssel, and Groningen, the states-general of Holland,
over which William of Orange was placed as stadtholder-
general. This step had been strongly advised by Elizabeth
of England, ar a means of raising a strong bulwark on the
mouths of the Rhine against both France and Spain. The
Dutch declaration of independence, like that of the Swiss
confederation, contained the preamble that by this step Hol-
land had no intention to separate herself from the holy Ro-
man empire. The aid demanded by both the Dutch and the
Swiss against foreign aggression had been refused, owing to
the egotism of the princes and the mean jealousy of the
cities. The emperor wanted the spirit to act with decision;
his brother, Matthias, entered the country and quitted it
with equal secrecy. The Lutherans refused all fellowship
with the followers of Calvin.
The Prince of Parma, a man distinguished both as a
warrior and as a statesman, formed a coalition with the
"Walloons, with the discontented nobility, even gained over
"William's friend, the influential Lalaing, and commenced
operations without delay. Dunkirk was taken within six
days; Maestricht was stormed, the inhabitants were put to
the sword, and the city was reduced to ruins. Herzogen
busch and Mechlin fell by stratagem. The underhand sys-
tem of seduction pursued by this prince was opposed by an
open manifesto on the part c. the stadtholder of Holland, in
which the revolt of the provinces against their legitimate
sovereign was justified, on the grounds that the people were
not for the prince but that the prince was for the people, and
that Philip had injured, not benefited his subjects. This
manifesto was answered by another on the part of Philip
II., in which, without touching upon the just complaints of
the people, he ascribed the revolt of the Netherlands to the
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 059
intrigues of William of Orange, who had wickedly seduced
his happy subjects from their allegiance. He, at the same
time, set a price of twenty-five thousand ducats on the head
of this arch-rebel, and promised to bestow a patent of nobil-
ity on his assassin.
William of Orange for a third time visited Ghent, A.D.
1580, and appeased the civil broils. Ghent and Bruges sub-
scribed to the Union of Utrecht. Matthias had voluntarily
retired ; and William, in order to raise a fresh enemy to the
rear of Parma, who continued rapidly advancing, advised
the election of a French prince to the stadtholdership.
Alencpn instantly hastened into the country, and delayed
the duke's progress by the siege of Cambray. The Span-
ish manifesto had not, meanwhile, vainly appealed to the
basest passions of the human heart. A Frenchman named
Jauregui, ambitious of the promised guerdon, shot the Prince
of Orange in the head, in the March of 1581. The wound,
although dangerous, was not mortal.
The Prince of Parma, favored by the state of inactivity
to which William was reduced in consequence of his wound,
redoubled his efforts, took Tournay and Oudenarde, and was
even more successful by intrigue than by force of arms. The
French were equally obnoxious to both the German and Span-
ish factions, and Alencon was compelled to retire, A.D. 1581.
Parma, meanwhile, skilfully took advantage of the national
dislike of the Germans to the French to pave the way to a
reconciliation with Spain, and William of Orange, on his re-
covery, perceived with alarm the inclination of the southern
provinces to accede to his proposals for the sake of peace.
His faction in Ghent was defeated, A.D. 1583, but the treason
of Hembyze, the head of the Spanish party, who offered to
deliver up the city to Parma, being discovered, the Orange
faction was recalled, the treaty concluded at Tournay be-
tween Ghent and Parma annulled, and the duke's letters
were, by way of answer, publicly burned. Bruges, insti-
gated by the Duke von Aerschot, opened her gates to the
Spaniards.
960 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Orange, true to his motto, "calm in the midst of storms,"
still hoped for success, but scarcely had he recovered from
the effects of his wound than a second assassin was sent by
the Spanish monarch. Balthasar Gerard presented himself
as a suppliant before him and received a handsome present,
in return for which he lodged three balls in his body. "O
God, have mercy upon me, and upon this poor nation!"
were the last words of the dying prince. This deed of hor-
ror took place the 17th July, 1584. His last wife, Anne de
Coligny, had seen her murdered father, the celebrated ad-
miral, and her first husband, Teligny, expire in her arms.
Gerard was quartered, but Philip II., in imitation of the
pope, who, on receiving the news of the murder of the
Huguenots on St. Bartholomew's night, ordered public re-
joicings, ennobled his family, and bestowed upon it the title
of "destroyer of tyrants."
The perfidious Hembyze, who, although in his seventieth
year, had just married a young woman, was, as if in expia-
tion of this base assassination, almost at the same time, Au-
gust 4th, beheaded at Ghent as a traitor to his country. The
Orange faction in the city was, nevertheless, compelled to
submit to the duke and to comply with the general desire for
tranquillity and peace, A.D. 1584. Parma prohibited the Cal-
vinistic form of worship, threw four hundred of the citizens
into prison, closed the academies and printing-presses, and
established the Jesuits in the city. The house of Hembyze
was converted into a Jesuit college. Brussels and Antwerp
were taken, after sustaining a lengthy siege.
The southern Netherlands were thus lost to the Reforma-
tion and to liberty, and, by their separation from the north-
ern provinces, gave rise to that unnatural distinction between
nations similar in descent that still keeps Holland and Bel-
gium so widely apart.
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 961
CCII. The Republic of Holland
PEACE was, on the death of the Prince of Orange, offered
by the duke of Parma to Holland, by whom it was steadily
rejected and Spain was declared a faithless friend, whom she
would oppose to the last drop of her heart's blood. Fortune,
meanwhile, favored Parma. Maurice, William's son, an in-
experienced youth, had been raised by the grateful people to
the stadtholdership, and Leicester, the English envoy, had,
by his incapacity and arrogance, rendered himself obnoxious
to the Dutch, whom he would willingly have reduced be-
neath the British sceptre. The declining power of the Re-
formers was, nevertheless, renovated by the destruction of
the invincible Armada, which, shattered by a storm, was
completely annihilated by the Dutch and English ships un-
der the admirals Howard and Drake,1 A.D. 1588. This suc-
cess animated the Dutch with fresh courage, and Parma,
compelled to raise the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, which had
for some time resisted his efforts, fell ill with chagrin. The
castle of Bleyenbek yielded to the Dutch, A.D. 1589. Breda
was taken and sacked by Maurice, who defeated the Span-
iards under Verdugo at Cseworden, freed Groningen from
her tyrannical governor, the Count von Rennenburg, and
took Nimwegen.
The war dragged slowly on. Philip II. again had re-
course to intrigue, and restoring Philip William, Maurice's
elder brother, whom he had long detained a prisoner in Spain,
to liberty, sent him unexpectedly back to the Netherlands,
in the hope of dissensions breaking out between the brethren ;
but Philip William, although refused admission into the coun-
try by the Dutch, who feared the disturbance of their republic,
nobly rejected Philip's proposals, and even preferred renounc-
ing his right to his Burgundian estates to holding them on
dishonorable terms, A.D. 1595.
1 This officer brought the first potatoes from America.
962
The duke of Parma expired, A.D. 1596, and was succeeded
by another Spanish stadtholder, Albert, also a son of the em-
peror Maximilian II. Albert had married Philip's daughter,
Isabella. Peace was equally desired by all parties in the
Netherlands, and remained alone unconcluded from want of
unanimity. The war was, meanwhile, mechanically carried
on, principally by foreigners, French, English, and eastern
Germans ; and it was in this school that most of the great
military characters during the ensuing wars acquired their
science and skill. The most remarkable event during this
war was the siege of Ostend, which Albert, or rather his
wife, Isabella, "the only man in her family," resolved to
gain at whatever price; she even vowed not to change her
undergarment until success had crowned her endeavors.
The siege commenced, A.D. 1602, and was at length termi-
nated by Spinola, A.D. 1605; the city had, during this inter-
val, been gradually reduced to a heap of ruins, and one hun-
dred thousand men had fallen on both sides. The tint known
as Isabella-color was so named from the hue acquired by the
garment of the Spanish princess.
A truce for twelve years was at length concluded, A.D.
1609, but war broke out afresh on the commencement of the
religious war that convulsed the whole of Germany. The
seven northern provinces retained their freedom, the south-
ern ones remained Spanish. The latter lost all their inhabi-
tauts'favorable to the Reformation, and with them their pros-
perity and civil liberties. The cities stood desert ; the people
were rendered savage by military rule, or steeped in igno-
rance by the Jesuits; and in this melancholy manner was
Germany deprived of her strongest bulwark, of the most
blooming and the freest of her provinces. Holland, on the
other hand, blessed with liberty, quickly rose to a high de-
gree of prosperity. Her population, swelled by the Calvin-
istic emigrants from the Spanish Netherlands, from France
and Germany, became too numerous for the land, and whole
families, as in China, dwelt in boats in the vicinity of the
larger towns. The over-population of the country gave rise,
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 963
A.D. 1607, to that Herculean enterprise, the draining of the
Bremstersee, by which a large tract of land was reclaimed,
and to the excellent Waterstaat or system of canals and dikes,
which prevented the entrance of the sea, and was superin-
tended by Deichgrafs. The navy created by the "Water
Geuses furnished means for the extension of the commer-
cial relations of the republic. Amsterdam became the great
emporium of Dutch commerce and the outlet for the internal
produce of Holland. The trade long carried on between the
merchants of Spain and of Holland had secretly continued
during the war. The traffic of the former with the East
Indies and America was carried on with the capital of the
Dutch, who, out of their share of the profit, armed their
countrymen against the Spanish troops. This traffic being
discovered and strictly prohibited by Philip II., the Dutch
carried it on on their own account, and speedily rivalled the
merchants of Spain in every part of the globe. In 1583,
Huygen van Linschoten made the first voyage to the East
Indies, whither, in 1595, Cornelius Houtmann sailed with
a small fleet and planted the banner of the republic in Java,
where it still flutters in the breeze. In 1596, the united fleets
of Holland and England took the rich commercial town of
Cadiz and burned it to the ground. During the same year
Linschoten and Heemskerk set out on an expedition for the
discovery of a northeastern passage to China. The Dutch
had long maintained commercial relations with Russia, and
Archangel had been founded by Adrian Kryt; the enter-
prise, nevertheless, failed, the ships being icebound in the
Frozen Ocean, and Heemskerk compelled to winter on Nova
Zembla. In 1599, Stephen van der Hagen opened the spice
trade with the islands of Molucca; in 1601, van Neck, the
tea trade with China, and van Spilbergen, the cinnamon
trade with Ceylon. An incessant struggle for the empire
of the sea was meanwhile carried on between Holland, Spain,
and Portugal, the two latter of which had already colonized
parts of the New "World. The English Channel was, in 1 605,
blockaded by Houtain, the Dutch admiral; no Spanish ship
964 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
was permitted to reach the coast of Holland, and all the
Spaniards who fell into his hands were drowned. The
Dutch fleets incessantly harassed the Spanish coasts. In
1608, Verhoeven settled in Calicut, on the Coromandel coast.
One of his ships visited Japan in 1609, and discovered a
Dutch sailor, named Adam, who had been cast on the shore,
living there in great repute. A connection with this country
was formed at a later period by van den Broek, who, aware
of the great importance of the island of Java as the centre
of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, erected, A.D.
1618, the fortress of Batavia, which speedily grew into an
extensive city. In 1614, van Noordt followed on the track
of the Spaniards in the Southern Ocean, and, in 1615, Schou-
ten sailed round the southern point of America, named by
him Cape Horn, in honor of his native town, Hoorn. New
Zealand was discovered about the same time and named
after the province of Seeland. Hudson, in 1610, had also
discovered the extreme north of America, and the bay named
after him. The English, jealous of his success, seized and
starved him to death. Numbers of his countrymen followed
in his track, and, in 1614, added the whale fishery to those
of codfish and herrings, which were almost exclusively in
their hands.
The mean jealousy of the Hanse towns met with its fit-
ting reward, their commerce gradually declining as that of
Holland rose. Their prohibition of English manufactures
caused the expulsion of all the Hanseatics from England and
the instalment of the Dutch in their stead, A.D. 1598.
Maurice inherited little of the noble sincerity of his father,
and viewed with jealous eyes the despotic power wielded by
the neighboring princes. The peace, to which he had been
forced to accede by Henry IV. of France, the friend of re-
form, the commercial prosperity, the increase of the navy,
the colonial and civil wealth, and the republican spirit of
Holland, were alike distasteful to him, but, compelled to
relinquish the hope of -executing his tyrannical projects
by force of arms, he concealed them beneath a mask of re-
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 965
ligion, and made use of means the best calculated, in those
fanatical times, to work upon the multitude.
At the new university of Leyden, Justus Lipsius had
gained great fame for learning, and Gomarus, the Calvinist,
for orthodoxy and zeal. Another deeply-learned and talented
preachei, Arminius (Harmsen), who had successfully com-
bated the doctrine of predestination, being also appointed to
a professor's chair at Leyden, Gomarus, who, like the rest
of his Calvinistic brethren of that period, professed ultra-
liberalism, but acted with a bigotry equalling that of the
Catholics and Lutherans, instantly raised a cry of heresy.
The attempts made by Hugo Grotius, the most eminent
scholar and statesman of the age, to reconcile the adverse
parties, were rendered futile by political intrigue. Maurice,
instigated by resentment against Olden Barneveldt, the most
popular and influential of the statesmen of Holland, declared
in favor of Gomarus. ' The Arminians defended themselves
in a remonstrance to the states-general, whence they gained
the name of Remonstrants. The Gomarists, supported by
Maurice, however, gamed the victory, and Olden Barneveldt,
Hugo Grotius, with their friends Hogerbeet and Ledenberg,
were, at Maurice's command, arrested in the name of the
states-general, which were in utter ignorance of the affair.
The Remonstrants, fearful of sharing the fate of their lead-
ers, fled the country. The town councils and the states-
general were biassed by the creatures of the prince, and
the prisoners were judged by a criminal court acting solely
under his influence. By the great synod convoked at Dord-
recht as a cloak for his crime, the Remonstrants were con-
demned unheard as abominable heretics, while Maurice loaded
the Gomarists with favors, A.D. 1619. Ledenberg, in order
to escape the rack, stabbed himself with a knife. Olden
Barneveldt, an old man of seventy-two, the most faithful
1 His ignorance was such that he, on one occasion, demanded of an Arminian
"how he could uphold such nonsense as a belief in predestination?" and on being
told that was the doctrine of the Gomarists and not of the Arminiana, pretended
to disbelieve the assertion.
966 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
servant of the republic, the founder of its real grandeur, of
its navy, was condemned to death, as a disturber of the unity
of the state and of the church of God. He addressed the
people from the scaffold in the following words, "Fellow
citizens, believe me, I am no traitor to my country. A
patriot have I lived and a patriot will I die." Maurice, by
whom the people had been deceived with false reports against
their only true friends, pretended to mourn for his death and
to lament the treason that had led to his condemnation, A.D.
1619. Hogerbeet and Grotius were condemned to perpetual
imprisonment. The latter escaped from the castle of Lowen-
stein, in which he was immured, by means of his wife, Maria,
von Reigersberg, who concealed and had him carried away
in a chest of books.
Popular disturbances ensued. Several insurrections were
quelled by force ; the secret assemblage of the Remonstrants
was strictly prohibited and the censorship of the press estab-
lished. The two sons of Olden Barneveldt conspired against
the life of Maurice, were discovered and executed, A.D. 1623.
Maurice expired A.D. 1625. Conscious of the inevitable dis-
covery of the artifice with which he had studiously slandered
his victims and deceived the Dutch, and of the infamy at-
tached to his name, he enjoined his brother, and successor,
Frederick, with his dying breath, to recall the Remonstrants.
CCIII. Rudolph the Second
THE rest of Germany beheld the great struggle in the
Netherlands with almost supine indifference. The destruc-
tion of the Calvinistic Dutch was not unwillingly beheld by
the Lutherans. The demand for assistance addressed, A.D.
1570, by the Dutch to the diet at "Worms received for reply
that Spain justly punished them as rebels against the prin-
ciple of cujus regio, ejus religio. The Lutheran princes,
either sunk in luxury and vice, or mere adepts in intrigue,
shared the peaceful inclinations of their Catholic neighbors.
The moderation of the emperor, Maximilian II., also greatly
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 967
contributed to the maintenance of tranquillity, but still far
more so the cunning policy with which the Jesuits secretly
encouraged the internal dissensions of the Reformers while
watching for a fitting opportunity again to act on the
offensive.
Maximilian II. had, shortly before his death, been elected
king of Poland, and great might have been the result had he
been endowed with higher energies. . The Jagellons became
extinct with Sigismund Augustus, A.D. 1572. The capricious
Polish nobles, worked upon by the agents of the French mon-
arch, raised Henry of Anjou to the throne, which that prince
speedily and voluntarily renounced for that of France. Max-
imilian was elected king by one faction, and Stephen Bathori,
prince of Transylvania, by another. Maximilian ceded his
claim and expired shortly afterward, A.D. 1575. The Jesuits
were accused of having taken him off by poison, through
jealousy of his inclination to favor the Reformation. The
beautiful Philippina "Welser is also said to have been mur-
dered in the castle of Ambras by opening her veins in a
bath, A.D. 1576.
Maximilian was succeeded by his son, Rudolph II., a sec-
ond Frederick III. This prince devoted his whole thoughts
to his horses, of which he possessed an immense number,
although he never mounted them ; to the collection of natu-
ral curiosities and pictures; to the study of alchemy and
astrology, in which he was assisted by the Dane, Tycho de
Brahe, and by Kepler, ' the great German astronomer. Tycho
is said to have drawn his horoscope and to have foretold his
1 This extraordinary man, to whom we are indebted for the discovery of the
laws which regulate the movements of the planetary bodies, their ellipticity, etc. ,
was born in 1571, at Wiel, in Swabia. While a boy, tending sheep, he passed
his nights in the fields, and by his observation acquired his first knowledge of
astronomy. His discovery was condemned by the Tubingen university as con-
trary to the Bible. He was about to destroy his work, when an asylum was
granted to him at Graetz, which he afterward quitted for the imperial court. He
was, notwithstanding his Lutheran principles, tolerated by the Jesuits, who
knew how to value scientific knowledge. He was solely persecuted in his native
country, where he with difficulty saved hia mother from being burned as a witch.
He was also in the service of the celebrated General Wallenstein. He died,
A.D. 1630, at Ratisbon.
968 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
death by the hand of his own son, in consequence of which
he forswore marriage and lived in constant seclusion. He
was subject to fits of fury resembling madness. His sleep-
ing apartment was strongly barred like a prison, so great
was his apprehension of a violent death.
Rudolph bestowed no attention upon the empire; he,
nevertheless, permitted Melchior Clesel, bishop of Vienna
and the Jesuits, to attempt to bring about a reaction in his
hereditary provinces against the Protestants, who, deeming
themselves secure under his father's sceptre, had, contrary
to agreement, erected churches on spots not immediately be-
longing to the privileged nobility. In 1579, every unprivi-
leged cure was seized and the public instruction placed exclu-
sively in the hands of the Catholics, a proceeding extremely
mild when compared with the merciless extirpation of the
Calvinists in Saxony, of the Lutherans in the Pf alz, etc.
The great victories of the Dutch, the decided inclination
of Elizabeth, queen of England, and of Henry IY. of France,
to Calvinism, suddenly raised that sect to a high degree of
influence, which was further increased by the defection of
several of the princes from Lutheranism through disgust at
the doctrines taught by the clergy. Immediately after the
triumph gained by the Lutherans by means of the concordat,
the only Calvinistic prince remaining in Germany, the Pfalz-
graf, John Casimir, brother to Louis, the Lutheran elector,
had, at a congress held at Frankfort on the Maine, A.D. 1577,
demanded aid from England and France. He had himself
levied a troop of German auxiliaries for the French Hugue-
nots. On the death of his brother, he undertook the guar-
dianship of his infant nephew, Frederick IV., A.D. 1585; all
the Lutherans were instantly expelled the Pfalz and the
tenets of Calvin imposed upon the people.
It was about this period that Gebhard, elector of Cologne,
born Count Truchsess (dapifer) von Waldburg, a young,
gentle-hearted, but somewhat thoughtless man, embraced
Calvinism. His equally worldly-minded predecessor, Sa-
lentin von Ysenburg, had, A.D. 1577, after persecuting the
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 969
Lutherans, suddenly renounced his office and wedded a
Countess von Ahremberg, an example Gebhard was inclined
to follow, but without relinquishing his position. He had
already become notorious for easy morality, when, one day,
looking from his balcony, he beheld, in a passing procession,
the Countess Agnes von Mansfeld, canoness of the noble
convent of Gerrisheim near Dusseldorf, the most beautiful
woman of the day, and becoming violently enamored, called
her into his presence, and, by his united charms of rank,
youth, and beauty, quickly inspired her with a correspond-
ing passion. The Lutheran Counts von Mansfeld, speedily
informed of the connection between their sister and the arch-
bishop, hastened to Bonn, where they were holding court to-
gether, and compelled the archbishop to restore their sister's
honor by a formal marriage. The Calvinists in the Pfalz,
in Holland, and France, however, promising him their aid
on condition of his reforming the whole of the Colognese
territory, and inspiring him with the hope of rendering his
possessions hereditary in his family, he embraced the tenets
of Calvin, and consequently deprived himself of the support
of the strict Lutherans. He was himself completely devoid
of energy. The bishop of his cathedral, Frederick von Saxon-
Lauenburg, who grasped at the archiepiscopal mitre, almost
the entire chapter and the citizens of Cologne, declared
against him. His predecessor, Salentin von Ysenburg, ac-
tuated by jealousy, also opposed him. On the day on which
Gebhard solemnized his wedding at Bonn, the bishop took
possession of the city of Kaiserswerth, February 2, 1583.
The majority of the people were against him. The pope put
him under an interdict; the emperor and the empire were
bound by the ecclesiastical proviso; the Lutherans refused
their aid through jealousy of the Calvinists. Ernest, duke
of Bavaria, bishop of Liege and Freysingen, was elected
archbishop in his stead, and invaded his territory. The
Pfalzgraf , John Casimir, to whom he had in his terror mort-
gaged the whole of the electorate of Cologne, was too deeply
engaged in the expulsion of the Lutherans from the Pfalz to
GEEMANY. VOL. III.— 8
970 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
lend him the requisite aid, and left him to his fate. The
whole of the electorate was speedily in the hands of the Ba-
varian duke, and Gebhard took refuge in Zutphen, whence
he escaped to William of Orange. Agnes secretly visited
England and applied for assistance to Essex, the queen's
favorite, but was instantly expelled the country by the jeal-
ous queen, who refused to see her. Gebhard's adherents,
meanwhile, ravaged the country around Neuss, but were
forced to capitulate by the Spanish under the duke of Parma,
to whom Ernest had turned for aid. The cause of the ex-
pelled archbishop now became hopeless, and, A.D. 1589, he
withdrew with Agnes, to whom he ever remained faithful,
to Strasburg, where he had formerly held the office of dea-
con. He died in 1601, leaving no issue. Agnes survived
him; the period of her death and her burial-place are
unknown.
Ernest of Cologne, who became at the same time bishop
of Munster, Liege, and Hildesheim, favored the Jesuits, and
persecuted the Protestants with the greatest rigor in Aix-la-
Chapelle. The Catholic league, meanwhile, incessantly car-
ried on hostilities against the Huguenots, whose leader,
Henry of Bourbon, the first of that line, mounted the throne
of France, A.D. 1589. This monarch was greatly seconded in
•his war with the league by the Reformed Swiss, under Louis
von Erlach, and by the Calvinistic prince, Christian von
Anhalt. The Landgrave, Maurice of Hesse-Cassel, openly
embraced Calvinism, A.D. 1592. The separation of Hessian
Darmstadt from Cassoi look place, A.D. 1614. It was brought
about by the Lutheran prince, Louis of Darmstadt, Maurice's
cousin, in direct opposition to the will of the provincial Es-
tates. Maurice1 was one of the most ominent among the
princes of his time, witty and learned, deeply versed in
classic literature and art, well acquainted with modern and
foreign cultivation and customs, and not the less zealous for
the improvement of Germany. The Margrave, Ernest Fred-
1 This prince was the first inventor of the telegraph, an invention that did
not come into use until long after.
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 971
erick of Baden- Durlach, became a convert to Calvin, and
imposed his tenets on his Lutheran subjects. He died of
apoplexy, A. D. 1 604, when marching upon Pforzheim, whose
citizens had resisted his tyranny. John Sigismund, elector
of Brandenburg, also embraced Calvinism, the faith of the
citizens of Juliers, Cleve, and Berg, his subjects by inheri-
tance. He incurred great unpopularity by his toleration of
Lutheranism in Brandenburg.
The Catholic party had gradually gained internal
strength. Paul IV. commenced the restoration; Pius
IV. gave a new constitution to the Catholic world by the
resolutions of the council of Trent; Pius V. exchanged
the shepherd's staff for the fagot and the sword, and, by
his example, sanctified the cruelties perpetrated by Philip
II.; Gregory XIII., the representative of Jesuit learning,
put the Protestants to . hame with his improved Calendar,
which was published, A.D. 1584, and violently protested
against at the imperial diet by the Lutherans, who preferred
an erroneous computation of time to anything, however accu-
rate, proceeding from a pope; and finally, Sixtus V. again
displayed the whole pomp of the triumphant church from
1585 to 1590.
The Jesuits had rapidly spread over the whole of the
Catholic world, and, solely opposed by the Dominicans, jeal-
ous of the power they had hitherto possessed, had placed all
beneath their rule. The Franciscans, so influential over the
people, were replaced by another Jesuitical body of begging
monks, drawn from their ranks, the Capuchins, who were
commissioned to work upon the lower, as the Jesuits did
upon the higher, classes. Permanent nunciatures, as ad-
vanced posts noting the movements of the enemy and of the
confederation, were stationed, in 1570, at Luzerne, in 1588,
at Brussels, Cologne, and Vienna.
The Reformers had entirely lost sight of the ancient
church in the midst of their internal dissensions, nor was
it until the publication of Cardinal Bellarmin's subtle criti-
cism on the Reformation in 1581, and that of Pope Gregory's
972 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
celebrated bull in coena Domini in 1584, on the one side,
and of the history of the order of Jesus by the renegade
Jesuit, Hasenmuller, in which he lays bare all its evil prac-
tices and exaggerates its crimes, in 1586, on the other side,
that polemics again raged and the press vented its venom on
both parties.
The bishoprics continued a material object of discord;
those to the north of Germany had irrecoverably fallen into
the hands of the princes of Brandenburg, Brunswick, Meck-
lenburg, and Saxon-Lauenburg. The possession of others
was a matter of uncertainty. In Upper Germany and in
Switzerland, the Catholics greatly increased in strength and
daring, and the confederates, instigated by the Jesuits, took
up arms against one another. In 1586, the Catholic cantons,
influenced by Louis Pfyffers of Lucerne, the head of the
Catholics, surnamed the Swiss king, concluded the golden or
Borromean league with St. Charles Borromeo for the exter-
mination of heretics. This league raged so fearfully in Italy
that numbers of Reformers fled thence to Zurich; hence the
celebrated Zurich names of Pestalozzi, Orelli, etc.
The favor lavished by Stephen Bathori, king of Poland,
upon the Catholic party, afforded the Jesuits an opportunity
to spread themselves over Livonia and Polish-Prussia. They
were, however, driven out of Riga by the Lutheran citizens,
A.D. 1587, and out of Dantzig in a similar manner, A.D. 1606.
Clement VIII., meanwhile, intent upon extending his
temporal sway in Italy, had, on the death of Alfonso, the
last Marquis of the house of Este, A.D. 1595, seized Ferrara
and forcibly annexed that duchy to the dominions of the
church. His successor, Paul V., zealously persecuted the
heretics, and, during his long reign, from 1605 to 1621, in-
cessantly encouraged discord and dissension.
Bavaria displayed the greatest zeal in the Catholic cause.
Baden-Durlach, whose Margrave, Philip, had fallen at Mon-
toncourt fighting for the Huguenots, had been re-catholicized
by Duke Albert, the guardian of Philip's infant son. Al-
bert's successors, William, A.D. 1579, and Maximilian, A.D.
WAR OF LIBERATION IN NETHERLANDS 973
1598, befriended the Jesuits. In 1570, all the wealthy in-
habitants of Munich took refuge in the Lutheran imperial
cities. These proceedings were far from indifferent to the
Calvinists, the most courageous among the Reformers.
Frederick IV., elector of the Pfalz, exhorted the Lutherans
to make common cause with the rest of the Reformers, but
was solely listened to by Wurtemberg and the Margraves of
Franconia, who entered into a union with him at Anhausen,
A.D. 1608, which was joined, A.D. 1609, by Brandenburg and
opposed by Maximilian of Bavaria, who convoked the Cath-
olic princes, with whom he concluded a holy alliance. Party
hatred was still further inflamed, A.D. 1610, on the death of
the last duke of Juliers, Cleve, Berg, Mark, and Ravensberg,
when those splendid countries fell to the nearest of kin, John
Sigismund, elector of Brandenburg, and Wolfgang "William,
Pfalzgraf of Neuburg, both Reformed princes. The majority
of the people was also Reformed. The Catholic party, led
by Bavaria, had, in the hope of frustrating the expectations
of their antagonists, compelled Jacobea of Baden,1 who was
educated at Munich, to bestow her hand upon the imbecile
duke, John "William, A.D. 1585. This scheme, however,
failed; the duke went completely mad, and Jacobea re-
mained childless. The government was seized by his sister,
Sibylla, an elderly maiden, totally devoid of personal graces,
who, jealous of Jacobea's beauty and aided by the Catholic
party, set the now useless victim aside. Jacobea was, under
a false pretext, seized, accused of sorcery, and strangled in
prison, after undergoing a variety of tortures. Antonia of
Lorraine was the next victim bestowed upon the duke, in
the hope of raising a progeny in the Catholic branch, but
also remaining childless, she was sent back to Lorraine, and
Sibylla, in her forty-ninth year, wedded Charles, Margrave
of Burgau. Her hopes of issue were also frustrated, and,
1 Her portrait is still to be seen at Dusseldorf, She was uncommonly beauti-
ful and captivating. She loved a Count von Manderscheid, who, on the news
of her marriage, became insane. The pope sent his benediction on the marriage
of this lovely woman with the imbecile duke, and presented the unhappy bride
with a golden rose.
974 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
on the death of John William, in 1609, the whole of the rich
inheritance fell to the Reformed branch, which, aided by
France, finally succeeded in expelling Sibylla's faction,
which was supported by the Spanish Netherlands.
The united princes, meanwhile, took the field, but again
laid down arms on the death of the elector of the Pf alz and
the murder of Henry of Navarre by Ravaillac, the tool of
the Jesuits. Brandenburg and Neuburg remained hi peace-
able possession of the Juliers-Cleve inheritance, until a quar-
rel breaking out between them, the Pfalzgraf embraced
Catholicism and called the League and the Spaniards to
his aid. The matter was, nevertheless, settled by negotia-
tion, Brandenburg taking Cleve, Mark, and Ravensberg;
Neuburg, Juliers and Berg, A.D. 1614. They were, how-
ever, still destined not to hold the lands in peace, the em-
peror attempting to place them under sequestration as prop-
erty lapsed to the crown ; the Dutch and Spaniards again
interfered in the dispute that ensued, and shortly afterward
the great war broke out. John Sigismund succeeded the
imbecile duke, Frederick Albert, on the throne of Prussia,
A.D. 1614, where, during that stormy period, the Branden-
"burgs with difficulty secured their footing.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 975
PART XVIII
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR
CCIV. Great Religious Disturbances in Austria —
Defeat of the Bohemians
THE projects laid by the emperor Maximilian II. were,
even during his lifetime, frustrated by his brother,
Charles, the ultra-Catholic archduke in Styria, Ca-
rinthia, and Carniola. This energetic man, who, by his
settlement of the military colonies in Croatia, in the heart
of which he erected, A.D. 1580, the metropolis of Carlstadt,
had greatly served the empire, violently opposed the Protes-
tants, established the Jesuits at Graetz, and by his virulent
persecution of the Lutheran communes in the mountain dis-
tricts drove them to rebel, A.D. 1573. The peasantry
throughout Styria and Carniola revolted, but were reduced
to submission by the Uzkokes,1 wild Slavonian robbers,
called for that purpose from the mountains of Dalmatia.
The violent abolition of the religious liberty of the privi-
leged cities by Rudolph II. called forth an energetic remon-
strance from the whole of the provincial Estates, that drew
from him the grant of four privileged churches at Grsetz,
Judenburg, Clagenfurt, and Laibach, A.D. 1578, which were,
nevertheless, destroyed by the Archduke Charles, at whose
command twelve thousand German Bibles and other Lu-
theran books were burned by the public executioner at Graetz,
A.D. 1579. The Lutheran preachers were gradually super-
seded by Catholic clergy in all the cities, the chartered towns
not excepted, and the citizens were compelled to recant.
1 These barbarians afterward greatly annoyed his son, the emperor Ferdinand
II., who, at the entreaty of Venice, interdicted their piracy in the Adriatic.
976 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
The privileges of the nobility were still held sacred, but the
principle, cujus regio, ejus religio, was in some measure
even applied to them, no Lutheran lord being permitted to
take a Catholic peasant into his service unless born on his
estates. The Estates, perceiving their demands unheeded
by their sovereign, laid their complaints, A.D. 1582, before
the diet of the empire, hi the hope of being protected by the
Lutheran princes. But here also their hopes were frustrated
by the pitiless axiom, cujus regio, ejus religio. The Jesuits,
emboldened by this defeat, redoubled their attacks ; numbers
of Lutheran preachers were incarcerated, but were partly
restored to liberty by the enraged peasantry. The move-
ment gradually increased, and, A.D. 1588, the archduke was
merely saved from assassination at Judenburg by the mag-
nanimity of a Lutheran preacher. An insurrection broke
out simultaneously in the archbishopric of Salzburg. Tu-
multuous meetings, the violent seizure of the preachers and
the armed opposition of the peasantry, were annually renewed
in Austria from 1594.
The persecution of the Austrian Protestants raged with
redoubled violence on the accession of the Archduke Fer-
dinand, A.D. 1596. His Jesuitical preceptors had carefully
prepared him from his earliest childhood for the part they
intended him to perform, and he had solemnly vowed at the
shrine of the Virgin at Loretto to extirpate heresy from his
dominions. The actions and principles of his uncle, Philip
II. , the model on which he formed himself, were merciful in
comparison with his. Un warlike, nay, effeminate in his hab-
its, ever surrounded by Jesuits and women, he, nevertheless,
possessed a bigoted obstinacy of character that naught had
power to soften, and, while tranquilly residing in Vienna,
willing tools were easily found to execute his horrid projects.
His first act, in answer to the renewed petitions of the Estates
for religious liberty, was the erection of gallows throughout
the country for the evangelical preachers, the demolition of
their churches, nay, the desecration of the churchyards by
the disinterment of the dead. In Laibach, where the most
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 977
resolute resistance was offered, the pastors were torn from
their pulpits, the citizens that refused to recant expelled, and
their goods confiscated. The opposition of the Estates was
weakened by the dissolution of their union, those of Upper
and Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola being
compelled to hold separate assemblies. The Estates, refused
aid by their brethren in belief, were driven by necessity to
demand assistance from their foreign neighbors. Venice
was too Catholic, Hungary too deeply occupied with her in-
ternal affairs and the war with the Turks, to listen to their
entreaties. Bethlen Gabor, Prince of Transylvania, took ad-
vantage of the gradual decadence of the Turkish empire, on
the one hand, and of the religious war in Germany, on the
other, to found an independent power in Hungary. The
German Transylvanians had been converted to Lutheranism,
A.D. 1533, and were, at this period, in close alliance with the
German Lutherans. Rudolph II., with the view of recon-
verting them to Catholicism, instigated the Hungarians
against them, and the Saxons were actually declared in the
Hungarian diet, A.D. 1590, serfs to the Hungarians, there
being no noblemen among them. The national Graf, Hut-
ter, however, rose in their defence, and openly told the mag-
nates before the whole assembly that "Labor was nobler
than robber}'," and succeeded in repealing their decision.
The Transylvanian Saxons, as a protection against the
Jesuits, formed a union, A.D. 1613, and bound themselves
by oath to stand up as one man in defence of their political
freedom and of the Augsburg Confession, never to accept
of nobility, and ever to preserve their equality, the condition
of their freedom.
Thus, Tyrol alone excepted, all the hereditary possessions
of the house of Habsburg had favored the Reformation, and
were, in point of fact, Reformed. Catholicism was, never-
theless, reimposed, by means of political intrigue, on the
whole of this immense population.
The archdukes, less influenced by the discord that pre
vailed throughout the empire than by the disturbances in
978 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
the hereditary provinces, which caused the Habsburgs to
totter on the throne, resolved, A.D. 1606, to install Matthias
in the place of his spiritless brother, the emperor Rudolph.
This event afforded a glimmer of hope to the oppressed Prot-
estants. Matthias speedily found himself at the head of an
army, and compelled the emperor to cede Hungary and
Austria. Rudolph, shaken from his slumbers, hastened
unexpectedly to Prague, where, sacrificing the principle
on which he had hitherto governed, the exclusive rule of
the Catholic form of worship, to his enmity toward his
brother, he fully restored the privileges anciently enjoyed
by the Utraquists, and, A.D. 1609, promulgated the famous
letter patent, the palladium of Bohemia, by which her polit-
ical and religious liberty was confirmed. The storm had,
however, no sooner passed than, regretting his generosity,
he allowed his cousin, the Archduke Leopold, bishop of
Passau, whom, notwithstanding his priestly office, he des-
tined for his successor on the throne, to assemble a consid-
erable body of troops at Passau, invade and devastate Bo-
hemia, and take possession of the Kleine Seite of Prague.
The Bohemians under Matthias, Count von Thurn, made a
gallant defence, and several bloody engagements took place.
The rage of the Bohemians was, however, chiefly directed
against the Jesuits, who were accused of having instigated
this attack upon their liberties, and Rudolph, deeply sus-
pected by the citizens of Prague of participating in the plot,
was kept prisoner by them until Leopold voluntarily retreated
on the news of the approach of Matthias from Hungary. Ru-
dolph was compelled to abdicate the throne of Bohemia in
favor of his brother, whose coronation was solemnized amid
the joyful acclamations of the people, on whom he lavished
fresh privileges. "Ungrateful Prague!" exclaimed the de-
posed monarch, as he looked down upon the gorgeous city
from his palace window, "Ungrateful Prague! to me dost
thou owe thy wondrous beauty, and thus hast thou repaid
my benefits. May the vengeance of Heaven strike thee, and
my curse light upon thee and the whole of Bohemia!"
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 979
The Bohemians, enchanted with Matthias's liberality,
prudently sought to draw a real advantage from, and to
strengthen their constitution by, his deceptive concessions.
The fallacy of their hopes is clearly proved by the fact of
Ferdinand's having annihilated in the mountains every trace
of the liberty so deceitfully planted by his uncles and sover-
eigns in Bohemia. Shortly before the Christmas of the same
year, 1610, the Passau troops made a second incursion into
Upper Austria and cruelly harassed the Protestant inhabi-
tants.
Matthias succeeded to the imperial crown on the death
of Rudolph II., A.D. 1612, and, unable to recall past events,
peaceably withdrew from public life, committing the govern-
ment to his nephew, Ferdinand, whom he caused to be pro-
claimed king of Bohemia, and who was destined to discover
the little accordance between the system of oppression pur-
sued by him in the mountains and the letters patent issued
by Rudolph. Ferdinand treated his uncle with the basest
ingratitude, depriving him of the society of his old friend,
Cardinal Clesel, and treating him with the deepest contempt.
The poor old man was at length carried off by gout, A.D.
1617. Clesel had drawn upon himself the ill-will of the
youthful tyrant, by expressing a hope that Bohemia might
be treated with lenity, to which Ferdinand replied, "Better
a desert than a country full of heretics. ' ' The only descend-
ants of the house of Habsburg still remaining in Germany
were Ferdinand II., his two brothers, Leopold, bishop of
Passau, and Charles, bishop of Breslau. The throne of
Spain was, A.D. 1621, mounted by Philip IV. (grandson
to Philip II. ), whose brother, Ferdinand, became a car-
dinal and the stadtholder of the Netherlands.
The arrival of Ferdinand with his Jesuitical counsellors
at Prague filled Bohemia with dread, nor was it diminished
by his hypocritical oath to hold the letters patent granted by
Rudolph sacred ; for how could a Jesuit be bound by an oath?
The principles on which he acted had been clearly shown by
his behavior at Grsetz and Laibach. The Jesuits no longer
980 .THE HISTORY OF GERMAN!"
concealed their hopes, and the world was inundated with
pamphlets, describing the measures to be taken for the ex-
tirpation of heresy throughout Europe, and for the restora-
tion of the only true church.
Ferdinand speedily quitted Bohemia, leaving the govern-
ment in the hands of Slawata (a man who, for a wealthy
bride, had renounced Protestantism, and who cruelly perse-
cuted his former brethren) and Martinitz, who sought to en-
snare the people and systematically to suppress their rights.
A strict censorship was established ; Jesuitical works were
alone unmutilated. Religious liberty, although legally pos-
sessed by the nobility alone, had, by right of custom, ex-
tended to the Protestant citizens, more especially since the
grant of the letters patent by the emperor, Rudolph II. ; but
they no sooner ventured to erect new churches at Braunau
and Klostergrab than an order for their demolition was
issued by Ferdinand, who, treating the representations of
the Estates with silent contempt, their long-suppressed dis-
content broke forth, and, at the instigation of Count Thurn,
they flung Slawata and Martinitz, after loading them with
bitter reproaches, together with their secretary, Fabricius,
according to old Bohemian custom, out of the window of
the council-house on the Radschin. They fell thirty-five
yards. Martinitz and the secretary ' escaped unhurt, being
cast upon a heap of litter and old papers ; Slawata was dread-
fully shattered, and was carried into a neighboring house,
that of a Princess Schwarzenberg, where he remained un-
molested. This event occurred May 23, 1618, and from this
day dates the commencement of the thirty years' war.
The first act of the Bohemian Estates under the direction
of Count Thurn was the expulsion of the Jesuits, in which
they were imitated by the rest of the hereditary provinces,
Silesia under the rule of John George, duke of Brandenburg-
Jaegerndorf, Moravia under its principal leader, the Baron
1 He afterward received the title of Hohenfall. He is said to have fallen
upon Martinitz, and, notwithstanding the horror of the moment, to have politely
<utked pardon for his involuntary rudeness.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 981
Frederick von Teuffenbach, Austria, whose chief represen-
tative was Erasmus von Tschernembl, and Hungary under
Bethlen Gabor (Gabriel Bathory). A list of grievances was
sent to Vienna, and religious liberty was demanded as the
condition of their continued recognition of Ferdinand's au-
thority.
Ferdinand, without deigning a reply, instantly raised two
small bodies of troops, which he intrusted to the command
of Dampierre and Bouquoi, the former a Frenchman, the
latter a Spaniard, while he continued to levy men in Italy,
Spain, and the Netherlands; but Thurn, marching at the
head of the Bohemians upon Vienna, he avoided falling into
his hands by going to Frankfort on the Maine, A.D. 1619,
where the Lutheran princes, gamed over by his Jesuitical
artifices, elected and crowned him emperor of Germany.
Every trace of the scruples formerly raised against the
election of Charles V. and of Ferdinand I. had vanished.
The Estates of Bohemia, Silesia, Moravia, Hungary,
Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, abandoned as
usual in the moment of need by their Protestant brethren,
now closely confederated, and took Count Ernest von Mans-
feld, who had served with distinction in the Netherlands,
with fourteen thousand German mercenaries, into their ser-
vice. Bouquoi, after defeating Mansfeld at Pilsen, marched
into Hungary against Bethlen Gabor, while Dampierre,
worsted in Moravia by Teuffenbach, retired upon the Dan-
ube, where the Upper Austrians, under Stahremberg, lay
in wait for the emperor on his return from Frankfort. Fer-
dinand, however, avoided them by passing through Styria
to Vienna. That city was instantly besieged by Thurn and
Bethlen Gabor, and the Viennese, who, notwithstanding the
practices of the Jesuits, were still evangelically inclined,
stormed the palace and demanded a formal grant of the
free exercise of their religion. At this moment Dampierre's
cavalry entered the palace-yard. The citizens withdrew,
and the Bohemians and Hungarians, weakened by famine
and sickness, and threatened to the rear by a fresh enemy
982 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
raised against them by Ferdinand's diplomatic arts, also
speedily retreated. The Cossacks (not those of the Ukraine),
the rudest of the Lithuanian tribes, were invited into Austria
by the emperor for the purpose of converting the people by
fire, sword, and pillage. A Spanish army under Verdugo
also crossed the Alps and defeated Man sf eld at Langen-
Loys. The Bohemians and Hungarians were, meanwhile,
victorious over the Poles, and, in the midst of the tumult of
war, elected Frederick V., elector of the Pfalz, king of Bo-
hemia, and Bethlen Gabor king of Hungary, in the stead of
the emperor, A.D. 1620.
The behavior of the German princes during the war in
Austria was more deeply than ever marked by treachery
and weakness. Never has a great period produced baser
characters, never has a sacred cause found more unworthy
champions. The projects harbored by the pope, the em-
peror, Spain, and France, for the complete suppression of
the Reformation, were well known, and could alone be frus-
trated by a prompt and firm coalition on the part of the Prot-
estant princes. George "William of Brandenburg, John George
of Saxony, Louis of Darmstadt, John Frederick of Wurtem-
berg, and the Margrave, Joachim Ernest, of Brandenburg,
bribed by personal interest or actuated by cowardice and by
jealousy of the Pfalzgraf, abandoned their brethren to their
fate, and took part with the emperor. Maximilian, duke of
Bavaria, who, notwithstanding his youth, was at the head
of the Catholic League, had, through jealousy of his cousin
the Pfalzgraf, sacrificed the brilliant prospects of his house,
and headed the "Wittelsbach against the Wittelsbach in a
war profitable alone to the Habsburg. Conscious of this
false step, he endeavored, although the ally of the Habs-
burg, to curb the power of the emperor, and to retain his
position as the head of Catholic Germany. For this purpose,
he long delayed advancing to his aid, until actually com-
pelled, by the fear of losing the laurels he hoped to win, to
take the field at the head of his whole force, after conclud-
ing an alliance at Wurzburg with his brother Ferdinand in
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 983
Cologne, and Schweighart, elector of Mayence, in which
Lothar of Treves and Louis of Darmstadt also joined, and
after protecting his rear by making terms, as creditable to
him as a statesman as they were scandalous in the opposite
party, in the name of the League with the Union, the duke
of Wurtemberg promising to discharge the troops of the
Union, Bavaria on her part undertaking to leave the Lu-
theran and Reformed countries, including the Pfalz, Bo-
hemia alone excepted, unharassed by the League.
Frederick, elector of the Pfalz, a young and ambitious
man, whose projects were ever seconded by his wife, Eliza-
beth, a zealous Calvinist, the daughter of James I. of Eng-
land, had placed himself without difficulty, owing to the
supine indifference of the rest of the united princes, at the
head of the Union. His ineptitude for government was,
however, speedily discovered by the Bohemians, by whom
he had been elected king and received with the greatest en-
thusiasm. Frederick was merely fitted for parade, and was,
perhaps, the most incapable of the reigning princes of his
time, for he never allowed others to govern in his name.
The Lutheran princes, jealous of the increased importance
of the Pfalz, and inimical to him on account of his Calvinis-
tic tenets, abandoned him. His introduction of the French
tongue and of French customs and fashions into his court
created great dissatisfaction among his Bohemian subjects,
which was still further increased by his encouragement of
the attacks made from the pulpit by his chaplain, Scultetus,
upon the Utraquists and Lutherans, and by the demolition
of the ornaments still remaining in the churches at Prague.
The crucifixes and pictures were torn down and destroyed.
The attempt to demolish the great stone crucifix on the
bridge over the Moldau caused a revolt, which Thurn was
alone able to quell. Peace was restored, but Frederick had
forfeited the affection of his subjects. Instead of attaching
the Bohemian aristocracy to his person, he showered favors
upon two poor nobles, distinguished neither by their talents
nor by their characters, Christian, prince of Anhalt, and
984 THE HISTORY OF GERM AX Y
George Frederick, Count von Hohenlohe, by whom Count
Mansfeld, whose birth was illegitimate, was treated with
such marked contempt that he withdrew with his troops
from the royal army. The terms stipulated, A.D. 1620, be-
tween the League and the Union also deprived Frederick of
the aid of the latter, Bohemia being expressly given up as
a prey to the former. His alliance with Turkey, moreover,
greatly contributed to increase his unpopularity with every
party.
While the Protestants were thus weakened by their own
treachery and disunion, the Catholics acted with redoubled
vigor. Spinola marched from the Netherlands at the head
of twenty thousand men and systematically plundered the
Pfalz. The cries of the people at length struck upon the
dulled sense of the united princes. Wurtemberg tremblingly
demanded, "Why the late stipulation was thus infringed?"
and remained satisfied with the reply that Spinola, not being
included in the League, was not bound to keep its stipula-
tions ; and the Union made a treaty with Spinola at Mayence,
by which they consented to his remaining hi the Pfalz on
condition of the neighboring princes being left undisturbed.
Heidelberg, Mannheim, and the Frankenthal were defended
by the troops of Frederick Henry of Orange, who was aban-
doned by the rest of the united princes. Maximilian and his
field-marshal, John T'serclaes,1 Count von Tilly, a Dutch-
man, who had served under Alba, next invaded Upper Aus-
tria with a force of thirty thousand men. Linz yielded ; the
Estates were compelled to take the oath of fealty to the duke
as the emperor's representative ; Tschernembl fled to Geneva,
where he died in want, A.D. 1626. The mountain peasantry,
enraged at the capitulation of Linz by the panic-struck nobles,
took up arms, but were unable to overtake the duke, who
had, in the meantime, entered Bohemia, where numbers of
the inhabitants were, on account of their determined resist-
ance, cruelly butchered.
1 T'serclaes signifies Sir Clans, Sir Nicolas.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 985
Dampierre, sacrificing himself for the emperor, kept Beth-
len Gabor at bay, though with an inferior force, but was
finally defeated and slain before Presburg. The Hungarians
poured in crowds around Vienna, while the League, joined
by Bouquoi, Verdugo, and the whole of the imperial forces,
left Vienna to the right and marched straight upon Prague,
where the king, Frederick, little anticipated battle. Anhalt
and Hohenlohe had fixed an encampment on the "Weissen
Berg, famed for Zizka's deeds of prowess ; Mansf eld and the
flower of the army were far away at Pilsen, and, before it
was possible for him to advance to the relief of the metrop-
olis, the enemy unexpectedly stormed the Weissen Berg,
October 29, 1620. Christian of Anhalt rushed to the encoun-
ter and was wounded ; the Hungarian auxiliaries fled and
drew the Bohemians in their train. The Moravians made
a valiant but futile resistance. The battle rolled onward to
the gates of Prague, where the confusion was still further
increased by the panic of the king. Prague was well forti-
fied ; the troops had, after suffering a trifling loss, entered
the walls ; an immense Hungarian army lay around Vienna ;
Mansf eld was at Pilsen; Upper Austria in open insurrection;
four thousand men and ten cannons, left in the hurry of the
moment on the Weissen Berg, comprised the whole amount
of loss. But fear had paralyzed the senses of the monarch.
Instead of, like the Hussites, intrenching himself behind his
fortifications and awaiting the arrival of his friends, he yielded
his metropolis without a blow, merely demanding twenty-four
hours to prepare for his departure, notwithstanding which he
left behind him his crown and most important documents,
the whole archive of the Union, which fell into the hands of
the imperialists. Frederick fled to Breslau, then further,
never to return. One winter brought his reign to a close,
hence he received the soubriquet of the winter-king. ' Thurn
also escaped.
The elector of Saxony, who had, meanwhile, occupied the
1 Comes palatimis palans sine comite. He was pursued with satirical songs
and caricatures.
986 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Lausitz with his troops and had taken Bautzen and Zittau,
now expelled the fugitive king of Bohemia from Silesia and
compelled Breslau to do him homage as the emperor's repre-
sentative. Frederick took refuge in Holland with his con-
sort, whom the elector of Brandenburg had unwillingly per-
mitted to remain at Frankfort on the Maine until after the
birth of her son, Prince Maurice. The castle of Rhenen, in
Holland, was granted as a residence to the exiled pair by
the Prince of Orange.
Mansfeld, driven from Pilsen by Tilly, entered into a pre-
tended negotiation with the emperor, who vainly attempted
to bribe him to enter into his service, and had no sooner pro-
vided himself, by pillaging the country around Tachau, with
horses, ammunition and money, than, forcing his way through
Bamberg and Wurzburg, he escaped the imperialists under
Maximilian and General Cordova, who had been left by
Spinola, on his return to the Netherlands, in the Pfalz,
where he had wintered. Tilly vainly pursued the fugi-
tives; Mansfeld passed the Rhine and fixed himself in Al-
sace and Lorraine, ready, in case of necessity, to retreat
upon Holland.
Bethlen Gabor, driven from both Vienna and Presburg
by Bouquoi, was, in his turn, victorious over the Austrian
faction under Count Palffy in Hungary, and was reinforced
by Jaegerndorf, who again took the field in Silesia. Bouquoi
fell before Neuhausel. Mansfeld's expulsion, the open perfidy
of the Union, and the threatening aspect of Poland, however,
inclined Bethlen Gabor to make terms with the emperor, to
whom he, consequently, resigned the Hungarian crown on
condition of receiving seven districts and the title of prince
of the empire. Jaegerndorf, who now stood unaided and
alone, was compelled to dismiss his troops, and the Silesian
Estates credulously accepted the proffered mediation of the
elector of Saxony, who promised to protect their religious
liberty.
Ferdinand's apparent lenity greatly facilitated the sub-
jection of Bohemia. For three months vengeance slum-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 987
bered. With the cold-blooded hypocrisy of Alba, his mas-
ter in deceit, he patiently waited until the Bohemians, lulled
into security, had retaken their peaceful occupations, and
the fugitives had regained their homes. On the 20th of
February, 1621, the storm burst forth. All the popular
leaders who had not escaped were arrested. Thurn was
not to be found, but his friend, Count John Andreas von
Schlick, a descendant of the celebrated chancellor, to whom
the Habsburgs owed so much of their grandeur, was deliv-
ered by the perfidious elector of Saxony, to whom he had
fled for shelter, to the headsman of Prague. His right hand
and his head were struck off. Twenty- four nobles were be-
headed, three citizens hanged, etc. Seven hundred and
twenty-eight of the nobility, who were induced by a prom-
ise of pardon to confess their participation in the rebellion,
were deprived of their estates. Forty million dollars were
collected by confiscation alone. Five hundred noble and
thirty-six thousand citizen families emigrated. Bohemia
lost the whole of her ancient privileges. The letter patent
granted by Rudolph was destroyed by the emperor's own
hands. His confessor, the Jesuit Lamormain (Lsemmer-
mann), searched for and burned all heretical works, par-
ticularly those of the ancient Hussites. Nor did the dead
escape; Rokizana's remains were disinterred and burned;
Zizka's monument and every visible memorial of the hero-
ism of Bohemia were destroyed. Every trace of religious
liberty was annihilated, and the emperor, disregarding his
promise to the elector of Saxony in regard to the Luther-
ans, declared himself bound in conscience to exterminate all
heretics. Saxony, for form's sake, protested against this
want of faith. The churches throughout Bohemia were re-
consecrated by the Catholics ; the Hussite pastors, who failed
in making their escape, fell a prey to the savage soldiery.
The peasantry were imprisoned by the hundred and com-
pelled by famine to recant. The few Catholic nobles, Sla-
wata, Martinitz, Mittrovski, Klenau, Czeyka, who had for-
merly been expelled the country, took a fearful revenge.
988 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
The emigrants were the most fortunate portion of the popu-
lation. At Lissa, the citizens set fire to their own homes
and fled into Saxony. A desperate resistance was here and
there made by the people. The most valuable of the con-
fiscated property was granted in donation to the Jesuits,
who were triumphantly re-established in the country for the
purpose of drugging the minds of the enslaved people, and
so skilfully did they fulfil their office that, ere one generation
had passed away, the bold, free-spirited, intelligent Bohemian
was no longer to be recognized in the brutish creature, the
offspring of their craft, that until very lately has vegetated
unnoted by history.
A similar plan was pursued in Silesia, which had sub-
mitted on the guarantee of its religious liberty by the elector
of Saxony. Jesuits or other monks, accompanied by a troop of
the Lichtenstein dragoons, under Count Hannibal von Dohna,
went from village to village, from one house to another, for
the purpose of converting the inhabitants; pillage, torture,
the murder or robbery of children, were the means resorted
to. Emigration was prohibited. The emperor, not satisfied
with suppressing religious liberty, also restricted the civil
liberty of the Estates and metamorphosed the Silesian pro-
vincial Estates into a body of commissioners nominated by
and subservient to him. Breslau and the duchies of Lieg-
nitz, Brieg, and Oels, which were still governed by their
petty immediate princes, were alone spared. Ferdinand,
unable to suppress Protestantism in Hungary, secured his
hereditary provinces from infection by commercial interdic-
tions. His offer of pardon to a fugitive nobleman, Frederick
von Roggendorf, on condition of his return to his country,
received for answer, "What sort of pardon ; a Bohemian one?
Heads off ! A Moravian one? Imprisonment for life ! An
Austrian one? Confiscation!" These horrors were enacted
at Ferdinand's command, under the superintendence of his
confessor, Lamormain, who styled himself, in reference to
the immense confiscations that took place, "God's clerk
of the exchequer!" Saxony received the Lausitz in pledge;
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 989
Brandenburg was invested with Prussia. Frederick of Bo-
hemia, John George von Jaegerndorf, and Mansfeld (on
whose head a price was fixed), were put under the ban of
the empire. Anhalt and Hohenlohe were pardoned. The
Protestant Union voluntarily dissolved, A.D. 1621.
Disturbances, caused by the attempt made by the em-
peror to get the passes of the Grisons into his hands, on ac-
count of the communication with Spain and Italy, but more
particularly for the purpose of cutting off that between Switz-
erland and Venice, which countenanced the Reformers,
broke out simultaneously in Switzerland. The inhabitants
of Veltlin were butchered, A.D. 1620, by the Spanish and
Italian troops under the Archduke Leopold and Feria, gov-
ernor of Milan ; but the peasantry, excited to desperation by
this outrage, rising en masse, the imperialists were driven
out of the country, A.D. 1622. Teuffenbach, who had taken
refuge in Switzerland from the troubles in Moravia, and who
lay sick at Pfseffers, was, during this contest, seized by the
people of Sargans, sold to Ferdinand's executioners, and be-
headed at Innsbruck.
CCV. Revolt of the Upper Austrians — Count Mansfeld
THE Austrian nobility, impelled by fear and by the hope
of reward, had yielded. Death and confiscation struck them
with terror, while the splendid recompense bestowed by Fer
dinand on the Count of Lichtenstein, whom he created prince
and endowed with the whole of the confiscated lands of
Jaegerndorf and with Troppau in Silesia in return for his
fidelity, induced many among the rest of the aristocracy to
declare their adherence to the crown. The most resolute of
the opposite party bade an eternal farewell to their country.
The last resolution published by the emperor, in February,
1625, was as follows: "His imperial Majesty reserves to
himself, to his heirs and successors, the complete control of
religion," according to the principle of "cujus regio, ejus
religio," perfectly independent of the pope, in right of his
^90 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
political, not of his ecclesiastical supremacy. The Estates
were forever prohibited the discussion of religious matters
under pain of a fine of one million florins on the whole as-
sembly, and a court of correction, empowered to confiscate
the estates of all political offenders, was established at
Vienna. The numbers of the nobility were by these means
considerably reduced, and their confiscated property served
to reward the few proselytes of the crown. In Austria, as
in Bohemia, the numerous independent nobility possessed of
petty estates was replaced by a small number of favorites
and upstarts, some of whom introduced new and foreign
races into the country, and on whom large tracts of land
were bestowed. The people were forever deprived of their
only organ, the Estates, on which they had reposed implicit
confidence, by the flight and defection of the nobility ; they
were, notwithstanding, at that time far from being the blind,
dull mass they afterward became, and among their ranks
there were many men devoid neither of spirit nor intelligence.
Upper Austria had been consigned by Ferdinand to Max-
imilian of Bavaria by way of indemnification for the expenses
of the war. The Count von Herberstorf , a man of an aus-
tere and cruel disposition, possessed of great personal cour-
age, the stadtholder appointed by Bavaria over Linz, gave
his soldiers license to plunder, vex, and murder the heretical
peasantry. The whole country being Lutheran, the re-estab-
lishment of Catholicism was necessarily gradual. The mag-
istracy, corporative privileges, the use of hospitals, the right
of guardianship, were one by one withdrawn from the Lu-
therans ; their children were torn from them and educated in
the Catholic faith, their wills were declared invalid, etc. In
1624, all Lutherans who still publicly professed their faith
were compelled to emigrate; in 1625, the external ceremonies
of the Catholic Church, the fasts, the accompaniment of pro-
cessions with banners, etc., were strictly enforced, and the
Easter of 1626 was fixed as the term for the entire suppres-
sion of heresy throughout the country.
This decree was a signal for a last and desperate struggle.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 991
The people resolved to shed the last drop of their blood for
the gospel rather than pollute themselves by participating in
the devilish idolatry of their tyrannical master. The peas-
antry of the mere of Frankenburg first revolted, and expelled
the priests engaged in purifying the church at Zwiespalten,
by fumigation, from the smell of heresy. Herberstorf was,
however, at hand, and, ordering seventeen of the peasants to
be seized, had them hanged as ornaments on the tower and
beneath the eaves of the sacred edifice. This sacrilegious
deed caused a general insurrection. Herberstorf was de-
feated at Peurbach, where he lost twelve hundred of his
men, and was forced to seek shelter within the walls of
Linz. Stephen Fadinger, a wealthy peasant, formerly a
hatmaker, was placed at the head of the insurgents, who
divided themselves into regiments, some of which wore a
black uniform in sign of sorrow for their country, fixed upon
certain places of meeting, and maintained the most perfect
order, without having a single member of the ancient Es-
tates either at their head or among their ranks. A collision
took place at Hausruckviertel between the scattered soldiery
and the peasantry, which terminated in a general assassina-
tion of the Bavarians.
The Estates were now convoked for the purpose of medi-
ating between the emperor and "his trusty peasantry," to
whose complaints he promised to turn a "lenient ear," while
he made fresh military preparations, the presence of his
troops being at that time required in other parts of the em-
pire. The peasants, meantime, continued to arm themselves,
and seized three vessels bearing Bavarian troops up the Dan-
ube to the relief of Linz. No quarter was given. Fadinger,
on his part, took advantage of the truce to gather in the
harvest and to provide for the future wants of his followers.
The alternative offered by him to the emperor was, "liberty
of conscience or renunciation of allegiance to the house of
Habsburg."
The attempt to compel Linz, Enns, and Freistadt to ca-
pitulate by famine failing, Fadinger formally besieged them
992 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
in the summer of 1626, when he was killed by a cannon-ball
while reconnoitring the fortifications of Linz. The attacks
of the enraged peasantry proved futile. Wiellinger, their new
leader, was unpossessed of the talent of his gifted predecessor.
Another body of insurgents under Wolf Wurm had, mean-
while, gained possession of Freistadt, and Enns had been re-
lieved by a troop of imperialists under Colonel Loebel, whose
soldiery set the villages in flames and butchered their inhabi-
tants. Wiellinger, instead of opposing them with his formid-
able numbers, foolishly marched the main body of his forces
upon Linz, where he met with insurmountable difficulties and
a determined resistance. His attempts to take the place by
storm were signally defeated. A thousand of the peasants
were killed and numbers wounded. A night-attack by water
also failed, and a ship, crowded with peasants, was blown
into the air. Fresh regiments of imperialists and Bavarians,
meanwhile, poured into the country. Loebel was supported
by the Colonels von Auersperg, Preuner, and Schafftenberg.
Premier took Freistadt by a coup de main and defeated a
body of peasantry at Kerschbaum. Wiellinger, compelled to
raise the siege of Linz, during which he had lost all his am-
munition and his army had been reduced to two thousand
men, when too late, attacked Loebel, and a dreadful battle
took place at Neuhofen, where one thousand of the peasants
fell and Wiellinger was severely wounded. He was replaced
by a fresh leader, "the Student," whose real name was never
known, although he was the greatest character that appeared
in this tragedy. The peasants, inspired by him with fresh
courage, undauntedly opposed the troops now pouring upon
them from every quarter. Adolf, duke of Holstein, the em-
peror's ally, was surprised by the Student during the night
near Wesenufer; a thousand of his men were slain, and he
was constrained to flee in his shirt to Bavaria. General
Lindlo, who was sent by Maximilian to avenge this disgrace,
fell into an ambuscade laid by the Student in the great Pram
forest. Lindlo contrived to escape, but almost the whole of
his officers and three thousand of his men were cut to pieces.
THE THIRTY TEARS' WAR 993
Another body of peasantry defeated Loebel on the Welser-
heath. Preuner was, however, victorious in the Muhlviertel
and at Lambach. The Student divided his men into three
bodies and took up a strong position at Weibern, Eferding,
and Gmunden, at which latter place rocks and stones were
rolled upon Herberstorf's troops, which were put to flight,
leaving one thousand five hundred men on the field.
The celebrated general, Henry Godfrey von Pappenheim,
whose fame as a distinguished commander of the League
was only second to that of Tilly, was now despatched into
the mountains at the head of fresh troops against the invin-
cible Student, whom he attacked in his second position at
Eferding, and at length, after a hard and dubious contest,
in which two thousand of the peasantry were slain, defeated.
He thoii marched upon Gmunden, whence he succeeded in
dislodging the enemy, who instantly took up a strong posi-
tion in a wood. The whole of the imperial forces stood here
opposed to the little body of peasantry, and in such close
vicinity that the psalms sung by them and a sermon deliv-
ered by the Student, in which he exhorted them to be of
good courage, were plainly heard by the foe. The charge
made by the peasantry upon the flank of the imperialists
was at first successful, the whole of the right wing taking to
flight and being pursued as far as the streets of Gmunden,
notwithstanding which, after a murderous battle of four
hours, Pappenheim kept the field and four thousand peas-
ants were slain. This defeat was followed by the battles of
Vcecklabruck and Wolfsegg, in which several thousands
of the peasantry fell, among others the unknown Student,
whose head was presented to the general. An enormous
mound that was raised over the fallen brave near Pisdorf,
and which is still known as the Peasant Mound, is the only
record that remains of those bloody times.
The country was placed under martial law. A number
of captive peasants were dragged to Vienna, whence they
never returned. Many thousands had fallen. The remainder
were converted to Catholicism by the military and by the
GERMANY. VOL. HI.— 4
994 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Jesuits. The remains of Fadinger and Zeller were, at the
emperor's command, exhumed and burned by the hangman.
Wiellinger and twelve of the other ringleaders were ex-
ecuted; numbers of the peasants were butchered by the
soldiery, and, in conclusion, the emperor, unable to deny
himself the pleasure, ordered Madlfeder, Hausleitner, and
Holzmuller, the poor peasant commissioners, who had for-
merly entered into negotiation with him and the Estates and
who had received a safe-conduct signed with his royal hand,
to be seized, quartered alive, and their limbs exposed on gal-
lows on the highroads in different parts of the country.
The obstinacy with which the people, notwithstanding
the success of the League and the treachery of the princes,
asserted their liberty of conscience, had, by the great con-
course of soldiery beneath their banners, enabled some of
the minor nobility, among others, Count Mansfeld, to keep
the field. This diminutive, sickly-looking, deformed man,
possessed a hero's soul. The Protestants flocked in such
crowds beneath his standard, that, in the autumn of 1621,
he found himself in Alsace at the head of twenty thousand
men; but, deserted by all the powerful princes, who alone
possessed the means of supporting an army, he was com-
pelled by necessity to maintain his troops by pillage, an ex-
ample that was imitated by all the leaders during this terri-
ble war. In the ensuing spring, seconded by some of the
minor princes, who had ventured to join him during the
winter, he took the field against Tilly. George Frederick,
Margrave of Baden-DurJach, had taken up arms against the
emperor on account of the protection afforded by him to his
cousin William of Baden-Baden, whom he sought, under
pretext of the illegitimacy of his birth, to deprive of his in-
heritance. Christian of Brunswick, the youngest brother of
Frederick Ulric of Wolfenbuttel, another of his allies, was
an adventurer, who, having become enamored of Elisabeth,
ex-queen of Bohemia, wore her glove in his hat, and fought
for "God and his lady." He entered Westphalia and plun-
dered the wealthy churches and monasteries. Numbers of
1
KING WILLIAM I.
Germany^ Frontispiece,
THE THIRTY TEARS' WAR 996
the towns escaped pillage on payment of ransom; he lost,
however, one thousand two hundred men before the little
town of Geseke. — Mansfeld was also joined by John Ernest,
Frederick and "William of Saxe- Weimar, who were filled
with indignation at the guardianship attempted to be im-
posed upon them by the treacherous elector of Saxony.
Their youngest brother, Bernard, served, in his eighteenth
year, in his brother William's regiment. Magnus of Wur-
temberg also took up arms in Mansf eld's favor, against the
wish of his brother, John Frederick, the reigning duke. —
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, also showed great zeal
in the cause, but was not supported by his provincial Es-
tates, the prelates and the nobility, who entered into a sepa-
rate negotiation with the Spaniards, between whom and the
nobility a treaty was concluded at Bingen, A.D. 1621, in
the name of the Landgrave, who angrily protested against
it. He was unable, owing to the defection of the Estates, to
bring a sufficient number of troops into the field.
The ex-king of Bohemia ventured in person into the camp
of Mansfeld, who, united with the Margrave of Baden, de-
feated Tilly, who was murdering and burning in the Pfalz,
near Wisloch or Mingelsheim ; but the Margrave, separating
from him, was attacked at Wimpfen by Tilly, who, mean-
while, had been joined by Cordova, and was completely
routed. His flight was covered by four hundred of the citi-
zens of Pforzheim, under their burgomaster, Deimling, who
were cut down to a man. Magnus of Wurtemberg fell, cov-
ered with glory. Bernard of Weimar greatly distinguished
himself in this action. Mansfeld had, in the meantime,
taken prisoner Louis, Landgrave of Darmstadt, who had
refused him a free passage across his territory. Christian
of Brunswick, when attempting to join Mansfeld, was sur-
prised and defeated at Hoechst on the Maine, where a terri-
ble slaughter took place, Christian having rendered himself
peculiarly obnoxious to the Catholics. Mansfeld's operations
were rendered less effective by the unexpected desertion of
the ex-king of Bohemia, who, at the instigation of Saxony,
996 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
implored the emperor's pardon and dismissed his troops.
Mansfeld, without money or credit, had now but one alter-
native, and threw himself, with Christian, into Champagne,
for the purpose of inspiring Louis XIII., who had begun to
persecute the Huguenots, with alarm, and of providing him-
self with the means of subsistence, and marched thence into
the Netherlands with the intention of attacking Spinola,
who had forced the Dutch to retreat upon the Rhine, taken
Juliers, and was besieging Bergen-op-Zoom. Although pur-
sued by Cordova, they fought their way in the Ardennes
through the insurgent peasantry, gained a brilliant victory
over the united forces of Cordova and Spinola at Fleurus,
and raised the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom. Frederick of Wei-
mar, who had ventured to join the evangelical fugitives, fell
in this battle, and Christian was severely wounded. The
winter was passed in East Friesland, where the maintenance
of the troops fell heavily on the unremunerated peasantry.
Mansfeld visited London, where he was received with great
acclamations, in the hope of gaining assistance from Eng-
land. He was wrecked during his return, and saved by the
fidelity of his friends and attendants, sixty-six in number,
who ceded to him the only chance of escape, a frail boat,
which bore him safely to hand, while they calmly resigned
themselves to a watery grave.
Mansfeld's retreat left the Upper Rhine a prey to Tilly's
vengeance. Heidelberg was stormed by his savage soldiery,
by whom the wretched inhabitants were treated with horrid
cruelty. The valuable library was sent by Maximilian, whose
possession of Upper Austria began to excite the displeasure
of Ferdinand, to the pope, Gregory XV., as a means of re-
taining that pontiff's favor. The precious ancient German
manuscripts, contained in this library, reached Rome in
safety, and were thus saved from sharing the destruction
that, during later wars, awaited the castle of Heidelberg,
where they had been kept, which fell a prey to the flames.
They were sent back to Heidelberg in 1815. Mannheim was
taken by storm and burned to the ground. Frankentnal
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 99?
capitulated. The inhabitants of Germersheim, although the
troops of the Pfalz had evacuated the place, were butchered
by the imperialists. Catholicism was reimposed upon the
whole of the Pfalz. Nor did the opposite side of the Rhine
escape. Strasburg mainly owed the preservation of her lib-
erty of conscience to the strength of her walls, but the greater
part of the inhabitants of Hagenau and Colmar (Protestants)
were compelled to emigrate.
Ferdinand, with the view of realizing the projects, the
execution of which he had commenced by force, by means
of negotiation, and the promulgation of new laws, convoked
the electoral princes, A.D. 1623, to Ratisbon. This was no
longer a diet, but an aristocratic assembly, whence the other
Estates of the empire were, during this reign of terror, arbi-
trarily excluded by the emperor, who hoped to succeed in his
schemes by the sole aid of the princes. His first object was
the conclusion of a treaty with Bavaria, whom he hoped to
supersede as the head of the Catholic party, and on whom,
being compelled to reward him for his services, he bestowed
the Upper Pfalz in fee and the electoral dignity, but, jealous
of his power and influence, retained Rhenish Pfalz under
pretext of the offence a grant of that country would give to
Frederick's father-in-law, the English monarch. In order
to attach the minor princes to his person, and by their means
to create a counterpoise to Bavaria, he bestowed at this diet
the title of prince on the Counts von Hohenzollern and great
privileges on the Counts von Furstenberg. Rhenish Pfalz
merely lost the wealthy monastery of Lorsch, which was
ceded to Mayence. Maximilian, forced to content himself
with the Upper Pfalz, of which he took possession to the
great dissatisfaction of the inhabitants, immediately abol-
ished the ancient constitution and banished all the Protes-
tant inhabitants. Thus ended the first act in the thirty
years' tragedy, the Calvinistic and Hussite movement in
Upper Germany, which the Lutherans in Lower Germany,
instead of favoring, had aided the Catholics to oppose.
Peace was, nevertheless, still out of the question. All
998 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
the bulwarks of the Reformation in the South had been
destroyed. The North, that fondly deemed herself secure,
was next to be attacked. The cruel fanaticism of the em-
peror and the perfidy of Saxony had weakened every guar-
antee. The dread of the general and forcible suppression
of Protestantism throughout Germany, and shame for their
inaction, induced the circle of Lower Saxony to take up
arms and to seek aid from their Protestant brethren in Eng-
land, Denmark, and Sweden. Richelieu was at this time
at the head of affairs in France, and, although as a cardinal
a zealous upholder of Catholicism, he was not blind to the
opportunity offered, by supporting the German Protestants
against the emperor, for weakening the power of that poten-
tate, partitioning Germany, and extending the French terri-
tory toward the Rhine. The German Lutherans, ensnared
by his intrigues, blinded by fear, and driven to this false
step by the despotism and perfidy of the emperor, little fore-
saw the immeasurable misfortune foreign interference was
to bring upon their country. Bellin, the French plenipoten-
tiary, at first wished to place the warlike Swedish monarch,
Gustavus Adolphus, at the head of the German Protestants,
entered into alliance with England, and gained over the
elector of Brandenburg, who promised his sister, Catherine,
to the Russian czar, in order to keep a check upon Poland,
at that period at war with Sweden ; but these intrigues were
frustrated by Christian IV., king of Denmark, who antici-
pated the Swedes by taking up arms and placing himself at
the head of the movement. Gustavus, at that time engaged
with Poland, was unable to interfere. The Russian match
was broken off, A.D. 1625, and the luckless bride was given
in marriage to the aged Bethlen Gabor.
CCVI. Wallenstein — The Danish Campaign
WAB with Denmark no sooner threatened than Ferdi-
nand, to the great discontent of Bavaria, raised an army,
independent of the League, by the assistance of a Bohemian
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 999
nobleman, Albert von Wallenstein (properly, Waldstein).
This nobleman belonged to a Protestant family, and had
been bred in that faith. He had acquired but a scanty sup-
ply of learning at the university of Goldberg in Silesia, which
he quitted to enter as a page the Catholic court of Burgau.
While here he fell, when asleep, out of one of the high castle
windows without receiving any injury. He afterward stud-
ied the dark sciences, more especially astrology, in Italy, and
read his future destiny, of which he had had a secret pre-
sentiment from his early childhood, in the stars. He com-
menced his career in the emperor's service, by opposing the
Turks in Hungary, where he narrowly escaped death from
swallowing a love-potion administered to him by Wiczkowa,
an aged but extremely wealthy widow, whom he had mar-
ried, and with whose money he raised a regiment of cuiras-
siers for the emperor. His popularity was so great in Bo-
hemia that the Bohemians, on the breaking out of the
disturbances in Prague, appointed him their general. He,
nevertheless, remained attached to the imperial service and
greatly distinguished himself in the field against Mansfeld
and Bethlen Gabor. By a second and equally rich mar-
riage with the Countess Harrach, and by the favor of the
emperor, who bestowed upon him Friedland and the dignity
of count of the empire, but chiefly by the purchase of num-
berless estates, which, on account of the numerous confisca-
tions and emigrations, were sold in Bohemia at merely a
nominal price, and by the adulteration of coin, ' "Wallenstein
became possessed of such enormous wealth as to be, next to
the emperor, the richest proprietor in the empire. The em-
peror requesting him to raise a body of ten thousand men,
he levied forty thousand, an army of that magnitude being
solely able to provide itself in every quarter with subsistence,
and was, in return, created duke of Friedland and generalis-
1 He purchased property to the amount of 7,290,000 florins, a fifth of its real
value, and the coin with which he paid for it was, moreover, so bad that the
emperor was compelled to secure him against enforced restitution by an express
privilege.
1000 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
simo of the imperial forces. A few months sufficed for the
levy of the troops, his fame and the principles on which he
acted attracting crowds beneath his standard. Every relig-
ion, but no priest, was tolerated within his camp ; the strict-
est discipline was enforced and the greatest license permitted ;
merit met with a princely reward ; the commonest soldier,
who distinguished himself, was promoted to the highest
posts; and around the person of the commander was spread
the charm of mystery; he was reported to be in league witt
the powers of darkness, to be invulnerable, and to have en-
chained victory to his banner. Fortune was his deity and
the motto of his troops. In person he was tall and thin;
his countenance was sallow and lowering; his eyes were
small and piercing, his forehead was high and command-
ing, his hair short and bristling. He was surrounded with
mystery and silence. *
Tilly, jealous of "Wallenstein's fame, hastened to antici-
pate that leader in the reduction of the circle of Lower Sax-
ony. The Danish monarch, who held Schleswig and Hoi-
stein by right of inheritance, and Ditmarsch by that of
conquest, while his son, Frederick, governed the bishoprics
of Bremen and Verdun, attempted to encroach still further
on the German empire and long carried on a contest with
Lubeck and Hamburg. During peace time, in 1619, he
seized the free town of Stade, under the pretext, customary
in those times, of protecting the aristocratic council against
the rebellious citizens. He also built Gliickstadt, and levied
high customs on the citizens of Hamburg. The avarice and
servility of the princes of Wolfenbiittel and Luneburg-Zelle
had also at that period rendered them contemptible and de-
prived them of much of their former power and influence.
Christian the "Wild, of Brunswick, was appointed generalis-
1 Two portraits of this singular man are to be seen at Dux near Toeplitz, one
of the country residences of the present counts of Waldstein. One represents
him as a fair youth, whose smooth and open brow is still unsullied by crime ; the
other bears the dark and sinister aspect of a man whose hands have been imbrued
in blood, whose seared conscience hesitates at no means, however base, cruel
or unholy, for the attainment of his purpose. — Trans.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1001
simo of the circle of Lower Saxony, but was no sooner op-
posed by Tilly than his brother, George Frederick Ulric of
"Wolfenbuttel, and the Danish king, withdrew their troops
and dissolved the confederacy. Christian, nevertheless, still
kept the field with those of his allies who remained faithful
to him, among others, William and Bernard of "Weimar, and
a bloody engagement took place at Stadtloo, in which Tilly
was victorious and William of Weimar was wounded and
taken prisoner. He returned to East Friesland to Mansfeld.
The noble Danish body-guard that had been sent to Wolfen-
buttel was attacked and driven across the frontier by the en-
raged German peasantry, and the Hanse towns, flattered by
the emperor and embittered against Denmark by the erec-
tion of Gluckstadt and the seizure of Stade, were almost the
first to recall their troops and to desist from opposition, while
George of Luneburg, attracted by the report of the great
arrondissements projected by the emperor, preferred gain to
loss and formally seceded.
The Danish monarch now found himself totally unpro-
tected, and, in order to guard his German acquisitions in
case Brunswick followed the example of the Hansa and em-
braced the imperial party, set himself up as a liberator of
Germany, in which he was countenanced and upheld by
England, Holland, and Richelieu, the omnipotent minister
of France. He, nevertheless, greatly undervalued the si-
multaneous revolt of the Upper Austrians, to whom he im-
politically offered no assistance. The German princes re-
mained tranquil and left the Dane unaided. The Hessian
peasantry rose in Tilly's rear, and those of Brunswick, en-
raged at the cowardly desertion of the cause of religion by
the princes and the nobility, killed numbers of his soldiery
in the Sollinger Forest, captured the garrisons of Dassel and
Bodenwerder, seized a large convoy near Eimbeck, destroyed
the castles of all the fugitive nobility, and hunted George's
consort, the daughter of the treacherous Louis of Darmstadt,
from one place of refuge to another. The citizens of Han-
over, where the magistrate was about to capitulate to Tilly,
1002 TEE HISTORY OF GERMANY
also flew to arms and appointed John Ernest of Weimar com'
mandant of their city, A.D. 1625.
Tilly, at first worsted at Niemburg by the Danish gen-
eral, Obentraut, who fell shortly afterward at Seelze, spread
the terror of his name throughout Hesse, Brunswick, and
the rest of the Lutheran provinces. The Spaniards in the
Netherlands, encouraged by this example, again resorted to
their ancient practices, and, during the winter of 1626, Henry,
Count von Berg, made an inroad, still unforgotten by the
Dutch, into the Velau, where he burned down the villages,
butchered all the men, and left the women and children
naked and houseless, exposed to the inclemency of the
season.
In the ensuing year, the approach of Wallenstein caused
Tilly, anxious to bind the laurels of victory around his own
brow, to bring the Danish campaign to a hasty close, and,
taking advantage of the state of inactivity to which the
Danish monarch was reduced by a fall from horseback,
seized Hameln and Minden, where the powder magazine
blew up during the attack and destroyed the whole garri-
son, consisting of two thousand five hundred men, A.D. 1627.
Havelberg, Gottingen, and Hanover next fell into his hands,
and a pitched battle was fought on the Barenberg near Lut-
ter, which terminated in the rout of the whole of the Danish
forces and the surrender of Holstein.
Mansfeld and John Ernest of Weimar, too weak, not-
withstanding the reinforcements sent to their aid by Eng-
land and Holland, to take the field against Wallenstein,
who, at the head of a wild and undisciplined army of sixty
thousand mon, was advancing upon Lower Germany, at-
tempted to draw him through Silesia into Hungary and to
carry the war into the hereditary provinces of the emperor,
but were overtaken and defeated on the bridge of Dessau.
Mansfeld, nevertheless, escaped into Silesia, where his popu-
larity was so great that in the course of a few weeks he
found himself once more at the head of an army consisting
of twenty thousand evangelical volunteers, four thousand
THE THIRTT YEARS' WAR 1003
Mecklenburgers, and three thousand Scots and Danes. Wai-
lenstein pursued him, and the contending armies lay for some
time in sight of each other on the Waag, without venturing
an engagement. Wallenstein, meanwhile, gained over the
Hungarian king, and Mansfeld, once more abandoned, at-
tempted to escape to Venice, but, worn out by chagrin and
fatigue, expired, standing upright in his armor, at Uraco-
wicz, in Bosnia. He was buried at Spalatro. His ally,
John Ernest of Weimar, died in Hungary. A body of his
troops under Colonel Baudis fought their way, although op-
posed even by Brandenburg, to Denmark. Bethlen Gabcr
expired, A.D. 1629, leaving no issue.
The triumph of the Catholics was complete. As early as
1625, a jubilee had been solemnized and public prayers for
the extirpation of the heretics had been ordained throughout
the whole of the Catholic world by the pope, Urban VIII.,
who also founded the celebrated Propaganda, congregatio
de propaganda fide, whose members were instructed in the
task, whenever violence failed, of alluring apostates, more
especially the princes, back to the bosom of the one true
church.
The Protestant cause was lost. The more powerful and
influential among the princes of the Lutheran Union had
turned traitors ; the lesser potentates had, after a futile con-
test, been compelled to yield. Christian of Brunswick ex-
pired at Wolfenbuttel. The Margrave of Baden had fled
into Denmark. Maurice of Hesse was finally reduced to
submission by Tilly, and died, A.D. 1632, after abdicating
in favor of his son, William, who, not bound, like his father,
by an oath to maintain tranquillity, was free to seize any op-
portunity that offered during the war for his restoration to
power. The Hessian nobility, supported by Tilly, had ac-
quired great privileges by the stipulations of the peace con-
cluded between that general and Maurice, of which they
made use to raise a tumult against their sturdy opponent,
Wolfgang Gunther, the Landgrave's privy councillor, whom
they sentenced to execution.
1004 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
The opposition offered by the people had also been stifled
in blood. The peasants in Upper Austria and Brunswick
had fallen a prey to the soldiery, and an insurrection of the
Bohemian peasantry, under Christopher von Redern, who
had taken Kcenigsgra3tz by storm and laid waste the prop-
erty of "Wallenstein's brother-in-law, Terzki, was speedily
quelled; five hundred were slain, the rest branded and de-
prived of their noses.
Wallenstein became the soul of the intrigues carried on
in the camps and in the little courts of Northern Germany,
and had not the Catholics, like the Protestants at an earlier
period, been blinded by petty jealousies, Europe would have
been molded by his quick and comprehensive genius into an-
other form. He demanded a thorough reaction, an uncondi-
tional restoration of the ancient imperial power, a monarchy
absolute as that of France and Spain. In order to carry out
his project for securing the submission of the southern prov-
inces of Germany to the imperial rule by the firm and peace-
able possession of those in the north, the seat of opposition,
he invaded Holstein, defeated the Margrave of Baden near
Aalborg, and made Christian IV. tremble in Copenhagen.
Tilly, meanwhile, garrisoned the coasts of the Baltic and
seized Stade, while Arnheim, with the Saxon troops sent by
the elector to Wallenstein's aid, held the island of Rugen.
Rostock fell into the hands of "Wallenstein, John Albert and
Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg were driven out of the coun-
try, Stralsund was besieged, and the people were laid under
heavy contributions. Wallenstein had already come to an
understanding with Poland, and the Hanse towns were
drawn into his interests by a promise of the annihilation of
the Dutch, of the traffic of the whole world being diverted
from Amsterdam to Hamburg,1 and of the monopoly of the
whole of the commerce of Spain. The emperor, in order to
counterpoise the power of the ancient princely families which
threatened to contravene the schemes laid for his aggrandize-
1 These promises were indeed vain; the last Hanseatic diet was held, A.D.
1630 The Hunsa had fallen never again to rise.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1005
merit by his favorite, bestowed upon him the principality of
Sagan, in Silesia, and the whole of Mecklenburg, while he
in his turn proposed to gain the crown of Denmark for his
master, to create Tilly duke of Brunswick-Calenberg and
Pappenheim duke of Wolfenbuttel, and, in order to evade
George's pretensions, that prince was sent to Italy under
pretence of securing the succession of the petty duchy of
Mantua for the emperor.
Wallenstein's projects were, nevertheless, frustrated by
his own party. The emperor objected to the Danish crown
as too precarious a possession, while Tilly, a zealous Catho-
lic and Jesuit, the slave of his order, by which the schemes
of the duke of Friedland were viewed with suspicion, and
which solely aimed at the suppression of the Reformation,
not that of the princely aristocracy, which it hoped to restore
to the Catholic Church, gave him but lukewarm aid, and his
attempts upon Stralsund were, consequently, unsuccessful,
and, after losing twelve thousand men, he was compelled to
raise the siege.
The Danes were, meanwhile, forced by the treaty of Lu-
beck, A.D. 1629, to abandon the Protestant cause. Denmark,
actuated by jealousy of Sweden, consented to all the terms
proposed, and a marriage between Ulric, the crown prince
of Denmark, and "Wallenstein's only daughter, was even agi-
tated. Arnheim was sent to aid Poland against Sweden.
England, whose king, James I., had been won over by the
Jesuits, also abandoned the Protestant cause.
The heroic defence of Stralsund decided the fate of Eu-
rope. Wallenstein's pride received a deep blow. The em-
peror, already doubtful of his fidelity, now lost his belief in
his unvarying good fortune and threw himself into the arms
of the Jesuits, who chiefly dreaded a schism among the
Catholics. Maximilian of Bavaria, jealous of the suprem-
acy of Austria, had already entered into negotiation with
Richelieu and even with the Lutheran princes, and threat-
ened to take the field against the emperor, were Wallenstein
further permitted to exercise arbitrary rule throughout the
1006 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
empire and to treat the dignities and privileges of the princes
with contempt. Richelieu also dreaded the unity of Ger-
many, and offered to invade the empire in order to curb
Wallenstein, whose genius he dreaded, by force.
The emperor, undeterred by repeated warnings, aban-
doned his great general, and published, A.D. 1629, in the
spirit of the League, the infamous edict, enforcing the res-
titution of all ecclesiastical property confiscated since the
treaty of Passau. By this edict the Protestant archbish-
oprics of Magdeburg and Bremen, the bishoprics of Hal-
berstadt, Minden, Lubeck, Ratzeburg, Merseburg, Misnia,
Naumburg, Brandenburg, Havelberg, Lebus, Cammin, and
numberless monastic lands, were restored to the Catholics.
The imperial commissioners intrusted with the execution of
the edict, protected by the Friedlanders and Leaguers, exer-
cised the greatest tyranny, enforcing the restoration of lands
confiscated prior to the term fixed and the recantation of their
proprietors. The Catholic ritual was re-established in all the
free imperial cities, even in those where, as, for instance, in
Augsburg, it had been abolished and replaced by that of
Luther long before the treaty of Passau. The emperor ap-
propriated the greater part of the booty to his own family,
and encouraged plurality by appointing his son, Leopold,
archbishop, and bishop of Bremen, Magdeburg, Halberstadt,
Passau, Strasburg, and abbot of Hersfeld, which placed all
those rich ecclesiastical demesnes in his hands, and thu^,
while seemingly defending religion against the political ego-
tism of the Protestant princes, emulated them in stripping
the church. The whole of the confiscated monastic property,
without distinction, fell to the Jesuits.
Lay property shared a similar fate. Every nobleman who
had served under Frederick of Bohemia, Mansfeld, or Bruns-
wick, was deprived of his estates, and the emperor's and the
Leaguers' troops, under pretext of protecting the commis-
sioners in the performance of their duty, were stationed in
and allowed to pillage the Protestant provinces. The Cath-
olics, nevertheless, generally viewed their success with dis-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1007
trust, and it was remarked that, in Wurtemberg, the mon-
asteries, instead of being taken into possession, were merely
plundered, that the booty was carried into Bavaria and Aus-
tria, that even the forests were cleared and the timber sold.
John Frederick, duke of Wurtemberg, had expired, A.D.
1628, leaving his infant son, Eberhard III., under the guar-
dianship of his uncle, Louis Frederick, who died shortly after-
ward of chagrin at the devastation of his territories.
The cruelty and tyranny practiced by the emperor re-
mained wholly unopposed by the Protestant princes. The
city of Magdeburg alone maintained her ancient fame by
defending her walls against the whole of the imperial forces.
The free imperial cities had been delivered up to the emperor
and were purposely unrepresented in the council of princes,
which usurped the prerogatives of a diet of the empire, held
at Ratisbon, A.D. 1630. The restoration of the ecclesiastical
property sorely displeased the Lutheran princes. Saxony
and Brandenburg beheld with pain the archbishoprics and
bishoprics in the north torn from their families and bestowed
upon the Archduke Leopold, Hildesheim on Prince Ferdinand
of Bavaria, elector of Cologne, Minden and Verdun on Francis
William, Count von Wurtemberg (a side-branch of the Bava-
rian dynasty), who, as commissioner for the whole of North-
ern Germany, superintended the execution of the edict. But
their dread of Wallenstein smoothed every difficulty. The
elector of Saxony and all the Lutheran princes, bribed with
Wallenstein's dismissal, gave their consent to the edict and
tolerated its transgression in the free imperial cities. The
complaints against his administration were studiously brought
forward, as if to veil the robberies committed under the edict.
The duke of Friedland was made the scapegoat for the crimes
of others. The man to whom the emperor owed all he pos-
sessed was dismissed, A.D. 1630. Nor was this the least im-
portant triumph of the princely aristocracy over all the con-
tending parties in Germany in the course of this century.
The hope of restoring the unity of the empire was once more
frustrated and the ancient polyarchy saved.
1008 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, landed at this con-
juncture on the coast of Pomerania, His arrival was viewed
with pleasure by the cabinet of Vienna, as a means of hum-
bling Bavaria and the League, and, in case of necessity,
"Wallenstein would still be able to raise the Austrian stand-
ard when Bavaria and Sweden should have mutually weak-
ened one another. "Wallenstein's offer to defend the coasts
in his right as Prince of Mecklenburg was rejected, and he
withdrew, with the wealth he had amassed, to Prague.
A groundless fear of opposition on the part of Wallen-
stein had induced the emperor to draw off twenty thousand
of his men, and to send them into Italy in order to secure to
the imperial house the succession to the duchy of Mantua,
to which Charles, duke of Nevers, a French prince, laid
claim. France eagerly seized this opportunity to take a
footing in Italy. The pope, Urban VIII., a worldly-minded,
warlike, intriguing prince, and Venice, alarmed at the em-
peror's successes in Germany, and dreading anew the su-
premacy of Austria in Italy, leagued with France and
countenanced the invasion of Northern Germany by Sweden.
The concessions made by the emperor to Bavaria probably
arose from a dread of Maximilian's open accession to this
dangerous confederacy. Ferdinand, meanwhile, enraged at
the defiance of his power by the Italians, levied a numerous
body of troops for the relief of Spinola, who with difficulty
kept his ground in Upper Italy, and, after gallantly defend-
ing Casale, died of chagrin, caused by the ingratitude with
which he was treated by the Spanish court. The imperial-
ists were victorious, took Mantua, which was strongly forti-
fied, by storm, and committed the most horrid outrages in
the city and its vicinity. The duchy was, nevertheless,
ceded to Nevers for the purpose of conciliating France and
of securing the allegiance of Bavaria, which threatened to
side with France unless Mantua was sacrificed. The acces-
sion of Savoy to his party, through dread of the supremacy
of France, little availed the emperor, that duke being com-
pelled to cede to France some of the most important pas-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1009
sages into Italy, Piquerol, Riva, and Perouse. In this war,
six thousand Swiss fought under French colors. It also
appears that the Catholic generals at that period in Italy,
Gallas, Altringer, Colalto, Egon von Furstenberg, entered
into the Jesuitical conspiracy and were ever false friends to
Wallenstein. George von Luneburg, who had been sent
to Italy, and had there become acquainted with the treach-
erous projects cherished by the pope and the Jesuits and the
checkered fate of his inheritance, repented of his treason,
sought a pretext for his return, and fled to the Swede.
The cowardly Lutheran princes, before the dissolution of
the council of princes at Ratisbon, deemed themselves called
upon to make some demonstration in favor of their oppressed
religion, and protested against the improved Gregorian
calendar, for which they evinced far deeper horror than for
the edict of restitution.
CCVII. Gustavus Adolphus
FROM Holland to the mountains of Carniola, from Prussia
to the Bernese Alps, wherever German was spoken, had the
tenets of Luther and Calvin spread and found a harbor in
the hearts of the people. Bavaria and the Tyrol excepted,
every province throughout Germany had battled for liberty
of conscience, and yet the whole of Germany, notwithstand-
ing her universal inclination for the Reformation, had been
deceived in her hopes, a second imperial edict seemed likely
to crush the few remaining privileges spared by the edict of
restitution, and Magdeburg alone, with unflinching perse-
verance, ventured to oppose the imperial commands.
Gustavus Adolphus, one of the most zealous and con-
scientious of the advocates of the Reformation, reigned at
that time in Sweden. His father, Charles, a younger brother
of King John, of the house of Wasa, had been placed on the
throne by the Protestant Swedes instead of the actual heir,
Sigismund, king of Poland, who had embraced Catholicism.
The attempt made by Maurice of Hesse, in 1615, to place
1010 THE HISTORY OF GERM AM'
Gustavus, then a youth, at the head of the Union, had been
frustrated by the jealousy of Denmark and the war between
Sweden and Poland, which terminated in Sigismund's defeat
and the annexation of Livonia to Sweden. Riga fell into the
hands of the Swedish monarch, A.D. 1621. Elbing shared
the same fate. Dantzig offered a successful resistance. The
elector of Brandenburg, Poland's vassal, preserved a strict
neutrality. Gustavus, on the defeat of Denmark, no longer-
hesitated in joining the German Protestants. His flag speed-
ily waved in Stralsund. Arnheim (Arnim), sent by Wallen-
stein to the aid of Poland, was at first successful, but was
afterward defeated at Marienburg by Gustavus, whose army
was reinforced by numbers of imperial deserters. The
elector of Brandenburg, bribed by the cession of Marien-
burg and Werder, forgot his jealousy and passed from neu-
trality to demonstrations of amity. Peace was, by the in-
tervention of France, finally concluded with Poland and
Denmark, and Gustavus, urged by his sincere piety, re-
solved to take up arms in defence of Protestantism and to
free Germany from the yoke imposed by the Jesuits. The
love of fame and the chance of placing the imperial crown
on his own brow were other but secondary inducements.
His military genius, developed in the war with Poland, the
internal state of Germany, and the excellence of his well-
disciplined troops, inured to hardship and fatigue, accus-
tomed to victory, and filled with enthusiasm for their faith
and for their king, vouched for his success. In his army
were several German refugees of distinction, the gray-headed
Count Thurn and his gallant son, who died of fever during
this expedition, Otto Louis, Rheingrave of Salm, and the
three brave Livonian brothers, Rosen. The cause for which
he fought had, it is true, gained for him the hearts of the
Protestant population throughout Germany ; his arrival was,
nevertheless, viewed with greater dissatisfaction by the Prot-
estant princes than by either of the Catholic parties. The
League, France, Bavaria, and the pope hoped, by means of
the Swede, to reduce the emperor to submission, while the
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1011
emperor and "Wallenstein on their side secretly aimed at
weakening the League by similar means; both sides, conse-
quently, greatly favored Gustavus's chance of success by
their hesitation in taking strong measures against him. The
greatest obstacles were, on the contrary, thrown in his way
by the Protestant princes, whom he came to defend, and who
refused to second his efforts. The extension and confirma-
tion of the power of Sweden to the north were, in point of
fact, at the sole expense of Brandenburg, of the house of
Guelph, and of that of Saxony. The jealousy with which
the German princes viewed the entry of a warlike and pow-
erful neighbor on their territory was also natural ; their late
reconciliation with the emperor, moreover, rendered them
peculiarly disinclined to favor the Swedish expedition, by
which the flames of war were again to be lighted throughout
unhappy Germany, where every province, ancient Bavaria
and the Tyrol alone excepted, had been ravaged by fire,
sword, and pillage during the religious war. A dreadful
famine, caused by the Mansfeld expedition, by the rapine of
Wallenstein's soldiery, and by the pillage carried on by the
Jesuits, raged in Silesia; the citizens and peasantry died by
thousands of starvation, and many instances occurred of
parents devouring their children, and of brethren destroying
one another for the last mouthful of bread. This misery,
fearful as it was, was, however, a mere prelude to the hor-
rors that ensued. The arrival of the Swedish king was but
the opening of the war.
Gustavus Adolphus cast anchor on June 24, 1630, the
anniversary of the Confession of Augsburg, near to the little
island of Ruden, and landed, during a violent thunderstorm,
at Usedom. His army consisted of sixteen thousand men,
comprising forty German companies, under Colonels Falken-
berg, Diedrich, Holl, Kniphausen, and Mitchefahl. His first
object was to take firm footing in Pomerania and Mecklen-
burg. Bozislaw, duke of Pomerania, was, accordingly, com-
pelled to join his cause, and the imperial garrisons were
driven out of the minor towns during the winter of 1631.
1012 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Torquato Conti, the imperial stadtholder in Pomerania, un-
able to keep his ground, laid the whole country waste 'during
his retreat. Tilly evinced no anxiety to oppose the advance
of the Swedes, but Pappenheim, unable to restrain his impa-
tience, attacked Charles, duke of Lauenburg, who had ven-
tured, in the service of the Swedes, as far as Ratzeburg, and
carried him off prisoner. New Brandenburg, Demmin, where
he took Duke di Savelli captive, Gartz, Wolgast, Anclam,
Stargard, Colberg, fell into the hands of the Swedish king.
Mecklenburg, and the ancient Hanse towns, Griefswald and
Rostock, were still maintained by the imperialists.
The vain negotiations between Bavaria, the pope, and
France were at length terminated by the necessity of oppos-
ing the Swedes, and Tilly received orders to take the field.
New Brandenburg was speedily retaken, but the perfidy with
which he, contrary to the terms of capitulation, butchered
two thousand of the Swedes, was bitterly avenged on the
capture of Frankfort on the Oder by Gustavus, who, as a
warning to Tilly to desist from imitating the cruel practices
of the Croatians during war, put two thousand of the im-
perialists to the sword. Numbers of the fugitives were
drowned in the Oder, the bridge giving way beneath the
crowd.
A treaty was, meanwhile, concluded at Bserwald between
Gustavus and the French monarch, who promised to pay
him annually the sum of four hundred thousand dollars and
to grant him his aid, now rendered requisite owing to the
lukewarmness of the Lutheran princes ; and Gustavus, deeply
disgusted at their conduct, was alone withheld from aban-
doning his purpose, from returning to Sweden and coming
to terms with the emperor, by the consciousness that to him
alone did Magdeburg and the people throughout Germany
look for succor. The electors of Brandenburg and Saxony
brought about a council of princes at Leipzig, in which they
sought to persuade the princes of Northern Germany, Lu-
therans and Calvinists, who, on this occasion, offered an
example of rare unity, to maintain a system of armed neu-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1013
trality and to await the course of events, in order to turn
them to their own advantage. The emperor, who, mean-
while, pursued a similar policy, made every effort to gain
over the neutral princes, more particularly Saxony, who, in
return, insolently renewed his ancient complaints. The
urgent entreaties of Gustavus Adolphus for aid from Saxony
before Magdeburg fell were equally futile ; the elector shared
the hatred cherished by the rest of the princes against the
free towns and gloried in their destruction. The citizens of
Magdeburg, meanwhile, performed prodigies of valor. Al-
though twice besieged since 1629 by Altringer and by Pap-
penheim, they repulsed, unaided, every attack. As early as
1621, the citizens had given themselves a more liberal con-
stitution, and it was not until they were threatened with
destruction that an imperial party created a schism among
them. Falkenberg was sent by Gustavus to take the com-
mand of the city, which he entered after passing through the
enemy's camp disguised as a skipper. The princes of Hesse
and "Weimar were alone withheld from aiding the city by
their inability to cope with Tilly, who, at the head of an
immense body of troops, closely blockaded the walls, and,
notwithstanding the desperate defence made by the citizens,
gradually took all the outworks. During the night of May
20, 1631, while Falkenberg was engaged in the council-house
opposing the imperial party among the citizens, who loudly
insisted upon capitulating, Pappenheim, unknown to Tilly,
mounted an unguarded part of the walls, and, being speedily
followed by the rest of the imperial troops, poured suddenly
through the streets. Falkenberg instantly rushed to the
rencounter and was shot. The citizens, although without a
leader or a plan of defence, fought from street to street with
all the energy of despair, until overwhelmed by numbers.
The soldiery, maddened by opposition, spared neither age
nor sex. Some of the officers, who entreated Tilly to put a
stop to the massacre, were told to return to him on the ex-
piration of an hour. The most horrid scenes were mean-
while enacted. Every man in the city was killed, numbers
1014 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
of women cast themselves headlong into the Elbe and into
the flames of the burning houses in order to escape the bru-
tality of the soldiery ; fifty-three women were beheaded by
the Croatians while kneeling in the church of St. Catherine.
One Croat boasted of having stuck twenty babes on his pike.
One hundred and thirty-seven houses and the fireproof cathe-
dral, in which four thousand men took refuge, were all that
remained of the proud city. The rest of the inhabitants had
fallen victims to the sword or to the flames. The slaughter
continued until the 22d, when Tilly appeared and restored
discipline and order. The refugees in the cathedral were
pardoned and for the first time for three days received food.
Tilly, a tall, haggard-looking man, dressed in a short slashed
green satin jacket, with a long red feather in his high
crowned hat, with large bright eyes peering from beneath
his deeply furrowed brow, a stiff mustache under his pointed
nose, ghastly, hollow-cheeked, and with a seeming affecta-
tion of wildness in his whole appearance, sat, mounted on a
bony charger, on the ruins of Magdeburg, proudly looking
upon the thirty thousand bodies of the brave citizens now
stiffening in death, which, at his command, were cast into
the Elbe. The river was choked up by the mass near the
Neustadt.
The news of this disaster filled Gustavus with rage and
sorrow, and, probably reckoning upon aid from the people,
panic-struck by the destruction of Magdeburg, in case the
princes still maintained their neutrality, he entered Prussia,
surrounded Berlin, and, stationing himself sword in hand
before the city gates, demanded a definite declaration. The
relation in which he stood with the elector, George William,
was somewhat extraordinary. This prince had an extremely
beautiful sister, named Eleonore, whose hand had, ten years
before the present period, been demanded by Wladislaw of
Poland and by the Swedish monarch, then the bitterest foes.
The elector, who merely held Prussia in fee of Poland, nat-
urally favored the former suitor, but Gustavus, habitually
bold and daring, visited Berlin, A.D. 1620, during the elec-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1015
tor's absence, gained the princess's affection, and returned
with her as his queen to Stockholm. The Polish king, in
revenge, incited the fanatical Lutherans in Prussia against
the elector. Jsegerndorf, the heritage of Brandenburg, was,
on the other hand, bestowed by the emperor on Lichtenstein,
but the elector, instead of openly ranging himself on the side
of his brother-in-law, allowed himself to be swayed on the
one hand by his dread of Poland, while on the other he was
identified with the imperial party by the intrigues of his
minister, Adam von Schwarzenberg, a tool of the Jesuits,
and by those of his favorite, Conrad von Burgsdorf. The
female part of the family, encouraged by the presence of
Gustavus, now opposed the obnoxious favorites, and the
elector, to whom the Swedish monarch offered the alterna-
tive of his alliance or the reduction of Berlin to a heap of
ashes, was compelled to yield. Berlin, Spandau, and Kus-
trin were garrisoned by the Swedes.
The cruel persecution was, meanwhile, unavailing totally
to repress the courage of the citizen and the peasant. Stras-
burg followed Magdeburg's glorious example and took up
arms in defence of the gospel. Numbers of Swabians, trem-
blingly countenanced by the regent of "Wurtemberg, Julius
Frederick, flocked to the aid of their brethren in belief.
Egon von Furstenberg was, consequently, recalled from
Mantua and despatched by the emperor into Swabia, at the
head of fifteen thousand men. Memmingen, Kempten, and
the little Protestant settlement of Austrian refugees, Freu-
denstadt in the Black Forest, fell a prey to the license of his
soldiery. Julius Frederick yielded without a blow. Stras-
burg, nevertheless, proved impregnable, and Furstenberg
hastened to join his forces with those of Tilly, at that time
hard pushed in the north. The insurgent peasantry of the
Harz had greatly harassed him on his passage through the
mountains. His invasion of Hesse had been opposed by
the Landgrave William. The important fortress of "Wesel
had been taken by the Dutch. Gustavus had also advanced
to the Elbe and intrenched himself near Werben, where
1016 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Tilly, venturing an attack, was repulsed with considerable
loss. The troops under Furstenberg, Altringer, etc., sent
to his aid by the emperor, alone enabled him to make head
against the Swede; this aid was, however, coupled with the
condition of the pillage of Saxony in order to embitter
the wavering elector, John George, against Bavaria and
the League, and to compel him to declare himself. Halle,
Merseberg, Zeiz, "Weissenfels, Naumburg were, accordingly,
plundered, and the great plain of Leipzig was laid waste.
John George, roused by this proceeding, obeyed the pressure
of circumstances and fulfilled the warmest wishes of his
Protestant subjects by entering into alliance with Sweden.
Arnheim, who had quitted the imperial service, and whose
diplomatic talents well suited the intriguing Saxon court,
was placed at the head of his troops. Eighteen thousand
Saxons coalesced with the Swedish army near Duben on the
Heath, and the confederated troops marched upon Leipzig,
which had just fallen into Tilly's hands.
The Swedes and imperialists stood opposed to each other
for the first time on the broad plains of Leipzig. The Swedes
were distinguished by their light (chiefly blue) coats, by the
absence of armor, their active movements, and light artil-
lery; the imperialists, by their old-fashioned close-fitting (gen-
erally yellow) uniforms, besides armor, such as cuirasses,
thigh-pieces, and helmets, their want of order and discipline,
their slower movements, and their awkward, heavy artillery.
The battle was commenced, contrary to the intention of
Tilly, who awaited the arrival of the corps under Altringer
and Fugger (Furstenberg had already joined him), by Pap-
penheim, who, being attacked while reconnoitring, Tilly
was compelled to hasten to his aid. Gustavus Adolphus,
dressed in a simple gray great-coat, with a green feather in
his white hat, rode along the Swedish ranks animating his
men to the fight. The Swedes were stationed in the right
wing, the Saxons in the left. Tilly's army was drawn up,
according to ancient custom, in one long line ; that of Gus-
tavus was, on the contrary, separated into small movable
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1017
masses, which, marching off to tbo right aud left, charged
Tilly's flank. Adolf von Holstein unwarily advancing, was
consequently taken between two fires, his whole corps de-
stroyed, and himself mortally wounded. The Pappenheim
cuirassiers were seven times repulsed. The Saxons' wing
was turned by Tilly, but the Swedes, falling on his flank,
captured his artillery, turned it upon him and beat him off
the field, September 7, 1631. The imperialists fled in wild
confusion to Halberstadt, where Tilly, who had been rescued
by Rudolf, duke of Luneburg, and the Walloons, who, since
the revolt of the Netherlands, had fought with distinction in
the Catholic cause, collected the remnant of his army.
The Saxon peasantry, filled with confidence at Tilly's de-
feat, rose throughout the country, killed all the fugitives
from the imperial army, and flocked in numbers under the
Swedish banner. The princes even regained courage, and
all the minor aristocracy came in person to offer their aid.
The road to Vienna lay open. The annihilation of the im-
perial power and the ruin of the house of Habsburg appeared
inevitable. France, and even the pope, Urban VIII., were,
consequently, zealous in their efforts to bring about a recon-
ciliation between Sweden and Bavaria, but Gustavus, aware
of the enthusiasm with which he was regarded by the whole
of Protestant Germany, too noble to sacrifice the cause of
religion to an intriguing pontiff, and the German empire to
French rapacity, acted in the spirit of a future, Protestant
emperor, and, instead of joining the Catholic and anti-impe-
rial League, unhesitatingly fell upon it, crushed Bavaria, in-
timidated France, and freed himself on every side before
attempting to annihilate the little remaining power of the
Habsburg. George von Luneburg was sent into Brunswick
to regain that province with troops that were still unlevied.
Baudis, General Banner, and William, Landgrave of Hesse,
were ordered to support him and to purge the whole of
Northern Germany of the Leaguers. Gustavus marched in
person through Merseberg, where he cut to pieces two thou-
sand of the imperialists, and Erfurt, where he was received
GERMANY. VOL. HI.— 5
1018 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
with open arms, through the Thuringian forest to Bamberg
and Wurzburg, the latter of which he took by storm. The
garrison and a number of monks were put to death. The in-
tervention of France was a second time refused by the Swe-
dish conqueror, who advanced on the Rhine with the inten-
tion of throwing himself between France and Bavaria, of
aiding the Dutch, and of liberating the Protestants in Upper
Germany. Hanau, Aschaffenburg, Rotenburg opened their
gates to him. Frankfort on the Maine was entered in tri-
umph. Mayence was taken. The archbishop, Anselm Cas-
imir, fled. Charles of Lorraine, who still maintained his
position on the left bank of the Rhine, and the imperial
Colonel Ossa, on the right, were repulsed. Spires, Landau,
and numerous other towns opened their gates to the Swedes.
The fortresses of Koenigstein, Mannheim, Kreuznach, Bach-
arach, and Kirchberg fell into their hands. The whole of
the Pfalz was once more freed from the Spanish yoke. The
garrison of Heidelberg, under Henry von Metternich, alone
held out. The arrival of the Swedes was hailed with open
demonstrations of delight along the Neckar and the Rhine.
Horn, sent by Gustavus into Swabia, took Mannheim, Op-
penheim, Heilbronn, and Mergentheim, and extirpated the
bands of robbers, composed of the fugitive troops of Charles
of Lorraine. The Pfalzgraf, Christian von Birkenfeld,
raised troops for the Swedish army. Frederick, the ex-
Pfalzgraf and ex-king of Bohemia, returned, but was not
formally reinstated by Gustavus, who hoped by this refusal
to spur England into action. The queen of Sweden, Eleo-
nore, also came to Frankfort to share her husband's triumph. '
"The old devil" Tilly, as Gustavus wrote to the Pfalz-
graf, meanwhile retook the field. Rotenburg on the Tauber
and Bamberg once more changed masters, but he was com-
pelled to raise the siege of Wurzburg in order to cover Ba-
varia against Gustavus, while Pappenheim threw himself
1 On meeting him, she threw her arms around him, and, holding him fast in
her embrace, exclaimed, "Now is Gustavus the Great a prisoner I"
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1019
alone into Northern Germany. Donauwoerth fell. The bat-
tle of Rain on the Lech, where Tilly and Maximilian had in-
trenched themselves, proved fatal to the former; a cannon-
ball shattered his thigh, and he expired in excruciating
agonies, A.D. 1632. His last injunction to Maximilian, at
any price to garrison Ratisbon, the key to Bohemia, Austria,
and Bavaria, without delay, was instantly obeyed. Horn
was already en route thither, but was forestalled by the
Bavarian duke, who threw himself with his troops, disguised
as Swedes, under cover of the night, into that city.
Gustavus, after restoring liberty of conscience to Augs-
burg, and receiving the homage of the citizens, entered Mu-
nich, which surrendered at discretion, in triumph with the
ex-king of Bohemia and Queen Eleonore, at whose side rode
a monkey with a shaven crown, in a Capuchin's gown, and
with a rosary in his paws. A fine of forty thousand dollars
was laid upon the town. One hundred and forty cannons,
within which thirty thousand ducats and a quantity of pre-
cious stones were concealed, and which had been buried for
security, were betrayed into the hands of the conqueror.
Maximilian's proposals for peace were scornfully rejected.
CCVIII. Wallenstein's Second Command— The Battle
of Lutzen — The Heilbronn Confederacy —
Death of Wallenstein
THE advance of the Swedish king, who, during his Rhen-
ish conquests, had afforded the emperor time to create a most
dangerous diversion, now received a check.
In Northern Germany, the imperial garrisons of Rostock
and Wismar had capitulated, but Gronsfeld still kept the
field, George von Luneburg, unaided by his brother, having
with extreme difficulty succeeded in setting an army on foot.
William of Hesse also met with little success. The Dutch
took Maestricht. Pappenheim appeared in the Netherlands,
but a dispute arising between him and the Spanish leaders,
he returned to Central Germany, where his presence was
1020 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
loudly called for. He retook Hildesheim en route. — The
arrival of the Swedes had roused the fanaticism of the Cath-
olic population in the South, and a general rising, similar to
that of the Lutheran peasantry against the Catholic soldiery
in Hesse and the Harz, took place among the Catholic peas-
antry against the Swedes. In Bavaria, every straggler from
the main body was murdered by the country people ; in Weis-
senburg, one thousand men, who capitulated, were butchered.
Ossa endeavored to organize a great insurrection of the peas-
antry in Upper Swabia, but was defeated at Biberach by the
Swedes, in Bregenz, by Bernard von Weimar, and the town
of Friedstadt, where several Swedes had been murdered by
the people, was burned to the ground by General Banner,
and all the inhabitants were put to the sword. Horn, on
the other hand, laid siege to Constance.
The movement to the rear of the Swedes was, neverthe-
less, of far less importance than the proceedings of France.
Richelieu, after vainly urging Gustavus to spare Bavaria
and to direct his whole force against the emperor, had
thrown fresh troops into Lorraine and the electorate of
Treves, whose prince, Philip Christopher, had voluntarily
placed himself beneath his protection, and Gustavus, who
was on the point of conquering Bavaria and Austria, was
compelled to permit the occupation of Coblentz, Ehrenbreit-
stein, and Philipsburg, by the French.
Maximilian, whose correspondence with Richelieu had
been intercepted by the imperialists and sent to Vienna,
now saw himself constrained to cast himself unconditionally
into the arms of the emperor. The Upper Austrian peas-
antry, attracted by the approach of the great northern mag-
net, once more dreamed of liberty, and six thousand men
had already taken up arms in the Hausruckviertel, when
the news of the return of the Swedes northward once more
crushed their hopes.
The elector of Saxony had gone into Bohemia; Arnheim
into Silesia. The imperial forces, in this quarter numeri-
cally weak, fell back. Schaumburg was beaten at Steinau
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1021
in Silesia. The retreat of the Croatians was traced by rapine
and desolation. The elector entered Prague with a number
of Bohemian prisoners. Wallenstein had withdrawn to
Znaym. On the death of Tilly, the rapid advance of the
Swedes and the threatening aspect of Hungary, where a
new popular leader, Ragoczy, had arisen, all seemed lost.
The intrigues of France, Bavaria, and the pope, compelled
the emperor to seek for aid in his own resources, and, not-
withstanding the efforts of the Jesuits and of Spain, again
to have recourse to Wallenstein, who, the moment of danger
passed, was once more to be thrown aside and to be sacri-
ficed to the Jesuitical party. Wallenstein, fully aware of the
emperor's design, coldly refused his aid until his demands,
justified by "the weakness and disunion of the empire, the
duplicity of his friends, the perfidy of the confederates, the
anarchy consequent on polyarchy, the necessity of sole com-
mand, of a dictatorship," had been complied with. His con-
ditions, that the imperial troops throughout Germany should
be placed wholly and solely under his command; that the
emperor should in no wise interfere with military affairs;
that every conquest made by him should be entirely at his
own disposal ; that he should be compensated by the formal
grant of one of the hereditary provinces of Austria and of
another, that he should be empowered to confiscate whatever
property he chose for the maintenance of his troops; were
conceded by the emperor on the day on which his rival,
Tilly, expired, April, 1632, and within a few months his
wonderful genius had, as if by magic, raised a fresh and
numerous army from the clod.
The Saxons were speedily driven out of Bohemia. The
Voigtland was ravaged by Wallenstein's infamous parti-
san, Hoik, who advanced as far as Dresden and burned the
neighboring villages as a bonfire for the elector, who was at
that time solemnizing a festival. Wallenstein meanwhile
guarded Bohemia. The entreaties of his ancient foe, Maxi-
milian, for the liberation of Bavaria, were unheeded; his
views for the present turned upon Saxony, and the conse-
1022 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
quent retreat of the Swedes northward; instead, therefore, of
advancing upon Bavaria, he forced Maximilian to join him
at Eger, where he publicly embraced him, and marched
thence to Leipzig, which shortly capitulated.
Wallenstein had now gained his purpose. Gustavus,
through dread of the defection of the vacillating and timid
elector, was compelled to renounce his projects against the
South and to turn his arms against the imperial leader; but,
unwilling entirely to cede the South, he took up a strong
position with sixteen thousand men near Nuremberg, where
he awaited the arrival of reinforcements. "Wallenstein, al-
though at the head of an army of sixty thousand men, was
too well acquainted with the advantageous position of his
antagonist to hazard an attack, and took up an equally im-
pregnable position on the Old Mountain close to the Swedish
camp. Three months passed in inactivity, and a famine ere
long prevailed both in Nuremberg and in "Wallenstein's camp.
The peasantry had fled in every direction from the pillaging
troops, who destroyed whatever they were unable to carry
away. The Swedes succeeded in seizing a large convoy of
provisions intended for "Wallenstein, and were shortly after-
ward reinforced by the chancellor of Sweden, Oxenstierna,
by Bernard von "Weimar, and by Banner. The Swedish
army now amounted to seventy thousand men. Nuremberg,
Gustavus's firm ally, could send thirty thousand into the
field. "Wallenstein, who patiently awaited the destruction
of the enemy by famine, kept close within his camp. The
Swedes at length, rendered furious by want, attempted to
take the imperial camp by storm, but were repulsed with
dreadful loss. The Swedish general, Torstenson, was taken
prisoner, and Banner was wounded. The imperial general,
Fugger, was killed while pursuing the Swedes. Another
fourteen days elapsed, when Gustavus, unable to draw his
opponent forth, was compelled, after losing twenty thousand
men, and the city of Nuremberg ten thousand of her inhabi-
tants, to quit this scene of death and famine. Pestilence
had, however, raged with still greater fury in "Wallenstein's
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1023
camp, and had cut his immense army down to twenty-four
thousand men, September, 1632.
Gustavus, in the hope of carrying the war into Bavaria
and into the heart of the Catholic states, marched south-
ward; while Wallenstein, anxious to render Northern Ger-
many the theatre of war, took a contrary direction. Leaving
a hundred villages around Nuremberg in flames, he marched,
with terror in his van, through the Thuringian forest to Leip-
zig, which, panic-stricken, threw wide her gates. Pappen-
heim joined him, but, unaware of the rapidity with which
Gustavus had turned in pursuit, again set off for Lower Sax-
ony. Gustavus, in the hope of bringing Wallenstein to an
engagement on the plains of Leipzig, now rapidly advanced
through the country lately pillaged by his foe, and sum-
moned his ally, George von Luneburg, to his assistance.
The confidence of that prince in the fortune of the Swede
had been, however, severely shaken by the reappearance of
"Wallenstein, and he refused to obey. Arnheim, who had
quitted Silesia, also tarried at Dresden. At Erfurt, Gus-
tavus bade adieu to his queen, Eleonore.
The battle of Lutzen commenced early in the morning of
the 6th of November, 1 632, not far from the scene of Tilly's
former defeat. Gustavus would have scarcely ventured,
without first awaiting the arrival of reinforcements, to have
attacked Wallenstein, had he not learned the departure of
Pappenheim, who was now hastily recalled from Halle,
which he had just reached. A thick fog, that lasted until
eleven o'clock, hindered the marshalling of the troops, and
gave the Pappenheimers time to reach the field before the
conclusion of the battle. Wallenstein, although suffering
from a severe attack of gout, mounted his steed and drew up
his troops. His infantry was drawn up in squares, flanked
by cavalry and guarded in front by a ditch, defended by
artillery. Gustavus, without armor, on account of a slight
wound he had received at Dirschau, and exclaiming, "At
them in God's name! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! let us vindicate
to-day the honor of thy holy name!" brandished his sword
1024 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
over his head and charged the ditch at the head of his men.
The infantry crossed and seized the battery. The cavalry,
opposed by Wallenstein's black cuirassiers, were less suc-
cessful. "Charge those black fellows!" shouted the king to
Colonel Stalhantsch. At that moment the Swedish infantry,
which had already broken two of the enemy's squares, were
charged in the flank by Wallenstein's cavalry, stationed on
the opposite wing, and Gustavus hurrying to their aid, the
cavalry on the nearest wing also bore down upon him. The
increasing density of the fog unfortunately veiled the ap-
proach of the imperialists, and the king, falsely imagining
himself followed by his cavalry, suddenly found himself in
the midst of the black cuirassiers. His horse received a shot
in the head, and another broke his left arm. He then asked
Albert, duke of Saxon-Lauenburg, who was at his side, to
lead him off the field, and, turning away, was shot in the
back by an imperial officer. He fell from his saddle; his
foot became entangled in the stirrup, and he was dragged
along by his horse, maddened with pain. The duke fled,
but. Luchau, the master of the royal horse, shot the officer
who had wounded the king. Gustavus, who still lived, fell
into the hands of the cuirassiers. His German page, Lubel-
fing, a youth of eighteen, refused to tell his master's rank,
and was mortally wounded. The king was stripped. On
his exclaiming, "I am the king of Sweden!" they attempted
to carry him off, but a charge of the Swedish cavalry com-
pelling them to relinquish their prey, the last cuirassier, as
he rushed past, shot him through the head.1
The sight of the king's charger, covered with blood,
wildly galloping along the Swedish front, confirmed the re-
port of the melancholy fate of his royal master. Some of
the Swedish generals, more especially Kniphausen, who
drew off his men in reserve, meditated a retreat, but Duke
Bernard of Weimar, spurning the idea with contempt and
1 Gustavus was extremely fine and majestic in person, his eyes were blue and
gentle in expression, his manners commanding, noble, and conciliating. His
countenance was open and attractive.
THE THIRTY YEARS'1 WAR 1025
calling loudly for vengeance, placed himself at the head of
a regiment, whose colonel, a Swede, he ran through for re-
fusing to obey him, and regardless, in his enthusiasm, of a
shot that carried away his hat, charged with such impetu-
osity that the ditch and the battery were retaken and Wal-
lenstein's infantry and cavalry were completely thrown into
confusion. The latter fled ; the gunpowder carts were blown
up; the day was gained. At that moment, Pappenheim's
fresh troops poured into the field and once more turned the
battle. The body of the king, defended by Stalhantsch, was
sharply contested by Pappenheim, who fell, pierced with two
bullets. His men fought with redoubled rage on the death
of their commander; Wallenstein rallied his troops, and a
desperate conflict of some hours' duration ensued, in which
the flower of the Swedish army fell and the ditch and bat-
tery were lost. Bernard was forced to retreat, and the battle
was for the third time renewed by Kniphausen's reserved
corps, which pressed across the ditch, followed by the rest
of the weary Swedes. This last and desperate charge was
irresistible. Wallenstein, driven from the field, fled across
the mountains to Bohemia, and his brutal soldiery were scat-
tered in every direction. Numbers were slain by the Prot-
estant peasantry. Those of his officers who had first fled
were afterward put to death at his command.
The bloody corpse of the king was found by the great
stone still known as the Swedish Stone. It was laid in state
before the whole of the Swedish army, which responded to
Bernard's enthusiastic address, with a vow to follow him
wherever he led. This enthusiasm, however, speedily cooled.
Bernard's sole command of the troops was frustrated by the
jealousy of the Swedish officers. In Sweden, Gustavus had
merely left an infant daughter, Christina. The ex-king of
Bohemia died of horror, at Mayence, on receiving the news
of the death of his friend and protector. His consort, Elisa-
beth Stuart, resided for many years afterward at Rhenen,1
1 Elisabeth Stuart dwelt for a considerable period at Rhenen under the pro-
tection of the States -general, mourning for her husband, whose place of burial
1026 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
near Utrecht. The battle of Lutzen filled the imperialists,
notwithstanding their defeat, with the greatest delight.
Public rejoicings were held at Madrid. The emperor, Fer-
dinand, discovered no immoderate joy at his success, and
even showed some signs of pity on seeing the bloodstained
collar of his late foe. The pope, Urban VIII. , ordered a
mass to be read for the soul of the fallen monarch, whose
power had curbed that of the emperor. The emperor's foes
have, at every period, been regarded with secret good-will
by the pope.
Axel Oxenstierna, Gustavus's minister and his most faith-
ful friend, became regent of Sweden during the minority of
the queen, Christina, and followed in the footsteps of his
noble master. But he was merely a statesman, not a mili-
tary leader; a minister, not a king. Sweden, instead of
placing a Protestant emperor on the throne of Germany,
could henceforward merely endeavor to secure liberty of
conscience to the German Protestants. Gustavus's ambition
had embraced the whole of Germany; that of Oxenstierna
was unknown, her brother, Charles I. of England, whose head had rolled on the
scaffold, and her unfortunate children. Her eldest son, Henry Frederick, was
drowned, A.D. 1629, at Amsterdam. The second, Charles Louis, became, on
the termination of the war, elector of the Pfalz, but lived unhappily with his
wife, and, taking a mistress, his mother refrained from returning thither. The
third, Robert, after distinguishing himself against Cromwell and Spain, remained
with his mother and occupied himself with the study of chemistry. The fourth,
Maurice, disappeared after a naval engagement with the Spanish flotilla, and \vas
supposed to have been lost in a storm at sea. The fifth, Edward, dishonored hi8
family, that had suffered so much for the sake of religion, by turning Catholic,
and entered the French service. The sixth, Philip, a brave adventurer, mur-
dered a nobleman and fled into France. He was killed in the French service
during a siege. The seventh, Gustavus, died in his boyhood. The eldest daugh-
ter, Elisabeth, rejected the hand of Wladislaw of Poland from a religious motive,
studied philosophy, was a friend of Descartes and of William Penn, the founder
of Pennsylvania, and died Lutheran abbess of Herford. The second, Henrietta
Maria, married Ragoczy, prince of Transylvania, but died shortly after the wed-
ding. The third, Louisa, had a talent for painting and remained for a long time
with Robert in attendance on her mother, whom she suddenly quitted in order
to take the veil. She became Catholic abbess of Manbuisson. The fourth,
Sophia, married a poor prince, Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Liineburg, the
youngest of four brothers. — Elisabeth and her son Robert, the only one of her
numerous family left in her old age, repaired to England on the restoration of
the Stuarts. She died there, A.D. 1662. Robert also died in England, leaving
no legitimate issue.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1027
simply extended to the possession of one of her provinces.
Had Gustavus lived, Germany might have become great,
united, and happy ; France would have been confined within
her limits; Sweden would have become a German province;
the German provinces on the Baltic would have been incor-
porated with the empire ; Livonia would have been saved,
and the Russians checked. Oxenstierna, by his project for
the dismemberment of Germany and his consequent coalition
with France, was, instead of the friend, the most dangerous
foe to the German cause. The coalition of the Catholics and
Protestants for the expulsion of the foreigner was urgently
necessary for the salvation of the empire, but the Protes-
tants, intimidated by the edict of restitution, placed no con-
fidence in the promises of their Jesuitical sovereign. The
confederated princes, bribed by French gold, promises, and
grants, still carried on the war and remained true to Oxen-
stierna, who, notwithstanding the opposition offered by
France and Saxony, was elected head of the confederacy
in a convocation of the princes held at Heilbronn.
The Swedish troops were once more thrown into Upper
Germany, and Bernard von Weimar set off for the Upper
Danube in order to form a junction with Horn, in the spring
of 1633. The Bavarian cavalry, under John von "Werth,
vainly intercepted him; they were repulsed, and a junction
took place with Horn at Neuburg, where the clamor raised
by the officers for the payment of their long arrears was
silenced by the seizure of the ecclesiastical property and its
partition among them. Bernard received, as his share of
the booty, the bishoprics of Wurzburg and Bamberg as a
new Franconian duchy, while Horn usurped the government
of Mergentheim. Night skirmishes conducted by the cavalry
and light troops became from this period more frequent, and
pitched battles of rare occurrence.
Wallenstein, meanwhile, remained immovable in Bohe-
mia. France attempted to shake his fidelity to the emperor
by an offer of the Bohemian crown. Spain, actuated by her
ancient distrust, sent an army under Feria, with orders to
1028 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
join the division of Wallenstein's army under Altringer at
Kempten, in which he succeeded, notwithstanding the ad-
vance of French troops into the Grisons. Horn, who had,
meanwhile, laid siege to Constance, now rejoined Bernard,
and offered the Spaniard battle near Tutlingen. Feria,
however, declined coming to an engagement, and, after
entering Alsace and relieving Breisach, at that time
besieged by the Rheingrave von Salm, dragged the re-
mainder of his army, which during the winter had fallen
a prey to pestilence and famine, through Swabia to Mu-
nich, where he expired, while Horn remained tranquilly at
Balingen.
France, in the hope of confirming her possession of Lor-
raine, still kept that country garrisoned with her troops. In
the North, George von Luneburg continued to oppose Grons-
feld; William of Hesse and his brave general, Holzapfel,
took Paderborn, and, uniting with George and a small
Swedish army under Kniphausen, laid siege to Hameln.
Gronsfeld and his Dutch allies, the Counts Merode and
Geleen, hastening to the relief of that town, were completely
routed at Hessisch-Oldendorf. Hameln and Osnabruck ca-
pitulated. Boninghausen, the imperial partisan, and Stal-
hantsch, the Swedish colonel, took up their quarters in
Hesse. — "Wallenstein's partisan, Hoik, meanwhile, laid Thu-
ringia waste, took and plundered Leipzig, and burned Alten-
burg, Chemnitz, and Zwickau to the ground. In Zwickau,
a pestilence, caused by the famine and the heaps of putrid
dead, broke out and raged like an avenging spirit among
Hoik's troops. He sought safety in flight, but the pestilence
kept pace with his movements, strewing his path with the
dying and the dead, and at length made him its victim at
Tirschenreuth. "Wrung with anguish and remorse, he sent
his horsemen out in every direction, and offered six hundred
dollars to any one who would bring a Lutheran pastor to
administer the sacrament before he expired ; but shortly be-
fore this he had ordered the assassination of every ecclesias-
tic in the country, and the few who remained having taken
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1029
refuge in the forests, he died in agonies of despair before one
could be found to perform that office.
Wallenstein 's officers, Illow, Goatz, and Octavio Picco-
lomini, a venal Italian mercenary, the most depraved wretch
that appeared on the scene during the war, also carried fire
and sword into Silesia and completely destroyed the city of
Reichenbach. Some thousand Poles under Dohna aided to
ravage the country. These flying corps, however, retreated
to Bohemia on the arrival of Arnheim with his Saxons and
of a Swedish troop under Colonel Duval. The Protestant
towns, particularly Breslau, gave them a hearty welcome.
Dohna, who had defended that city, narrowly escaped assas-
sination by the enraged citizens. Duval, however, treated
the city with extreme severity, plundered the Catholic
churches and ecclesiastical property, destroyed the ancient
and magnificent cathedral library, and converted the church
of St. Bartholomew into a stable. The bishop, Charles Fer-
dinand, fled into Poland. A multitude of Silesians, who
had been compelled to embrace Catholicism, again recanted.
The whole of the imperial garrison in Strehlen was mas-
sacred by the Swedes, A.D. 1633. Wallenstein now appeared
in person in Silesia, out-manceuvred Arnheim, with whom
he carried on a secret correspondence, and surprised the
small body of Swedes remaining at Steinau, where he cap-
tured the aged Count Thurn, whom he restored to liberty in
order to mortify the Viennese, and to flatter the national
feeling of the Bohemians, whose sovereign he might one
day become. Groedizberg, where he seized the treasures of
Frederick, duke of Liegnitz, was taken, Nimptsch burned
to the ground, and the wretched inhabitants throughout the
country were massacred and tortured, without regard to age
or sex. Arnheim was pursued into the Lausitz. Goerlitz
and Bautzen capitulated. Terzki took Frankfort on the
Oder, and Wallenstein suddenly returned to Bohemia in
order to oppose Bernard of Weimar.
Bernard, unopposed by John von Werth, who had merely
beaten a few Swedish regiments under Sperreuter from their
j030 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
quarters in the vicinity of Augsburg, had marched down the
Danube, and in November taken possession of Ratisbon.
"Wallenstein looked on with indifference, and when at length
induced to return by the urgent entreaties of the Bavarians
and of the Viennese court, evaded coming to an engagement
and went back to Bohemia. John von Werth gained a
slight advantage at Straubing.
It is a well-confirmed fact that Wallenstein carried on
negotiations with Saxony and Brandenburg, and that the lat-
ter hoped by his aid to restore the intermediate power so long
desired between the emperor and Sweden. It is also in-
dubitable that France favored this intrigue and assured
to Wallenstein the possession of Bohemia. If, at the same
time, he secretly corresponded with Oxenstierna, it was
solely for the purpose of compelling the others to accede to
better terms ; the Swede did not believe him to be in earnest.
It is impossible to discover to what lengths Wallenstein in-
tended to go. His first object was at all events to secure a
support in case he should again fall a victim to the Spanish-
Bavarian faction. At the same time, he confided the fact of
his negotiations to the emperor, who, believing their sole ob-
ject to be to sound all parties, authorized him to carry them
on. The ambiguity and reserve with which he consequently
acted rendered him an object of suspicion to all parties, and,
moreover, no one valued his alliance unless he was backed
by his army. The cessation of hostilities, caused by contin-
ual negotiation, was, meanwhile, highly distasteful to his
soldiery, in whose minds prejudices were busily instilled by
the Jesuits, who, at the same time, whispered to the bigoted
Catholics that the duke of Friedland was on the point of
going over to the Protestants. The foreign troops were
easily gained ; the German soldiery remained firm in their
allegiance to Wallenstein. Ulric, prince of Denmark, who
had entered the camp to negotiate with Wallenstein, was
shot, as if by accident, by one of General Piccolomini's body-
guard. Wallenstein, either unable or unwilling to come to
terms with the enemy unless secure beforehand of the co-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1031
operation of his army, endeavored to outwit the Jesuits by
offering to resign his command. The conduct of the army
appeared to meet Wallenstein's highest expectations. A vio-
lent commotion ensued in the camp at Pilsen ; the whole of
the officers entreated Wallenstein not to abandon them, and,
at a banquet given by his confidant, Field-marshal Illow, a
document, by which they in their turn bound themselves
never to desert him, was signed by them all. The foreign
officers also added their signatures, but with intent to betray
him.
The jealousy of the emperor was, meanwhile, inflamed
by the insinuations of the Jesuits. The Spanish ambassador
exclaimed, ' ' Why this delay? a dagger or a pistol will re-
move him!" His assassination was resolved upon by the
emperor, who, in perfect conformity with his character,
wrote to him continually in the most gracious terms, for
twenty days after having signed the warrant for his death.
The voluptuary, Octavio Piccolomini, in whom Wallenstein,
blinded by a superstitious belief in the conjunction of their
stars, placed the most implicit confidence, betrayed all his
projects to the emperor, who committed to General Gallas
the decree for the deposition of Wallenstein, his nomination
as generalissimo in his stead, and a general amnesty for the
officers. This secret order was solely confided by Gallas to
the foreign officers, to Piccolomini, to Isolani, Colloredo,
Butler, etc. ; and the general amnesty was afterward ex-
changed for a decree, depriving all the German generals of
their appointments and replacing them with foreigners.
Wallenstein, suddenly abandoned by Piccolomini and the
rest of the foreign generals, fled with the few regiments that
still clung to him (there were traitors among them) to Eger.
Driven by necessity, he now demanded aid from Bernard von
Weimar, who had taken Ratisbon and was in his neighbor-
hood. The astonishment caused by this message was ex-
treme, and Bernard, who believed Wallenstein in league
with the devil, exclaimed, "He who does not trust in God
can never be trusted by man!" Wallenstein's hour was
1032 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
come. Colonel Butler, an Irish officer named Lesley, and
a Scotchman named Gordon, who were probably in league
with the Jesuits, conspired, in the hope of being richly re-
warded by the emperor, against the life of their great leader
and common benefactor. The soldiers used by Butler for
this purpose consisted of Irishmen, two Scotchmen, and an
Italian. Illow, Terzki, Kinsky, and Captain Neumann were
murdered during a banquet held in the castle of Eger. 1 The
door of Wallenstein's apartment was burst open. Wallen-
stein sprang from his bed and was met by Devereux, who
cried out to him, "Are you the villain who would sell the
army to the enemy and tear the crown from the emperor's
head?" Wallenstein, without replying, opened his arms and
received a mortal wound in the breast, February 25, 1634.*
Bernard von Weimar reached Eger shortly after the mur-
der, and found the town in the hands of the imperialists.
Butler and Lesley were created counts and richly rewarded
by the emperor. Neustadt was bestowed upon Butler, the
whole of TerzM's possessions upon Lesley, those of Kinsky
upon Gordon. Devereux received a badge of distinction
and a pension. Wallenstein's possessions were divided
among his betrayers, Gallas receiving Friedland; Piccolo-
mini, who, on the murder of his former friend had helped
himself richly to his treasures, being merely rewarded with
the gift of Rachod, Colloredo with Opotschno, Altringer
with Tosplitz, Trautmamisdorf with Gitschin. The emperor
appropriated Sagan to himself. The money left in Wallen-
stein's treasury by Piccolomini was scattered as a largesse
among the soldiery. The officers who had most firmly ad-
hered to their former leader were, although guiltless of par-
ticipation in his political schemes, banished, in order to make
room for foreigners; twenty-four of their number were be-
headed at Pilsen. The emperor, at the same time, published
1 The banqueting-hall, where this tragic scene took place, is now all that
remains of the castle of Eger. — Trans.
s The room in the burgomaster's house, where this murder was committed,
may still be seen by the inquisitive traveller. — Trans.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1033
a manifesto, in which he attempted to justify Wallenstein's
base assassination by loading his memory with false asper-
sions, the very negotiations carried on by him at his command
and with his knowledge being brought forward in proof of
the criminality of his designs.
CCIX. The Battle of Noerdlingen — The Treaty of Prague
— Defeat of the French
WALLENSTEIN'S army, a few regiments excepted, which
dispersed or went over to the Swedes, remained true to the
emperor. The archduke, Ferdinand, was appointed gener-
alissimo of the imperial forces, which were placed under the
command of Gallas. Another army was conducted across
the Alps by the Cardinal Infanto, Don Fernando, brother to
Philip IV. of Spain, A.D. 1634. Had Bernard been aided by
the Saxons or by Horn, the whole of the imperial army might
easily have been scattered during the confusion consequent
on the death of its commander, but the Saxons were engaged
in securing the possession of the Lausitz, and it was not until
May that Arnheim gained a trifling advantage near Liegnitz.
Horn laid siege to Ueberlingen on the Lake of Constance,
with a view of retarding the advance of the Spaniards. A
small Swedish force under Banner retook Frankfort on the
Oder and joined the Saxons. The little town of Hoexter was
plundered, and all the inhabitants were butchered by Geleen,
George von Luneburg delaying to grant his promised aid in
the hope of seizing Hildesheim for himself. Hildesheim
capitulated in July. The country swarmed with revolu-
tionary peasant bands, whom hunger had converted into
robbers. The upper Rhenish provinces were equally un-
quiet. Bernard remained inactive on the Danube, alone
disturbed by John von Werth, who once more drove him
from his quarters at Deggendorf . Feuquieres, meanwhile,
strenuously endeavored to win the Heilbronn confederation
over to the interests of France, and to dissolve their alliance
with Sweden. Loeffler had abandoned the Swedish service
1034 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
for that of France, and his master, the young Duke Eber-
hard of Wurtemberg, was, like William of Hesse, in the pay
of that crown.
The whole of the Protestant forces were thus scattered
when the great imperial army broke up its camp in Bohemia
and advanced upon Ratisbon, with the design of seizing that
city and of joining the Spanish army then advancing from
Italy. Bernard vainly summoned Horn to his aid ; the mo-
ment for action passed, and, when too late, he was joined
by that commander at Augsburg, and the confederates pushed
hastily forward to the relief of Ratisbon. Landshut was taken
by storm and shared the fate of Magdeburg. Altringer, while
vainly attempting to save the city, perished in the general
conflagration. The castle, which had been converted into
a powder magazine, was blown up, A.D. 1634. The news of
the capitulation of Ratisbon, on the 26th of July, reached
the victors midway. Arnheim and Banner appeared on the
same day before Prague. The imperialists, nevertheless, in-
different to the fate of Bohemia, continued to mount the
Danube. The advanced Croatian guard committed the most
horrid excesses. At Ncerdlingen, a junction took place with
the Spanish troops. The imperial army now amounted to
forty-six thousand men under Ferdinand III., the Cardinal
Infanto, the elector of Bavaria, the duke of Lorraine, Gen-
erals Qallas and John von Werth. The Protestants, al-
though reinforced by the people of Wurtemberg, merely
numbered thirty thousand. Bernard, too confident of suc-
cess, and impatient to relieve the city of Ncerdlingen, at
that time vigorously besieged by the imperialists, rejected
Horn's advice to await the arrival of the Rheingrave, and
resolved to hazard a battle. On the 26th of August, A.D.
1634, he made a successful attack and gained a favorable
position, but was, on the following day, overwhelmed by
numbers. The explosion of his powder-magazine, by which
numbers of his men were destroyed, contributed to complete
his defeat. Count Thurn the Younger vainly endeavored
to turn the battle and led his men seventeen times to the
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1035
charge. Horn was taken prisoner, and twelve thousand
men fell. Bernard fled. His treasures and papers fell into
the hands of the enemy. The Rheingrave, who was bring-
ing seven thousand men to his aid, was surprised and com-
pletely routed by John von Worth and Charles of Lorraine.
Heilbronn was plundered during the retreat by the Swedish
Colonel Senger, who fled out of one gate with his booty as
the imperialists entered at another to complete the pillage.
The horrors inflicted upon Bavaria were terribly revenged
upon Swabia. The duke of Wurtemberg, Eberhard III.,
safe behind the fortifications of Strasburg, forgot the misery
of his country in the arms of the beautiful Margravine von
Salm. Waiblingen, Niirtingen, Calw, Kirchheim, Boeblin-
gen, Besigheim, and almost every village throughout the
country, were destroyed; Heilbronn was almost totally
burned down; the inhabitants were either butchered or
cruelly tortured. To pillage and murder succeeded fam-
ine and pestilence. The population of the duchy of Wur-
temberg was reduced from half a million to forty-eight thou-
sand souls. The Jesuits took possession of the old Lutheran
university of Tubingen. Osiander, the chancellor of the uni-
versity, unmoved by the example of his weaker brethren,
who recanted in order to retain their offices and dignities,
bravely knocked down a soldier, who attacked him, sword
in hand, in the pulpit. The Catholic service was, in many
places, re-established by force. The whole of Wurtemberg
was either confiscated by the emperor or partitioned among
his favorites; Trautmannsdorf received Weinsberg; Schlick,
Bablingen and Tuttlingen, etc. ; Taupadel, who had been left
by Bernard in Schorndorf, was forced to yield. Augsburg
was again distinguished amid the general misery by the loss
of sixty thousand of her inhabitants, who were swept away
by famine and pestilence. The remaining citizens, whom
starvation alone compelled to capitulate, were deprived of
all their possessions, forced to recant, and refused permission
to emigrate. Wurzburg, Frankfort, Spires, Philipsburg, the
whole of Rhenish Franconia, besides Mayence, Heidelberg,
1036 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
and Coblentz, fell into the hands of the emperor. The whole
of the Pfalz was again laid waste, and the inhabitants were
butchered in such numbers that two hundred peasants were
all that remained in the lower country. Isolani devastated
the Wetterau with fire and sword, and plundered the coun-
try as far as Thuringia. The places whither the Swedes had
fled for refuge also suffered incredibly. The fugitive sol-
diery, without provisions or baggage, clamored for pay, and
Oxenstierna, in order to avoid a general pillage, laid the
merchants, assembled at the fair held at Frankfort on the
Maine, under contribution. The sufferings of the wretched
Swabians were avenged by the embittered soldiery on the
Catholic inhabitants of Mayence.
The imperial army, although weakened by division, by
garrisoning the conquered provinces, and by the departure
of the Infanto for the Netherlands, still presented too formi-
dable an aspect for attack on the part of Bernard, who, un-
willing to demand the aid he required from France, remained
peaceably beyond the Rhine. The Heilbronn confederacy
had, independently of him, cast itself into the arms of France.
Lceffler, the Swedish chancellor, and the chief leader of the
confederation, had contrived to secure to France, without
Bernard's assent, the hereditary possession of Alsace, for
which he 'was deprived of his office and banished by Oxen-
stierna. The celebrated Dutchman, Hugo Grotius, replaced
him as Swedish ambassador in Paris. Wurtemberg and
Hesse had long forwarded the interests of France.
The sin committed by the Heilbronn confederation against
Germany by selling themselves to France is alone to be pal-
liated by the desperate situation to which they were reduced
by the defection of the Protestant electors. Saxony and Bran-
denburg again concluded peace, A.D. 1635, at Prague, with
the emperor, to whom they abandoned all the Protestants in
southern and western Germany and the whole of the Heil-
bronn confederation, under pretext of the urgent necessity
of peace, of the restoration of the honor of Germany and of
the happiness of the people by the expulsion of the foreigner.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1037
Saxony was reinstated in the territory of which she had been
deprived by the edict of restitution, and received the Upper
Lausitz as a hereditary fief. Augustus, elector of Saxony,
was also nominated administrator of the archbishopric of
Magdeburg hi the room of the Archduke Leopold. A Saxon
princess, the daughter of the electoress Magdalena Sibylla,
was given in marriage to Prince Christian of Denmark as
an inducement to that prince to take the field against Swe-
den. Brandenburg received the reversion of Pomerania,
whose last duke, Bozislaw, was sick and childless. The
princes of Mecklenburg and Anhalt, and the cities Erfurt,
Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Ulm, also conformed to the
treaty for the sake of preserving their neutrality, for which
they were bitterly punished.
Had the emperor taken advantage of the decreasing power
of Sweden, of the procrastination on the part of France, and
of the general desire for peace manifested throughout Ger-
many, to publish a general amnesty and to grant the free ex-
ercise of religion throughout the empire, the wounds inflicted
by his bloodthirsty policy might yet have been healed ; but the
gray-headed hypocrite merely folded his hands, dripping in
gore, hi prayer, and demanded fresh victims from the god
of peace. Peace was concluded with part of the heretics in
order to secure the destruction of the rest. The last oppor-
tunity that offered for the expulsion of the foreign robber
from Germany was lost by the exclusion of the Heilbronn
confederation from the treaty of Prague by the emperor;
and although they in their despair placed the empire at the
mercy of the French, and their country for centuries beneath
French influence, their crime rests on the head of the sover-
eign, who by his acts placed the empire on the brink of the
precipice, and on those of the dastardly electors, who, for
the sake of securing an enlarged territory to their houses,
basely betrayed their brethren. The elector of Saxony, for
the second time unmindful of his plighted faith, abandoned
Protestant Silesia to the wrath of the Jesuits, and the fate
of the remaining Protestant provinces, excluded from the
1038 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
treaty of Prague, may be read in that of the Pfalz and of
Wurtemberg.
Oxenstierna hastened in person to Paris for the purpose
of making terms with Richelieu, and thereby counterbalanc-
ing the league between the emperor, Saxony, and Branden-
burg, and Bernard von Weimar was compelled passively to
behold the dispute between Sweden and France for sover-
eignty over Protestant Germany. The French soldiery were,
moreover, so undisciplined and cowardly that they deserted
in troops. Bernard was consequently far from sufficiently
reinforced, but nevertheless succeeded in raising the siege of
Heidelberg. The death of the energetic and aged Rhein-
grave took place just at this period.
While matters were thus at a standstill on the Upper
Rhine, success attended the imperial arms in the Nether-
lands. The French, victorious at Avaire, were forced to
raise the siege of Louvain by the Infanto and Piccolomini,
A.D. 1635. The Dutch were also expelled the country. Ber-
nard, fearing to be surrounded by Piccolomini, retired from
the Rhine into Upper Burgundy. Heidelberg fell ; two French
regiments were cut to pieces at Reichenweiler by John von
Werth; Hatzfeld took Kaiserslautern by storm, and almost
totally annihilated the celebrated yellow regiment of Gus-
tavus Adolphus. Mayence was closely besieged, and France,
alarmed at the turn of affairs, sent the old Cardinal de la
Valette to reinforce Bernard, who advanced to the relief of
Mayence and succeeded in raising the siege, notwithstanding
the cowardice of the French, who were forced by threats to
cross the Rhine. John von Werth, meanwhile, invaded Lor-
raine, and, with Piccolomini and the Infanto, made a feint
to cross the French frontier. La Valette and Bernard in-
stantly returned, pursued by Gallas and already surrounded
by Colloredo,1 who was defeated by Bernard at Meisenheim,
where he had seized the pass. Hotly pursued by Gallas
1 The Colloredo are descended from the Swabian family of Walsee, which, in
the fourteenth century, settled in the Friaul, and, at a later period, erected the
castle on the steep (collo rigido).
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1039
and hard pushed by the Croatians, Bernard escaped across
the Saar at Walderfingen on a bridge raised on wine-casks,
before the arrival of the main body of the imperialists, which
came up with his rearguard at Boulay, but met with a re-
pulse. After a retreat of thirteen days, the fugitive army
reached Metz, in September, 1635. Gallas fixed his head-
quarters in Lorraine, but the country had been already so
completely pillaged that he was compelled to return in No-
vember, and to fix his camp in Alsace-Gabern, where he
gave himself up to rioting and drunkenness, while his army
was thinned by famine and pestilence. Mayence was starved
out and capitulated, after having been plundered by the Swe-
dish garrison.
In the commencement of 1636, Bernard visited Paris,
where he was courteously received by Louis XIII. The
impression made upon his heart by the lovely daughter of
the Due de Rohan was no sooner perceived than a plan was
formed by the French court to deprive him of his independ-
ence as a prince of the empire. Bernard discovered their
project and closed his heart against the seductions of the
lady. The aid promised by France was now withheld. Both
parties were deceived. France, unwilling to defray the ex-
penses of a war carried on by Bernard for the sole benefit of
Protestant Germany, merely aimed at preserving a pretext
for interference in the political and religious disputes agitat-
ing that country, and, for that purpose, promised Bernard a
sum of four million livres for the maintenance of an army of
eighteen thousand men.
The reconquest of Alsace followed; at Gabern, which
was taken by storm, Bernard lost the forefinger of his left
hand, and the bed on which he lay was shattered by a cannon-
ball. He returned thence to Lorraine, where he carried on
a petty war with Gallas and took several fortresses. The
humanity evinced by him at this period, so contrary to the
license he had formerly allowed his soldiery from a spirit of
religious fanaticism, proceeded from a desire to please the
French queen, the celebrated Anne of Austria, the daughter
1040 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
of Philip III. of Spain. He surprised Isolani's Croatians at
Champlitte, and deprived them of eighteen hundred horses
and of the whole of the rich booty they had collected, A.D.
1636.
In the beginning of the year, John von Worth had, inde-
pendently of Gallas, ventured as far as Louvain, where a
revolution had broken out. The Gallo-Dutch faction, never-
theless, proved victorious, and the imperialists were expelled.
Werth, unable to lay siege to the town with his cavalry, re-
venged himself by laying the country in the vicinity waste.
In April, he joined Piccolomini with the view of invading
France and of marching full upon Paris. This project was,
however, frustrated by Piccolomini 's timidity and by the
tardy movements of the infantry. This expedition, under-
taken in defiance of the orders of the elector of Bavaria, forms
one of the few amusing episodes of this terrible tragedy.
Werth, advancing rapidly with his cavalry, beat the French
on every point, forced the passage of the Somme and Oise,
and spread terror throughout France. The cities laid their
keys at his feet, the nobles begged for sentinels to guard their
houses, and paid them enormous sums. Paris was reduced
to despair. The roads to Chartres and Orleans were crowded
with fugitives, and the metropolis must inevitably have fallen
had Werth, instead of allowing his men to remain behind
plundering the country, pushed steadily forward. By this
delay, Richelieu gained time to levy troops and to send the
whole of the disposable force against him. A part of the
French troops were, nevertheless, cut to pieces during a
night attack at Montigny, and it was not until the autumnal
rains and floods brought disease into his camp that Werth
retired. He remained for some time afterward at Cologne,
where he wedded the Countess Spaur (of an ancient Tyro-
lese family). Ehrenbreitstein, still garrisoned by the French,
who had long lost Coblentz, was closely besieged by Werth,
and forced by famine to capitulate, A.D. 1637.
William of Hesse, instead of joining Bernard after the
battle of Ncerdlingen, had raised troops with the money re-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1041
ceived by him from France and had seized Paderborn, which
was retaken by the imperialists, A.b. 1636. George von
Luneburg, who had, in 1634, become the head of the
Guelphic house on the death of Frederick Ulric of Wolfen-
buttel, long hesitated to give in his adhesion to the treaty
of Prague, but Oxenstierna, on becoming acquainted with
his intercourse with the emperor, depriving him, by means
of Sperreuter, of his best regiments, his hesitation ceased
and he acceded to the emperor's terms. Sperreuter, who
had deserted with the Lower Saxon regiments to the Swe-
dish general, Banner, now went over to the emperor, and
Baudis to Saxony. A reaction took place in all the German
regiments under the Swedish standard, of which the Prague
confederation failed to take advantage, and their command-
ers were bribed by Kniphausen to remain in the pay of Swe-
den. This general fell, in January, 1636, at Haselune, dur-
ing an engagement with Geleen, who was beaten off the
field. Minden was betrayed, in May, by the commandant
Ludingshausen, Kniphausen's son-in-law, to the Swedes.
The remnant of the old Swedish army under Banner
found itself exposed to the greatest danger by the conclu-
sion of peace at Prague. Banner had, together with the
elector of Saxony, advanced upon Bohemia, whence he was
now compelled to retreat. On the alliance between George
von Luneburg and Saxony, Baudis was despatched against
him, November, 1635, but was defeated at Dcemitz, and Ban-
ner, dreading to be cut off by an imperial corps under the
Bohemian, Marzin, who had taken Stargard by storm and
pillaged that town, withdrew to Pomerania. During this
autumn, the French ambassador, d'Avaux, had succeeded
in bringing about a reconciliation between "Wladislaw of
Poland and Sweden, and in terminating the long war be-
tween those countries. The Swedish regiments under Tor-
stenson consequently evacuated Livonia and Prussia and
united with those under Banner ; while, on the other hand,
a wild troop of Polish Cossacks marched to the aid of the
emperor. This cunning policy on the part of France caused
GERMANY. VOL. ILL— G
1042 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
the war to rage with redoubled fury. Banner and Torsten
son defeated the Saxons in the depth of winter at Goldberg
and Kiritz, and, in February, Banner again invaded Saxony
and cruelly visited the defection of the elector on the heads
of his wretched subjects. The arrival of Hatzfeld at the
head of a body of imperialists compelled him to retire behind
Magdeburg, where Baudis was severely wounded and relin-
quished the command. Each side now confined itself to
manoeuvring until the arrival of reinforcements. The Swe-
dish troops arrived first, and Hatzfeld and the Saxons, being
drawn into an engagement at Wittstock, before Goetz was
able to join them, were totally defeated. Hatzfeld was
wounded, and the elector lost the whole of his baggage
and treasure. Saxony was again laid waste by Banner's
infuriated troops. The gallant defence of Leipzig increased
their rage. All the towns and villages in the vicinity were
reduced to ashes. A similar fate befell Misnia, "Wurzen,
Oschatz, Colditz, Liebwerda, and sever?.} smaller towns.
The peasants fled in crowds to the fortified cities and to
the mountains, and, to complete the general misery, famine
and pestilence succeeded to the sword and the firebrand. A
bloody revenge was taken by Derflinger with a Brandenburg
squadron on a thousand Swedish horse that ventured into the
province of Mansfeld. Banner finally assembled his troops
and intrenched himself in Torgau, which he stored with pro-
visions, while Gallas, Goetz, Hatzfeld, and the elector of Sax-
ony advanced to the attack.
OCX. Death of Ferdinand the Second — Pestilence and
Famine — Bernard von Weimar — Banner
THE favor of the electoral princes being secured by the
treaty of Prague, they were, in the autumn of 1636, con-
voked by Ferdinand II. to Ratisbon, for the purpose of elect-
ing his son, the Archduke Ferdinand, as his successor on the
throne. Ferdinand II. expired, A.D. 1637, after having the
gratification of quelling the revolt of the peasantry in Car-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1043
niola and Upper Austria. In Erfurt, the imperial general,
Hatzfeld, seized the government, imprisoned and tortured
the Lutheran clergy, and drained the coffers of the citizens.
Nuremberg, Augsburg and Ulm met with an almost similar
treatment.
Ferdinand bequeathed the empire to his son, Ferdinand
III., a man of insignificant character, whose mother, Maria,
also a Habsburg, was daughter to Philip III. of Spain. The
late emperor, notwithstanding the immense scale on which
he performed his part and the unheard-of calamities which,
worse than the worst of despots, he inflicted upon his subjects,
did not live to witness the triumph of his party. Napoleon,
who carried fire and sword almost throughout Europe,
brought less death and sorrow on the world than this quiet
and devout emperor, to whose religious and political fanati-
cism ten millions of his fellow men were sacrificed. The
people were deprived by him of their political and religious
liberty. The ancient German constitution was annulled and
the principles of absolute monarchy, like those of Spain, were
for the first time carried into practice in the hereditary prov-
inces of the Habsburg, and ere long in those of Germany.
The assembling of the Estates became an empty court cere-
mony. Had the emperor triumphed, Germany would at
least have been rewarded with the acquisition of unity for
the loss of her liberty, but her evil destiny deprived her of
the one without granting the other.
During the year in which the old emperor closed his eyes
that had so long gloated on blood, the misery that reigned
throughout Germany had reached the highest pitch; the
horrors of the long war, the destruction of the towns and
villages by fire, the torture and murder of the citizens and
peasantry by the soldiery, were accompanied by a famine,
which depopulated whole districts; the land remained un-
cultivated, and a pestilence resulted from want, bad food,
and the putridity of the air occasioned by the heaps of un-
buried dead. The soldier, driven by necessity as well as by
love of rapine, snatched the last morsel from the hands of
1044 TEE HISTORY OF GERMANY
the famishing wretches that remained. Bands of Maraud-
ers (Merode-brothers, so called from their leader, the Count
von Merode) composed of peasantry and of homeless wan-
derers, who sometimes aided one party, sometimes another,
cruelly avenging themselves on the soldiery or joining them
in their predatory excursions, ranged the country and forced
the inhabitants, by the infliction of the most horrid tortures,
to open their concealed hoards of provisions or of treasure.
"Whole provinces were so completely pillaged as to afford no
sustenance to the troops, and men and children fought like
wolves for a morsel of carrion.
The historians of this period graphically describe this ex-
cess of misery. Ferdinand II., on his accession to the throne,
found Austria Lutheran, thickly populated, and prosperous;
he left her Catholic, depopulated, and impoverished. He
found in Bohemia three million Hussites dwelling in flour-
ishing cities and villages, he left merely seven hundred and
eighty thousand Catholic beggars. Silesia, happy and bloom-
ing, was laid desolate; most of her little cities and villages
had been burned to the ground, her inhabitants put to the
sword. Saxony, the Mere, and Pomerania had shared the
same melancholy fate. Mecklenburg and the whole of Lower
Saxony had been ruined by battles, sieges, and invasions.
Hesse lay utterly waste. In the Pfalz, the living fed upon
the dead, mothers on their babes, brethren on each other.
In the Netherlands, Liege, Luxemburg, Lorraine, similar
scenes of horror were of frequent occurrence. The whole of
the Rhenish provinces lay desert. Swabia and Bavaria were
almost entirely depopulated. The Tyrol and Switzerland had
escaped the horrors of war, but were ravaged by pestilence.
Such was the aspect of Europe on the death of Ferdinand
II., who, like an aged hyena, expired amid mouldering bones
and ruins.
Bernard von Weimar a second time visited Paris, where
he was now upheld by Oxenstierna through his friend, Hugo
Grotius (the Swedes being unable to take any measures in
the North so long as he remained fixed in the South). He,
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1045
in the meantime, allowed his troops to pillage Champagne,
which speedily induced the French monarch to furnish him
with the means of satisfying the demands of his soldiery.
Charles, duke of Lorraine, and Mercy, the Bavarian, had,
meanwhile, fixed their quarters in Burgundy. A bloody en-
gagement took place with the latter at Besancon, in which
Bernard, who crossed the Saone on horseback at the head of
his men in the face of the enemy, was victorious. Isle, Lure,
and several other Burgundian fortresses fell successively into
his hands, and, A.D. 1637, he again pushed forward as far as
the Rhine, where he strongly fortified the islands. Twice
surprised by John von Werth, he plunged into the stream
and escaped by swimming. Still, notwithstanding the cow-
ardice of the French troops, almost the whole of whom ran
away, success crowned his efforts. The winter quarters on
the Rhine being insecure, he suddenly crossed the stream
with his dismounted cavalry, a disease having carried off
their horses, and threw himself among the mountains in the
bishopric of Basel, where no enemy had yet penetrated, and
which was well stored with supplies. The opposition made
by the peasantry and the threats of the Catholic Swiss,
whose Protestant countrymen sided with him, were equally
unavailing. The fortifications on the Rhine were, mean-
while, speedily taken by Werth from the cowardly French
garrisons, while his unworthy colleague, the Duke di Savelli,
vainly sought to draw Bernard into the emperor's service.
Hugo Grotius was equally unsuccessful in his project for
regaining him for Sweden, by marrying him to the young
queen, Christina, and a fresh dispute arose between Bernard
and France on account of the cession of Veltlin by that king-
dom to the Grisons and the consequent abandonment of Due
Rohan, who capitulated to the Spanish under Serbelloni, A.D.
!•>:;?, and took refuge in Bernard's camp.
At the head of a hardy troop, merely six thousand strong,
Bernard unexpectedly broke up his camp on the Dellsberg,
January 17, 1638, and penetrated into the Frickthal, firmly
resolved to maintain himself on the Upper Rhine, and by
2046 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
success, and fresh levies of troops, to win for himself the
power in Germany which he had so long and so vainly
attempted to gain by means of France. Laufenburg and
"Waldshut were taken by surprise. Rheinfelden, where four
hundred of the garrison were destroyed by the explosion of a
mine, made a gallant defence. John von Werth and Savelli
hastened to its relief, and, on the 18th February, a desperate
engagement took place beneath the city walls. Bernard,
overwhelmed by numbers, was forced to quit the field; the
brave Rheingrave fell, and Rohan was wounded. But on
the 21st, Bernard unexpectedly assailed the enemy while cel-
ebrating their victory in Rheinfelden and completely routed
them. Both the leaders, the gallant John von Werth and
the worthless Savelli, Generals Enkefort and Sperreuter,
with almost the whole of the army, were taken prisoners.
John von "Werth, contrary to the promise given by Bernard,
was sent a prisoner to Paris, where he was treated with great
distinction. Savelli was sent on his parole to Laufenburg,
whence he found means to escape.
Bernard continued to pursue the enemy and to collect re-
inforcements. His old school-fellow, Guebriant, joined him
with a small number of French. Rheinfelden and Freiburg
in the Breisgau fell into his hands. Taupadel took Stuttgard.
The possession- of Breisach, the key to the whole of Upper
Germany, was keenly disputed. Goatz, the field-marshal of
the empire, hastening to its relief, was routed at Benfeld by
Taupadel. The battle of Wittenweyer, in which Bernard,
whose forces were far less considerable, was victorious over
Goatz and Savelli and an army of eighteen thousand five
hundred men, followed. Taupadel, who had rashly ventured
too far in pursuit, was captured by Savelli, who kept him in
close imprisonment. Breisach still refused to capitulate, and
the besieging army suffered a considerable loss from the at-
tacks of the peasants of the Black Forest. Horst, who was
bringing a supply of flour and powder, was forced to retreat
and was deprived of part of his stores. Charles, duke of
Lorraine, when attempting to relieve the city, was taken
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1047
prisoner at Thann. Bernard, who had for some time been
suffering from fever, being carried from the field half dead
to his camp, Goetz attempted to take him unawares, and had
already reached the bridges over the Rhine, when Bernard,
springing from his couch, bestrode his battle-steed, and
rushed io the defence. The troops, inspired with enthusi-
asm at the sight of an eagle hovering over his head, pressed
forward, and, after a dreadful struggle, succeeded in rout-
ing the imperialists, numbers of whom were drowned in the
Rhine. Breisach was driven by famine to capitulate. The
garrison was promised food and free egress. The treatment
of the prisoners taken by the imperialists during the siege,
some of whom were starved to death, while the rest fed upon
their comrades, was not known until the terms of capitula-
tion had been acceded to; Bernard, nevertheless, although
his heart burned within him, remained true to his given
word.
Savelli, the fitting favorite of the Jesuits and of the
Viennese court, had, with consistent baseness, effected the
removal and imprisonment of his worthier rival, Gcetz. On
the fall of Breisach, he had again recourse to diplomacy, and
called upon Bernard, in the name of his country, to join the
omperor. Bernard replied, "that a duke of Saxony needed
no lesson in patriotism from an Italian duca," and, garrison-
ing Breisach with German troops, refused to deliver that
fort into the hands of the French. But, either for the pur-
pose of pacifying Richelieu, or of providing Breisach with
fresh stores, he returned to Burgundy during the depth of
vinter, and seized that part of the earldom which had
hitherto escaped the ravages of war. The peasantry were
defeated, the lofty, rocky stronghold of Joux was taken, and
an immense number of horses and stores of every description
were carried to Breisach. Richelieu made fresh advances,
but, being personally offended by Bernard's refusal of the
hand of his niece and heiress, Margaret de Vignerot, he,
from that moment, resolved upon his ruin. Erlach, one of
Bernard's most confidential officers, was bribed with an
048 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
annuity of twelve thousand livres to betray his noble-spirited
master. Bernard's intention to maintain himself independ-
ent of France was clearly evident. He placed German gar-
risons in all the strongholds, received petitions as the sover-
eign of Alsace, negotiated with Swedon, and, unadvised by
France, sought an alliance with Hesse. His death speedily
followed. On his way to Pfirt he was suddenly taken ill,
and was carried to Neuburg, where he expired, A.D. 1639.
Almost all contemporary writers assert his having been
poisoned by a French emissary. "Germany," wrote Hugo
Grotius, "was, in this prince, deprived of her greatest orna-
ment and of her last hope, of almost the only one worthy of
the name of a German prince."
Bernard bequeathed his conquests and the whole of his
personal property to his brother, to the express exclusion of
France; but the traitor, Erlach, to whom he had intrusted
Breisach, delivered that fortress up to France, seized the
whole of his treasures, appropriated the most valuable por-
tion to himself, and distributed two hundred thousand dollars
among the soldiery as a French largesse, in consideration of
which they were bound to serve France until the question
of the inheritance was settled. This settlement never took
place. The German officers and soldiers were kept in a state
of uncertainty, and the possibility of a mutiny on their part
was obviated by the fortresses being garriconed half with
French, half with Germans, until the inactivity of the
Swedes, the helplessness of the dukes of "Weimar, and the
seduction practiced upon the troops, left the German officers
no alternative than to remain in the French service, to which
they yielded the more readily on the appointment of their
ancient comrade, Guebriant, to their command.
The young Pfalzgraf, Charles Louis, the son of the un-
fortunate king of Bohemia, made a futile attempt to replace
1 Bernard von Weimar was a handsome man, scarcely in his thirtieth year,
with a manly, sunburned countenance. His hair, which was remarkably long,
lay in thick, bright curls upon his shoulders. He never married, and was
equally chaste and pious. He daily devoted several hours to the study of the
Bible, which he knew almost entirely by heart.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1049
the loss of Bernard. Assisted by the English, and by his
gallant brother, Robert (Bernard's rival with the beautiful
Rohan), he had raised a little army on the coasts of northern
Germany, but was, in October, 1638, defeated at Vlotho by
Hatzfeld. He escaped with great difficulty. Robert was
taken prisoner. Charles Louis returned to England, whence,
in the hope of placing himself, on Bernard's death, at the
head of his leaderless army, he hastened, with a sum of
money, to Alsace, but — through France, where, by Riche-
lieu's order, he was deprived of his treasure, and kept pris-
oner at Vincennes, until Bernard's army had sworn allegi-
ance to France, when, on his binding himself by oath never
to act against the interests of that country, he was contume-
liously set at liberty.
William, Landgrave of Hesse, meanwhile, driven out of
his territories, which had been confiscated by the emperor,
had thrown himself into East Friesland, where he laid the
country waste and raised fresh troops with the money taken
from the inhabitants. He died A.D. 1637. The contest with
the emperor was carried on after his death by his widow,
Amelia Elizabeth, while the Hessian Estates and then* gen-
eral Holzappel concluded a truce, in order to spare the coun-
try, three hundred villages having been burned to the ground
by Geleen. The duchess, a zealous Calvinist, demanded, as
a pledge of the emperor's good faith, the toleration of Cal-
vinism, Lutheranism being alone tolerated by the treaty of
Prague. Had the three forms of worship been at once placed
on an equal footing, how much needless misery might not
Germany have been spared! Her demand was left un-
noticed during a whole year. — George von Luneburg, al-
though a party to the treaty of Prague, remained in close
alliance with Sweden, preserved a strict neutrality, and
guarded his possessions. Kcenigsmark of Brandenburg, a
Swedish general, one of the boldest robbers of the day, de-
vastated the Eichsfeld with German troops and levied con-
tributions upon the bishop of Wurzburg, Hatzfeld's brother,
A.D. 1639.
^050 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
The French confining themselves to the occupation of
Alsace, the emperor, Bavaria, Saxony, and Brandenburg
turned their united forces against the Swedes. The claims
of Brandenburg upon Pomerania on the death of Bozislaw,
the last of her dukes, A.D. 1637, had been treated with de-
rision by the Swedes, and, from that moment, the elector
George William, aided by his general Klitzing, had discov-
ered the greatest zeal in opposing them. Arnheim, who had
thrown up his command and was living peaceably at Boitzen-
burg, was seized by the Swedes, who dreaded lest he might
replace himself at the head of the Saxons, and sent to Stock-
holm. Gallas, Hatzfeld, Gcetz, and Geleen, meanwhile, at-
tacked Banner and drove him from his intrenchments in
Torgau; but, although completely surrounded, he contrived
by means of a ruse to escape across the Oder to Landsberg,
where, disappointed in meeting Wrangel, he found himself
exposed to the most imminent danger, shut in between the
imperial army, the Warthe, and the Polish frontiers, which
the fear of involving Poland in a fresh war withheld him
from crossing. With extraordinary presence of mind he
made a feigned march toward Poland, drew the imperial
army on that side, and succeeded in drawing himself out of
his perilous situation without incurring the slightest loss,
July, 1637. "They caught me in the sack," said he, "but
forgot to tie it up!" He retreated to the sea, while Gal-
las laid the whole country waste, took Havelberg, Dcemitz
and Wolgast, where he destroyed the magnificent castle of
the Pomeranian dukes; the more ancient one in Schwedt
had, at an earlier period, been burned by the Swedes. The
Mere suffered in an equal degree, and, exactly at this mo-
ment, Klitzing, offended at the conduct of Burgsdorf, the
elector's favorite, withdrew from the scene of action. The
peasants in Drcemling rose against the plundering soldiery
and captured their artillery. Gallas's men, neglected, as in
Alsace, by their voluptuous general, were driven by famine
to desert in troops to Banner, who had in the meantime
again drawn George von Luneburg on his side with a prom-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1051
ise of confirming him in the possession of Hildesheim. A
fresh treaty was concluded, A.D. 1638, between Sweden and
France, and, in the spring of 1639, Banner again took the
field, and, after defeating Marzin, who at that time headed
the Saxons, near Chemnitz, and taking a corps under Hof-
kirch and Montecuculi prisoner near Brandeis, overran Bo-
hemia as far as Prague, where he encamped on the "Weissen
Berg. A small Swedish corps under Stalhantsch occupied
Silesia, where the famine was so dreadful that at Hirsch-
berg, for instance, almost the whole of the inhabitants died
of hunger, and the few who survived attached themselves to
the Swedish troop for the sake of the remnants of food left
by the soldiers. Banner, disappointed in his hope of find-
ing some Hussites still in Bohemia, at length quitted that
wretched country, which presented a complete scene of deso-
lation, in order to join Guebriant and to prevent the forma-
tion of an intermediate party in Northern Germany.
The footsteps of the retreating Swedes were marked by
fire and blood. In Thuringia the people fled in crowds into
the Harz Forest. The duchess of Hesse sent a reinforce-
ment of twenty thousand men, and George of Luneburg sent
Klitzing, whom he had taken into his service, with the whole
of his forces, to his aid. The great imperial army, led by
the Archduke Leopold, the emperor's brother, and by Picco-
lomini, who had stepped into Gallas's place and had just
been created Duke d'Amalfi on account of a victory gained
by him at Diederhoven in the Netherlands over the French,
came up with Banner at Saalfeld, where both armies re-
mained encamped opposite to one another, without ventur-
ing an engagement, and suffering terribly from famine, the
whole country in the vicinity having been laid desert. Ban-
ner's wife, a Countess Erlach, dying in his camp, A.D. 1640,
he bore her remains, accompanied by his whole army, to
Erfurt, where his tears were speedily dried by a passion for
the Princess Johanna of Baden-Durlach, whom he met there
by chance. Piccolomini also quitted Saalfeld in order to join
the Bavarians under Mercy, who had been employed in
^052 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
watching the movements of the Weimarians in Swabia and
the Pfalz, and the two armies again met near Neustadt, but
without coming to an engagement. Both sides, meanwhile,
fell a prey to famine and pestilence. Holzappel, who had
attempted to form a German party independent of France
and Sweden, threw up his commission in disgust, and a sep-
arate alliance was formed between the duchess and George.
Banner, equally indifferent to the movements of the imperial
army and to the remonstrances of Guebriant, followed the
Princess Johanna to Waldeck, where he solemnized his mar-
riage with her. He took up his winter quarters at Hildes-
heim with George von Luneburg. Both George and Banner
are said to have been poisoned during the festivities that took
place; the ill-health of the former may, however, be ascribed,
on stronger grounds, to mental anxiety, that of the latter to
debauchery. Taupadel was exchanged for Sperreuter.
An attempt made during this winter by Banner to seize
the person of the emperor, who had convoked a diet at Ratis-
bon, was frustrated by the rising of the Danube, occasioned
by a sudden thaw. Guebriant, fearful of the desertion of
the Weimar troops should he quit the Rhine, abandoning
him to the emperor, who was advancing at the head of an
overwhelming force, he retreated through Bohemia into Sax-
ony. Three Swedish regiments under Colonel Slangen were
cut to pieces, after gallantly defending bis rear, at Wald-
Neuburg. Although rejoined by Guebriant, he was still un-
able to cope with his antagonists, and, after vainly attempt-
ing the defence of the Saal near Merseburg, was compelled
to take refuge in Halberstadt, -where, worn out with his lin-
gering sickness, he expired, May, 1641. George von Lune-
burg had preceded him to the grave, and Arnheim, who
had escaped from his Swedish prison to place himself at
the head of the intermediate party, had also died not long
before.
The advance of Piccolomini to the relief of Wolfenbuttel,
where the imperial garrison had long held out against the
besieging Protestants, terminated the disputes already rife in
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1053
the Swedish camp, and all the Protestant troops, those of
Hesse alone excepted, instantly reuniting, a brilliant victory
was gained beneath the walls of Wolfenbuttel by the Weimar
troops under Guebriant, those of Banner under Wrangel,
Pfuel, and Kcenigsmark, and the Luneburg regiments under
Klitzing. The Hessians rejoined them after the conflict, but
Guebriant, attempting to follow up the advantage unaided
by the Swedes, who refused to act until the arrival of Tor-
stenson, was twice discomfited, and William Otto, count of
Xassau, was slain.
Eberhard von Wurtemberg had, meanwhile, A.D. 1641,
repaired to Vienna, made his submission to the emperor and
been restored to his possessions, which had been entirely de-
populated and laid waste by the imperial troops.
CCXI. Torstenson — John von Werth — The Peace of
Westphalia
THE listlessness with which the war was carried on in
Germany proved that the moment for concluding the peace,
so earnestly desired by all parties, had arrived. Ferdinand
III., and even Maximilian of Bavaria, recognized the impos-
sibility of completely suppressing the Reformation and the
necessity of conciliation. Peace, nevertheless, could not be
concluded ; France and Sweden still sought to tear the prey
from each other's grasp. In France, after the death of
Cardinal Richelieu, 1642, and that of Louis XIII., 1643,
the government had been undertaken, in the name of the
youthful monarch, Louis XIV., by Cardinal Mazarin, who
pursued a policy similar to that of his predecessor in office,
and refused to bring the war to a termination until France
had prostrated. Germany at her feet. In Sweden, Oxenstierna
and the Swedish aristocracy, instead of following in the foot-
steps of Gustavus Adolphus, who had projected the union of
Sweden with Germany, the triumph of the gospel, and the
marriage of his daughter, Christina, with Frederick William
of Brandenburg, solely aimed at the conversion of the Ger-
1054 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
man coasts of the Baltic into a Swedish province, and re-
jected the alliance of the elector of Brandenburg, who, visit-
ing Stockholm, A.D. 1637, Christina quitted that city without
deigning to receive him. Her mother, the aunt of the in-
tended bridegroom, was also compelled to quit the kingdom.
Frederick "William, afterward surnamed the Great Elec-
tor, succeeded his father, George William, in Brandenburg,
A.D. 1640. This prince might easily have placed himself at
the head of all the Protestants in Northern Germany, have
concluded an advantageous peace with the emperor, and
have chased the handful of Swedes and French, disputing
like vultures over the remnants of their prey, across the
frontiers; but distrust of the Catholics, of the sovereigns
ruled by the Jesuits, had struck root too deeply, and the
edict of restitution was still too recent for him at that period
to pursue the policy he afterward adopted. He might pos-
sibly have been also disinclined to play a part subordinate to
that acted by Saxony, and have hoped, by opposing the false
Saxon, to be recognized as the first Protestant prince in
Germany on the demise of George, when Brandenburg, in
fact, first superseded Saxony as the head of the German
Protestants.
The Guelphs, Christian Louis von Calenberg, Frederick
von Celle, and Augustus von "Wolfenbuttel, went over, not-
withstanding the victory gained by them beneath the walls
of Wolfenbuttel, to the emperor, who confirmed Calenberg
in the possession of Hildesheim. The influence of this family
was considerably weakened by the division of its possessions
among its different members.
The war, meanwhile, continued, the Germans remaining
true to the colors of both France and Sweden, the latter of
which sent a small body of reinforcements, scarcely seven
thousand strong, and a fresh leader, Leonard Torstenson,
who, late in the autumn of 1641, took the command of Ban-
ner's late troops. Guebriant separated from him in order to
oppose Lamboy on the Lower Rhine. In the spring of 1642,
after encamping at Salzwedel in sight of Piccolomini without
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1055
being able to bring him to an engagement, he suddenly in-
vaded Silesia, which Francis Albert von Lauenburg had just
wrested from Stalhantsch, defeated Lauenburg near Schweid-
nitz, took him prisoner and entered Moravia, with the view
of forming an alliance with Ragoczy, prince of Transylvania,
and of besieging Vienna ; but that prince, who, like Bethlen
Gabor, merely made use of the Protestants for the purpose
of extorting favorable terms from the emperor, showed no
inclination to lend him aid. The siege of Brunn, which
offered a steady resistance, was abandoned. Olmutz and
the whole of Moravia, hitherto spared by the ravager, were
plundered. Torstenson then returned to Silesia, burning
Buntzlau and seizing Zittau en route, and was reinforced by
Koenigsmark and Wrangel. The imperialists, who had taken
a terrible vengeance on the Protestant Silesians, by whom
Torstenson's arrival had been hailed with delight, had,
meanwhile, fruitlessly blockaded Glogau, gallantly defended
by Wrangel, Torstenson, on the arrival of a large body of
Hungarian reinforcements in the imperial camp, retreated
from the Oder to the Elbe and" laid siege to Leipzig, whither
he was pursued by the imperialists, who, not far from Leip-
zig, near Breitenfeld, twice already the scene of their dis-
comfiture, met, November 2, 1642, for a third time, with a
total defeat. Torstenson's horse was killed under him. The
Swedish generals, Lilienhosk and Slangen, were slain. Two
of the imperial colonels, Madlo and Defour, who had been
the first to quit the field, were put to death. A reunion
afterward took place between Torstenson and Guebriant,
who concerted an attack upon Bavaria, which, however, was
not put into execution, Guebriant returning to the Rhine,
and Torstenson, after spending the winter months in a futile
siege of Freiburg in Saxony, again fixing himself in Moravia,
with the view of carrying the war into the emperor's heredi-
tary provinces and of awaiting aid from Ragoczy.
The campaign of 1643 was opened by Gallas, Piccolomini
having, after the disaster of Breitenfeld, re-entered the ser-
vice of Spain, and the archduke having withdrawn to his
^056 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
bishopric of Passau; but Torstenson, after a second and
futile attempt upon Brunn, unexpectedly received orders to
advance upon Denmark, by whose humiliation alone Sweden
could hope to secure her conquests in Northern Germany.
The superiority of the Danish over the Swedish fleet, more-
over, rendered the presence of the army indispensable. Aus-
tria and Saxony were also busily intriguing with Denmark.
The urgency of the circumstances demanded instant action;
by a sudden stroke alone could the movement to the rear of
the Swedes be checked; Torstenson, accordingly, mounting
almost the whole of his infantry, hurried through Silesia and
in fifteen days reached Hoi stein. The Danes, taken by sur-
prise, submitted. Jutland was as rapidly conquered, and
his hungry soldiery took up their winter quarters in these
fertile countries, which had, until now, escaped the ravages
of war. The brave Ditmarses alone ventured to oppose their
unwelcome guests. Ragoczy, meanwhile, advanced upon
Hungary and kept a part of the imperial troops occupied,
so that Gallas was unable to follow the Swedes at the head
of a strong enough force until 1644, when, strengthened by
the junction of the Danish army at Kiel, he shut Torstenson
up in Jutland. That commander, nevertheless, contrived to
elude his vigilance, and, by mounting his infantry, unex-
pectedly passed his opponents and re-entered Germany,
where Koenigsmark had, in the meantime, made head
against the Saxons, and, after losing Chemnitz, had taken
Torgau. Ragoczy had been driven out of Hungary by
Goetz. Torstenson was pursued by Gallas, whom he in his
turn shut up in Bernburg, whence, after losing a number
of his men by famine, he escaped to Magdeburg. Enkef ort,
marching to his relief, was defeated and taken prisoner by
Torstenson at Juterbok. In the winter of 1645, Gallas,
who, in the midst of the want by which he was surrounded,
continued his drunken revels, found means to escape with
two thousand men to Bohemia. "Wrangel was, in the mean-
time, victorious over the Danes. Hatzfeld and Goetz were
hastily recalled, the former from Lower Germany, where he
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 105?
had watched the movements of the Hessians and of Kcenigs-
mark, the latter from Hungary, in order to protect the
hereditary provinces, which again lay open to Torstenson.
Bavaria also sent John von "Werth, who had at length been
exchanged for the Swedish field-marshal, Horn, to their aid,
and, in the spring of 1645, the imperialists took the field in
considerable numbers. A bloody engagement took place at
Jankau, in Bohemia. The imperialists, deeming the victory
secure, dispersed for the sake of plunder and were overpow-
ered. Hatzfeld was taken prisoner. The whole of Austria
now lay open to the victor. Iglau, Krems, and Kornneu-
burg were taken, and the country was laid waste up to the
gates of Vienna. Torstenson was, notwithstanding, unable,
from want of artillery, to lay formal siege to Vienna, whence
the empress and her court had fled into the mountains. Ra-
goczy, instead of supporting the Swedes, accepted a bribe
from the emperor, and Count Buchheim, who had until now
been engaged in opposing the Hungarians, advancing to the
relief of Vienna, Torstenson retired and finally evacuated
Moravia after another ineffectual attempt upon Brunn. His
restless lieutenant, Kcenigsmark, who now aided the French,
now the Hessians, now rejoined the main body of the
Swedes or pillaged the country on his own account, had, in
the interim, blockaded Dresden and compelled the elector of
Saxony to accede to a truce, consequently to recede from the
imperial party, A.D. 1645. This important success brought
repose to the Swedes. Torstenson, long a victim to gout,
finally ceded the command to Gustavus Wrangel and re-
turned to Sweden. During this year Denmark also pur-
chased peace with Sweden by the cession of the island of
Oesel.
In 1642, Guebriant had set out for the Lower Rhine, and
had defeated and captured Lamboy on the Hulser heath,
near Kempen. Hatzfeld, who was at that time watching
the movements of the Hessians and guarding Cologne, re-
treated before his superior forces into the Alps, leaving the
Catholic provinces on the Rhine at the mercy of the foe,
THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
who laid the country waste with fire and sword. The Prince
of Orange advanced in order to unite his forces with those
of Guebriant, who at length received a reinforcement of
French troops, four thousand strong, all of whom shortly
afterward ran away. John von "Werth, who had been ex-
changed for Horn, also appeared in Cologne, where the citi-
zens, embittered by Hatzfeld's inactivity, embraced his knees
as their deliverer. Both sides were, however, too weak to
hazard an engagement. Guebriant returned in autumn
to Central Germany with the view of attacking Bavaria in
conjunction with Torstenson; this project was, however,
abandoned, and, finding himself hard pushed by the Bavari-
ans under the Lothringian, Mercy, and John von Werth, he
once more retreated upon Breisach, and after being beaten
from his quarters in Gceppingen, Ofterdingen, and Hemmen-
dorf, reached the Kinzigthal with his half -famished troops.
Swabia was reduced to a state of indescribable misery by the
depredations committed by both parties.
Banner's German army having been reintegrated by sev-
eral thousand Swedes under Torstenson, France reinforced
that under Guebriant with a body of troops under the Count
de Ranzau, Anne of Austria's handsome and gallant favor-
ite, who, in the summer of 1643, laid siege to Rotweil, which
was betrayed into his hands. While encamped, during No-
vember, in and around Tuttlingen, he was suddenly sur-
rounded by Mercy, Charles, duke of Lorraine, Hatzfeld,
and John von Werth, and fell, with the greater part of his
army, into their hands. Taupadel, who lay sick in the town,
contrived to escape, and the evening before this unexpected
disaster, Guebriant, who had been severely wounded during
the siege of Rotweil, expired. Numbers of the fugitive
French were slain by the German peasants, who, through-
out the war, took a bloody but just vengeance on the brigand
invader. The military science displayed by Mercy on this
occasion was rewarded with the appointment of generalis-
simo over the allied imperial, Bavarian, and Lothringian
troops. During his stay in Swabia, where he fruitlessly
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1059
blockaded Hohentviel, the fugitive Weimar troops pillaged
Burgundy. Taupadel's regiment was almost cut to pieces
by the enraged peasantry. In the summer of 1614, Turenne,
who, as well as Guebriant, had served his apprenticeship of
arms under Bernard von Weimar, crossed the Rhine at the
head of a fresh French army, and advanced to the relief of
Freiburg in the Breisgau, at that time closely besieged by
Mercy. Freiburg, nevertheless, fell, uncontested by Tu-
renne, who awaited the arrival of a second French army
under the Due d'Enghien, afterward known as the great
Conde. A dreadful battle was fought near Freiburg, in
which Conde, who arrived too late to turn the fate of the
day, was driven off the field, and Mercy, too much enfeebled
by his victory to make head against the superior forces of
the enemy, evacuated Swabia, where provisions were no
longer to be procured, and retreated on the Maine. John
von Werth took Mannheim and Hcechst by surprise. The
whole of the Bergstrasse was garrisoned by Bavarians. The
French fixed their headquarters on the Upper Rhine and
seized Philippsburg. Nothing of importance occurred on the
Lower Rhine.
Several skirmishes took place with various success on
both sides in the opening of the campaign of 1645. Mercy
was struck dead by a cannon-ball, August 3, and Geleen
was taken prisoner in the battle of Allerheim in the Ries,
which was gained and lost by both sides, Enghien, after
routing the Bavarians, being himself driven off the field by
John von Werth, who arrived at the termination of the con-
flict. The defection of the elector of Saxony from the im-
perial cause was now imitated by Maximilian of Bavaria,
who also sought to promote his own interest by a renewal of
amicable relations with France. Geleen was, consequently,
exchanged for Grammont, who had been taken prisoner at
Allerheim ; the command of the Bavarian forces was, how-
ever, bestowed upon him in the place of the gallant John
von Werth, whose principles were too favorable to the em-
peror. Enghien and Turenne withdrew. Peace was con-
*060 THE HISTORY OF GERMAN?
eluded at Ulm between Bavaria and France in November,
1646. The defection of Bavaria was deeply felt by the em-
peror. Geleen threw up his command in disgust, and John
von "Werth, who had simply regarded the Bavarians as
troops of the empire, was released from his oath of alle-
giance to Maximilian, and attempted to desert with his
entire army to the emperor. His project, however, failed;
he was abandoned to a man by the Bavarian troops, and,
with Spork and some other officers, narrowly escaped "Wal-
lenstein's fate. A price of ten thousand dollars was placed
upon his head, and his possessions in Bavaria, on the Rhine
and in the Netherlands were, at Maximilian's command,
destroyed by fire.
Wrangel, meanwhile, invaded Upper Swabia in the depth
of winter, plundered Ravensburg and Leutkirch, overcame
the desperate resistance of the peasantry near Kempten and
Isny, and, after laying a hundred villages in ashes, returned,
in the spring of 1647, to Franconia, where he took Schwein-
furt. Turenne, in the meantime, laid the country around
Darmstadt waste. Paderborn, so often the bone of conten-
tion during this war, and which had been taken by the
Landgravine of Hesse in 1645, was recaptured by Melander
von Holzappel, who had long quitted the service of the Land-
gravine, and, although a Protestant, was now appointed
generalissimo of the imperial troops; such vicissitudes were
there in a war which had originally been a religious one !
Gallas was dead. Piccolomini, now Duke d'Amalfi, again
displayed great activity in the Netherlands and even invaded
France. The great im perial leaders had disappeared one by
one, and had been succeeded by Montecuculi, who was now
recalled from Silesia, where he had greatly harassed the little
Swedish garrisons, to Melander's aid.
Turenne, covered to the rear by the Bavarians under
Gronsfeld, hastened to the Netherlands in order to check the
progress of Piccolomini. The German cavalry, the Weimar
veterans, however, refused to follow the infantry across th e
French frontier, and, on the 21st of June, 1647, turned-back
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1061
from Saarbruck, and, recrossing the Rhine, advanced upon
Swabia. Turenne vainly sought to restrain them by force.
Headed by William Hempel, a student from Jena, they
'fought their way back to their native country, and two
thousand of their number joined Kcenigsmark in West-
phalia.
Eger falling into the hands of Wrangel, who, in July,
1647, again invaded the hereditary provinces, the emperor,
accompanied by Melander and John von Werth, took the
field in person at the head of the whole of his forces. Both
sides, nevertheless, contented themselves with petty skir-
mishes, and, although neither army was considerable in
number, the wasted country was unable to furnish them
with supplies. In September, Maximilian of Bavaria re-
newed his alliance with Austria. Wrangel, compelled to
retreat before the united forces of Melander and Gronsfeld,
threw himself into Hesse, where he fixed his winter quar-
ters, in order to punish the Landgravine for her French
policy. Turenne re-entered Germany, and, uniting with
Wrangel, again invaded Swabia. Gceppingen, Heidenheim,
Gmund, Ehingen, were pillaged; Wiesensteig was burned.
Melander and Gronsfeld were defeated at Zusmarshausen
on the Bavarian frontier, May. 17, 1648. Melander was
killed. The victors spread, robbing and murdering, over
Bavaria, and Kcenigsmark was sent to invade Bohemia. —
In this extremity, the emperor recalled Piccolomini and re-
instated him in the command of his universally defeated
troops, while Maximilian had once more recourse to Enke-
fort, who had again planted the imperial standard in Upper
Swabia, and John von Werth retook the command of the
imperial cavalry. Still one disaster followed another in
rapid succession. Lamboy, who had been left in Hesse by
Melander, was defeated by Geis near Grevenburg, and
George of Darmstadt was finally compelled to make a
formal cession of Marburg to the Landgravine. The arch-
duke was also defeated by d'Enghien near Lens in the Neth-
erlands, August, 1648. Koenigsmark had, meanwhile, ap-
1062 THE HISTORY OF GERMAN
peared unexpectedly before Prague and taken the Neustadt,
where he made an immense booty, by treachery and surprise.1
The Altstadt was gallantly defended by Rudolph Colloredo.
The Pfalzgraf, Charles Gustavus, the newly-appointed gen-'
eralissimo of the Swedish forces, followed with reinforce-
ments, was joyfully welcomed in Leipzig, and marched
rapidly upon Prague to the conquest of the Altstadt.
Peace was, at this conjuncture, proclaimed throughout
the empire to all the armies, to all the besieged cities, to
the trembling princes, to the wailing people. The wild sol-
diery were roused to fury at the news. At Feuchtwangen,
Wrangel dashed his cocked hat to the ground and gave or-
ders to let loose all the furies of war during the retreat. The
beautiful city of Liegnitz in Silesia was wantonly set on fire
by one of his men. The neighboring city of Jauer was simi-
larly treated by the imperial troops, who, shortly before the
peace, had attacked the Swedes in that place. Turenne, the
idol of France, acted in the same manner. Neresheim was
sacked, and Weil was laid in ashes by his soldiery. This
robber-band at length disappeared behind the Vosges, A.D.
1649. — Had the disputes between the Royalists and Cardi-
nalists in France been turned to advantage, a peace more
favorable for Germany might have been concluded, but no
one, with the exception of the indefatigable Charles of Lor-
raine, appeared conscious of the fact. He joined the French
princes, carried on the war at his own cost, and, in 1649, de-
feated Mazarin's troops at Cambray.
Plenipotentiaries from the belligerent powers had, since
1644, been assembled at Osnabruck and Munster in "West-
phalia, for the purpose of concluding peace. The hatred
subsisting between the different parties in Germany had
insensibly diminished, and each now merely aimed at sav-
1 The valuable collection of paintings of the Emperor Rudolph II., among
others some fine Correggios, were carried away. The youthful queen, Christina,
possessed little taste for the fine arts, and had the finest heads cut out of the
pictures and pasted upon tapestry. The rest of this invaluable collection, 250
pictures, were purchased at a later period for the Orleans gallery at Paris.
The most valuable part of the booty was the celebrated Bible of Ulphilas.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 10(53
ing the little remaining in its possession. Misery and suffer-
ing had cooled the religious zeal of the people, license that
of the troops, and diplomacy that of the princes. The thirst
for blood had been satiated, and passion, worn out by ex-
cess, slumbered. Germany had long sighed for the ter-
mination of a struggle solely carried on within her bosom
by the stranger. The Swedes and French had, however,
triumphed, and were now in a position to dictate terms of
peace favorable for themselves, and a long period elapsed
before the jealous pretensions of all the parties interested in
the conclusion of peace were satisfied. The procrastination
of the emperor, who allowed three-quarters of a year to
elapse before giving his assent to the treaty of peace, the
tardiness of the French and Swedish ambassadors in appear-
ing at the congress, the disputes between the members about
titles, right of precedence, etc., carried on for months and
years, are to be ascribed not so much to the pedantry of the
age, to Spanish punctilio and to German tedium, as to the
policy of the belligerent powers, who, whenever they ex-
pected a fresh result from the manoeuvres of their generals,
often made use of these means for the sole purpose of pro-
longing the negotiations.
The fate of our great fatherland, the prospects of the im-
mense empire over which Charlemagne and Barbarossa had
reigned, lay in the hands of Avaux, the shameless French
ambassador, who cited the non-occupation of the left bank
of the Rhine by France as an extraordinary instance of gen-
erosity, and of Salvius, the Swedish envoy, who, ever dread-
ing to be outwitted by his principal antagonist, Avaux, vied
with him in impudence. At the side of the former stood
Servien, at that of the latter John Oxenstierna, the son of
the great chancellor. Trautmannsdorf , the imperial envoy,
a tall, ugly, but grave and dignified man, alone offered to.
them a long and steady resistance, and compelled them to
relinquish their grossest demands. By him stood the wily
Volmar of Wurtemberg, a recanted Catholic. The Dutch
ambassador, Paw, vigilantly watched over the interests of
1064 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
his country, in which he was imitated by the rest of the en-
voys, who, indifferent to the weal of Germany as a whole,
were solely occupied in preserving or gaining small portions
of territory from the great booty. Barnbuhler of Wurtem-
berg, whose spirit and perseverance remedied his want of
power, and the celebrated natural philosopher, Otto von
Guerike, the inventor of the air-pump, burgomaster of
ruined Magdeburg, might also be perceived in the back-
ground of the assembly, which had met to deliberate over
the state of the empire under the presidency of foreigners
and brigands.
The misery caused by the war was, if possible, surpassed
by the shame brought upon the country by this treaty of
peace. In the same province where Armin had once routed
the legions of Rome, Germany bent servilely beneath a for-
eign yoke. At Munster, Spain concluded peace with Hol-
land. The independence of Holland and her separation from
the empire were recognized, and Germany was deprived of
her finest provinces and of the free navigation of the Rhine;
a fatal stroke to the prosperity of all the Rhenish cities. The
independence of Switzerland was also solemnly guaranteed.
Peace was concluded between France and the empire. France
was confirmed in the possession of Metz, Toul, Verdun, and
the whole of Alsace, with the exception of Strasburg, of the
imperial cities and of the lands of the nobility of the empire
situated in that province, in consideration of which, Breisach
and the fortress of Philippsburg, the keys to Upper Ger-
many, were ceded to her, by which means Germany was
deprived of one of her finest frontier provinces and left open
to the French invader, against whom the petty princes of
Southern Germany being, consequently, unprotected, they
fell, in course of time, under the influence of their powerf id
neighbor. — At Osnabruck, peace was concluded with Swe-
den, which was indemnified for the expenses of the war by
the payment of five million dollars and by the cession of the
bishoprics of Bremen and Verdun, the objects of Danish
jealousy, of the city of Wismar, the island of Rugen, Stral-
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 1065
sund, consequently, of all the important poets on the Baltic
and the Northern Ocean.
One portion after another of the holy German empire
was thus ceded to her foes. The remaining provinces still
retained their ancient form, but hung too loosely together
to withstand another storm. The ancient empire existed
merely in name; the more powerful princes virtually pos-
sessed the power and rendered themselves completely inde-
pendent, and the supremacy of the emperor, and with it the
unity of the body of the state, sank to a mere shadow. Each
member of the empire exercised the right of making war, of
concluding peace, and of making treaties with every Euro-
pean power, the emperor alone excluded. Each of the princes
possessed almost unlimited authority over his subjects, while
the emperor solely retained some inconsiderable prerogatives
or reservations. The petty princes, the counts, knights, and
cities, however, still supported the emperor, who, in return,
guarded them against the encroachments of the great princes.
The petty members of the empire in Western Germany would,
nevertheless, have preferred throwing themselves into the
arms of France.
Every religious sect was placed on an equal footing, their
power during the long war having been found equal, and
then* mutual antipathy having gradually become more mod-
erate. The imperial chamber was composed oft equal num-
bers of Catholics and Protestants, and, in order to equalize
the power of the electoral princes, the Rhenish Pf alz, together
with the electoral office, was again restored to its lawful pos-
sessor. Bavaria, nevertheless, retained both the electoral
dignity and the Upper Pfalz, notwithstanding the protest
made by Charles Louis, the son of the ex-king of Bohemia,
against this usurpation. All church property, seized or secu-
larized by the Protestants, remained in their hands, or was,
by the favor of the princes, divided among them. The em-
peror and the Catholic princes yielded, partly from inability
to refuse their assent, and partly because they began to per-
ceive the great advantage gained thereby by the temporal
^ GERMANY. VOL. HL— 7
1066 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
princes; nor was it long before they imitated the example.
The pope naturally made a violent protest against the secu-
larization of church property. Innocent X. published a bull
against the peace of "Westphalia. The religious zeal of the
Catholics had also cooled, notwithstanding the admonitions
of the Jesuits; the princes, consequently, were solely gov-
erned by political ideas, which proved as detrimental to the
papal cause after as religious enthusiasm had been during
the Reformation. The authority of the pope, like that of
the emperor, had faded to a shadow.
All secularized property reclaimed by the Catholics since
the Normal year, 1624, consequently since the publication of
the edict of restitution, was restored to the Protestants, and
all Protestant subjects of Catholic princes were granted the
free exercise of the religion professed by them in the said
year, which, happening to have been that immediately after
the battle on the "White Mountain, and the emperor declar-
ing that, at that period, his Reformed subjects no longer
enjoyed liberty of conscience, the protests made by the emi-
grated Austrian Protestants remained without effect. The
Silesian princes, still remaining in Liegnitz, Brieg, Wohlau,
Oels, Munsterberg, and the city of Breslau, were allowed
to remain Lutheran, and three privileged churches were,
moreover, permitted at Glogau, Jauer, and Schweidnitz.
The ancient system was strictly enforced throughout the
rest of the hereditary provinces. The sole favor shown to-
ward the Protestants was their transportation to Transyl-
vania, where they were allowed the free exercise of their
religion. The Jesuits were invested with unlimited author-
ity in that portion of the German empire which remained
Catholic after the peace of Westphalia. In 1652, an impe-
rial edict enforced the profession of Catholicism, under pain
of death, by every individual within the hereditary provinces.
The disputes between the Lutherans and the Reformers
were also brought to a close, and the senseless law, by means
of which the faith professed by the prince was imposed upon
his subjects, was repealed. The violence with which the
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 10G7
doctors of theology defended their opinions, nevertheless,
remained unabated.
Germany is reckoned by some to have lost one-half, by
others, two-thirds of her entire population during the thirty
years' war. In Saxony, nine hundred thousand men had
fallen within two years; in Bohemia, the number of inhabi-
tants, at the demise of Ferdinand II., before the last deplor-
able inroads made by Banner and Torstenson, had sunk to
one-fourth. Augsburg, instead of eighty, had eighteen thou-
sand inhabitants. Every province, every town throughout
the empire, had suffered at an equal ratio, with the excep-
tion of the Tyrol, which had repulsed the enemy from her
frontiers and had enjoyed the deepest peace during this
period of horror. The country was completely impover-
ished. The working class had almost totally disappeared.
The manufactories had been destroyed by fire, industry and
commerce had passed into other hands. The products of
Upper Germany were far inferior to those of Italy and
Switzerland, those of Lower Germany to those of Holland
and England. Immense provinces, once flourishing and
populous, lay entirely waste and uninhabited, and were
only by slow degrees repeopled by foreign emigrants or by
soldiery. The original character and language of the in-
habitants were, by this means, completely altered. In
Franconia, which, owing to her central position, had been
traversed by every party during the war, the misery and
depopulation had reached to such a pitch that the Franco-
nian Estates, with the assent of the ecclesiastical princes,
abolished, A.D. 1650, the celibacy of the Catholic clergy,
and permitted each man to marry two wives, on account of
the numerical superiority of the women over the men. The
last remains of political liberty had, during the war, also
been snatched from the people ; each of the Estates had been
deprived of the whole of its material power. The nobility
were compelled by necessity to enter the service of the princes,
the citizens were impoverished and powerless, the peasantry
had been utterly demoralized by military mle and reduced
1068 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
to servitude. The provincial Estates, weakly guarded by
the crown against the encroachments of the petty princes,
were completely at the mercy of the more powerful of the
petty sovereigns of Germany, and had universally sunk in
importance. Science and art had fled from Germany, and
pedantic ignorance had replaced the deep learning of her
universities. The mother tongue had become adulterated
by an incredible variety of Spanish, Italian, and French
words, and the use of foreign words with German termina-
tions was considered the highest mark of elegance. Various
foreign modes of dress were also as generally adopted. Ger-
many had lost all save her hopes for the future.
PART XIX
THE INTERNAL STATE OF GERMANY DURING
THE REFORMATION
CCXII. The Jesuits
THE Reformation had, in its results, fallen far short of
the anticipations cherished by the more lofty-minded
among its promoters. The church, instead of being
generally and thoroughly reformed, had been but partially
freed in the north from her external shackles and remained
internally almost as deeply as ever enslaved ; the new church
was, like her elder sister, a prey to superstition and fanati-
cism, and modern scholastic controversy, belief in witchcraft
and ghosts and in involuntary works of grace, were, with
the bloody persecution of heretics, the wretched results of a
struggle that, for two hundred years, had drenched Europe
in blood.
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1069
The Reformation had, notwithstanding, followed its natu-
ral course. Ideas, when novel, are necessarily slow and diffi-
cult in their realization, and many are the transitions, many
the transformations, they are destined to undergo as time and
events roll on.
The deeper and more lasting the reform in a nation's mode
of thought and action, the more surely will it raise the most
obstinate resistance, the more surely will it rouse every evil
passion latent in the heart of man, and, according to an
eternal and historical law, first lead, not to its prefixed ami,
but to its opposite, to demoralization and tyranny instead of
to civilization and liberty.
The south of Europe remained thoroughly Catholic, the
north became completely Lutheran. Germany was both
Catholic and Lutheran, a circumstance, politically speak-
ing, greatly to her prejudice, but far from unfavorable to
the progress of religion and civilization. The continued ex-
istence of the ancient church served a moral purpose, her
errors offered a continual warning to her successor, while
what was good in her gained time to overcome Protestant
prejudice and to regain its influence; the vicinity of the
Catholics, moreover, rendered the Protestants less liable to
laxity and carelessness. The Catholic church still preserved
her great and ancient idea of one universal Christian church,
and, with justice, refused to sink the religion superior to all
temporal power and comprehending all the nations of the
earth to a slavish service in separate and petty provincial
churches. She preserved the idea of the freedom and inde-
pendence of the church, and, with justice, refused to envelop
the anointed priests of the Lord of lords in the state-livery
of a petty prince; and, finally, she preserved the idea of a
magnificent soul-stirring service as that most worthy of the
Deity, and, with justice, blamed the banishment of all that
is striking and beautiful from the Protestant form of wor-
ship. The Protestant church, on the other hand, possessed
equal advantages. She adopted as one of her fundamental
principles the non-exercise of temporal power by a minister
1070 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
of God, and, with justice, opposed the hierarchy. She re-
quired morality and piety in her priests, and, with justice,
condemned the debauchery and immorality consequent upon
celibacy. She demanded freedom of conscience and of thought
in religious as well as all other matters, reason being not the
least of the talents bestowed by God upon man to be used to
his honor and glory, and reason being the only safeguard
against the errors into which the church had so deeply fallen ;
and, with justice, she opposed scholasticism, by which reason
was oppressed and nations were kept in dark ignorance.
The defection of the whole of Northern Europe dealt a
severe blow to the external power of the hierarchy, but, at
the same time, more firmly established its sway in the South,
where the Catholics were driven by necessity to coalesce and
to take extraordinary measures. The Reformation also ex-
ercised a powerful influence upon its opponents. The pope,
it is true, did not relinquish the least of his pretensions, J but
an end was put to the most glaring vices of the church. The
justice of the reproach cast upon her by the Reformers was
felt, and the clergy reformed themselves, or, at all events,
externally practiced the most rigid morality. License was
solely difficult to check among the lower clergy, men of more
refined and elevated minds being, generally speaking, in-
clined for reform, and leaving behind them an ignorant
scum, who were, nevertheless, consecrated for the priest-
hood, principally for the sake of giving occupants to the
livings. Discipline was first reintroduced into the church
by the Jesuits, who were, however, fully conscious of the
influence of rough manners and speech, nay, even of that
of the ridiculous upon the people; nor did the fact escape
them of the disadvantage under which Lutheranism labored,
1 The infamous bull ne Ccena Domini, which, anterior to the Reformation,
condemned all those disagreeing with Rome, added the following anathema,
under Urban VIII., during the thirty years' war: "Excommunicamus et anath-
ematizamus ex parte Dei omnipotentis, etc. Quoscunque Hussitas, Wichle-
fistas, Lutheranos, Zwinglianos, Calvinistas, Ugonottos, etc. Item excommu-
nicamus et anathematizamua omnes ad universale futurum concilium appellantes.
Item excommunicamusetanathematizamus omnes Piratas, cursarios et latrunculos
maritimos." Lutherans, Calvinists, and pirates were thus classed together!
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1071
owing to its gloom and austerity. By a bold artifice they
brought the laugh on their side and permitted the Capuchins1
to attract their audience by jocose sermons, Capucinades or
Salbadereien; so called from the opening words of their dis-
courses, "dixit Salvator nosier " The toys with which the
people, "like children of a larger growth," were amused,
served a similar purpose ; the spiritual shops, the small retail
trade in pictures of Madonnas and saints, in consecrated amu-
lets possessing the power of guarding the purchaser against
every ill; the consecration of houses, tables, beds, kitchens,
cellars, and stables, and the abuse of religion by its applica-
tion in the most ludicrous or the most unholy matters. This
sacred buffoonery was directed in the cities and towns by
the Jesuits, in the country by the Capuchins, who were hence
nicknamed the Jesuits' poodles. Every other monkish order
was deemed inferior to them and merely vegetated in the
rich monasteries. Not only the old Benedictines, who,
through jealousy of the Jesuits, again applied themselves
to learning, chiefly to the study of history, in contradistinc-
tion to the dogmatism and dialectics of their opponents, but
also the strict Carthusians, who had completely renounced
the world, were immeasurably wealthy, and the contrast be-
tween their marble palaces, their gold and diamonds, and
their original vow of external poverty, afforded a significant
proof of the unnatural position gained by the church.
Rome ruled over the church by means of the Jesuits and
Capuchins. The council of Trent attempted the partial re-
establishment of episcopal power in order to check the local
and national opposition raised against Rome, but was unsuc-
cessful, owing to the rapid progress of the Reformation. The
bishops, consequently, sank to their former state of subordi-
nation, and all ecclesiastical affairs were henceforward solely
controlled by the pope and his Jesuitical propaganda, who
were, nevertheless, always compelled to secure the assent of
1 So named, A.D. 1536, owing to a ridiculous dispute among the Franciscans,
whether their holy founder, St. Francesco d'Assisi, wore a pointed capuchin or
not The party in favor of the latter formed themselves into a distinct order.
1072 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
the princes by means of the nuncios accredited to the great
Catholic courts; the bishops were simply subalterns, except
when, at the same time, sovereign princes.
The church required expert champions, and therefore did
not fail to oppose similar weapons to the mass of learning
among the Protestants. The necessity of borrowing the
weapons of her opponents and of intrusting the defence of
her system, merely founded on unreasoning credulity, to
reason, was, however, of itself productive of a great internal
change. The Catholicism of the Jesuits, although externally
unaltered, totally differed from that of the Middle Ages.
Even in its exaggerations it had until now been nature, an
overdrawn effort, an abuse of nature, but now it became art,
a creation of Jesuitry. The people had formerly been left to
their simplicity, of which it was perhaps excusable to take
advantage, but now they had attained knowledge, and the
Jesuits made use of art for the purpose of restoring igno-
rance. This formed the essential difference between former
and modern times.
The Society of Jesus was founded by Ignatius Loyola, an
enthusiastic Spaniard, for penitents, who, in those heretical
times, ere long made it their business to confirm the faith of
the wavering, and, consequently, became the tools of Rome.
Benedict XIV. named them St. Peter's Janissaries. Their
object was the restoration of unlimited hierarchical power,
and they despised no means, however base, that might con-
duce to success, according to their celebrated maxim, "The
end justifies the means." The society was intended to form
an aristocracy of talent, whose office it was to guard the
avenues of knowledge against the rest of mankind; and, as
a precaution against individual treachery, no member was
permitted to quit the order except to take the vows of a
Carthusian, by which he bound himself to silence and soli-
tude for the rest of his days. The heads of the society
had unlimited power to remove, punish, and assassinate the
members. The first vow taken by the initiated was that of
unconditional obedience. A system of secret espionage per-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1073
raded the whole society ; suspicion was condemnation ; and
the victim was sentenced to die in seclusion of starvation, as
is expressly directed by Suarez, the great Jesuitical casuist.
The members were divided into classes, the highest of which,
the professors, elected the head or general of the whole order,
who resided at Rome. Every province of the order was un-
der the superintendence of a pater provinciates. The higher
grades were kept strictly secret from the lower classes, who
were merely the blind tools of the former. The pope con-
ferred the most extensive privileges upon the order, which
was empowered to interfere everywhere with the clergy and
with all other orders. — And, in order to renew the times of
the first apostles, the Jesuits sent out missionaries, who visited
the most distant parts of the globe, for the purpose of con-
verting the heathen and — of taking possession of the New
"World. They brought countless treasure into Europe, by
means of which they placed themselves on a firm footing
and acquired immense influence at a period when money
was power.
The most celebrated of these missionaries was St. Xavier,
who met with a martyr's death in India. Numbers of the
Jesuits shared the same fate ; many, in particular Germans,
were distinguished for piety and learning and by their ex-
ploration of unknown countries. Among the European
Jesuits were many fervent spirits actuated by the purest
zeal ; many simple and poetical minds unstained by hypoc-
risy, for instance, Balde ; many deeply learned men, sincere
lovers of truth. It would be unjust to pass a sweeping con-
demnation upon all the Jesuits. But the ruling spirit and
the political effect of the order were immoral. The manner
in which they denied the truths brought to light during the
Reformation, sought to veil them by bringing to view the
weaknesses and errors of Protestantism, or to suppress them
by force, cannot be justified. The sophistry with which they
still defended undeniable and long-sensible abuses was revolt-
ing to reason. The means by which they bent the powerful
and wealthy to their purposes were often the most unholy.
1074 THE HISTORY OF GERMAN?
One of the principal objects of the Jesuits was to replace
the sale of dispensations, which had fallen into bad repute
since the Reformation, and which was, moreover, almost in-
dispensable to the church. This was done by means of the
lax morality of the confessional. The more luxurious court
life became, the more easily did the Jesuits forgive the sins
committed by the aristocracy; in order to pacify the new
conscientious scruples awakened by the Reformation, they
became the advocates instead of the judges of sins, from
every description of which they, by their casuistry, excul-
pated the offender. The Spanish Jesuits went furthest.
The book of Escobar, the confessor's manual, passed through
thirty-six editions, which were printed under the direction of
the society and of the church. The church closed her eyes
to any measures taken by the confessors, provided they made
proselytes and gathered the stray sheep into the fold.
According to their casuistical system, all sins were excul-
pated: First, By the doctrine of probabilismus, that is, by
the mildest of all possible interpretations. A says, "Such a
sin is too horrible to be forgiven." B says, "Certainly; still
it might thus be exculpated," etc., etc. Upon this C says,
"According to A's opinion it cannot be forgiven; but it can
be according to B's; and as an authority is all that is requi-
site, and the mildest point of view is admissible, I agree with
B." Secondly, By the directio intentionis, that is, by the
thoughts being occupied during the performance of a bad
action with an innocent object. Thus, for instance, one
might bribe another or accept of a bribe and, at the same
time, be merely thinking of civility or gratitude. Thirdly,
By the reservatio mentalis. It was allowable to take a
false oath by voluntarily adding a mental reservation, as,
for instance, a man might swear he had no money, although
he had some, provided he mentally added "none to lend,"
etc. One might take an oath thus, "I swear (that I say
here, although it is untrue) that I," etc., or, "I swear that
I did not do that (a hundred years ago or a hundred miles
hence)," or, "I swear to do BO (if I cannot think of some-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1075
thing else)." Fourthly, By amphibologia, or equivocation;
for instance, one can deny anything touching the French by
thinking of the word "gallus" as implying a cock instead of
a Gaul. Fifthly, By the intentio bona, which was the prin-
cipal thing. Strictly speaking, the only virtue required in a
Jesuit was the promotion of the intentions of his order; who-
ever did this, merited eternal bliss, which was ever the case.
The sins of the wealthy and powerful, whom it was to the
interest of the order to treat with lenity, were excused on
the ground of their having no intentio mala, that is, that the
sin had not been committed for the sake of sinning. Thus,
for instance, adultery was allowable in princes and nobles,
because the marriage vow had been broken, not for the sake
of committing adultery, but for the sake of another woman.
Sixthly, and lastly, By pia opera, by good works ; whoever
honored the Jesuits, built colleges for them, gave them
money, etc., whoever, in general, did good service to the
Catholic church, diligently observed her ceremonies, pur-
chased a dispensation, etc., was completely free from guilt.
Means such as these easily gained over the wealthy and
the powerful. The Jesuits displayed the greatest activity at
court, their maxim being to influence the flock through its
leaders. They long governed all the Catholic courts of Eu-
rope, sometimes as confessors or tutors to the sovereign,
sometimes as councillors and negotiators, the most talented
men of their order especially devoting themselves to political
matters; but their principal profession was that of a pro-
curer; the secrets of the confessional rendered them masters
of the weaknesses of the princes and princesses, whom they
doubly flattered, by affording them opportunities to satisfy
their inclinations, and, at the same time, giving them full
absolution. Like the Lutheran court chaplains, they ever
found means to secure the eternal salvation of the sovereign,
whatever might have been his crimes. They even succeeded
in creeping into Protestant courts for the purpose of convert-
ing the prince or of corrupting his councillors. It was in
this manner they converted Queen Christina of Sweden, the
1076 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
daughter of the great Gustavus Adolphus. The most im-
portant projects of the Protestants have been frustrated by
the secret intrigues of Jesuitical emissaries at the courts of
the Protestant princes. The Jesuits also applied themselves
to the study of medicine, by which means they got the life of
the sovereign, in whose service they were, into their power,
and many of the poisonings which took place at that time
may be placed to their charge, no less than many of the as-
sassinations, by which they removed the leaders of the op-
posite party. In 1614, the general of the order, Aquaviva,
prohibited the public defence of regicide by the Jesuits,
probably from fear of giving offence to their royal patrons.
In order to work with greater security, they had secret mem-
bers among the laity; princes were even enrolled in their
ranks. These members were termed the short-robed Jesuits.
Education was almost entirely controlled by the Jesuits,
who, by this means, secured the rising generation and me-
thodically implanted in the people the spirit requisite for
their purposes. The most fitting members of the order were
placed in their schools or colleges. Every science was turned
to suit their purposes. Everything that might prove preju-
dicial to themselves was carefully avoided in the schools and
in their writings and all Protestant books were strictly pro-
hibited. Although there were many deeply learned and
shrewd-minded men among the Jesuits, the want of truth
in their discourses rendered their schools far inferior to those
of the Protestants; nor could the knowledge they acquired
ever benefit the people, owing to their almost constant use of
the Latin tongue, which was at first natural, the first Jesuits
having been Spaniards or Italians, but which was afterward
purposely persevered in with a view of preventing the stu-
dents from studying German and, more particularly, Prot-
estant works.
The inclination of the Jesuits to place themselves as an
intermediate class between the priests and the laity, and, by
this means, to govern both, is clearly discernible in their new
forms. They avoided the old terms of "monastery, monks,"
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1077
etc., and termed themselves a "society"; their houses, "col-
leges and residences." In South America, in the province
of Paraguay, they even usurped sovereign rule, but had the
prudence to veil their model-monarchy, in imitation of which
they one day hoped to rule the whole world, from the eyes of
the curious.
It was the Jesuits who desecrated the spirit of the vener-
able mother-church while attempting to preserve her body,
the tottering edifice of hierarchical tyranny. One of her
heads had prophesied concerning them, "As lambs have we
crept in, as wolves will we govern, as dogs shall we be driven
out, and as eagles shall we return. ' '
The most celebrated of the Jesuitical dogmatists of Ger-
many, during the thirty years' war, were Gretser, self -named
malleus hcereticorum, and Tanner. During the subsequent
peace, the Bollandists gained great celebrity in the Nether-
lands by their acta sanctorum, a continuation, principally
by Bollaud, Papebrochius, etc., of the legends of the saints,
formerly collected by the industrious Benedictines. The An-
nals, published by Baronius, up to 1607, in opposition to the
Magdeburg Centuries of Flacius, were the greatest historical
work of the Catholic church. Leisentritt Juliusburg, of
Vienna, who produced a Catholic hymn-book in opposition
to that of Luther, belonged to the peaceful Catholics.
Although Germans served the society of Jesuits, they
never gained the upper hand in that order, the German char-
acter being antipathetical to its institutions, which were
brought from Spain to Germany and ever remained foreign
to the soil. The first opposition raised against the order in
the Catholic church originated from a German, Jansen, A.D.
1638, in the university of Louvain, in the Spanish Nether-
lands. Jansen demanded sincerity hi religious feeling in-
stead of Jesuitical hypocrisy and external works ; humility,
piety, and fear of God, instead of the intolerable priestly
pride of the Jesuits. His doctrine, Jansenism, spread prin-
cipally throughout France, replacing all that had been lost
by the suppression of the Huguenots; and, at the very time
1078 THE HISTORY OF GERMAN!
that Prance was sending disease and incendiaries into Ger-
many, did German genius nobly avenge its fatherland by
imparting a benefit to its foe.
CCXIII. The Lutheran and Reformed Churches
THE Reformers were as disunited as the Catholics were
the contrary. The doctrine of the Lutherans, or Protestants,
stood opposed to that of the Calvinists, the Reformers in the
stricter sense, and these two great sects were again inter-
nally divided. The political distribution of the Reformers
also affected the external constitution of the church, each
principality or republic having its separate church.
The bonds of the universal church had thus been torn
asunder, and separate provincial churches alone existed.
The independence and liberty of the church were by this
means destroyed, and, instead of the ancient hierarchy,
which had asserted its superiority over or its equality with
temporal power, there was merely a political church sub-
servient to the temporal government of each province. The
whole of the hierarchical power had passed into the hands of
the princes. The prince inherited the ecclesiastical property,
and, at the same tune, exercised all spiritual power and juris-
diction. The ministry and the cure of souls were all that re-
mained to the priest, whose nomination, removal, and even
the doctrines he was to inculcate, depended upon the caprice
of the prince. The curate was a salaried servant of the state.
A number of parishes stood under an inspector, superintend,
ent, or deacon, in imitation of the Catholic deaconries, all of
whom were subordinate to a consistory, composed of spirit-
ual and temporal members and forming a subdivision of the
government. It was only in countries where the prince and
his subjects differed in religion that the consistory main-
tained its independence. All temporal affairs, matrimonial
causes alone excepted, were beyond its jurisdiction. — The
poor country clergy were also generally dependent upon the
nobility, who held the right of patronage, or the right of
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1079
nominating one of the candidates for the ministry, who was
examined by the consistory, to his village church; a right
simply consequent on that of property, the village belonging
to the noble in the same manner as the country belonged to
the prince. The poor candidates, consequently, competed for
the favor of the nobility, and, as the depravity of the courts
gradually spread downward, the Protestant clergy were ex-
posed to the most unworthy treatment, serving as buffoons
to their patrons or as convenient husbands for their cast-off
mistresses.
The splendor of the Catholic church, her adoration of
saints and relics, her ceremonies all too deeply calculated to
impose upon the senses, had led the Lutherans and the Re-
formers into the opposite extreme in their inartificial, meagre,
prosaic service, which merely consisted of listening to a ser-
mon between bare walls, and of singing in chorus, which
generally degenerated to a screaming sound little in harmony
with the notes of the organ, the whole congregation, whether
able to sing or not, joining in chorus. The sermon, the word
of God, was the main point, and, until abused by hypocrisy,
modern scholasticism, and oratory, had an extraordinary
influence over the multitude. The Lutherans retained a
greater degree of solemnity in their church service than the
Reformers.
The Reformed churches were at first strictly democratic.
The clergy were not even distinguished by their attire from
the rest of the community ; nor was it until the aristocracy
gradually rose to power, as in Switzerland and Holland, that
the Reformed churches also assumed an aristocratic appear-
ance. In strictness of morals the Reformed maintained her
superiority over the Lutheran church. At the present day,
as in the sixteenth century, when church going was con-
sidered in Switzerland, more particularly in Zurich, as an
indispensable duty, the Sabbath is observed at Zurich with
a strictness unknown elsewhere, except in North America,
owing to a similar reason, religion and morality being more
rigidly practiced by the people in a self -controlled republic
1080 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
than they ever can be under a monarchy. Berne first com-
plained of the servility, and of the consequent laxity of the
morals, of the clergy dependent upon the upper classes.
The theological uncertainty displayed in the composition
of the Interim, the compliance of Melancthon, and, more
particularly, that of Agricola, the separation of the strict
Lutherans from the Swiss, and, in Holland, that of the
strict Calvinists from the Arminians, have already been al-
luded to. The controversial writings of these sects and those
of the Jesuits henceforth chiefly occupied the theological
press, swelling the bombast of ancient scholasticism, and
uniting indescribable coarseness and brutality with expres-
sions of the most envenomed hate. Pamphlets from every
corner of Germany disputed, like an immense flock of ravens
over a carcass, over the rotten remains of the church, and
the scholastics had no sooner triumphed over the anabaptisti-
cal dilettanti than they fell at strife among themselves. The
first and most important point was to replace the inexhausti-
ble means of grace possessed by the ancient church with some-
thing offering an equal guarantee to the people, whom former
habits and the promulgation of fresh doctrines had rendered
anxious for the salvation of their souls. The text of the Bible
was open to various interpretations, and it was on all sides
unanimously resolved that the cheap dispensation should be
replaced by a justification of the easiest description. The
mode by which this justification was to be obtained, how-
ever, produced a furious dispute. Luther and Flacius, who
went still further, justified by blind faith in the word of God,
independent of all good works ; nay, Flacius even condemned
virtue without faith and justified every sinner who believed.
Agricola and Osiander admitted the eternal grace of God by
which man was justified and rendered, like Christ, devoid of
sin. Calvin taught the doctrine of predestination, according
to which certain individuals were from their birth destined
to future bliss. On no side was means for salvation want-
ing. These theological controversies being, moreover, with-
but practical influence on the people or on public morals,
again degenerated to mere scholastic cavils. The prepon-
derance of justifying effect, which, independent of all good
works and of morality, was by some ascribed to faith, by
others to grace, might have endangered public morals, had
not the people, with their sound sense, in spite of the absurdi-
ties inculcated by the theologians, chiefly comprehended the
Reformation as a reform hi their moral and social existence,
and had recourse to that blessed gift, the German Bible,
which even the theology of the schools was unable to pervert.
Modern Protestant scholasticism was necessarily opposed
by modern mysticism. Pious and high-minded men were
naturally driven to seek for salvation elsewhere than in
verbal disputations. The gentle-minded Schwenkfeld had,
even in Luther's time, taught that Christianity consisted not
in controversy, but in purity of life and love of one's neigh-
bor. John Arnd, who, toward the close of the sixteenth
century, followed in Tauler's steps and led his hearers from
controversy to devotion, met with less opposition on account
of his not being the founder of any particular system ; but
Jacob Boehme, the shoemaker of Gcerlitz, who, about the
same time, irradiated Germany with his ideas, became the
object of the bitter hatred and persecution of the Lutheran
clergy. His "Rising Morn" broke with redoubled effulgence
through the mists of ignorance and arrogance. When speak-
ing of the controversies of his times, he says, "After the in-
ternal church, which he solely acknowledged, the Turkish
appeared to him the most reasonable, as it had only one god
and a moral code without dispensation ; the next best was
the strong church (that of Rome), with which something
might still be done; but the most corrupt of all was the
church of disputants (the Lutheran)."
CCXIV. The Empire — The Princes and the Nobility
THE emperor's title of "augmenter of the empire" had
become a mockery, an empty sound. The Swiss and Dutch
had asserted their independence, the Netherlands had been
1083 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
ceded to Spain, part of Lorraine and Alsace to France, part
of Lower Saxony to Denmark, Pomerania to Sweden. In-
ternally, the empire was torn and hung but loosely together,
her constitution was a monstrum reipublicce. The imperial
diet was divided into three colleges or benches, those of tha
electors, princes, and cities. The elector of Mayence, as
arch-chancellor of the empire, held the presidency, when-
ever the emperor was not present in person, and the secre-
taries received all petitions, etc. The electoral princes de-
cided all questions by vote, of which each had one. The
bench of princes was subdivided into two colleges, one of
which consisted of the spiritual and temporal princes, who
were not electors, the other of prelates (abbots) and counts.
The spiritual princes were those who as princes of the
empire were independent in temporal matters of the other
princes. During the gradual decay of the ancient duchies,
the subordinate bishops and even some of the abbots declared
themselves independent, and it was only in the Habsburg-
Burgundian hereditary province that they still remained sub-
ordinate to the princes; the powerful archbishops and bish-
ops of Prague, Breslau, Olmutz, and the United Netherlands
were, consequently, simply Austrian subjects, and were un-
represented in the diet. The numbers of the spiritual princes
of the empire had been greatly thinned by the Reformation
on account of the defalcation of the majority of those of
Northern Germany. Of the temporal princes every house
had a vote, and disputes often arose between the different
lines, each of which claimed that right, or on account of
fresh houses raised to the dignity of prince. The numerous
princes created by Ferdinand II. of Austria in imitation of
the Spanish grandees were refused admission to the bench
occupied by the houses of more ancient date. The prelates
were divided into two benches, the Swabian and Rhenish,
each of which possessed but a single vote. The counts were
divided into two benches, the Swabian and "Wetterauan, to
which were, in 1640, added the Franconian, and, in 1655,
the "Westphalian, and here again each bench, not each in-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1083
dividual, possessed one vote. In the same manner, since
1474, the college of the cities consisted of two benches, each
of which had one vote, the Rhenish, over which Cologne,
and the Swabian, over which Ratisbon, presided. The
barons of the empire, although not represented in the diet,
were recognized as an Estate of the empire, and consisted
of three circles, the Swabian, Franconian, and Rhenish,
controlled by a directory selected from among themselves.
The diet was, moreover, collectively divided into two bodies,
according to the difference of religion, the corpus Catholi-
corum and the corpus Evangelicorum. Every question,
however, naturally depended upon the great princes, whose
separate votes always gave them the majority. The taxes
and levy of troops were divided among the circles, each of
which had a captain, generally the most powerful prince
within its limits. The emperor, even in his character as
president over the imperial chamber, the highest court of
justice for the whole of the German people, and over the
imperial aulic council, the highest court of justice for the
princes, was dependent upon the voices of the princes, and
was unable to execute any sentence he might venture to pro-
nounce in condemnation of one of their number. The same
was the case in regard to the appropriation of feofs lapsed
to the crown. The most distant claims were asserted in
defiance of the emperor, the whole of whose authority was
limited to the grant of titles, the protection of the less power-
ful among the Estates, and the promotion of commerce. The
powerful princes pursued a perfectly independent course.
In this manner, the diets naturally declined. Affairs of
importance were transacted by writing or by diplomatic means
through ambassadors between the potentates of the empire,
and the weak were either compelled to yield, or, by their dis-
sent, multiplied the negotiations without exercising any de-
cisive influence over them. The princes rarely appeared in
person at the diet, and their ambassadors, as well as the city
deputies, while engaged in informing their master or their
constituents of the progress of the question and in awaiting
1084 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
instructions, generally allowed the moment for action to slip
by. This procrastination, however, suited the Estates, who,
from selfishness or from jealousy of the house of Habsburg,
ever refused to assist the crown, however urgent the demand.
Sultan Suleiman II. justly remarked, "The Germans delib-
erate, I act!"
The election of the emperor and his coronation, mean-
while, still retained much of their ancient solemnity and
splendor, but Aix-la-Chapelle had gradually sunk into obliv-
ion. Both ceremonies now took place at Frankfort on the
Maine, whither the regalia, kept at Nuremberg, were regular
ly carried. These consisted, first, of sacred relics, a piece
of the holy cross, a thorn from the Saviour's crown, St. Mau-
rice's sword, a link of St. Paul's chain, etc. Secondly, of the
insignia of the empire, the massive golden crown, weighing
fourteen pounds, of Charlemagne, set with rough diamonds,
the golden ball, sceptre, and sword of that great monarch,
the imperial mantle and robes, the priestly stole and the
rings. The election over, a peal of bells ushered in the
coronation day; the emperor and all the princes assembled
in the Romer and proceeded thence on horseback to the
cathedral, where, mass having been read, the elector of
Mayence rose as first bishop and arch-chancellor of the em-
pire, and, staff in hand, demanded of the emperor, "Vis s.
fidem catholicam servare?" to which he replied, "Volo,"
and took the oath on the gospel. Mayence then asked the
electors "whether they recognized the elected as emperor?"
to which they with one accord replied, "Fiat." The em-
peror then took his seat, and was anointed by Mayence —
while Brandenburg held the vessel and assisted in half dis-
robing the emperor — on the crown of the head, the breast,
the neck, the shoulder, the arm, the wrist, and the flat of
the hand ; after which he was attired in the robes of Charle-
magne, and the ceremony was concluded in front of the al-
tar by Mayence, assisted by Cologne and Treves. The em-
peror, adorned with the crown, then mounted the throne,
the hymn of St. Ambrose being meanwhile chanted, and
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1085
performed his first act as emperor by bestowing the honor
of knighthood with the sword of Charlemagne, usually on
a member of the family of Dalberg of Rhenish Franconia,
which became so customary that the herald demanded, "Is
no Dalberg here?" The emperor headed the procession on
foot back to the Homer. Cloths of purple were spread on
the way and afterward given to the people. The banquet
was spread in the Romer. The emperor and (when there
happened to be one) the Roman king sat alone at a table six
feet high, the princes below, the empress on one side three
feet lower than the emperor. The electoral princes performed
their offices. Bohemia, the imperial cupbearer, rode to a
fountain of wine and bore the first glass to the emperor;
Pf alz rode to an ox roasting whole, and carved the first slice
for the emperor; Saxony rode up to his horse's belly into a
heap of oats and filled a measure for his lord ; and, lastly,
Brandenburg rode to a fountain and filled the silver ewer.
The wine, ox, oats, and imperial banquet, with all the dishes
and vessels, were, in conclusion, given up to the people.
According to the imperial register, A.D. 1521, under
Charles V., the imperial Estates were divided as follows:
1st, Circle of Austria. Archduke of Austria (Habsburg).
Bishops of Trent, Brixen, Gurk, Sekau, Lavant. 2d, Cir-
cle of Burgundy. Duke of Burgundy (Habsburg). 3d,
Circle of the Lower Rhine. Archbishops of Mayence, Co-
logne, Treves, and the Rhenish Pfalzgraf, of the house
of Wittelsbach, all four electoral princes. Also the city of
Gelnhausen. 4th, Circle of Franconia. Bishops of Bam-
berg, Wurzburg, and Eichstadt. The master of the Teu-
tonic order of Mergentheim. The Margraves of Branden-
burg at Anspach, Baireuth, Culmbach (formerly Burgraves
of Nuremberg), of the house of Hohenzollern. The Counts
of Hohenlohe, Erbach, and other petty nobles. The cities of
Nuremberg, Windsheim, Weissenburg, Rotenburg, Schwein-
furt. 5th, Circle of Swabia. Bishops of Augsburg, Con-
stance, Coire. Abbots of Kempten, Reichenau, St. Gall,
Weingarten, and numerous others. Duke of Wurtemberg,
1086 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Margrave of Baden, Counts von Ettingen, Furstenberg,
Montfort, Eberstein, Loewenstein, Helfenstein, etc. Innu-
merable petty nobles. Cities: Augsburg, Ulm, Kempten,
Leutkirch, Wangen, Ravensberg, Ueberlingen, Pfullendorf,
Schaffhausen, Esslingen, "Weil, Wimpfen, Dunkelsbuhl,
Gruningen, Noerdlingen, Buchau, Gengenbacb, Rotweil,
Kaufbeuren, Memmingen, Biberach, Isny, Lindau, Buch-
horn, Constance, St. Gall, Reutlingen, Gmund, Heilbronn,
Halle, Bopfingen, Aalen, Donauwcerth, Offenburg, Zell.
6th, Circle of Bavaria. Archbishop of Salzburg. Bishops
of Passau, Freising, Ratisbon, Kemsen (Chiemsee). Duke of
Bavaria and Pfalzgraf of Neuburg, of the house of Wittels-
bach. Landgrave of Leuchtenberg (shortly afterward ex-
tinct), Count von Ortenberg, and some others of lesser note.
The city of Ratisbon. 7th, The circle of the Upper Rhine.
Bishops of Worms, Strasburg, Besancpn, Geneva, Metz,
Verdun, Spires, Basel, Sion, Lausanne, Toul. Princely
abbots of Fulda, Hirschfeld, and numerous others of lesser
note. Duke of Lorraine and of Savoy, Landgrave of Hesse,
Count of Nassau, Rheingrave von Salm, Counts von Bitsch,
Hanau, Leiningen, Falkenstein, Isenburg, Solms, Wittgen-
stein, Waldeck, etc. Cities : Basel, Colmar, Turkheim, Ober
Ebenheim, Roszheim, Hagenau, Landau, Worms, Friedeburg,
Metz, Verdun, Besangon, Gailhausen, Muhlhausen, Kaisers-
berg, Munster (in the Georgenthal), Strasburg, Schlettstadt,
Weissenburg, Spires, Frankfort, Wetzlar, Toul, Saarbruck.
8th, Circle of Westphalia. Bishops of Paderborn, Utrecht,
Cammerich, Verdun, Liege, Munster, Osnabruck, Minden.
Abbots of Corvey, Stable, etc. Abbesses of Hervorden, Es-
sei., etc. Dukes of Juliers and Berg, Cleves and Mark.
Counts von Oldenburg, Bentheim, Wied, Manderscheid,
Lippe, Mcers, etc. Cities: Cologne, Wesel, Cammerich,
Soest, Hervorden, Warberg, Verdun, Aix-la-Chapelle, Deu-
bern, Dortmund, Duisburg, Bragkel, Lengad. 9th, Circle
of Upper Saxony. Elector of Saxony, of the house of Wet-
tin. Elector of Brandenburg, of the house of Hohenzollern.
The master of the Teutonic order in Prussia, and the land-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1087
master in Livonia. Bishops of Misnia, Merseburg, Naum-
burg, Brandenburg, Havelberg, Lebus, Camin; abbess of
Quedlinburg, abbot of Saalfeld, Wolkenried, etc. Dukes
of Saxon-Thuringia (the Albertine line of the house of Wet-
tin). Dukes of Pomerania, princes of Anhalt, Counts von
Mansfeld, Schwarzburg, Stolberg, Hohenstein, Gleichen,
etc. Cities: Dantzig, Elbing, Wolkenried. 10th, Circle of
Lower Saxony. Archbishops of Magdeburg and Bremen.
Bishops of Halberstadt, Hildesheim, Lubeck, Schwerin,
Ratzeburg, Schleswig. Dukes of Holstein (king of Den-
mark, of the house of Oldenburg), Brunswick (of the house
of Guelph), Saxon-Lauenburg (of the house of Anhalt), and
Mecklenburg. Cities: Lubeck, Hamburg, Goattingen, Gos-
lar, Nordhausen, Muhlhausen, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund,
Brunswick, Magdeburg, Lemgo, Erfurt, Limburg.
Each of the Estates suffered by the religious war, the
princes alone gained thereby. The aristocracy and the cities
sank in power and independence, while the power of the
princely houses rose by the establishment of the right of
primogeniture. In 1621, the indivisibility of the hereditary
provinces of the house of Habsburg was passed into a law;
the house of Wittelsbach in Bavaria had done the same in
1545, but too late, the other branch having already fixed
itself in the Pfalz, where the division of the family posses-
sions still continued.
The electoral house lost the Upper Pfalz to Bavaria;
the collateral line of Pfalz- Neuburg divided the Cleve in-
heritance with Brandenburg, and, in 1666, came into the
actual possession of Berg and Juliers; in 1683, this line re-
placed the extinct electoral house. The other collateral line,
Pfalz-Birkenfeld, surviving the rest of the Wittelsbacher,
came into sole possession of the whole of the Bavarian in-
heritance. A descendant of this line, Charles Gustavus,
mounted the throne of Sweden, A.D. 1654. — The house of
Hohenzollern was also divided into the Brandenburg and
Franconian lines, the house of Wettin into those of Saxony
and Thuringia, the house of Guelph into those of Luneburg
1088 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
and Wolfenbuttel. Hesse, Baden, Mecklenburg, and An-
halt were also subdivided. Wurtemberg formed a single
exception among the Protestant houses and established the
right of primogeniture at a much earlier period. The right
of primogeniture in the Catholic reigning families and the
subdivision of the possessions of the Protestant princes exer-
cised a great influence over the war of religion. The sub-
division of the possessions of the petty princes, Hohenlohe,
"Waldburg, Schwarzburg, Reuss, Lippe, etc., also contrib-
uted to diminish the little power they possessed.
The demoralization engendered by this subdivision and
by the family disputes to which it gave rise, and which were,
moreover, fed by the religious war and by the sovereignty
usurped by the princes independent of both emperor and
pope, and pervading most of the courts of Germany, has
been already mentioned. The ancient sturdiness of the Ger-
man character was long perceptible in the sports of the field,
nor was it until vice had gradually sapped both mental and
physical vigor that more effeminate amusements were intro-
duced in their stead, that the ancient tournament yielded to
the childish sport of running at the ring, and shallow wits
were salaried for the entertainment of the great. Fools,
misshapen dwarfs, moors, apes, etc., became court append-
ages. Immoderate drinking was at first the fashionable vice
among the princes, whose successors, enervated both in mind
and body, brought license on the throne. The nobles, de-
generated by court life, quitted their fastnesses, whose walls
no longer resisted the artillery of the besieger, threw off
their armor, that no longer protected them from the bullet,
and exchanged their broad battle-swords for the pretty toy
worn by the courtier. Here and there, however, might still
be found a noble man of the old school living on his estate,
but the country nobility were regarded as far beneath the
courtly aristocracy. The ancient and free-spirited nobility
in the hereditary provinces had been almost entirely exter-
minated by war, the headsman's axe, and emigration, and
had been replaced by proselytes and foreign adventurers, on
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1089
whom the emperor had bestowed the titles of princes and
counts with rich estates, in order to form a fresh nobility on
the model of the Spanish grandees, in other words, a splen-
did household, from which the higher officers, both civil and
military, were selected. The lower nobility, almost entirely
expatriated, were replaced by a species of Hidalgo or noble
by patent ; titles being by the court lavished on or sold to its
civic followers. The example given by Austria was followed
by the other German courts, and the families of ancient no-
bility that still remained were compelled to admit very un-
worthy subjects, such as the families of favored mistresses,
etc., into their ranks. The ancient families, disgusted at
this innovation, took refuge in pride of ancestry, to which
those least distinguished by personal qualities the more ob-
stinately clung. Duelling was also a noble prerogative.
The princes had reduced the clergy to submission by the
Reformation, the nobility by modern military tactics, the
cities by the decay of commerce, and the peasantry in
the peasant war. The wretched results of the thirty years'
war utterly annihilated the ancient power of the provincial
Estates, which were either entirely dissolved or rendered a
blind tool of the government. Wurtemberg, the sole excep-
tion, remained a miniature constitutional England in the
heart of enslaved Germany. — The governments were formed
on the French model. Up to this period, every German
tribe had from the earliest times participated in the govern-
ment. France first offered the example of a despotic mon-
archy modelled on that of ancient Rome and Greece under
the emperors, which now served as a pattern to the princes
of Germany. The prince, either alone in his cabinet or aided
by his chancellor and privy councillors, deliberated over all
aifairs of state. His will was law. The provinces were
governed by officers of the crown, who imposed and levied
taxes. The chambers, by which the revenue and expenses
of the state were controlled, were the most important care
of the government. Funds were required for the mainte-
nance of the splendor of the court; funds were required by
GERMANY. VOL. III.— 8
1090
the cabinet for the maintenance of ambassadors, for purposes
of bribery and corruption at foreign courts, etc. Funds were
required by the government for the maintenance of an army
during war and peace, for the foundation of public institu-
tions, etc. Every imaginable means of raising these neces-
sary funds was consequently resorted to. The demesnes of
the sovereign, confiscated church property, or lapsed fiefs
were, like a large country estate, turned to the profit of the
crown. The coinage, tolls, and mines were applied to the
same purpose. Fresh royal dues were created by the sale of
privileges, titles, offices, and even justice, or by the reserva-
tion of immense monopolies. While the revenue and pre-
rogatives of the chambers were by these means extended,
the people were oppressed with heavy taxes. The wealth
possessed by the subject was estimated by the government
as a capital, in point of fact, belonging to the sovereign, and
lent by him to his subjects at an arbitrary percentage.
The general German and imperial courts of justice fell,
like the local and private courts, into disuse, and were re-
placed by the provincial courts of the different principalities.
The Roman law, which had long been hi use, became gen-
eral, and formed the substratum of all provincial law. All
laws of German origin had fallen into contempt. The popu-
lar courts of justice, consequently, fell into disuse. Neither
the commune, nor the elected judge, nor the Feme, the last
free popular court of justice, could any longer hold a tribunal.
The whole of the judicial power fell into the hands of the
princes, who committed it to one particular class, the law-
yers, who were instructed in the universities in the Roman
law and appointed as judges and salaried by the prince. The
people, ignorant of the Roman law, were compelled to intrust
their complaints and defence before the court to another espe-
cial class, connected with the law, that of the advocates, who
aided the judges in deceiving their clients as interest or ca-
price prompted. Decisions were secret. The Feme had been
dissolved, but its worst feature, secrecy, was retained. Law-
suits were conducted in writing, for the sake of greater ex-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1091
actitude, and, in case of appeal, for the delivery of documents
to the higher courts. These written proceedings naturally-
required time, and the procrastination of a decision was ad-
vantageous to both judge and advocate, all costs being paid
by the contending parties. This was the worst of all. Jus-
tice was no longer dispensed gratis. The poor were com-
pelled to purchase their right, and the lawyers enriched
themselves at their expense. People now frequently applied
for justice to neutral judges, presumed to be masters of their
profession and impartial, and who were to be found among
the professors in the universities, to whom important suits
were referred for decision. The ancient bench of justices at
Leipzig, filled by the learned professors of that university,
was raised in this manner to the dignity of a higher court of
appeal. The note to which it attained may be judged from
the fact that the greatest lawyer of those tunes, Benedict
Carpzow, who sat on the Leipzig bench from 1620 to 1666,
decided no less than twenty thousand capital sentences.
The barbarous and dishonoring punishments inflicted by
the degenerate Romans on their slaves were still enforced
upon the free-born German. The punishment of the rack
or torture was taken from the Roman law. The criminal
code of Charles V., the Carolina, was an abridgment of all
these barbarous and wicked innovations. Every township
and provincial court had its torture-chamber, where the ac-
cused was racked in all his limbs, thumb-screwed, pricked
under his nails, burned with boiling lead, oil, or vitriol, until
he confessed. The innocent, unable to bear the horrible
torture, consequently often confessed the crimes with which
they were charged and were condemned to death. Every
township and court had also its place of execution. Where-
ever a hill commanding a lovely prospect rose in the vicinity
of a town, its summit was crowned with a gallows and a
wheel and covered with the bones of victims. The simple
punishment of death no longer satisfied the pampered appe-
tite of the criminal judge. Torture was formed into a sys-
tem, and the horrors practiced by the ancient tyrants of
1092 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Persia and of Rome, by the American savage in his war-
like fanaticism, were, in cold blood, legalized by the lawyers
throughout Germany. The chopping off of hands, the cut-
ting out of tongues, blinding, pinching with red-hot tongs,
cutting slices out of the back, tearing out the heart, impal-
ing, wrenching off limb by limb with the iron wheel, quar-
tering with four horses or with oxen in order to lengthen the
torture, modified the simplicity of beheading, hanging, and
burning. A species of tyrannical wit was sometimes dis-
played in the mode of punishment. In Switzerland, bigamy
was punished by the criminal being cut in two, and one half
of his person being given to each of his wives. In Augs-
burg, the clergy were enclosed in iron cages and hung as
singing birds on the church towers, where they were left to
perish with hunger ; as grievous crimes could not be left un-
punished, and the temporal power could inflict no corporal
punishment on a member of the church. Jewish thieves
were hanged by the legs between two dogs. Poachers were
chained to the stag, which was turned loose into the woods,
or were sewn into a deerskin and thrown to the dogs. In
the white tower at Cologne, bread was hung high above the
heads of the criminals, who were thus compelled either to
break their necks by clambering up to it, or to die of hunger ;
etc., etc.
The prince chiefly maintained his authority by means of
his mercenaries. Formerly the whole of the population bore
arms, afterward only the feudal nobility and the citizens;
the power was therefore formerly in the hands of the citi-
zens, and afterward in those of the nobility and citizens,
who were in then* turn ere long compelled to cede their arms
to the soldiery and their power to the princes, the soldiers'
paymasters. After the invention of gunpowder, of heavy
artillery, the consequent introduction of the new method of
carrying on sieges, and of modern tactics, a strong arm and
a brave heart no longer guaranteed success in the battlefield,
but the experience and discipline of regular troops. Corps
consequently formed under experienced leaders, which, like
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1093
the armed societies of the ancient Germans, were governed
by their own laws and made war their profession. They
had no fixed abode, only for a certain time serving those
who gave them highest pay; after which they were free,
and would not infrequently enroll themselves beneath the
standard of their late opponent. They regarded war as a
means of livelihood, without regard to its cause or object.
They had their private treasury, their private tribunal that
passed sentence of life or death, and, with their women and
children, formed a petty migratory force that partly re-
cruited itself, their children and the boys that attached
themselves to them becoming in their turn soldiers. The
notorious Black Guard, which, for almost a century, main-
tained its full numbers and served under almost every prince
in Europe, was a band of this description. On the gradual
decay of the power of the aristocracy and of the cities, and
on the opening of the Reformation, when the mass through-
out Germany was in a state of strong fermentation, the
mercenary, particularly the foreign, troops, afforded a con-
venient means to the princes for keeping their refractory
Estates or rebellious subjects in check and the people under
subjection. They were consequently retained during peace
as body-guards and household troops and as garrisons in the
fortresses formerly defended by the nobles or the citizens.
This foreign soldiery brought foreign terms into use during
the thirty years' war. The various troops were formed into
companies under a captain, a certain number of which com-
posed a regiment, commanded by a colonel. Several of
these regiments were again commanded by a general, and
the generals were, in large armies, in their turn subordinate
to the field-marshal or generalissimo. The interior economy
of the army, the court-martial, etc., also required a crowd
of especial officers, such as master of the ordnance, quarter-
master-general, provost-marshal, etc., while its spiritual
wants were supplied by military chaplains and a chaplain-
general.
The first mercenaries were Swiss, and merely consisted of
1094 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
infantry that generally advanced to the attack in a wedge,
armed with jagged clubs (morning stars), and with extremely
broad, double-handed swords. They were succeeded by the
German lancers, who bore immensely long pikes, at one end
of which was a hatchet (halberds, partisans). To these were
shortly afterward associated the arquebusiers, who used the
first guns, which, on account of their weight, were rested
upon forks, for the purpose of taking aim. The Spanish
arquebusiers were the most celebrated. Gustavus Adolphus
introduced a lighter gun, the musket, which has ever since
been used by the infantry. The Croatians in the imperial
armies first distinguished themselves as light infantry for
skirmishing and for harassing the advanced guard and the
rear flanks of the enemy. In the cavalry, the ancient knights
and squires were succeeded by the troopers or cuirassiers,
who still retained the armor and helmet. The dragoons,
without armor, with a hat instead of a helmet, armed with
the carbine, a species of light cavalry, that could also serve
on foot, were first introduced by Mansfeld and were more
systematically organized by Gustavus Adolphus. To these
were finally added a body of light cavalry for outpost duty
and skirmishing, the Hungarian Hussars and the Polish
Cossacks in the imperial army. — The artillery at first bore
great affinity to the gigantic and awkward catapult. The
first light artillery was introduced by Gustavus Adolphus.
Maurice, Prince of Orange, brought the art of siege to
greater perfection. The first routine in tactics was practiced
by the Swiss, who also introduced the square, as affording
the best protection to infantry against the cavalry. Gus-
tavus Adolphus laid at first great, perhaps too great, weight
on military science, and in his tactics decidedly favored
attacks on the enemy's flanks.
CCXV. The Citizens and the Peasantry
THE fourteenth century was the heroic age of the cities ;
in the fifteenth, they reached the summit of their power, but
INTERNAL STATE DURIXG REFORMATION 1095
Had already become disunited and slothful ; in the sixteenth,
they suffered by religious factions, by the attacks of the
princes, and by the decrease of commerce, which passed
principally into the hands of the Dutch and English; the
thirty years' war completed their ruin. The confederated
cities of the Rhine and Upper Germany were included in the
newly-constituted circles, although still regarded as free im-
perial cities ; the single cities fell without exception to decay,
while those of lesser importance became objects of ridicule
with the imperial eagle over their low gates and with their
petty corporations. The great cities on the Rhine, Mayence
and Cologne, fell under the dominion of their ecclesiastical
princes, which not a little contributed to the rise of the free
imperial city of Frankfort on the Maine. Of the Hanse
towns, Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck alone retained their
ancient independence ; the rest fell, like Brunswick, partially,
or, like Magdeburg, Wismar, and Stralsund, wholly under
the princes of the North. In Central Germany, Nuremberg
maintained her freedom against the petty princes of Fran-
conia; Leipzig rose to prosperity through the favor of the
elector of Saxony, who rendered her the seat of a general
fair for the whole empire ; and Ratisbon enjoyed a respect-
able neutrality as the principal scene of diplomatic affairs.
In Brandenburg, Saxony, Bavaria, and Austria, however,
all the cities, Vienna, Prague, Breslau, Berlin (the ancient
frontier towns), submitted, after a violent struggle, to the
respective sovereigns of those countries. Bavaria even made
an old imperial free town, Donauwoerth, one of her provincial
cities. — Besides these towns of ancient date, there sprang up
many others as the power of the princes increased, particu-
larly princely residences and collegiate towns.
In the cities, the spirit of the government changed from
democratic to aristocratic. The great commotions in the
communes terminated in silent submission. In some of the
cities of Southern Germany the ancient burgess families
regained their former influence ; in others, a new hereditary
aristocracy, consisting of members of the town council,
1096 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
sprang from the ruling corporations. The revolution in the
government of the cities of Northern Germany, although
violent, had taken place at a later period, in the sixteenth
century, than in those of the South, and had been merely
transient in its effects. In all the Hanse towns, the more
influential among the burgher families had never raised a
broad line of demarcation, as town-nobility, between them-
selves and the rest of the citizens, but had admitted among
their ranks all the families whom wealth or merit gradually
raised to distinction, and, by this means, gained an acces-
sion of wealth and talent, against which the lower classes,
the workmen, vainly strove, the necessity of again having
recourse to commerce and trade for the purpose of gaining a
li velihood ever replacing the government in the hands of the
merchants. The municipal government, once so powerful,
had, nevertheless, fallen in the Hanse towns as it had every-
where else. Instead of bold speculations, the maintenance
of prerogatives and of family wealth were alone thought of,
and gave rise to the practice, bad even from a physical point
of view, of intermarriage between near of kin. In Spires,
which, anterior to the thirty years' war, numbered thirty
thousand inhabitants, such timidity prevailed that even the
ancient burgher families were divided into three degrees,
according to the antiquity of their races, and, with pedantic
jealousy, looked with scorn upon each other and the rest of
the citizens. The denization of rising families or of individ-
uals was by this means rendered difficult, and any participa-
tion in the municipal government utterly impossible. The
free, proud spirit of the citizens became petty and enslaved,
and the burgher families aped, not the nobility, as their
fathers had done before them, but the servile dependents of
the court. They assumed proud titles, decorated themselves
with chains and orders, played the diplomatist, and, notwith-
standing their wise and dignified demeanor, were ever over-
reached or bribed.
Notwithstanding the decline of commerce, the cities
continued for some time wealthy and prosperous, and civic
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1097
luxury rose to its height at the moment when civil power
first showed symptoms of decay. The citizens rested on
their laurels; the children revelled in the wealth gained by
their parents in the sweat of their brows. The love of lux-
ury was strengthened by the example of the courts and by
the immense quantities of colonial products poured into Eu-
rope. The wealthy citizens vied with the courtiers, nay,
with the prince himself, in splendor. Fugger of Augsburg,
so honorably mentioned by Charles V., was raised to the
dignity of count and afterward to that of prince. Nor was
opulence simply confined to individuals; the excellent ad-
ministration of the town property and the public spirit of the
corporations rendered prosperity general. But the citizens
were enervated by luxury, and the hand that had wielded
the sword now seized the bowl. Beer was at that time one
of the principal productions of Northern Germany, and
Magdeburg, Eimbeck, Zerbst, Goslar, Brunswick, Ham-
burg, and Bremen were famous for their immense brew-
eries. ' Several of the princes even preferred it to wine. It
afforded a wholesome beverage to the people, whom it guar-
anteed from the intoxicating fumes of brandy. How, may
we ask, did Northern Germany lose this important branch
of her industry and allow her population to be enervated
with brandy, while Bavaria now solely maintains the reputa-
tion of the German breweries? — The citizens also vied with
the nobility in magnificence of apparel. Fantastical modes,
long-pointed shoes, immensely wide sleeves and hose, etc.,
which drew the public animadversions of the clergy, became
general ; but wigs, the most unnatural of all, did not come into
fashion until after the thirty years' war. Since the council
of Constance, theatrical performances, particularly during
the carnival and the fairs, also came into vogue, under the
name of farces or mummeries, the actors being (vermummt)
1 Berckenmeyer, in his antiquarian curiosities, gives the names of the
different brews of Northern Germany, as, for instance, "Brunswick Mumme,
Halberstadt Breyhaii, Goslar Gose, Breslau Scheps, Halle Puff, Wittenberg
Cuckoo, Leipzig Rastrura, Zerbst Wiirze, Osnabruck Buse, Munster Koite, Kiel
Witte, Colberg Black."
1098 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
masked. Fun and frolic characterized the popular festivals.
Each guild had its Hanswurst (Jack-pudding) in imitation
of the prince's jester, and, in the excess of then* folly, they
executed fantastical chef-d'oeuvres, built gigantic tuns, like
that at Heidelberg, founded enormous bells, like that at
Erfurt, made gigantic sausages and loaves to match, etc.
Merely a shadow of the mad joviality of the citizens re-
mained after the thirty years' war.
The cities had gradually gained in circumference. The
danger to which they were continually exposed had caused
the citizens to collect within the walls ; hence the narrow
streets and the tall, dark houses in the old part of the towns.
The opulent citizens, nevertheless, nobly expended their
wealth in the foundation of establishments for the public
benefit, such as schools, libraries, hospitals, poorhouses,
hotels, etc. The most magnificent of these establishments
was erected in the sixteenth century, at Augsburg, by Fug-
ger, who built upward of a hundred cottages in the suburb
of St. Jacob's, as refuges for the poor; it was not, however,
until the ensuing century that sanitary establishments and
poorhouses were brought to perfection in Holland. The ex-
ample offered in this respect by the free towns and republics
had a beneficial influence upon the states. Luxury with her
train of concomitant evils had, meanwhile, rendered an im-
moderate care of health necessary, and sent crowds to seek
it at the baths of Germany, those abodes of license and
quackery.
The Jews were still confined to the Jewries or Jews' quar-
ters, where they were locked in at nightfall ; and, although
their lives were no longer unprotected by the laws, they were
the objects of public contumely, which, however, did not
hinder them from enriching themselves by usury at the ex-
pense of the Christians. The well-meant attempt made by
Christopher the Wise, duke of Wurtemberg, to banish the
Jews from the Roman empire as public nuisances, as the
secret foes to the nationality and religion of Germany, as
traitors ever on the watch to betray the empire to the for-
eigner, as crafty and demoralizing speculators on the im-
providence, weaknesses, and vices of the Christians, failed,
principally on account of the countenance at that time
afforded to the Jews by some of the princes, who transacted
business with them on an immense scale, and, by means of
their court Jews, drained the coffers of their Christian sub-
jects.— The gypsies, another foreign race, but harmless and
unimportant in number, made their first appearance in Ger-
many in 1422. They were probably an Indian race, flying
before the conquering arms of Timur.
The peasantry suffered even more than the citizens by
the thirty years' war. With the exception of the countries
in which the peasants had preserved their liberties and
rights, Switzerland, Holland, and Friesland, the whole of
Central and Eastern Germany was peopled with slaves, un-
possessed of honor, wealth, or knowledge, the produce of
whose toil was swallowed up by the nobility, the clergy and
the court. A distinction must, nevertheless, be made be-
tween the originally German and the originally Slavonian
population. In the Slavonian East, there were fewer bur-
dens and more personal slavery ; in the German "West, great-
er personal freedom and heavier dues. In Wurtemberg, for
instance, the serf was not bound to the soil and was free to
quit his lord; in Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, and the frontier
provinces, he was unpossessed of this privilege. The Wur-
temberg peasant was, on the other hand, far more heavily
laden with oppressive dues, socage-service, and exposed to
heavier punishments than the half -slave in the East. * The
former was an impoverished, fallen, ill-treated freeman,
whose rebellious spirit hardships alone could tame ; the latter
was a hereditary bondman, whose patient content befitted
the patriarchal position of his lord.
In olden times, when gold was scarce, the peasant, be-
sides the tithes that fell to the church, paid his lord in kind,
a portion of grain, flax, fruit, grass, a cow from the herd,
a hen and eggs from house and hearth. He also paid soc-
age-service, that is, worked in person and with his horses
1100 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
for his lord. These dues and services were originally mod-
erate, but, as the wants of the nobility gradually increased,
the peasantry became more heavily oppressed, and their con-
sequent revolt merely afforded to the nobility an opportunity
and an excuse for a more systematic mode of oppression.
Socage dues were arbitrarily increased. In the six-
teenth century, the electors of Brandenburg were compelled
to set a limit to the oppressive practices of the nobility, and
to fix the services performed by the peasant to his lord at
two days in the week. The most oppressive of all was the
hunting-average, which compelled the peasant to tread down
his own crops while aiding his lord in chasing the deer. The
peasantry were also exposed to the most unjust, most dis-
gusting, and extraordinary dues. Socage-duty was, more-
over, remissible on payment of a certain sum, which was
enforced upon all unable or unwilling to perform it in per-
son. Rents or natural dues were, in course of time, also
raised. On every parcel of land, every corner of the house,
a new and especial impost, often distinguished by a whim-
sical name, was levied. Each season of the year, every
change in the family by marriage or death, an additional
building, etc., enriched the manorial lord. Besides the gift
of the best head of the cattle, the best piece of furniture, or
the best dress of the deceased peasant, to his lord, the Lan-
demium, generally ten per cent on the real value of the
property, had to be paid into his coffers on its transition into
other hands, besides innumerable other chance dues. Then
came" a number of new punishments and fines. Air and
water, forest and field, were originally free to all. Villages
were more scattered, the country more open, the nobles more
contented and generally absent ; but, by degrees, the lord of
the manor insisted on the sole enjoyment of the chase, the
stream, the forest, and the field, and inflicted the most ter-
rible punishments on the serf who ventured to infringe his
self -raised prerogative. These punishments were also profit-
able, being remittable by fine.
In the Catholic states, the cultivation of the land in large
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1101
tracts, copyholds, was still continued; but in the Protestant
provinces, the subdivision of property became general; the
country people in the former were, consequently, more in-
clined to idleness and amusement, those of the latter to
industry and care. The greatest evil was the general de-
mand for money, which was made to replace personal ser-
vice and payment in kind, and the peasant was constrained
to borrow money and to pay interest, which was shamelessly
raised and prolonged, for it, in kind. This system of exac-
tion was, for instance, pursued by the Swiss burghers toward
their bondmen.
The peasant, miserably fed and lodged, daily overworked,
physically and mentally degraded, gradually lost his ancient
health and vigor. The gigantic frame of the free-born Ger-
man withered beneath the hopeless unpaid toil of the soc-
ager. The peasantry had, after a bloody contest, been dis-
armed. Instead of, as of yore, following their lord to the
field, they were chained like oxen to the plow, and, de-
graded and despised, vegetated in ignorance and want. In
the Protestant states, a few village schools were established,
but it was long before reading and writing became general
among the lower classes ; nor did they derive much benefit
from the instruction they received, as it merely consisted of
religious precepts, which, although calculated to console the
wretched peasant and to fortify his patience, neither im-
proved nor altered his oppressed condition. Still, deeply as
the peasant had fallen, his original nature was not utterly
perverted, and the further he was removed from the higher
classes, the less was he tainted with their despicable vices.
Nor had his natural humor and good sense, his consciousness
of higher worth, entirely quitted him. In the lowly hut were
preserved those fine popular legends, thrown aside by the
higher classes for awkward imitations of the foreigner. It
was there that the memory of the wondrous days of yore
still li ved, that ideas both lovely and sublime were understood
and cherished. Far away and forgotten by self-styled civil-
ization, legendary lore took refuge among the poor and un-
1102 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
taught children of nature. But, wherever oppression and
contempt roused the bitter feelings of the boor, they found
vent in mocking proverbs, popular ballads, and, more than
all, in coarse but cutting jests.
CCXVI. The Erudition of the Universities
WHILE the people were thus enslaved by ignorance, learn-
ing made rapid strides at the universities, where the reputa-
tion of the scholars gradually rose as that of the churchmen
sank; but the literati, after freeing themselves from the
shackles of the Roman hierarchy, and, under Luther's pow-
erful guidance, for some time forwarding the popular inter-
ests of Germany, ere long forsook their national literature
for the exclusive study of the classics and introduced much
that was heterogeneous into the literature of Germany.
The learned class, which provided servants for the state
and for the church, was formed in the universities, which,
since the Reformation, had increased in number and had
been newly constituted.
The German universities were founded at the following
periods: Prague, 1348; Vienna, 1365; Heidelberg, 1387;
Cologne, 1388; Erfurt, 1392; Leipzig, 1409; Rostock, 1419;
Louvain, 1426 ; Griefswald, 1456 ; Freiburg in the Breisgau,
1457; Treves, 1472; Ingolstadt, 1472; Tubingen and May-
ence, 1477; Wittenberg, 1502; Frankfort on the Oder, 1506;
Marburg, 1527 ; Konigsberg, 1544 ; Dillingen, 1549 ; Jena, 1558 ;
Leyden, 1575; Helmstsedt, 1576; Altorf, 1578; Olmutz,
1581; Wurzburg, 1582; Franecker, 1585; Grsetz, 1586; Gies-
sen, 1607; Groningen, 1614; Paderborn, 1615; Rinteln and
Strasburg, 1621 ; Salzburg, 1623; Osnabruck, 1630; Utrecht,
1634; Linz, 1636; Bamberg, 1648. The Catholic universities
were, previously to the Reformation, principally under the
direction of the Franciscans and Dominicans, and, subse-
quently to that period, under that of the Jesuits, all of
whom were equally imbued with the spirit of the Roman
hierarchy. The Protestant universities were at first directed
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1103
by the Reformed clergy; at a later period, by the lawyers
and court counsellors, in the spirit of Roman law and modern
monarchy.
The German universities underwent a radical change
immediately after the great catastrophe at Prague in the
time of the Hussites. The professors and scholars, subdi-
vided according to nations, no longer formed free republics
as heretofore; the professors were paid by the government,
and the students were divided, not according to nations, but
according to faculties and bursa. Bursa (Bcerse) were insti-
tutions for the maintenance of the students, who were thence
termed Burschen. There were professor and burgher Bursa ;
the former of which looked down upon the latter and ill-
treated them. The fresh students were also dreadfully abused
by those of longer standing. These Bursa were put an end
to by the free spirit of the Reformation, but the roughness
and brutality inherent in them was imitated in the clubs,
into which the students were again divided according to the
country to which they belonged, a resuscitation of the an-
cient division according to nations, and also in the horrid
Pennal system. In 1661, John George II. of Saxony was
compelled formally to prohibit the robbery of the younger
students, the Pennales, by the elder ones, the Schorists, who
deprived them of their good clothes and gave them rags in
return, obliged them to clean their shoes, etc.
Before the Reformation, scholasticism in theology, law,
and grammar was chiefly taught at the universities. Cavils,
poverty of idea, verbosity, dialectic controversy were fos-
tered; science was but little studied. The pure conception
of the Virgin formed, before the Reformation, the principal
subject of controversy between the theologians of all the uni-
versities, and was for a whole century disputed with great
subtlety and bitterness in controversial writings and in dis-
courses in learned assemblies. The principal controversy be-
tween the profane masters concerned the casus vocativus,
whether it was a positio or a suppositio, and an important
congress was convoked at Heidelberg for the purpose of de-
1104 THE HISTORY OF GESJUAXY
elding the dispute. This scholastic spirit unfortunately also
animated the Reformers, and, as the enthusiasm that pre-
vailed during Luther's time disappeared, the divinity of the
Protestant universities became as strongly impregnated with
sophistry and cavilling as that of the Papists had formerly
been. To these were added the scholasticism of the lawyers,
the cavils of the commentators on the Roman law, who in-
dustriously sought to uproot all German customs, to annihi-
late German spirit and the poor remains of German liberty,
by setting out with the principle of the worst period of the
Roman empire, "that the will of the sovereign was the
source of all law." The most distinguished of the Roman-
ists in the sixteenth century were Holoander, Zasius, Ken-
ning von Gode or the monarcha juris. As early as the fif-
teenth century, Peter von Andlau, in a work on the German
empire, attempted to reduce its constitution to a system, in
which he was followed, in the beginning of the seventeenth
century, by Arumaeus of Jena. Chemnitz (Hippolytus of
Lapide), however, acquired the highest repute by his work
on the Peace of "Westphalia, in which he condemned the
unity of Germany and lauded her subdivision under petty
princes and foreign brigands. Politics were studied in Hol-
land, where a more liberal spirit reigned, with far greater
assiduity than in the rest of Germany. Hugo Grotius, by
his work de Jure Belli et Pads, laid the foundation to a
law of nations, based on natural right, reason, morality,
and Christianity.
Grammar, hitherto a dry and unintellectual study, was
animated with fresh life. The study of the dead languages
rendered the Germans familiar with the poets, philosophers,
and historians of Greece, and the dark shades of scholastic
ignorance faded before the rising light of knowledge. The
study of the humanities had greatly aided the Reformation
and was therefore naturally carried on to a still greater ex-
tent in the Protestant universities. The founders of the first
academies, in which the learned languages and humanities
were taught, were Rudolf Agricola, of whom mention has
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1105
already been made, at Heidelberg, Conrad Celtes, Wimphel-
ing, Lange at Erfurt, Hegius ; the most celebrated professors
were Reuchlin and Erasmus; their most talented advocate
was Ulric von Hutten; their intermediator with Luther's
Reformation, Philip Melancthon. In the course of the six-
teenth century, there appeared numbers of distinguished
professors of Greek and Latin, grammarians, editors to the
ancient authors, critics, etc., of whom the following acquired
the greatest note: Beatus Rhenanus, Conrad Gessner, Joa-
chim Camerarius, Eoban Hessus, Gruterus, Crusius, Her-
mann von der Busch, the witty Bebel of Tubingen, the still
wittier Taubmann of "Wittenberg, the unfortunate Frischlin,
Scioppius of the Pfalz, the Dutchman, Justus Lipsius, a
second Erasmus in wit and learning, Meursius, Puteanus,
Scaliger, Heinsius, Gerard Vossius, "Willibald Pirkheimer,
the learned citizen of Nuremberg, and Peutinger of Augs-
burg, Thomas von Rehdiger, a wealthy Silesian nobleman,
the collector of a valuable library, etc. It was certainly
strange for imagination to digress so suddenly from the pres-
ent in order to bury itself in the records of the past, but the
contrast was natural. "Who would not have sighed for deliv-
erance from the theological nonsense at that time occupying
the whole attention of the learned world? And what conso-
lation could the earlier histories of Germany, which merely
recorded the triumphs of Papacy, afford? It was at that
period pardonable for the learned to fly for relief to the beau-
tiful creations of the ancient Greeks, and, if this inclination
has been carried to an extreme, if the lovers of classical an-
tiquity have neglected to improve then* mother tongue, this
is but a natural and a temporary consequence of the enthusi-
asm with which the study of the ancients was pursued. The
German enthusiast is apt to believe a useful thing the only
one necessary, and, while straining his energies in one direc-
tion, to be blind to aught else; but, while mentally trans-
ported to the times of ancient Greece and Rome, he involun-
tarily formed himself on the models they presented.
Natural philosophy now came into repute. During the
1106 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Catholic Middle Ages, every subject had been treated from
a spiritual or religious point of view. Nature had been de-
spised as an instrument of sin. Heaven was the Christian's
highest aim, and his sojourn upon earth was to be spent in
self-denial, celibacy, fasting, in mental and physical abase-
ment. This sprang from the antithesis originally offered by
Christianity to the heathen adoration of nature, and the in-
quirer into nature was consequently regarded as a student
of the black art.
At Salerno in Italy medicine had been studied on the
Mahometan principle, but had been rendered incapable of
being improved by experience by its accommodation to the
general scholastic notions. In the commencement of the fif-
teenth century, an Alsatian monk, Basilius Valentinus, in-
spired by his own genius, began, as he eloquently expressed
himself, "to analyze nature." His first discoveries in chem-
istry formed a stepping-stone for all others. In this century,
also, Conrad von Megenberg, deacon of Ratisbon, wrote a
treatise on the nature of the heavenly bodies, on that of the
earth, stones, plants, animals, and mankind. His notions
were, it is true, extremely imperfect. This work passed
through six editions between 1475 and 1499.
Almost a century, however, elapsed before the humanists
succeeded in forming physicians on the model of the ancient
Greeks and Romans, of Hippocrates and Galen, in banish-
ing the old scholastic dogmas and in taking experience as a
guide. Koch of Basel, Winther of Andernach, Hagenbuch,
Fuchs, Lange, Zwinger, and numerous others distinguished
themselves as practitioners, as well as translators of the an-
cients and as commentators. Conrad Gessner, A.D. 1565,
was the most noted among the humanists and naturalists.
Botany and anatomy were also studied. Tabernaemontanus
wrote a celebrated botanical work in the fifteenth century.
In 1491 appeared the botanical work of John von Cube of
Mayence, adorned with woodcuts; and Ketham made ana-
tomical woodcuts for Wolfgang, prince of Anhalt. Werner
Rolfing, a celebrated anatomist, was born in 1599, at Hamburg.
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 110?
Theophrastus Paracelsus1 opened a completely new path
in the sixteenth century. The system of this great physician
and philosopher was as far removed from that of the human-
ists, the Hippocratic physicians, as from that of the ancient
scholastics. He was taught by self-gained experience, not
by ancient assertions. The success of his cures, his simpli-
fication of medicaments, and his abolition of innumerable
abuses gained him immense popularity during his continual
journeys through Germany, and, notwithstanding the opposi-
tion of the older physicians, numbers of the medical students
followed in his steps. He completely upset the prevalent
system of natural philosophy and reduced the four elements
hitherto accepted, to three, corresponding with the three
primitive elements in chemistry, mercurius, sulphur, and
sal, so termed after the productions most nearly resembling
them, quicksilver, brimstone, and salt. It was according to
this theory that he divided the whole of the natural world,
and, regarding man as an epitome (microcosm) of the uni-
verse (macrocosm), reduced medicine to a sympathetic and
antipathetic system. Everything in the universe, according
to him, affected man either mentally, spiritually, or physi-
cally; consequently, the great study of the physician was
the detection of whatever was injurious or beneficial in its
effect in every case. Imperfect as his theory was, it greatly
advanced the study and practice of medicine by promoting
the comparative study of nature, by simplifying medicaments
and by laying down as a general rule the choice of the rem-
edy according to the symptoms of the disease. Art was at
that period still so completely in her infancy that Paracelsus
was led from a belief in the sympathetic affinity pervading
all nature to ascribe a corresponding quality to the stars;
and one of his pupils, Crollius, supposed the external resem-
blance between the remedy and the symptoms of the disease
to be a sign of their internal correspondence, and attempted,
1 Philip Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombastus ab Hohenheim, born
at Einsiedeln, in Switzerland. His family came from Hohenheim, near Stutt-
gard.
j.108 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
for instance, to cure the jaundice with saffron, diseases of
the brain with poppy buds, etc. These errors were, however,
founded upon truth, and, even at the present day, Paracelsus
is allowed by the faculty to have greatly promoted science
by his introduction of the use of baths, mercury, etc. ; much
of his system is still irrefutable, and many of his remedies
are still in general use. He died in 1541, at Salzburg, and,
during the raging of the cholera, in the present century, the
people went in crowds to pray at his grave. The most cele-
brated among his numerous pupils was Thurneiser of Basel,
who was born A.D. 1530. He was one of the most enter-
prising spirits of the age, began life as a soldier, and was in
turn a miner, a great traveller, private physician to John
George, elector of Brandenburg, treasurer to several princes,
and, at the same time, financier, alchemist, physician, printer,
and engraver in wood. He first brought the calendar, adorned
with woodcuts, into general use. After accumulating an
enormous fortune, he was seized with home-sickness and
returned to Basel, where he was accused of practicing the
black art and only escaped ths stake by the sacrifice of the
whole of his property and by a hasty flight into Italy. He
died, A.D. 1595, in a monastery at Cologne. Erast of Heidel-
berg was Paracelsus's most noted opponent.
The followers of Paracelsus, undeterred by opposition,
pursued his system throughout the whole of the sixteenth
and part of the seventeenth centuries, gaining knowledge by
their own experience; for instance, Crato von Kraftheim,
Schenk von Grafenberg, Plater, the Dutchmen, Foreest and
Fyres, the great anatomist, Vesalius of Brussels, the first
surgeons of note, Braunschweig and Wurz, the first great
oculist Bartisch, the first accoucheur, Roesslin. Wyerus ren-
dered great service to his age by his philanthropical work
against the belief in the existence of witches. George Agric-
ola was the first mineralogist in Saxony, where the mines
were industriously worked. John von Gmunden gained
great repute at Vienna as an astronomer; his pupils, Peur-
bach and Regiomontanus, became equally celebrated. In
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1109
the beginning of the seventeenth century, Fabricius of East
Friesland discovered the spots in the sun ; Simon Mayer, the
satellites of Jupiter; but the great Kepler, a Swabian in
the service of the emperor Rudolph II., gained undying
fame. After the discovery of the revolution of the earth
with all the other planets around the sun, in 1545, by the
Pole, Copernicus, Kepler discovered the laws, known by his
name, regulating the distances between the planets, and their
course. He also wrote the "Harmony of the Universe," in
which he reduced numbers, tones, and forms to a universal
law. The merit of this extraordinary man was but ill-appre-
ciated by his contemporaries. Mathematics and mechanics
were studied with great success by Regiomontanus in the
fifteenth century, and by the celebrated painter, Diirer.
These sciences were afterward chiefly promoted by the Jes-
uits, who sought by their means to replace the deficiency
in studies demanding freedom of thought. In the sixteenth
century, Adam Riese of Annaberg in Saxony wrote a gen-
eral account-book for the people, which was extensively
circulated.
The era of the Reformation was remarkable for discover-
ies and inventions. The invention of gunpowder had been
discovered shortly before; in the fifteenth century, printing
was discovered; in the sixteenth, clocks were invented. In
Nuremberg, thousands of watches, called Nuremberg eggs,
were made after Peter Hele's invention. Homelius con-
structed a curious astronomical clock for the emperor,
Charles V. In 1540, the surveyor's table was invented by
Gemma. In 1590, the telescope and microscope were in-
vented by Zacharias Jansen; and, in the seventeenth cent-
ury, the laterna magica by Father Kircher. The first spin-
ning-wheel was made in Brunswick, in 1530, by Master
Jurgen.
1110 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
CCXVII. The Dark Sciences — Superstition
THE power of Satan upon earth had long been an article
of faith, but it was not until the Reformation that it became
the general belief, and that attempts were made to exorcise
spirits and to make use of demoniacal powers for the attain-
ment of human aims. The studies of the humanists had led
to a nearer acquaintance with the magic of the ancients and
had produced a sort of partiality for ancient heathen prac-
tices. The principal source to these dark desires, however,
lay in the Reformation. The bolt launched by Luther
against St. Peter's chair at Rome drove the faith of the
times into two opposite extremes ; the soldier and the savant
confessed the infidelity of the heathen philosopher, and the
mass of the people was enslaved by the grossest superstition.
The two extremes, nevertheless, met. The devil, the powers
of darkness, the horror of the one, were diligently sought
for by the other. There were some bold spirits, who, firmly
persuaded of the power of Satan, instead of flying from,
bound themselves to him for the purpose of attaining power,
wealth, etc., or of guarding themselves against evil. Sol-
diers, consequently, believed in the Passau art, which was
supposed to render them invulnerable, in the power of free-
bullets, which never missed their aim, in the virtue of man-
dragore, spirits in crystal, the lucky penny, love-potions,
etc., etc. —The foolhardy spirit which led the lawless soldier
and the lost female to invoke the powers of hell for the at-
tainment of some low and worldly aim took a higher direc-
tion among the savants, and the well-known tale of Doctor
Faust is founded upon a general fact. There were, in those
wild times, speculative minds, which, rejecting the ancient
belief in revelation, sought to resolve their doubts, not indi-
rectly, by application to the Holy Scriptures, but directly,
by intercourse with the world of spirits and with nature, as,
for instance, Bacon of Verulam in England, and Agrippa of
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1111
Nettesheim in Germany. Although free from the vulgar
belief in the devil, they hoped by means of the correspond-
ence between microcosm, the little world within man, and
macrocosm, the great universe, nature and the world of
spirits, to find out, either by raising spirits or by the discov-
ery of the secret powers and primitive elements of nature,
the secrets of the universe. It was from attempts of this
nature, which gave birth to the most extravagant miscon-
ceptions on the part of the people, which were countenanced
by the clergy, whose credit had fallen, that the legend of
Faust arose, in which the hatred of the monks against the
inventor of printing is evidently mixed up, that art having
been also ascribed by them to the devil.
As the study of natural philosophy advanced, the devil
and his agents were discarded, although the hope of finding
out the secret of their original connection with external nat-
ure by the discovery of natural magic, of making gold, and
of the universal elixir, still prevailed. Alchemy, or the art
of making gold, was exercised as early as the commence-
ment of the fifteenth century by some pupils of Basilius Val-
entinus, and avarice cherished the hope of making gold from
a primitive matter, the philosopher's stone, whence all other
matters were derived, which had been sought for by Basilius.
Barbara, the infamous consort of the emperor Sigmund, was
the first who retained a court-alchemist, John von Laaz, in
her service. Her example was followed at Baireuth by Al-
bert Achilles, and by John, elector of Brandenburg, who, in
the hope of discovering the primitive matters of which gold
was composed, melted their wealth in the crucible. Alchemy
became the rage. Almost every court had its alchemist.
Hans von Dcernberg reigned at the conclusion of the fif-
teenth century with uncontrolled power over Hesse, under
the Landgrave Henry and his son "William. The matter
even attracted the attention of the learned, of the celebrated
historical commentator Trithemius, of the philosopher Agrip-
pa von Nettesheim, and of Theophrastus Paracelsus, who
sought, not gold, but the philosopher's stone. This art was
1112 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
rendered general throughout Germany by the emperor, Ru-
dolph II., who was termed the prince of alchemists. The
adepts nocked to his court, and even princes vied with each
other in the search. Augustus, elector of Saxony, occupied
his whole life with this futile art ; Christian II. displayed
equal zeal and sentenced the unfortunate Setonius, who was
generally believed by his contemporaries to possess the secret,
to the wheel. Setonius's sole confidant, Sendivogius, was,
like his master, chased from one court to another. He was
thrown into prison by Frederick, duke of Wurtemberg; all
the princes wanted gold, and the charlatans were no longer
secure of their lives. The rage for discovering this secret
was so excessive that a certain potter seriously asserted that
gold could be extracted from the Jews ; that the bodies of
twenty-four Jews, reduced to ashes, would produce one
ounce of gold. Thomas Liber, A.D. 1583, first strenuously
opposed the prevailing superstition. Societies of alchemists
were also naturally formed, either for the thing itself or for
appearance' sake, the secret forming an irresistible attrac-
tion; and a mystical work was published, which set forth
that the order of the Golden Fleece, instituted by Philip of
Burgundy, had originally the object and the symbols of al-
chemy. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, Valen-
tin Andrea founded, in Swabia, the order of the Rosicrucians,
who propagated the practices of the adepts and the mystical
ideas of Paracelsus. The hope of discovering the universal
medicine and the elixir of lif e was confined to some of the
physicians of the time ; the general thirst was more for gold
than for prolongation of life. It was asserted of the adept
Trautmannsdorf, A.D. 1609, that he had prolonged his exist-
ence one hundred and forty-seven years.
Astrology was, equally with alchemy, encouraged by the
great and powerful. Rudolph II. and Wallenstein were its
principal patrons. Paracelsus was firmly persuaded of the
influence exercised by the stars on man's every action ; nor
was Kepler free from a similar superstition, which had, how-
ever, the good result of promoting his study of astronomy
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1113
and of leading to scientific investigation, more particularly
since the invention of the telescope in Holland, A.D. 1600.
Chiromancy, or the presaging of fate from the lines of
the hand, and sympathetic cure were the most celebrated
among the other dark sciences. The investigation of the
lines of the hand, which was allied with that of the physiog-
nomy and of the general appearance of the whole person,
proves that the adepts were possessed of an extraordinary
quickness of perception, unknown at the present day; and
the sympathetic cures are so much the more important, ow-
ing to their being a remains of the ancient popular mode of
cure practiced by the heathens, which has, in our times, pro-
duced the theory of animal magnetism. Many ailments were
ascribed to the power of Satan, and spiritual measures were
resorted to for their cure, such as exorcism or expulsion of
the devil, amulets, relics, etc. A peculiar healing property
was ascribed to certain saints and holy places. Almost
every member of the body had its patron saint. Mental
aberration was especially regarded as demoniacal possession.
In 1451, George, bishop of Lausanne, was persuaded of the
potency of a spiritual anathema for driving away grasshop-
pers and mice, and, not long afterward, a bishop of Coire
resorted to the same means for the riddance of cock-chafers.
Ancient mysticism was also transformed by this novel
and fantastical natural philosophy. Nicolas von Cusa, a
countryman of Treves, formed, A.D. 1462, the transition
from scholastic theosophy to natural philosophy by a mys-
tic numeration, a system of the universe harmoniously regu-
lated by numbers, the principles of all things. He was suc-
ceeded by Paracelsus, who completed the vague numerical
system of Cusanus by declaring the principles divine efflu-
ences and living powers. As all numbers proceeded from
one, so did the whole universe from God; as all numbers
corresponded with each other, so did all things in the world.
From the unity of God proceeded the primitive powers, mer-
curius, sulphur, and sal, which, although separated into a
spiritual and an earthly sense, there as soul, mind, and
GERMANY. VOL. HI.— ft
1114 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
body, here as water, air, and earth, nevertheless corre-
sponded, and, consequently, there was nothing in man that
had not its great antitype in nature. Valentin "Weigel of
Saxony, A.D. 1588, pursued a similar idea and founded an
extremely simple system, which was afterward improved
upon by Spinoza and Schelling, the identity of the two great
and universal antitheses, of the mind and body, of light and
darkness, of good and bad, etc., which, ever externally at
war, were united in God. The two Swabians, Sebastian
Frank and Gutmann, the former of whom was an Anabap-
tist, the latter a Rosicrucian, and Khunrath, whose mania
for mystery led him astray in the cabalistics of the ancient
Jews, are less clear and profound. In the seventeenth
century, the Moravian, Amos Comenius, produced a sys-
tem which reunited the doctrine of "Weigel with that of
Paracelsus, by an endeavor to unite the two universal an-
titheses, body and mind, by a third, light. He was the first
who attributed great importance to light, both outward and
inward. We also owe to him an account of an extremely
curious malady, with which a Bohemian girl, Christina
Poniatovia, was visited. She was a somnambulist and had
visions, which he has described with such accuracy as to
leave no doubt of the coincidence of the symptoms with
those of modern magnetism. The celebrated physician, von
Helmont, who regarded nature as an effluence of spiritual
powers and recognized a pure spiritual cause in all her
works, also flourished during the seventeenth century.
Agrippa von Nettesheim, A.D. 1535, stands alone. The
foe of scholasticism and of theological controversy, an utter
infidel, he hoped to attain to higher knowledge by means of
magic, and for that purpose adjured all earthly and un-
earthly powers. During his restless wanderings over Eu-
rope, he studied everything, saw everything, took a degree
in every faculty, practiced theology at Paris, the law at
Metz, physic at Freiburg in Switzerland, became private
physician to the queen of France, and finally historiographer
to Margaret, stadtholderess of the Netherlands. He trav-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1115
elled over the whole of Spain, Italy, France, and England,
"seeking rest and finding none," and at length published a
work "On the Uncertainty and Vanity of all Scientific Re-
search," with which he bade adieu to the world. At an ear-
lier period, when resting his hopes on magic, he had written
a work "On Secret Philosophy," and, in spite of his later
contempt for the world and for all that therein is, he left
another, entitled "De Nobilitate Sexus Foeminini."
Quite otherwise, unvisited by fortune or by learning, with-
out knowledge of the world, born beneath a lowly roof, where
he passed the whole of his life, in the obscurity of a little
town and of a miserable occupation, the shoemaker of Gcer-
litz, Jacob Boehme, A.D. 1624, placed an implicit confidence
in Heaven and found the eternal wisdom which the proud
Agrippa had vainly sought for throughout the world. The
truths that escaped the perception of the great philosopher
were clear as day to his pure and childlike mind, which, al-
though untaught and uncultivated, was extraordinarily pro-
found and comprehensive. Jacob Boehme stands far above
the rest of the mystics, all of whose various systems he has,
in his own, formed into a harmonious whole. In him meet
the three great founders of mysticism of the twelfth century,
for in him are united the heroic morality, the chivalric self-
sacrificing love of Hugo de St. Victoire, the eternal harmony
and beauty of nature of Honorius Augustodensis, and the
historical world of Rupert von Duiz. He also carried the
doctrine of Paracelsus still higher, by seeking God in history
as well as in nature. He was so wonderfully fertile in ideas
that later philosophers have raised new systems on mere
fragments of the one founded by him.
CCXVIII. Witchcraft
THE burning of witches formed one of the most remark-
able features of the age of the Reformation. It commenced
at an earlier period, but first became a general practice in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The belief in witch-
1116 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
craft, universal before the migrations at the worst period of
the Roman empire, had disappeared before the light of Chris-
tianity, and was more particularly discouraged by the Ger-
man wanderers. Rotharis the Longobard, in his legislative
code, especially prohibited the trial of witches, witchcraft
being impossible.1 Charlemagne was equally enlightened.
In 1310, the belief in the existence of witches was condemned
by the council of Treves, and the nightly expeditions of
witches was declared a fabulous invention.2 This belief
was little general during the Middle Ages, but suddenly
gained force in the fifteenth century.
Sprenger, a notorious Dominican inquisitor, is accused of
having first disseminated this fearful superstition in Con-
stance; the executions at the stake, until his time of rare
occurrence, becoming thenceforward extremely frequent.
His work, "The Witches' Hammer" (Malleus Malefica-
rum), attracted general attention and inspired half Europe
with a dread of witchcraft hitherto unknown ; he also per-
secuted witches on principle, and is said to have burned up-
ward of a hundred old women. On being bitterly reproached
for his cruelty, he appealed to the pope, and, A.D. 1485, Inno-
cent VIII., by a bull, affirmed the existence of witches and
the necessity of their persecution. It was in vain that Sig-
mund, archduke of the Tyrol, caused a protest to be written
by Ulric Muller of Constance and declared the belief in the
existence of witches a mere superstitious delusion ; the voice
of the Dominican, supported by the authority of the pope,
was alone heeded. On the commencement of the Reforma-
tion, this belief was recognized as a superstition, but, not-
withstanding, continued to spread. Old women were more
fanatically persecuted as suspected witches by the Lutherans
than they had been by the Inquisition ; the devil, in those
1 Nullus praesumat aldiam aut ancillam quasi strigam aut mascam occidere,
quod Christianis raentibus nullatenus credendum est aut possibile.
1 Nulla mulier se nocturnis horis equitare cum Diana dea pagauofum vel
cum Herodiana innumora mulierum multitudiue profiteatur. Hsec enim
dsemoniaca est illusio. — Martene Thes. Anecd. IV.
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1117
times of terror, was present to every imagination and was
portrayed on every wall.
Malignant females were supposed to conclude a bond with
the devil, from whom they learned the art of raising storms,
of depriving their neighbors' cows of their milk, of carrying
off their neighbors' corn through the air, of striking men and
cattle dead or with sickness with the evil eye, of brewing
love-potions, of awaking unnatural hate or love, etc. Al-
most all the women accused of these practices confessed un-
der torture. Most of the trials coincide in this point, that
they had learned the art from some other old woman, who
had been taught by the devil himself in the form of a hand-
some young man, from whom she had received the witches'
salve, which, when smeared over the whole body, gave her
the power of flying up the chimney seated astride on either
a broom, a spinning-wheel, a spit, a goat, or a cat, to the
great witches' Sabbath, held during Walpurgis night, that
of the 1st of May, on the Blocksberg, where all the witches
met, danced in a misty circle back to back, and worshipped
a great black goat, which at length caught fire of itself and
was reduced to ashes, which were collected by the witches
for magical purposes, and each one, remounting her steed,
whisked home. From this moment they were in partnership
with the devil, who marked them as his own and gave them
power to work harm, but treated them harshly and kept
them in abject poverty. This formed the substance of most
of the depositions. The accused was, in some instances,
found lying stiff and apparently dead on the ground, and
confessed, on regaining her senses, that she had been, dur-
ing her state of torpor, absent at a witches' meeting. This
proves a somnambulistic state. It has, at a more modern
period, been believed that the whole tale had been drawn
by means of torture from women, who, in their agony, con-
fessed themselves guilty of anything laid to their charge;
much, nevertheless, still remains that is utterly inexplicable,
particularly in reference to the somnambulistic visions, and,
in the face of so many authentic proofs, there no longer ex-
1118 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
ists a doubt but that the belief in all this nonsense was
general among women, and that these ideas had become an
epidemy, a contagious mania among them. Was it not
natural that at a period when the worst qualities of the
human heart had been excited and had actually gained the
mastery, when men boldly cited the devil, that the worst
portion of the female sex should also give way to horrid de-
sires and imaginations? — The belief in the existence of witches
was, however, evidently the offspring of ancient pagan su-
perstition. The night of the 1st of May coincides with the
great festival of Spring, which was anciently solemnized on
the mountains. The burning of the goat, the symbol of
fruitfulness, is an ancient heathen sacrifice. The transfor-
mation of the witches into cats or wolves is also a pagan
notion.
As this superstition gained ground, every imaginable
evil, such as scarcity, damage done by the weather, loss of
cattle, sicknesses, robbery, losses, etc., was ascribed to the
witches, and suspicion generally fell on the oldest woman in
the neighborhood. Envy and unneighborly grudge had full
play, and revenge for suffered, or fear of future, evil, created
a bitterness and rage which at once demanded and justified
the ill-treatment of witches. The church, the state, and
public opinion were generally unanimous in declaring that
no means were to be left untried for the annihilation of the
power of Satan upon earth. The form of trial was almost
everywhere similar. The accused was subjected to the or-
deal; that is, her hair, even her eyebrows, was entirely
shaven off in order to discover the devil's mark, and woe
to her if a mole or a mother's mark were discovered. It
was also a popular notion that by depriving a witch of her
hair the devil lost his power over her. The second and more
celebrated ordeal consisted in tying the witch's right thumb
to the left great toe, and the left thumb to the right toe, and
throwing her into the water. If she swam it was a certain
proof of her being a witch. The third was by weight, witches
being believed to be as light as a feather. They were accord-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1119
ingly tried by a certain measure, which, if it proved too
heavy, condemned the unhappy woman to be tortured until
she confessed, which inevitably doomed her to the stake, fire
being the means by which witchcraft could alone be totally
extirpated and the world be purified from the incantations
of the devil.
The suspicion, and the confession, wrung by torture, were
often equally ridiculous. The most harmless things were at-
tributed to the power of witchcraft. Luther once advised
that a sick child of twelve years of age, who had an unnatu-
ral appetite, should be thrown into the Mulda. At Freuden-
stadt, in the Black Forest, a monthly nurse was accused of
having murdered a hundred children and of having laid
changelings in their cribs. At Frankfort on the Maine, in
1536, a girl was accused of being in correspondence with the
devil, by whom she had been endowed with the power of ex-
tracting gold from walls. At Wienerisch-Neustadt, in 1562,
the sexton was burned alive for having boiled a child and
spread the plague by mixing some of the earth from the in-
fected graves with the broth. During the same year, a hail-
storm at Esslingen caused a severe persecution of witches,
in which the parish Driest and the executioner discovered
equal zeal and bade defiance to the more humane and en-
lightened town council. At Horb, in the Black Forest, in
1578, nine women were sentenced to the stake in consequence
of a hailstorm. At Quedlinburg, in 1589, a hundred and
thirty-three witches were burned in one day for having
danced on the Blocksberg and for having emptied the cel-
lars of fourteen of the wealthiest people in the neighborhood
of their wine on the occasion : all were put to death except
four of the most beautiful, whom the devil, always in the
shape of a handsome young man, is said to have carried
away. At Spandau, in 1595, a great number of people were
possessed, from having picked up gold, rings, buttons, hemp,
etc., dropped by the devil in the streets. At Naumburg on
the Saal, in 1 604, a witch was burned for depriving an ab-
sent person of one of his eyes by magic. At Hildesheim, in
1120 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
1615, a boy suffered the same death for having transformed
himself into a cat. At Strasburg, in 1633, a boy was also
burned for carrying letters by night to the Jesuits in a car-
riage drawn by six cats. At Solothurn, in 1549, a woman
was sent to the stake for having ridden on a wolf through
the forest. In 1725, a reward of five florins was offered at
Hechingen to the captor of a cobold, a nix, etc.
Neither old age nor tender youth escaped. At Wolfen-
buttel, in 1591, a woman a hundred and six years of age was
burned; in Augsburg, A.D. 1688, a girl aged twenty, who
was accused of having practiced magic since her sixth year;
and, A.D. 1694, a woman aged eighty-four, since her tenth.
These accusations were generally made for the purpose of
gain, either by confiscation of property or by perquisites.
The trial of witches was equally profitable to the judge, the
advocate, and the executioner. A deacon of Mayence caused
upward of three hundred people in the villages of Crotzen-
burg and Burgel to be sent to the stake on a charge of witch-
craft for no other purpose than that of adding their property
to his cathedral. Executions in the mass were of frequent
occurrence. Julius of Brunswick boasted of having planted
a whole forest of stakes, near Wolfenbuttel, for the execu-
tion of witches. John, archbishop of Treves, sentenced the
women in such numbers to the stake, in 1585, that in two
districts but two remained; in 1589, he condemned Flade,
the rector of the university of Treves, as a sorcerer, and, in
1593, thirty witches at Montabaur. Adolf, bishop of Augs-
burg, A.D. 1627, sentenced forty- two women to be burned on
one occasion, and, during the whole of his government, sent
two hundred and nineteen witches and wizards, among which
were four canons, eight vicars, one doctor, eighteen little
schoolboys, a blind girl, another girl nine years of age, with
her infant sister, to the stake. The bishop of Bamberg con-
demned six hundred witches, the «rchbishop of Salzburg
ninety-seven, in 1678, to be burned, on account of a great
epidemic among the cattle. One of +.he curators of the
bishop of Freisingen extirpated almost all the women in
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION
the neighborhood of the castle of Werdenfels. In 1651,
one hundred and two people were burned at Zuckmantel
in Silesia; among others, children of one to six years of
age, who were said to be the offspring of the devil.
At Ncerdlingen, between 1590 and 1594, thirty-two inno-
cent women were burned as witches at the instigation of
Pferinger, the fanatical burgomaster. The case of Rebecca
Lemp, a paymaster's wife, who was universally honored as
a virtuous wife and mother, excited the greatest compassion ;
her trial and touching letters have been published by Weng.
The representations of her husband, the entreaties of her
tender children as they clung around her, the testimony of
her neighbors, were alike unavailing ; she was condemned to
the stake. The whole of these unfortunates steadily denied
the truth of the accusation until forced by the rack to assent
to all the questions put to them by the executioner. The
thirty-third, Maria Holl, the wife of an innkeeper, however,
heroically withstood fifty-six tortures of the most painful
description without confessing ; the people rose in her favor
and even the clergy prohibited the continuance of this scene
of horror ; the lawyers finally, but very unwillingly, yielded,
and the city of Ulm, of which Maria Holl was a native, in-
terceding for her in the diet, she was restored to her friends. '
Similar cruelties are to be met with in the history of Sieg-
burg, where the fanatical Dr. Baumann conducted the trials
from 1636 to 1638. Nails were, for instance, thrust into the
moles and other flesh marks discovered on the bodies of the
unfortunate women, in order to deprive the devil of his power
over them. — The Jesuit, Frederick Spee, saw such a number
of witches burned in Paderborn that he was struck with hor-
ror, and his hair is said to have turned white in one night
from sorrow for the fate of one of the victims, whom he had
accompanied as spiritual adviser to the pile. In 1631, he
published a work, in which he exhorted all the princes and
people in authority to put a stop to these horrors. One single
1 Weng, The Trial of the "Witches at Noerdlingen.
1122 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
judge belonging to this district had condemned five hundred
witches to the stake.
Cornelius Loos, the priest of Mayence, who declared the
belief in witchcraft an error, was compelled by close impris-
onment to retract, but, unable to overcome the dictates of his
conscience, reiterated his entreaties for mercy toward the
wretched women, whose innocence he again asserted, and
was once more incarcerated. Tanner, the Bavarian Jesuit,
was, on discovering a similarly humane spirit, denounced as
a wizard. The Dutchmen, Wyerus and Bekker, were unable
to check the prevailing superstition of the age. The piles
smoked until far into the eighteenth century. In 1701, seven
witches and one wizard were burned at Zurich; in 1714, on
the Heinzenberg in the Grisons, a girl sixteen years of age
suffered; in 1725, there was an execution at Hechingen; in
1731, nine corpses were burned at Olmutz owing to a notion
of their being vampires, who sucked the blood of sleepers ; in
1744, five witches were chained in a great tun, tortured and
burned, at Tepperbuden, near Kolditz, in Lower Silesia; in
1750, Renate Senger, prioress of the convent of Unterzell
in Wurzburg, was beheaded and burned as a witch; in 1754,
a girl of thirteen was beheaded for a witch in Bavaria; in
1755, another, aged fourteen, suffered at Landshut. In the
same year, twenty corpses were burned in Moravia, and,
A.D. 1783, Anna Gceldlin, the last of the witches, was
burned at Glarus in Switzerland.
CCXIX. Poetry and Art
ON the fall of the Hohenstaufen, poetry declined, and
the song of the Minnesinger ceased with the breath of the
youthful Conradin. The enthusiastic feelings of the poet of
olden times ill suited an atmosphere imbued with egotism
and grovelling policy. The German, since the days of the
emperor Kudolph, had been reduced to the prose of every-
day life.
At the close of the fourteenth century, chivalric poetry
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1123
ceased with Teichner and Suchenwirt, two noble Austrians,
attached to the court. Hugo von Montfort and "Wolfen^
steiner the Blind, a noble Tyrolese, are, up to the fifteenth
century, the last of this school. The Minnesingers were suc-
ceeded by the civic master-singers, who carried on verse-
making professionally in the cities and regulated the art
according to prescribed laws. The characteristics of master-
singing are pedantry and want of taste whenever the poet
attempts a more elevated flight, while it ever more nearly
attains excellence as it assimilates itself to the popular style.
Most of the popular ballads that were sung in the streets,
and some of which bear the impress of high antiquity, be-
came general after the Reformation on the gradual dissolu-
tion of the master-singing guilds; these ballads, often vul-
gar, but still oftener of infinite pathos and harmony, are the
best specimens of the poetry of the age. The composers of
most of them were obscure travelling students or soldiers. To
these belong the lays sung by the Flagellants, and numerous
sacred songs, either original or translated from the Latin,
borrowed from the Hussites and collected by Luther, who
added to them some fine productions of his own. The whole
of these songs were unrestricted by the rules prescribed by
the guilds.
The first master-singers, Henry von Muglin and Musca-
blut, had numerous followers. Almost every town had its
singer guild, and the most celebrated among the masters
invented melodies or measures, which they distinguished by
pompous epithets, and which merely aimed at the accurate
measurement of the syllables. An inflated allegory, a pe-
dantic moral, enigmas and sometimes ribaldry, formed their
contents. The martial deeds of the time, even the most glo-
rious, those of the Swiss and Ditmarses, were sung in the
same wearisome measure and were disfigured by the pedantic
versification composed in their praise. The Swiss ballads of
Vitus Weber form an exception, and, like those of Ulric von
Hutten of later date, breathe the free spirit of the mountains.
The Thewrdank of Melchior Pfinzing proves the utter failure
1124 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
of the master-singers in epic poetry. The idea of describing
Maximilian, emperor of Germany, who was ever helplessly
entangled in the political intrigues of the day, as a knight of
the olden time of fable and romance, was an anachronic
affectation. False sublimity became for the first time in-
herent in German poetry. The peasants' war, the feuds of
Nuremberg, those of Wurtemberg, were feebly sung. The
legends, in which the spirit of the Minnesinger is still per-
ceptible, are somewhat better; for instance, the Apollonius
of Tyrlandt by Henry von Neustadt, the French King's
Daughter by Buhler, the Moorish Girl by Hermann von
Sachsenheim, etc., above all, the collection of amusing le-
gends under the title of "The Seven "Wise Masters," and
those of Dr. Faust, of Fortunatus, and of the Venusberg,
so characteristic of the age. The ever-increasing lust for
wealth and pleasure is well and tragically represented in
these last-mentioned legends. There were, besides these,
numerous older legends from the book of heroes, of the holy
Graal, etc., which were reduced to prose, and in this age ap-
peared all the little popular books, which, in homely prose,
repeated the contents of the finest of the ancient heroic bal-
lads. Modern romances and novels in prose made their first
appearance in Swabia. Nicolas von Wile, town-clerk of
Esslingen, and Albert von Eyb were the first translators or
writers of love-tales in prose, to which they were prompted
by jEneas Sylvius, in imitation of Italian literature. Spee,
a lyric poet in the spirit of the old Minnesingers, appeared
at a later period, A.D. 1635, in Bavaria.
The transition to learned poesy caused the Dutch Rede-
rykers (rhetoricians), who had already acquired a false taste
for classical refinement, to compose didactic and satirical
poems in the spirit of the Reformers. They formed them-
selves into chambers, which, for some time, had an ex-
tremely democratic bias. John of Leyden was one of these
Rederykers. Anna Byms, on the other hand, gained for her-
self the title of the Sappho of Brabant by her coarse satires
against Luther. Just van den Vondel was the best Dutch
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1125
poet. — The learned humanists imitated the poetry of the an-
cients. These Latin university and court-poets deemed them-
selves far superior to all others and pretended to the bor-
rowed Italian custom of being crowned with laurel. This
ceremony was performed either by the emperor in person, or
by his proxy, the Pfalzgraf . But few among these poets-
laureate deserved the honor. Even the celebrated Celtes
was distinguished more by his inclination for the study of
the ancients than for his poetry. The rest of the laureates
have been with justice consigned to oblivion. Their stilted
Latin verses are unreadable and merely show the gulf that,
even at that period, separated the princes and the learned
world from the people, and the foolish assumption of princes
in dispensing fame that public opinion can alone bestow.
The poets-laureate were sensible of the fallacy of their posi-
tion ; they perceived the necessity of assimilating themselves
with the people, and, under the celebrated Opitz, again be-
gan to sing in German, but still retained their antique forms,
ideas, and imagery. This was the commencement of mod-
ern poetry. One Latin poet alone, the Dutchman, Johannes
Secundus, A.D. 1536, distinguished himself by his verses in
imitation of Ovid. Among the literary follies of the day
were the poems of Pierius, one of which, in honor of Christ,
was composed of words commencing with C; the other, in
honor of the emperor Maximilian, of words commencing
with M.
The satirical poems against papacy, foreign policy, the
loose morality and hypocrisy of the age, are the best that
appeared during the Reformation. Sarcasm and ridicule
were the only weapons with which more elevated minds
could attack the general depravity. The master-singer,
Hans Rosenpliit, who delineated a "king in his bath" and
an "amorous priest," was one of the earliest of the satirical
writers of the fourteenth century. An extremely popular
work, "Liber Vagatorum," turned the begging orders into
ridicule. A collection of "Merry Tales of the Parson of the
Calenberg" showed the priest as a man and a boon compan-
1128 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
ion. The Reformation came and added force to the sar-
casms hurled against the clergy. Alberus wrote the Alcoran
of the begging monks; Fischart, the Roman Beehive. The
latter translated Rabelais from the French, with numerous
additions in an original style, highly genial in the midst of
its bombast. Ulric von Hutten was also the author of sev-
eral excellent satires. Theological coarseness and common-
place, however, crept in at a later period, as may be seen in
the "Monk's Ass" of Albanus, etc. — The time for political
satires had not yet arrived, the princes being exclusively oc-
cupied with politics, the people with religion and morality.
The age of the Reformation, consequently, produced merely
one political satire, but one that has not been yet surpassed,
the famous Reinecke de Vos (Reinecke Fuchs), a fable, in
which King Lion holds his court, and the cunning fox (Ital-
ian policy) contrives to manage affairs with such clever mal-
ice, that right and innocence are ever oppressed, and violence
and cunning ever triumph. The materials of this fable are
old and are derived from the heathen fable. They were
first transformed into a satirical poem, in the Netherlands,
during the twelfth century, and were several times after-
ward translated and revised; but it was not until the six-
teenth century, when the taste for satirical poetry increased,
that it was made generally known, by Nicolas Baumann's
translation from the Dutch of William de Madoc into Low
German, when it became a national work. — Sebastian Brand
amusingly described all the follies of public and private life
in his time, in his celebrated "Ship of Fools," and Erasmus
published, in Latin, his "Praise of Folly." In Lower Sax-
ony, the Koker (the quiver full of shafts of wit) appeared,
and Burkhard Waldis distinguished himself by his fables;
Pauli collected merry tales, A.D. 1578. Agricola of Berlin
acquired great note by a collection of German proverbs.
The humanists also brought imitations of the ancient satires
into vogue. Homer's War between the Frogs and Mice was,
for instance, copied in Rollenhagen's "FroschmoBUsler," and
in Schnurr's "War between the Ants and Flies"; Rollen-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1127
hagen, in his ' ' Italian Travels, ' ' also attempted an imitation
of the fabulous narrations of Lucian; "The Merry Journey
of the Sparrow-hawk Knight, ' ' may also be cited. The in-
creasing coarseness of the sixteenth century, consequent on
the religious contest, gradually infected satire with low ob-
scenity, and there appeared a Latin "Fleaad," a German
"Fleabait," an "Ass-king," an "Asinine Nobility and the
Triumph of the Sow," etc. Dedekind's "Grobianus," a
satire levelled against the coarseness and vulgarity of the
age, best describes this period. The celebrated Lalenbook
of 1597 is a capital satire upon the little imperial free towns.
The peasantry were even an object of satire. Rosenplut, the
civic master-singer, ridiculed the "wealthy peasant," who
strove to raise himself above his station, and Reithart pub-
lished his merry "Frolics with the Peasants." The peas-
ants, however, took up the lash in their turn, and the reac-
tion of peasant wit against the higher classes gave rise, in
the fifteenth century, to the famous popular work "The
Eulenspiegel," a collection of witty, coarse, often obscene
anecdotes, attributed to a waggish boor, whose original may
perhaps have in reality existed. The force of this unpretend-
ing but cutting satire lay in the natural sagacity with which
the over-wisdom of the merchants, professors, doctors,
judges, clergy, nobility, and princes was unmasked and
derided, and the low malice contained in it is merely the
national expression of a hatred naturally felt by the peasant
in his state of degradation.
Theatrical representations had come into vogue since the
council of Constance. At first they merely consisted of mys-
teries, biblical scenes, and allegories; afterward, of profane
plays, during the carnival. The master-singer corporation
of Nuremberg particularly distinguished itself in the latter.
It was here that Rosenplut, or the fly-catcher, and Hans
Volz flourished. Hans Sachs, the cobbler of Nuremberg,
A.D. 1576, who left behind him five folio volumes, chiefly
filled with dialogues, comedies, and tragedies, however, sur-
passed all the rest. He was a friend of Luther, was replete
1128 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
with talent, and unshackled by prejudice. Biblical and
universal history, ancient mythology and German legend,
every-day life and allegory, were the rich materials on which
he worked; but in his pieces the scenes follow with startling
rapidity, the dialogue is comparatively meagre, and the
whole more resembles a rapid succession of tableaux- vi vans
than a play. With the exception of the little and generally
highly-finished farces and dialogues, which contain but few
characters, all his great historical pieces are simply sketches ;
their happy choice and management, and the charm that
ever lay in the subject, whether the composition were more
or less elaborate, rendered them, nevertheless, highly popu-
lar. Sachs had numerous imitators, the most celebrated of
whom, toward the close of the sixteenth century, was Jacob
Ayrer of Nuremberg, who, however, shared the increasing
grossness of the taste of the times and delighted in scenes of
blood and obscenity (Opus Theatricum, 1618). Henry Julius,
the poetical duke of Brunswick, his contemporary, greatly
advanced the German stage. — Political comedies also took
the place of the carnival farces in the republican-spirited im-
perial free towns. The depravity of the courts was, for in-
stance, derided in the "Court Devil," the scholastics, in the
"Academical Devil," the sale of dispensations, in the "Tet-
zelocramia," the intemperance and immorality of German
manners at that period, in the "German Glutton." Na-
tional history was also brought upon the stage. The "Siege
of Weinsberg," or "Woman's Faith"; "Luther's Life"; the
"Christian Knight of Eisleben"; the "Muntzer Peasant
War"; the "Clausensturm," or "The Victory of the Elector
Maurice over the Emperor"; and a tragedy, "Wallenstein
and Gustavus," were represented. The Lutherans ridiculed
the Calvinists in a " Cal vinistic Post-boy. ' ' During the thirty
years' war, the promotion of unity among the Protestants was
attempted by a "Swedish Treaty"; and, in 1647, "Peace-
wishing Germany," an intimation to the ambassadors at
Osnabruck and Munster to accelerate the proclamation of
peace, was publicly represented. Pastoral poetry, hi imita-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1129
tion of Guarini, the Italian poet, who had followed in the
footsteps of Theocritus, was, at that period, also generally
cultivated, the imagination, in those warlike and disturbed
times, dwelling with delight on ideal scenes of innocence
and peace. The German stage was, however, unfortunately
neglected on that account by the most distinguished literati
of the day. The celebrated Frischlin, Naogeorg, and other
savants of the sixteenth century composed elegant Latin
plays.
External life lost much of its former beauty. The mode
of dress became more and more bizarre and foreign. The
Spaniard introduced the stiff collar and pointed hat; the
Swiss, puffs, plaits, and slashes; and the Frenchman, the
allonge peruke, an ell in length.
The fine creations of Gothic architecture remained in an
unfinished state. The religious enthusiasm that had founded
those wondrous edifices had died away before their comple-
tion. The mighty Cologne cathedral stood incomplete; of
the Strasburg minster one tower had been finished in 1439 by
John Hulz, the other was forsaken. Ulm cathedral shared
the same fate. Merely the richest towns, particularly those
in the Netherlands, completed their unfinished churches;
and, under the pious Habsburgs, the great tower of St. Ste-
phen at Vienna was first begun, in 1407, by Anton Pilgram.
The second tower is still unbuilt. The taste for building
passed away with the Reformation ; more zeal was displayed
in robbing and destroying, than in raising, churches. The
church had become the slave of the court, and the faithful
Jesuits were, by court favor, alone in a position to build
great temples and palaces in a bad Italian style, devoid of
sublimity or harmony, which was also adopted in the castles
of the princes.
Painting rose as architecture declined. Human nature
and earthly objects were studied instead of the supernatural
and divine. In the Netherlands, in the commencement of
the fifteenth century, John van Eyck, the inventor of oil-
painting, and his brother Hubert, surpassed all the artists
1130 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
of their time. Besides depth and strength of coloring, they
first gave increased life to their figures and richness to their
groups. These brothers were succeeded by Hans Hemling,
an artist of great merit ; in the sixteenth century, by Scho-
reel, Lucas von Leyden, and Quintin Messis, a smith, who,
for love of an artist's daughter, studied her father's art, in
which he attained great excellence. A high German school,
closely allied with the Dutch, and in which Albert Durer in
Nuremberg, A.D. 1508, Hans Holbein in Basel, A.D. 1554,
and gentle Lucas Cranach, the stanch friend of the true-
hearted elector of Saxony, A.D. 1553, surpassed all other
contemporary artists, was formed at this period. The
religious feeling of the age is impressed on the produc-
tions of all these artists, and the epic character of the
pictures of earlier date, which, crowded with innumerable
dwarf -like forms, contained, like the earlier theatrical rep-
resentations, a whole history from beginning to end, was
gradually lost.
Painting on glass was also carried to perfection in the
fifteenth century. This art was cultivated exclusively in
Germany, more particularly in the Netherlands, whence the
artists were summoned to adorn the dark domes of other
countries with their magic creations. Franz was, in 1436,
sent for from Lubeck for the purpose of ornamenting the
churches of Florence with painted glass.
When art flourished at Nuremberg, when Hans Sachs
sang and Durer painted, sculpture was raised to a higher
degree of perfection by Kraft and Peter Vischer.
The religious struggle had been unfavorable to art. What
the iconoclast had respected had, during the thirty years'
war, almost without exception, been destroyed by the sol-
diery. The wealthy Dutch alone cultivated art, but their
style had become entirely profane, and, generally speaking,
vulgar. Nature suddenly threw off the shackles imposed by
the church. The great artist, Peter Paul Rubens, A.D. 1640,
took his models from life, gave warmth and vigor to his
coloring, and preferred battle-pieces and voluptuous scenes.
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1131
Although the founder of the profane Flemish school, he sur-
passes all his successors in vigor and warmth.
The art of engraving was invented about the middle of
the fifteenth century, it is uncertain whether in Italy or Ger-
many. Israel of Mechlin was one of the first engravers; to
him succeeded Martin Schoen ; the celebrated painter, Albert
Durer, was also distinguished as an engraver, besides Gol-
zius, Muller, Vischer, etc., and Merian.
A school of music as well as of painting, the precursor to
the great Italian school of the sixteenth century, was founded
in the Netherlands in the fifteenth century. The greatest
master was John Ockeghem (Ockenheim), who died at a
great age, in 1513. He greatly improved counterpoint com-
position. Besides him, Jacob Hobrecht and Bernhardt the
German, who, in 1470, invented the pedal to the organ, flour-
ished at Venice. Since their time, numbers of German mu-
sicians crossed the Alps and taught the Italians, as, for in-
stance, Henry the German (Arrigo Tedesco), chapel-director
to Maximilian I. In Germany, Adam of Fulda, Hermann
Fink, and the blind Paulmann, flourished at Nuremberg.
In the commencement of the sixteenth century, the Dutch-
man, Adrian Willaert, greatly advanced the art by his com-
positions on a more extensive scale for voices, the first step
toward the opera. Italy was, however, again the scene of
this triumph, and, shortly afterward, Palestrina raised sacred
music, and Montaverde that of the opera, to their present
state, and the merit of their German teachers was obscured
by the brilliancy of their fame. Good masters were, not-
withstanding, not wanting in Germany. Luther promoted
church music, and the princes patronized the opera. In
1628, Sagittarius (Schutz) composed the first German opera,
"Daphne," a translation from the Italian, for the elector of
Saxony. The German courts were at this period overrun
with Italian singers and chapel-directors.
1132 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
CCXX. Histories and Travels
THE discovery of the art of printing had, as early as the
fifteenth century, given a great impulse to historical writing.
The monk no longer wrote in his lonely cell ; the princes took
historiographers into their service for the purpose of handing
down their deeds to posterity or of eternalizing the renown
of their house and of defending its claims ; the cities luxu-
riated in their great records, and history was begun to be
taught as a science at the universities.
Universal Chronicles were written in the fourteenth cent-
ury by John von "Winterthur and Albert of Strasburg; in
the fifteenth, by Engelhusen, Edward Dynter, an English-
man, author of the celebrated Chron. Belgicum Magnum,
Gobelimus Persona, Werner Rolewink, John ab Indagine
(agen), Schedel, Steinhoavel, Nauclerus, Cuspinianus; in
the sixteenth, by Amandus von Ziriksee and Sebastian
Frank, the Anabaptist. The last Universal Chronicle, or-
namented with engravings, a popular work, was written by
Gottfried. The first systematic Manual of Universal His-
tory, the celebrated Carionis Chronicon, also appeared.
Megerlein of Basel treated universal history in a religious
point of view; Boxhorn, the Dutchman, in a political one.
Reineccius of Helmstaedt, the first historical critic, intro-
duced the mode of historical writing, of encumbering the
text with notes and citations, that was afterward generally
adopted. — The collections of old historical works also began
in the sixteenth century, the Scriptores Rerum Germanica-
rum, the first by Hervagius, the Basel printer, A.D. 1532,
which was followed by those of Schardius, Reuberus, Pis-
torius, Urstisius (Wurstisen), and Lindenbrog; in the seven-
teenth century, by those of Goldast, who wrote the history
of Swabia and on the affairs of the empire, and Freher, who
also reviewed all the German historians. Separate portions
of the earlier histories were also revised. Trithemius, the
abbot of Hirsau, besides writing the Chronicle of his monas.
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1133
tery, important in reference to the history of Swabia, threw
great light upon the earlier history of the Franks. In the
fifteenth century, Ruxner wrote the great Tournament Book,
whence may be collected a history of the different noble
houses of Germany ; in the seventeenth, Zinkgreff published
an amusing collection of historical anecdotes, Apophtheg-
mata, or witty German sayings.
Notwithstanding the numerous historians of the times,
the accounts of the most important events remained buried
in the archives. Theodore von Niem produced a biography
of the pope, John XXIII. Ulric von Reichenthal, Gebhard
Dacher, and Vrie wrote upon the council of Constance ; Ut-
tenheim, upon that of Basel ; Windec wrote the Life of Sig-
mund; Boregk and Hageck, Petrus Abbas, de Weitmuhl,
the History of Bohemia; Theobald, Cochlaeus, Brzezina, in
particular, on the Hussite war. The writings of JEneas
Sylvius supply rich matter for history, particularly the long
reign of Frederick III. ; Grumbech also gave an account of
this emperor, and Eitelwolf von Stein one of the Venetian
war. On being complimented for his fine description of this
war, he replied, "If only it had been better conducted!"
Pirkheimer wrote on the Swiss war. The histories of
Charles V. and of the commencement of the Reformation
have been most ably penned by Sleidanus von Sleida. Seck-
endorf and Chytraeus treated of the diet of Augsburg and the
Augsburg Confession; Spalatinus, of the share taken by Sax-
ony in the Reformation. The autobiographies of Gcetz von
Berlichingen and Sebastian Schertlin are highly worthy of
remark, as well as von Reisner's Life of George von Frunds-
berg. The most important histories of the sixteenth century
are those of Paulus Jovius, Perizonius, Surius, and the cele-
brated Frenchman Thuanus (du Thou). The thirty years'
war found numerous commentators, all of whom, however,
are silent as to the most important facts. The principal
works on this period are: the Annales Ferdinandei, by
Count Khevenhiller; the Swedish War, by Chemnitz; the
Theatrum Europseum, commenced by Gottfried; the history
1134 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Pereecutionis Bohemicss, the "History of the League," the
"Laurel Wreath of War," Le Soldat Suedois of Spanheim,
Burgi Mars Sueo-Germanicus, Arlanisaei arma Suecica,
Gualdo, Lotichius, Lundorpius, Piasecius, Langwitzer, and
Waffenberg, who surnamed himself the German Floras.
On Frederick of Bohemia, see Eblanius and the French
Memoirs of Fontenoy ; on Ferdinand II. , the Status Regni
Ferd. and Father Lamormain; on "Wallenstein, Priorato
and the Perduellonis Chaos; on Tilly, Liborius Vulturnus;
on Gustavus Adolphus, Burgus, Hallenberg, and the con-
temporary Swedish historians. Volmar wrote the Diary of
the Peace of "Westphalia. As early as the sixteenth cent-
ury, Hasenmuller had written a History of the Jesuits.
There were, moreover, innumerable pamphleteers.
The greater portion of historical works and by far the
most important among them were the provincial histories.
On Austria, in the sixteenth century, wrote Wolfgang Laz-
ius, De Roo, Cuspinianus (Spiesshammer), Fugger, the au-
thor of the Austrian Mirror of Chivalry, Pesel, that of the
Siege of Vienna. — On Bavaria, in the fourteenth century,
Volcmar; in the fifteenth, Aventinus (Thummayer), An-
dreas Presbyter, an unknown chronicler in Pollingen, an
analist of Tegernsee and Hoffman; in the sixteenth, Welser,
Hund, Eaderus (Bavaria sacra) ; in the seventeenth, Brun-
ner and Adlzreiter (Vervaux). On the Tyrol, in the four-
teenth century, Goswin; in the sixteenth, Kirchmayr; dur-
ing the thirty years' war, Burglechner (The Tyrolean Eagle),
Maximilian, Count von Mohr, and two brothers, Barons von
Wolkenstein. — On Swabia appeared, besides Goldast's Col-
lection of German Historians, in the fifteenth century, Ly-
rer's fabulous Swabian Chronicle, a History of Augsburg
by Gossenprot, and one of the city of Ellwangen; in the
sixteenth century, Crusius's great Swabian Chronicle, a His-
tory of Augsburg by Gosser, another of the city of Constance
by Manlius, and BebePs Praise of Swabia. — On Switzerland
wrote, in the fifteenth century, Hsemmerlin and Etterlyn,
Frickhard published "The Struggle with the Despots," Schil-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1135
ling, his admirable account of the Burgundian War, and
Justinger, the Bernese Chronicle, continued by Tschachtlan ;
in the sixteenth century, appeared the great Chronicles of
Tschudi and Stumpf, a History of Berne by Eysat, of St.
Gall by Vadianus, of the Grisons by Anhorn, Pachaly, and
Guler von Weineck, of Basel by Wurstisen, and a Chronicle
by Stettler. — On the History of Franconia, we find, in the
fourteenth century, BiedefePs Chronicle of Hesse, Kcenigs-
hoven's Alsace, Gensbein's admirably written Hamburg
Chronicle, the celebrated account of the Holy City of Co-
logne, printed in 1499; and, in the seventeenth century, the
good Chronicle of Spires by Lehmann, and an excellent work
upon Treves by Browerus.
In respect to the history of the Netherlands, appeared the
writings of Olivier de la Marche, Castellarius, Heuterus and
Plancher on Burgundy, those of de Smet and Meyerus on
Flanders, of Harseus on Brabant, of Snoi and Scriverius
on Holland. The war of liberation in the Netherlands has
been related by Bor, Reydt, Leo ab Aitzema, Meteren, van
Hooft, Strada, Guicciardini, and Bentivoglio. — Beninga, Ubbo
Emmius, and Siccama, who published the Laws of Ancient
Friesland, wrote upon that country, and, in the sixteenth
century, Neocorus published a History of the Ditmarses.
The principal works upon Lower Saxony were, in the four-
teenth century, the Chronicle of Hermann Cornerus of Lu-
beck; in the fifteenth, Botho's Chronicles of the Sassen, and
Albert Crantz's Saxonia et Vandalia; in the sixteenth, the
History of Detmar and Reimar by Koch of Lubeck, that of
Cleves by Teschenmacher, that of Brunswick in the fifteenth
century; that of Stadtwig by Propendyk and the Luneburg
Chronicle. Pomarius, Reineccius, and Meibomius were the
historiographers of Upper Saxony; Albinus and Broutuff
wrote upon Misnia in the sixteenth century, Spangenberg
upon Mansfeld, Torquatus and Pomarius (Baumgarten)
upon Magdeburg. — In the fifteenth century, appeared Von
Rothe's admirable Chronicle of Thuringia. In the sixteenth
century, Eisenloher of Breslau published a History of Silesia,
1136 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
and in the seventeenth, Schickf uss and Henelius. On Meck-
lenburg, see Mylius's History in the sixteenth century, Hed-
erich's History of Schwerin, and Lindenbrog's of Rostock.
On Pomerania, see Kanzaw's fine Chronicle, a work by Bu-
genhagen, an excellent Chronicle of Stralsund by Berkmann ;
in the seventeenth century, the History of Pomerania by
Micraelius. On Prussia, in the fifteenth century, see John
von Lindenblatt; in the sixteenth, Runovius, Caspar Schutz,
and Lucas David. — On Livonia, in the thirteenth century,
Ditlebvon Altneke; in the sixteenth, Russowen and Hiserne;
in the seventeenth, Strauch and Menius. Kelch wrote a
Chronicle of Dorpat. Petrejus's History of Moscow may
also be included.
The German travellers who enriched Germany with their
descriptions of distant parts of the globe next come under
consideration. The Holy Land was at first diligently ex-
plored. Rauwolf, Baumgarten, Breuning von Buchenbach,
and Porsius, who wrote an account of a Persian war in verse,
penetrated, in the sixteenth century, further eastward, some
of them as far as Persia; in the seventeenth century, Gentius
examined all the libraries in Constantinople and for the first
time translated Saadi's Gulistan from the Persian ; there were
also Olearius, the Holstein ambassador, who crossed Russia
to Persia, Troilo, and Strauss. Peter Heyling of Lubeck
penetrated into Abyssinia, where he married a near relative
of the king, and, in 1647, translated the Gospel of St. John
into the Amhar tongue. — At the close of the sixteenth cent-
ury, the Dutch first circumnavigated the world, Van Noort
in 1598, Schouten in 1615, etc. They were accompanied by
other Germans, who often gave an account of their voyages
to the world, as, for instance, George von Spielberg in 1614,
and Deker of Strasburg in 1626. These voyages round the
world became, in the seventeenth century, regular commer-
cial trips to the East Indies ; see, for instance, those of Van
der Brock, Matelief, Bonteku, Saar, etc. Numerous other
German travellers, Wurfbain of Nuremberg, a Baron von
Mandelslohe from Mecklenburg, von Boy of Frankfort, Merk-
INTERNAL STATE DURING REFORMATION 1137
lin, Kirwitzer, Vogel, and Ziegenbalk also visited the East.
The German Jesuits also penetrated as far as China, where
they gained many converts, and, by their adroitness, the
favor of the lord of the Celestial Empire. The first of that
order who visited China was Adam Schall, the most cele-
brated, Verbiest, A.D. 1668. John Gruber published an ac-
count of China in 1661.
One of the most distinguished of the great western dis-
coverers was Martin Behaim of Nuremberg, who enjoyed
great repute as a mathematician at the court of John, king
of Portugal, improved the astrolabe for the use of mariners,
and was a friend of Columbus, whose faith in the existence
of a continent in the West he greatly tended to strengthen.
Behaim made voyages of discovery to the African coast, was
knighted by the king, and became a wealthy landed proprie-
tor in the island of Fayal, one of the Azores, by a marriage
with the daughter of a Dutchman, Jobst von Hurter, who
held that island in fee, and founded there the city named
after him, Villa da Horto. One of Behaim's globes is still
shown at Nuremberg. — The new continent discovered by
Columbus received the name of America in Germany, from
a certain Waldseemuller of Freiburg in the Breisgau, who
studied geography at St. Die in Lorraine, under the protec-
tion of the Duke Rene, and, ignorant of the existence of
Columbus, published four voyages of Amerigo Vespucci,
whose name acquired celebrity as that of the discoverer of
the new continent, before the Spaniards became aware of the
circumstance.1 — Shortly after the discovery of the sea pas-
sage to the East Indies, and after that of America, some
wealthy Augsburg merchants made great commercial trips
thither. The Fuggers, as early as 1505, sent a fleet to Cali-
cut in the East Indies. In 1528, the Welsers sent another
to explore the western coasts of America, hitherto uninves-
tigated, and their servant, Dalfinger of Ulm, became the
1 Vespucci was totally ignorant of the honor that had been paid to him. He
was a man of unpretending character, extremely devoted to Columbus, from
whose merit he was far from wishful to detract. Waldseemuller cannot either
be blamed, for he had never heard of Columbus. — Humboldt.
GERMANY. VOL. III.— 10
1138 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
founder and the first governor of Valparaiso. Bartholemy
Welser, grandfather to the celebrated Philippina, was in-
vested by the emperor Charles V. with the eastern coast of
America, in return for a loan of twelve tons of gold. Dai-
finger, hearing that an immense palace of pure gold had
been built in the interior of the country, went in search of
it, during his visit exercised unheard-of cruelties upon the
natives, and was, on his return, slain by a poisoned arrow.
Almost the whole of his followers fell victims to the Indians
and to the climate. The Welser, nevertheless, retained pos-
session of Chili until the German colony was driven out by
the Spanish. — Philip von Hutten of Swabia and George of
Spires, whose accounts are still extant, assisted at the same
tune to conquer Mexico ; Schmidel of Straubing, who pub-
lished his extraordinary adventures, aided in raising Buenos
Ayres, 1535. The account given by the Jesuit, Strobel, of
his sojourn among the Patagonians, at the southernmost
point of America, is equally interesting. Marggravius wrote
an account of the natural wonders of the Brazils, A.D. 1644,
and Appollonius another of Florida and Peru. Fritz, the
German Jesuit, drew out, in 1690, an excellent map of the
river Amazon, where he established the first mission of his
order.
The study of geography was, in the fifteenth century,
greatly promoted by Schweinheim of Mayence, whose charts
were published, A.D. 1478, by Bucking, in a Ptolemsean edi-
tion at Rome. They are the first printed maps on record.
Martin Behaim's globe and maps of the world were anterior
to the discovery of America. The sixteenth century boasted
of Apianus (Bienewitz) Gemma, Loritus, Sebastian Munster,
but above all, of the Dutchman, Mercator, who introduced
the division of maps into degrees ; the seventeenth, of Cluver
of Dantzig, who greatly facilitated the study of ancient ge-
ography. Merian, the indefatigable engraver of Basel, A.D.
1651, who published copious accounts of the principal coun-
tries of Europe, adorned with copper-plates, was the best
topographer of the age.
AQE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1139
FOURTH PERIOD
MODERN TIMES
PART XX
THE AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH
CCXXI. Louis the Fourteenth
THE century subsequent to the peace of Westphalia is
distinguished as the age of Louis the Fourteenth,
that monarch being the sun by which it was illu-
mined, and whose splendor was reflected by all the courts
of Europe. The first revolution against the Middle Ages
was accomplished in him, by his subjection of the interests
of the aristocratic and inferior classes beneath his despotic
rule. He said with truth "Petat c'est moi," for entire
France, the country and the people, their arms, and even
their thoughts, were his. The sole object of the whole na-
tion was to do the will of their sovereign; "car tel est notre
plaisir" was the usual termination to his commands. The
magnificent chateau of Versailles, the abode of this terres-
trial deity, was peopled with mistresses and a countless troop
of parasites, on whom the gold drawn from the impover-
ished and oppressed people was lavished. The nobility and
clergy, long subject to their lord and king, shared the license
of the court and formed a numerous band of courtiers, while
men of the lower classes, whose superior parts had brought
them into note, were attached as philosophers, poets, and
1140 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
artists, to the court, the monarch extending his patronage
to every art and science prostituted by flattery.
The French court, although externally Catholic, was solely
guided by the tenets of the new philosophy, which were spread
over the rest of the world by the sonnets of anacreontic poets
and the bonmots of court savants. This philosophy set forth
that egotism was the only quality natural to man, that virtues
were but feigned, or, when real, ridiculous. Freedom from
the ancient prejudices of honor or religion, and carelessness
in the choice of means for the attainment of an object, were
regarded as proofs of genius. Immorality was the necessary
accompaniment of talent. Virtue implied stupidity; the
grossest license, the greatest wit. Vice became the mode,
was publicly displayed and admired. The first duty imposed
upon knighthood, the protection of innocence, was exchanged
for seduction, adultery, or nightly orgies, and the highest
ambition of the prince, the courtier or the officer was to en-
rich the chronique scandaleuse with his name. A courtier's
honor consisted in breaking his word, in deceiving maidens
and cheating creditors, in contracting enormous debts and in
boasting of their remaining unpaid, etc. ; nor was this de-
moralization confined to private life. The cabinet of Ver-
sailles, in its treatment of all the European powers, followed
the rules of this modern philosophy, as shown in the conduct
of the Parisian cavalier toward the citizens, their wives and
daughters, by the practice of rudeness, seduction, robbery,
and every dishonorable art. It treated laws, treaties, and
truth with contempt, and ever insisted upon its own infalli-
bility.
The doctrine that a prince can do no wrong had a mag-
ical effect upon the other sovereigns of Europe ; Louis XIV.
became their model, and the object to which most of them
aspired, the attainment, like him, of deification upon earth.
Even Germany, impoverished and weakened by her recent
struggle, was infected with this universal mania, and, A.D.
1656, John George II. began to act the part of a miniature
Louis XIV., in starving and desolate Saxony. A splendid
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1141
guard, a household on a more extensive scale, sumptuous
fetes, grandes battues, lion-hunts, theatricals, Italian operas
(a new mode, for which singers were, at great expense, im-
ported from Italy), regattas and fireworks on the Elbe, the
formation of expensive cabinets of art and of museums, were
to raise the elector of Saxony on a par with the great sov-
ereign of France, and, in 1660, the state becoming in conse-
quence bankrupt, the wretched Estates were compelled to
wrest the sums required to supply the pleasures of the prince
from his suffering people. To him succeeded, A. D. 1 680, John
George III., who spent all he possessed on his troops; then,
A.D. 1691, John George IV., who reigned until 1694, and
whose mistress, Sibylla von Neidschutz, reigned conjointly
with her mother over the country and plundered the people,
while his minister, Count von Hoymb, openly carried on a
system of robbery and extortion. — In Bavaria, A.D. 1679,
Ferdinand Maria followed the example of Saxony. The
miseries endured by the people during the thirty years' war
were forgotten by the elector, who erected Schleisheim (Lit-
tle Versailles), and Nymphenburg (Little Marly), and gave
theatrical entertainments and fetes, according to the French
mode. — He lived in most extraordinary splendor. Two hun-
dredweight and nineteen pounds of gold were expended on
the embroidery alone of his bed of state. His consort, Adel-
heid, a daughter of Victor Amadeus of Savoy, an extremely
bigoted princess, surpassed his extravagance in her gifts to
the churches. She long remained childless, and, on the birth
of that traitor to Germany, Maximilian Emanuel, caused the
celebrated Theatin church at Munich to be built by an Ital-
ian architect. She died before its completion, and it was
consequently finished on a less magnificent scale than the
original plan.
Ancient Spanish dignity was still maintained in the old
imperial house. Ferdinand III. closed the wounds inflicted
by the thirty years' war, and zealously endeavored, at the
diet held at Nuremberg, A.D. 1653, to regulate the affaire
of the empire, the imperial chamber, etc. ; but life could no
1142 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
longer be breathed into the dead body of the state, and no
emperor, since Ferdinand, has since presided in person over
the diet. — This monarch fell sick and died shortly after of
fright, occasioned by the fall of one of his guards, who had
snatched up the youngest prince in order to save him from a
fire that had burst out in the emperor's chamber. He was
succeeded by his son, Leopold "with the thick lip," who
was then in his eighteenth year. This prince, whose princi-
pal amusement during his childhood had been the erection of
miniature altars, the adornment of figures and pictures of
saints, etc., had, under the tuition of the Jesuit Neidhart,
grown up a melancholy bigot, stiff, unbending, punctilious,
and grave, devoid of life or energy.
The advantages gained by Louis XIV., by the treaty of
Westphalia, merely inspired him with a desire for the acqui-
sition of still greater. He even speculated upon gaining pos-
session of the imperial throne, and, with that intent, bribed
several of the princes, the elector, Charles Louis, of the Pfalz
(who was at that time enraged at the loss of the Upper Pfalz,
and, consequently, lent a willing ear to the perfidious coun-
sels of France), with a gift of one hundred and ten thousand
dollars, and Bavaria, Cologne, and Mayence, with sums sim-
ilar in amount. Saxony and Brandenburg, however, with-
stood the temptation, and the German crown was rescued
from the disgrace of adorning the brow of a foreign despot,
of Germany's most inveterate foe, to be placed on Leopold's
peruke, a miserable substitute for the golden locks of the
Hohenstaufen.
Louis, in revenge, formed, A.D. 1658, an anti-imperial
confederacy, the Lower Rhenish alliance. John Philip von
Schoenborn, elector of Mayence and archchancellor of the
empire, and his influential minister, Boineburg, who, bribed
by every court, played a double game, were particularly
active in forwarding his views, and conscientiously compen-
sated France for the part they had taken in the election of
the emperor, by the Rhenish confederation. The elector of
Cologne, the bishop of Munster, the princes of Brunswick-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1143
Luneburg and Hesse-Cassel were equally regardless of their
honor, and with Eberhard of Wurtemberg (notwithstanding
the opposition of his patriotic provincial Estates) counte-
nanced the predatory schemes of the French monarch. The
conduct of the Guelphs at that period was still more notori-
ously base. The sons of George von Luneburg, who had
succeeded him in Calenberg and Gcettingen, and their uncle,
Frederick, A.D. 1648, in Luneburg-Celle, divided these prov-
inces between them, the eldest, Christian Louis, taking Lune-
burg-Celle, the second, George William, Calenberg-Gcettin-
gen. The latter was generally out of the country, in Italy
or in France, where he imbibed all the vices of the court of
Versailles. Both the brothers were drawn over to the Gallo-
papal party by their third brother, John Frederick, who
made a public profession of Catholicism at Assisi and held
a conference with his elder brothers, A.D. 1652, in Perugia.
In 1665, he came to Germany and received Hanover, in ex-
change, from George William. The Catholic form of service
was instantly re-established. The Hanoverian Estates were
dismissed with the words, "I am emperor in my territories."
He received a monthly pension from France of ten thousand
dollars. The fourth brother,1 Ernest Augustus, who after-
ward succeeded to the whole of the family possessions, was
the only one faithful to the imperial cause. The object of
the Rhenish alliance was to hinder the emperor from inter-
fering with the projects of France upon the Spanish Nether-
lands, and with those of Sweden upon Brandenburg. The
attention of the youthful emperor was, moreover, also at
the instigation of France, occupied with a fresh attack on
the part of Turkey. Louis had thus spread his net on all
sides.
His first acquisition was a portion of the Netherlands,
which he annexed, A.D. 1653, to France. The war between
1 When a poor prince, he married, A.D. 1658, Sophia, the daughter of the
winter -king, Frederick, and of the beautiful Elisabeth Stuart, whose brother,
Charles I., was beheaded. And yet Ernest Augustus inherited the whole of
the possessions of his childless brothers, and his son, George, shortly afterward
mounted the throne of England.
1144 THE BISTORT OF GERMANY
France and Spain had been renewed with great vigor in
1653. The great Conde, at that time at strife with the still
omnipotent minister, Mazarin, and supported by the Duke of
Lorraine, had rebelled, had been defeated by Turenne, and
had fled to the Netherlands, where he fought at the head of
the Spaniards (as once Charles de Bourbon) against his coun-
trymen. His invasion of Picardy was checked by Turenne.
Spain robbed herself of a faithful confederate in Charles of
Lorraine, who lived riotously at Brussels, where he gained
such popularity as to excite the jealousy of the Spanish au-
thorities; this greatly diverted him, and he purposely gave
them offence, upon which Count Fuendelsagna, forgetful of
the fidelity with which he had long served against France,
caused him to be arrested and to be sent to Spain, A.D. 1654.
Louis instantly rose in his defence, attacked the Netherlands
and entered into alliance with Cromwell, who was then at
the head of the English republic, against Spain. Conde was
victorious at Valenciennes, A.D. 1656, but the empire offered
no aid to the Netherlands. The French besieged Dunkirk
(which had fallen into their hands in 1646 and had been
again ceded by the treaty of "Westphalia) for England, as the
price of Cromwell's alliance; Conde attempted to relieve
the city, but was surprised and defeated by Turenne in the
dams, A.D. 1658. The treaty of the Pyrenees followed, by
which Arras, Hesdin, and other towns were ceded to France,
the Infanta, Maria Theresa of Spain, was given in marriage
to Louis, with a dowry of three hundred thousand crowns of
gold, and the Duke of Lorraine, who naturally ever after-
ward sided with France, was restored to liberty. Dunkirk
fell to England, but, on Cromwell's death, was purchased by
Louis from Charles II. and strongly garrisoned with French;
and Dunkirk,1 as the name proves, a genuinely German
1 The Dunen, or dams, are high, broad walls of sand that protect the damp
bank against the violence of the waves. Stakes are run into the ground, and
osiers, branches, and wisps of straw are woven between them. The sea-sand
gradually settles in the interstices, and a second layer is then raised. Sea-grass,
which quickly springs up and binds the sand with its roots, is then sown on the
wall top.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1145
town, the western frontier town on the Northern Ocean,
with its splendid harbor, was thus lost to Germany and sold
by one foreign sovereign to another.
In Sweden, the Queen Christina, a voluptuous and fan-
tastical woman, had, from vanity and a love of eccentricity,
turned Catholic, voluntarily abdicated, A.D. 1654, in favor of
Charles Gustavus, prince of Pfalz-Zweibrucken-Birkenfeld,
who had, during the thirty years' war, acquired great popu-
larity among the Swedes, and fixed her residence at Rome.
On reaching Innsbruck, on her way thither, she unblushingly
made a public profession of Catholicism. She entered Rome
in a triumphal procession, borne in a sumptuous litter, ac-
companied by the archdukes, Ferdinand Charles and Sig-
mund Francis, on horseback; the papal legate, who had
come to meet her in order to welcome her to the bosom of
the holy church, was an adventurer from Hamburg, named
Lucas Holstein. She afterward laid her crown and sceptre on
the shrine of the Virgin at Loretto, observing of her crown,
as she did so, "Ne mi bisogna, ne mi basta." On the death
of Charles Gustavus she attempted to reascend the Swedish
throne.
Charles Gustavus, ambitious of earning a fame equal to
that of his great predecessor, Gustavus Adolphus, immedi-
ately on his accession declared war against Poland, but had
scarcely landed ere the Russians, under their Grandduke
Michael, invaded Livonia. Dantzig resisted the Swedes,
while Riga, the natural maritime city of Poland, with which
she was closely allied by her material interests, made a val-
iant defence against the Russians, who, being finally com-
pelled to raise the siege, revenged their disgrace by treating
the country people with the most atrocious cruelty. Women
and children were roasted alive, mutilated, and spitted on
pikes, etc.
Courland was garrisoned by Charles Gustavus, who ad-
vanced into Poland. Frederick William, elector of Bran-
denburg, actuated by a hope of gaining possession of
Swedish Pomerania, at first aided Casimir of Poland, but
1146 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
fortune no sooner declared in favor of Sweden than the
wily elector ranged himself on that side and assisted Charles
Gustavus in defeating the Poles near Warsaw, immediately
after which he again offered peace and his alliance to Casi-
mir on condition of that monarch's relinquishing his feudal
right over the duchy of Prussia. A treaty was concluded,
A.D. 1657, to this effect at Welau, and the elector, in order
to secure himself from the vengeance of the Swedes, incited
the Danes and Dutch to attack them and entered into alli-
ance with the emperor, Leopold, who despatched General
Montecuculi to his aid, and the new allies took possession
of Swedish Pomerania, while Charles Gustavus crossed the
Belt on the ice (two companies alone were drowned), be-
sieged Copenhagen and compelled Denmark to sign a treaty
of peace, A.D. 1658, which, on his return, was instantly in-
fringed, Denmark finding a new and potent ally in Holland,
which beheld the naval power of Sweden with jealousy, and
whose victorious fleet, commanded by de Ruyter, forced its
way through the Sound and almost annihilated that of Swe-
den under the eye of the king, who viewed the engagement
from the fortress of Kronenburg. This disaster proved fatal
to him. The treaty of Oliva was concluded shortly after his
death, A.D. 1660. The terms of this treaty were, notwith-
standing, favorable to Sweden and prove the respect uni-
versally felt for her power, Livonia, Esthonia, and CEsel
remaining in her possession and the great elector being com-
pelled to relinquish Swedish Pomerania. Charles Gustavus
had also succeeded in separating the Gottorp branch of the
Danish (Oldenburg) house from the royal line of Denmark.
Christian Albert, duke of Schleswig-Holstein, formerly vas-
sal to his cousin, the Danish monarch, raised himself, with
Sweden's aid, to sovereign power.
The Rhenish alliance, against which Frederick William
had energetically and publicly protested, was invalidated by
the conclusion of peace. Frederick William, in his mani-
festo, called upon the Germans to protect Poland "as one
of the bulwarks of the empire." His actions, however, little
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1147
accorded with his words — he aided to ruin that country for
the sake of a trifling advantage.
France, increasing in her endeavors to disturb the peace
of Germany, again incited Turkey to the attack, and, A.D.
1663, the grand vizier, Kiuprili, penetrated as far as Olmutz
in Moravia, laying the country waste as he advanced. Fort-
une had, however, given the emperor an admirable general
in Montecuculi, by whom the Turkish army was completely
routed in a pitched battle near St. Gotthard, A.D. 1664.
Montecuculi's favorite saying was, "Three things alone in-
sure victory, gold, gold, gold!" and by this means he cer-
tainly succeeded in enchaining her to his banner.
CCXXII. The Swiss Peasant War
THE thirty years' war had excited the passions of the
Swiss without producing any immediate or open demonstra-
tion. The wealth brought for security into the Alps by the
innumerable German refugees had introduced luxuries among
the mountaineers, which were favored by the more specula-
tive inhabitants of the cities, who lent the peasant money
on his land, and, by making him their debtor, and, conse-
quently, personally dependent, destroyed his political liberty.
On the termination of the thirty years' war and the conse-
quent return of the German refugees to their native country,
money became gradually more scarce, and the situation of
the peasantry more deplorable. Jacob "Wagenmann of Sur-
see wrote at this period, "consequently, driven to despair,
war appeared to them to offer the only means by which they
could at once and completely wipe off their debts. A pretext
was not long wanting. They declared that the provincial
governors were too severe, which was sometimes the case,
and that the laws favored the interests of their rulers more
than justice and the public weal." The people of Entlibuch,
who were dependent on Lucerne, and those of the Emmen-
thal, who were subservient to Berne, were, moreover, jealous
of the privileges enjoyed by their nearest neighbors in Unter-
1148 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
walden and Schwyz, to which they claimed, owing to their
similarity in descent and occupation and their close vicinity,
an equal right. The prevalence of this feeling among the
people was apparent on the first appearance of the Entlibuch
insurgents, who were headed by three athletic men, dressed
in the ancient costume, as Walther Furst, Stauffacher, and
Melchthal.
The revolt broke out, A.D. 1653, in Entlibuch, on Emmen-
egger's protest against the depreciation of the small coin,
and on the threat of Krebsinger, the president of the council
of Berne, "that he would place five hundred invulnerable
Italians on the necks of the rebellious peasantry. ' ' The out-
rages committed by the soldiery during the thirty years' war
were still fresh in the minds of the people, and the impres-
sion produced by this threat is therefore easily conceivable.
The first outburst of their rage was vented on the Lucerne
bailiffs, whom they expelled the valley. They then flew to
arms and struck such terror into the citizens that messengers
of peace were instantly sent to recall them to obedience and
to represent to them that "their authority was from God," to
which Krummenacher, a powerful-looking peasant, growled
out in reply, "Yes, it is from God, when you act justly, but
from the devil when you act with injustice." The city made
some concessions and a reconciliation took place. The aris-
tocracy of Berne, ever on the alert, had, meanwhile, pre-
pared for war, and, by their overcaution, drew upon them-
selves the calamity they sought to avoid; the Bernese
arrier-ban refusing to take the field against the people of
Entlibuch, and their disobedience affording the Bernese
peasantry an opportunity for revolt. Two parties, the Mod-
erates (Linden), and the Radicals (Harten), sprang up; the
latter formed themselves into a provincial assembly, and
placed Niklaus Leuenberg, a man of great eloquence, at
their head. The aristocracy of Basel now committed a blun-
der similar to that of Berne by sending five hundred soldiers
across the Jura to Aargau. Their numbers, increased by
rumor, spread terror through the country ; the Aargau rose
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1149
in self-defence and gained an easy victory. Berne was, not-
withstanding, restored to tranquillity by the intervention of
the confederation. Some disturbances also took place in
Solothurn, where the government willingly made conces-
sions. Basel granted the demands of the insurgent peas-
antry of Liestal, and peace and confidence were apparently
restored on all sides.
The contest, however, broke out afresh. "Wagenmann,
the peasants' foe, relates, that "the village magnates of
Entlibuch, whose authority had lasted two months, resolved
not to part with the power they had gained. The people of
Willisau declared that they had been unable, owing to the
trumpets having been sounded purposely at the moment
when the treaty was read, clearly to comprehend the purport
of its fifth article, by which all offices were placed in the gift
of the government," and a proclamation published at the
same time by the deliberative council, in which the peasants
were designated as rebels, and charged with the whole blame,
rendered them extremely distrustful of the sincerity of their
governments in subscribing to the articles of peace, and the
aristocracy in all the cantons being apparently ranged in
opposition to them, the whole of the peasantry confederated
and invited their brethren in all the cantons, without refer-
ence to religion, to assemble on the 23d of April, 1653, in
the forest of Sumis in the canton of Berne. Leuenberg
was, against his will, compelled to preside over the meeting.
Their first object, an alliance with the ancient confederated
peasantry in the original cantons, failed ; the haughty peas-
ants of Uri refusing to have aught in common with the
herdsmen of Entlibuch. Leuenberg's despatches were scorn-
fully returned.
The dread of the arrival of foreign troops now revived
with redoubled force, and the apprehensions of the peasantry
being strengthened by the discovery of some grenades on
board a vessel, laden with ironware, seized by them on the
Aar, they took up arms, in order to defend themselves
against their imaginary foes.
1150 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
The governments, hereupon, prepared in earnest for op-
position, and, taking advantage of a letter addressed by the
French ambassador to Leuenberg, in which he declared him
responsible in case the Austrians seized the opportunity, pre-
sented by the disturbed state of the country, to cross the
frontier, converted the question, until now simply internal
and aristocratic, into an external and patriotic one, and des-
ignated the peasants, not as foes to the aristocracy, but as
traitors to their country. The peasants, half-conscious of
being outwitted, were, consequently, more highly infuriated,
and war was rendered inevitable by the formidable prepara-
tions made by Berne, Lucerne, Basel, and Zurich, to which
the peasantry on the lake caused great alarm.
A stratagem, favored by chance, opened the passes occu-
pied by the peasantry to the government troops and frus-
trated their plan of warfare. The steward of a Bernese
noble, whom curiosity had led too close to the scene of oper-
ations, was taken prisoner by the peasants, and, by accident,
overheard a conference between Leuenberg and his com-
mander-in-chief, Schybi, and, on regaining his liberty, laid
Schybi's well-schemed plan of battle before the Zurichers.
About six thousand Bernese troops, coming from Vaud,
being stopped by Leuenberg at the pass near Gummenen,
Durheim, the Bernese provincial governor, craftily spread a
report that Leuenberg and the whole of his troops had em-
braced Catholicism and that the sole object of the insurgents
was to betray the Bernese to the pope. The Protestant peas-
ants guarding the pass, terrified at this rumor, fled, and the
pass was instantly occupied by the Bernese. The govern-
ment of Lucerne, with equal subtlety, retained their hold
over their bigoted Catholic subjects by publishing a mani-
festo from the clergy, in which the war against the insur-
gent peasantry was declared agreeable to the Divine will.
General Werdmuller of Zurich at length took the field at
the head of some well-disciplined troops, with a fine body
of cavalry and a park of artillery, against the numerous but
ill-armed peasantry. At Ottmarsingen, in the vicinity of
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1151
Lenzburg, he came up with a body of about fifteen hundred
armed insurgents, posted in a wood, and strongly barricaded.
Werdmuller halted his troops, and, some of the peasant lead-
ers coming forward, he demanded, "Why they had taken up
arms?" They replied that "peace was their greatest desire;
that they would instantly lay down their arms on the res-
toration of the privileges and rights they had enjoyed for a
century past, and of which they had been deprived, and that
they would oppose violence by violence. Death could hap-
pen but once!" A pitched battle was fought a few days
afterward at Wohlenschwyl. The peasantry defended the
burning village under a heavy cannonade, until late at night,
when both parties retreated to their camps. The peasantry,
however, perceiving their inability to cope with regular troops
and artillery, acceded, A.D. 1653, to the terms of peace pro-
posed by the general, which deceitfully provided that "any-
thing relating further to the government or to their subjects,
should, in default of an amicable arrangement, be regulated
by the law." This article inspired the peasantry with the
vain hope of an amicable adjustment of differences, while it
reserved to the cities the power of refusing, and also that of
referring to the law, that is, to the penal code. The peas-
ants were at first treated with great apparent friendship, and
Leuenberg dined in public with the general. Vengeance,
nevertheless, did not tarry.
The peasantry of Entlibuch, mistrusting the peace, ad-
vised their Bernese brethren not to accede to the terms,
and, finding themselves unheeded, withdrew. Although
surrounded on every side, they defended themselves in Ent-
libuch with most unflinching bravery, but were finally com-
pelled to yield. Their leaders were thrown into prison.
Some of the Bernese peasantry having marched to the as-
sistance of their brethren in Entlibuch, but without taking
part in the contest, the government seized the opportunity
to infringe the treaty of Wohlenschwyl and to take their re-
venge on the Bernese, who had been greatly weakened by
the defeat of the people of Entlibuch, and, in order to strike
1152 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
them with terror, von Erlach marched with a considerable
force from Berne to Wangen, burning, murdering, plunder-
ing, etc., like a horde of barbarians. Leuenberg instantly
wrote a letter to "Werdmuller, in which he called upon him
to maintain the treaty and charged him and Erlach with
the crime of renewing the war. He then took the field
with five thousand Emmenthal peasants against Erlach,
but, ill-armed and overpowered by numbers, they suffered
a total defeat, and he was shortly afterward betrayed by a
peasant, who was consequently pardoned, into the hands of
his enemies.
"Werdmuller vainly endeavored to interpret the treaty,
concluded by him at Wohlenschwyl, in the peasants' favor ;
the city councils were intent upon revenge, and a fearful
tribunal was held in every place where the peasants had
been captured. Torture, hanging, beheading, quartering,
splitting of tongues and ears, slavery on the Venetian gal-
leys, long imprisonment and hard labor, were the modes of
punishment resorted to. Basel, although exposed to little
danger during the war, acted with the greatest severity,
and Solothurn with the greatest lenity intermixed with base-
ness, the lives of the peasantry of that canton being spared
on payment of an enormous fine. The council of Solothurn,
ever greedy of gain, also entered at that time into a separate
alliance with France. The popular leaders were treated with
peculiar barbarity. The gallant Schybi, a handsome athletic
man, endured the severest torture without a murmur. Leuen-
berg's head was stuck, with the letter of confederation, on
the gallows, and his quartered body was hung up in four
parts of the country.
The treaty of Wohlenschwyl was partially recognized by
a court of arbitration formed by the confederation, and a
few concessions were assured to the peasantry ; the different
governments, nevertheless, delayed their confirmation under
various pretexts. The patience of the Entlibuch peasantry
was at length exhausted, and the three Tells, the men who,
on the first rising of the people of Entlibuch, had personated
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH -i!53
the three ancient Swiss patriots of the Grutli, waylaid, in
imitation of William Tell, some Lucerne councillors, when,
passing along a deep road, shot one and wounded the rest.
Their arrest being attempted, they desperately defended them-
selves within their cottage and were at length shot by their
assailants. This incident, however, induced Lucerne at length
to announce the stipulated concessions to Entlibuch.
Success increased the arrogance of the cities, which
haughtily extended their claims even over the free peas-
antry of the original cantons. It was no longer with a
purely religious motive that Zurich and Berne took the part
of some families expelled on account of their faith from
Schwyz, prescribed laws to that canton, and, at length, de-
clared war against it ; fanatical zeal had cooled, the proud
citizen solely took up arms for the reduction of his peasant
brother. The Catholics, nevertheless, confederated, A.D.
1656, and the Reformers were totally routed at Villmergen.
CCXXIII. Holland in Distress
HOLLAND, actuated by commercial jealousy, wasted her
strength in a ruinous contest with England instead of set-
ting a limit to the encroachments of France. The stadt-
holder, William of Orange, A.D. 1647, depended upon the
soldiery for the maintenance of the prosperity of the coun-
try; the republican party, upon commerce and the navy.
At the head of this party stood Jacob de Witt, who, to-
gether with five other members of the states-general, was
arrested at William's command, A.D. 1650; but William ex-
piring shortly afterward, and his son, William, being bora
eight days after his death, the republican party, headed by
John, the son of Jacob de Witt, regained their former power.
John, at that time compelled to carry on a severe contest
with England, neglected to take the necessary precautions
against France, to keep up the fortresses and to maintain
the army. The passing of Cromwell's Navigation Act, A.D.
1651, by which foreign vessels, laden with native produce,
1154 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
were alone allowed to enter English ports, caused great det-
riment to Holland, which at that time monopolized almost
the whole of the continental trade, and a struggle conse-
quently ensued between her and England for the rule of
the sea. Holland was still at the height of her power. She
numbered ten thousand merchantmen, one hundred and
sixty-eight thousand sailors. Her admirals were the vet-
eran Tromp, the brave de Ruyter, who had commenced life
as a poor sailor, the proud Cornelius de Witt, who had re-
nounced the mild doctrines of the Mennonites, in which he
had been educated, for the sake of thrashing a person who
had insulted him; the brothers Evertsen and van Galen.
The English admirals were Blake, Monk, Askew, and Ap-
pleton. The great naval war began A.D. 1651. Tromp was
victorious off Dover, de Ruyter off Plymouth, but both were,
in a third engagement, defeated, owing to a disagreement
between them and de Witt. In 1652 Tromp gained a brill-
iant victory over the English under Blake and fixed a broom
at his masthead, in sign of his having swept the sea clear
from every foe. The English now exerted their utmost
strength, and, in a fresh engagement, that took place in
the ensuing year, victory was claimed by both sides. Van
Galen, however, succeeded in beating Appleton off Livorno.
He was struck with a cannon-ball and expired, exclaiming,
"It is easy to die for one's country, when crowned with vic-
tory 1" The veteran Tromp, the father of the navy, was de-
feated and killed off Dunkirk. Eight captains and several
lieutenants, whose negligence had mainly caused this mis-
fortune, were punished with republican severity, some of
them being thrice keelhauled, the punishment always in-
flicted by Van Tromp upon cowards.
Peace was concluded, A.D. 1654, between England and
Holland, whose common interests led them to oppose the
princes, and the reigning faction in Holland resolved, for
the better preservation of the democracy, that, for the fut-
ure, no Prince of Orange should rule as stadtholder over
Holland; but on the restoration of the Stuart dynasty in Eng-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1155
land, the Orange party rose again in Holland, repealed the
decree of 1654, and elected William as their future stadt-
holder. John de Witt yielded, and dreading, at this period
of universal reaction, to disoblige the English monarch, de-
livered up to him some English members of parliament, who
had formerly voted for the execution of Charles I. The
war, nevertheless, again broke out. The commercial inter-
ests of the English and Dutch were opposed to each other
in every quarter of the globe, and the former, numerically
superior, regarded the colonies of the latter with a covetous
eye. These important colonies lay too scattered to be easily
maintained. During the short peace between Holland and
England, Charles II., who had wedded a Portuguese prin-
cess, brought about a treaty with Portugal, to which Hol-
land ceded the Brazils, after losing almost the whole of her
fleet. The Cape of Good Hope, colonized, A.D. 1648, by Rie-
beck, so important for the trade with the East Indies, was,
on the other hand, raised to a higher degree of prosperity,
and the Dutch, after extending their trade along the Mala-
bar coast as far as Persia, took possession of Ceylon, etc.
Holland, after the cession of the Brazils, being unable to
resolve upon that of her colonies in North America, whose
possession was coveted by England, war again broke out be-
tween the rival powers in 1664. England seized the Dutch
colonies on the eastern coast of North America and converted
the city of New Amsterdam into that of New York. Wase-
naar was defeated on the English coast, and his ship blown
into the air. De Ruyter was at that time absent in Africa.
The naval power of Holland rose on his return, and a fear-
ful revenge was taken, A.D. 1666, in an engagement off the
English coast, which lasted four days, and in which the
English, with whom the Pfalzgraf Rupert fought, lost
twenty-three ships; six thousand men were killed, and
three thousand made prisoners. This was de Ruyter's
most difficult and greatest triumph, in which he was
aided by the younger Tromp and Cornelius Evertsen, the
latter of whom fell and was replaced by his brother John,
1158 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
who had retired into private life, and whose father, son,
and four brothers had already fallen for their country, a
fate he himself shared in the next engagement. In the en-
suing year, de Ruyter and Cornelius, John de "Witt's brother,
sailed up the Thames, laid waste the coast almost as far as
London, the English having been driven from the sea, and
burned several English ships at Chatham, taking possession
of the Thames from the North Foreland and Margate as far
as the Nore. The English were compelled to accede to the
terms of peace proposed by her victorious rival, at Breda,
A.D. 1667, and the Navigation Act was suspended in regard
to Dutch cargoes.
France beheld these disputes between her neighbors,
which she stimulated to the utmost in her power, with de-
light, and, meanwhile, projected the seizure of the Spanish
Netherlands. Spain was rapidly on the decline. The sys-
tem pursued by Philip II. had been productive of evil to his
successors. The monarch slumbered in the arms of the
church, the navy fell to pieces, the army into rags. The
provincial Estates in the Netherlands had remained uncon-
voked since 1600. The spirit of the people had sunk. These
provinces were also externally unprotected. The Rhenish
princes had been gained by Louis XIV., who also won over
Holland by fraudulently proposing the partition of the Span-
ish Netherlands, to which John de "Witt as fraudulently as-
sented for the sake of gaining time, conquests by land not
being in his plan, and a weak neighbor (Spain) being pre-
ferred by him to a powerful one (France). He has been
groundlessly charged with having been actually in alliance
with France, whom he in reality merely deceived, and
against whom he raised a powerful league, the triple alli-
ance between Holland, England, and Sweden, which in-
stantly opposed the attempted extension of the French ter-
ritory on the seizure of the Netherlands by Turenne under
pretext of the non-payment of the dowry of the Infanta
Maria Theresa, and Louis was compelled to accede to the
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, A.D. 1668, and to content himself
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 115?
with the possession of twelve towns, Tournay, Ryssel, Cour-
tray, Oudenarde, etc. Germany looked on with indifference.
Louis XIV., enraged at the duplicity practiced by John
de Witt, now intrigued against Holland, and, in order to
guard against a second surprise, entered into negotiation
with the neighboring powers, with the view of completely
isolating the Dutch republic. A fresh alliance was con-
cluded with Switzerland, A.D. 1663; the governments were
flattered and bribed and a number of mercenaries drawn
from them, while the betrayed people were treated with in-
solent contempt and their petitions for the removal of the
restrictions upon commerce on the frontier left unnoticed.
Lorraine was speedily mastered. Francis, the duke's
brother, had, in 1662, defended the country against Louis,
and the duke, Charles, who had, in 1667, with great unwill-
ingness allowed his troops to coalesce with those of France,
refused to come to a further understanding. The country
was instantly occupied with French troops, the duke ex-
pelled, A.D. 1670, Nancy pillaged and the booty carried to
Paris. This scandalous robbery, committed in peace time
on a German province, remained unpunished. The empire
offered no interference. The imperial towns in Alsace,
Strasburg excepted, had been compelled, A.D. 1665, in a
similar manner, to swear allegiance to France. Vain was
the address of a patriot (Gallus ablegatus) to the diet,
''Awake, ye princes of Germany, arise! France has seized
Lorraine, the Rhine lies open. Awake! shake off your
slumbers, seize your arms ! Beware of the Egonists ! March
forward! Choose whether you would be eagles under the
eagle or chickens under the cock!" The Egonists (a play
upon the word egotist and the three brothers von Fursten-
berg, Francis Egon, bishop of Strasburg, Ferdinand Egon,
master of the household at Munich, and "William Egon) had
universal rule, more particularly William, who blindly led
the elector, Maximilian Henry of Bavaria, and was Louis's
principal agent in Germany, by which he gained the so-
briquet of "le cher ami de France." Cologne and the
1158 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
bishop of Munster, Bernard von Galen, furnished the French
monarch with troops, in which they were imitated by John
Frederick of Hanover, who took a French general into his
service for the purpose of teaching his subjects the French
exercise and lived in his impoverished country with the
senseless pomp of a petty Louis. Christian of Mecklen-
burg-Schwerin was infected with a similar mania, made a
public profession of Catholicism at Paris, A.D. 1663, took the
name of Louis and always subscribed himself "knight of
the order of the most Christian king." Others among the
German princes remained neutral. Ferdinand Maria, elec-
tor of Bavaria, whom Louis had surrounded with licentious
French courtiers, and who was completely led by a brother
of William von Furstenberg and by the Jesuit Privigniani,
the creature of France; Eberhardof Wurtemberg, who sided
with France through dread of losing Mumpelgard, and who,
on that account, gave his son the name of Louis and begged
the French king to stand godfather; Mayence, where a
whisper from France sufficed to overthrow the minister,
Boineburg, who, for a moment, appeared to favor Germany;
Treves, exposed to every attack, and the rest of the petty
Rhenish princes. A Count Solms, the only one who refused
to yield, was beaten to death by order of Turenne. Bitter
complaints and satires abounded, but Louis XIV. had Ger-
man authors, among others the celebrated Conring, in his
pay, who lauded France to the skies, defended his claim
upon the conquered territory, and loaded German patriotism
with ridicule. Finally, aided by the princes of Lobkowitz
(who, like Lichtenstein, Colloredo, Gallas, and Piccolomini,
had risen to note during the thirty years' war, and who held
the principality of Sagan in fee), whom he had bribed, he
deluded the emperor into an alliance, A.D. 1761, for the pre-
tended extermination of the heretics. This secret treaty was
shown by France to the elector of Brandenburg, partly with
a view of striking him with terror, partly with that of dissi-
pating his inclination to ally himself with Austria. Ger-
many was, by these means, secured, and, on the confirma-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1159
tion of the alliance between Louis and Charles II., king of
England, the fate of Holland appeared inevitable. Louis,
in order to color his designs, pretended to act in the name
of his brother sovereigns and to avenge the monarchical
principle on the insolent republic. A medal was struck,
representing Louis in a haughty attitude, and, on the reverse,
Holland humbled, with the inscription, "Ultor Regum."
Leibnitz, the great philosopher, formed at that time the
whimsical plan of diverting the French from the conquest
of Holland by that of Egypt, and of preserving the tran-
quillity of Germany by means of a quarrel between France
and Turkey. John Philip, the intriguing elector of May-
ence, undertook the management of this affair, which was
treated with ridicule by Louis, who laughingly observed
that "crusades were no longer in vogue."
The French king entered Holland at the head of two
hundred thousand men, while the bishop of Munster made a
simultaneous attack on the opposite side with a force twenty
thousand strong, which found the states-general unprepared.
The fortresses were in a state of dilapidation, and the army
scarcely mustered twenty thousand men. The French, con-
sequently, made rapid progress, took Wesel and Rheinsberg
(which, although appertaining to Brandenburg, had been
long garrisoned, as security against the Spanish, by the
Dutch), cut Holland off from any aid that might offer from
Germany, and, ere long, occupied Oberyssel, Guelders, and
Utrecht. The only opposition offered by the Dutch was at
the mouth of the Yssel, where the great Conde was wounded.
The mercenaries were spiritless, their commanders often
traitors, the people ignorant of the use of arms and taken by
surprise. In "Wesel, the women refused to allow their hus-
bands to expose themselves to the enemy's fire and Insisted
upon capitulation. The citizens of Nimwegen, Bommel, De-
venter, and Elburg, on the other hand, displayed the great-
est courage, but were unable, owing to the cowardice of their
officers, who deserted, to maintain themselves against the
besieging army. Several undecisive engagements also took
1160 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
place between the fleets of England and Holland, A.D.
1672.
The Dutch, who had for so long deemed themselves se-
cure from every hostile attack, were panic-struck, and the
cry of "Holland is in distress" passed from mouth to mouth.
Their courage, however, speedily returned, and, on the pro-
posal of a negotiation with France being made to the states-
general by John de Witt, some of the city deputies, among
others the burgomaster of Amsterdam, John von der Poll,
Valckenier, Hop, and Hasselaar, made an ineffectual oppo-
sition ; the assembled provincial Estates of Zealand, notwith-
standing, passed the noble-spirited resolutions: — First, We
ought to and will defend our religion and our liberty to the
utmost of our ability and with the last drop of our blood.
Secondly, We will on no account consent to any contract or
negotiation, which may have been or may be entered into
by Holland or by any of the other provinces with France.
Thirdly, We will, without delay, send a deputation to our
sovereign, the Prince of Orange, entreating him to aid and
defend us with his allies. Fourthly, In so far as we may be
unable to withstand the overwhelming forces of the enemy,
we prefer submitting to the king of England than to the
king of France. — This example electrified the people, and
defence was unanimously resolved upon. John de Witt lost
all his influence and was loudly blamed for having neglected
the defences of the country, and for having, shortly before
the breaking out of the war, allowed the exportation of salt-
petre to France. His exclusion of the house of Orange from
the stadtholdership in 1667, and his subsequent abolition of
that dignity by the "Eternal Edict," had excited the enmity
of William of Orange, who now imitated the revenge taken
by his ancestor, Maurice, on Olden Barneveldt. De Witt
*vas falsely accused of having acted upon a secret under-
standing with France. An attempt was made to assassinate
aim, and one de Graaf dealt him a wound which confined
him to his sick chamber. The people rose simultaneously
throughout the country ; de Witt's party fell, and every eye
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1161
was turned upon William of Orange, then in his twenty-sec-
ond year, who actively superintended the affairs of Holland
and was seen in every quarter, encouraging the people and
restoring tranquillity. "Orange boven!" Up with Orange!
was the general cry; orange-colored ribbons fluttered on
every hat, and from every tower waved flags of similar hue,
bearing the inscription,
"Orange boven en Wit onder,
Die 't anders raeent, sla de Bonder.'"
The dams were again pierced, and a great portion of the
country was flooded. The besieged cities still held out.
Marshal d'Ancre was compelled to raise the siege of Aar-
denburg, where the women and children vied with the men
in defending the walls, and Groningen covered herself with
glory by repelling the twenty thousand Episcopal troops from
Cologne and Munster. The bishop was equally unsuccessful
before Coeverden, where fourteen hundred of his men were
carried away by a flood, occasioned by the bursting of a dam
which he had intended to open upon the town. The citizens
of Blocksijl shot their cowardly commandant and main-
tained their town, unaided by the military. Louis returned
in disappointment to France, leaving Turenne to watch the
country.
The unfortunate John de "Witt, when scarcely recovered
from his wounds, had been, meanwhile, put to the rack at
The Hague, and, at length, cut to pieces, together with his
invalid brother, Cornelius, by the infuriated multitude, who
afterward publicly hawked their limbs about the town.
Tichelaar, the instigator of this hideous deed, was rewarded
by William of Orange with an office and a pension.
CCXXIV. The Great Elector
THE influence of Frederick William, the great elector of
Brandenburg, who, apprehensive for his territory of Cleves,
at length induced the emperor to give up his alliance with
GERMANY. VOL. HI. — 1!
1162 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
France, had also essentially contributed to the evacuation of
Holland by the French. The representations made by France
and the pope to the emperor against his unconscientious union
with heretics, Brandenburg and Holland (as if France had
never sought the alliance of both Sweden and Turkey), were,
nevertheless, far from ineffectual, and Montecuculi, although
sent to the aid of Holland, was regulated in his movements
by the orders and counter-orders of Lobkowitz, the tool of
France. When on the point of forming a junction with the
great elector and of driving the French out of Holland, he
suddenly received orders to march to Frankfort and there to
remain in a state of inactivity, upon which Turenne instantly
threw himself on the left bank of the Rhine, for the purpose
of cutting off his communication with the Netherlands and
with Cleves. Montecuculi, however, also crossing the Rhine
at Mayence and threatening to invade France, Turenne re-
crossed the Rhine with such precipitation at Andernach that
a thousand of his plundering soldiery were left behind and
were killed in the Westerwald by the peasantry.
The seat of war was, by this means, removed from Hol-
land to the Middle Rhine, where the Rhenish league, in the
interest of France, threw every difficulty in the path of
the patriotic elector. All the princes of the empire, through
whose territory the Brandenburg troops passed, protested
against the violation and demanded reparation. Saxony,
supported by the elector of Mayence, leagued with Hanover
and Sweden against Brandenburg, and the behavior of the
imperial court was, at the same time, so equivocal, that
the elector, apprehensive of losing Cleves, was compelled to
conclude peace at Vossem, without delay, with France, A.D.
1673.
Louis, once more confident of success, now sent the Mar-
shal de Luxemburg to the frontiers of Holland, where he
gave his soldiers license to plunder, burn, and murder. The
most frightful atrocities were committed. In the spring of
1673, the French king took the field in person with a design
of completing the conquest of Holland. De Ruyter, how-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1163
ever, beating the English fleets in three successive engage-
ments, Charles II. was compelled by the English parliament
to renounce his base alliance with France ; Austria also at
length exerted herself; Lobkowitz was dismissed; Monte-
cuculi advanced to the Rhine, and, at Cologne, seized the
traitor,' William von Furstenberg, who had impudently as-
sumed the title of French ambassador without previously
renouncing his allegiance to the empire. Treves fell into
the hands of the French. An indecisive engagement took
place between William of Orange and the French at Senef,
and, in 1664, Turenne was sent to the Upper Rhine, where
the imperialists under Bournonville, a Frenchman, who was
either ill-adapted for the command or in the pay of France,
were defeated at Ensisheim, before the elector of Branden-
burg, who had again ranged himself on the emperor's side,
could join them with his troops. Charles Louis, elector of
the Pfalz, who, from his castle of Friedricksburg, beheld
the smoking cities and villages wantonly set in flames by
Turenne, sent that commander a challenge, which was re-
fused, Turenne returning his customary excuse for his con-
duct, "These things always happen in war time." The
veteran duke, Charles of Lorraine, unaided, attacked and
defeated the French under Crecqui, near Treves, A.D. 1675.
The duke of Vaudemont, governor of Burgundy, also long
and gallantly stood his ground in Besancpn, but no succor
being afforded to him that province was again lost. Charles
of Lorraine vainly implored the imperialists and Branden-
burg to coalesce for the defence of the frontier provinces;
Bournonville refused to move until he was at length attacked
at Muhlhausen and thrown back upon the great elector, by
whom the French were defeated at Turkheim. The Swedes,
meanwhile, instigated by Louis, suddenly invaded Branden-
burg, and the elector hastily returned to defend his demesnes.
Charles of Lorraine died of rage and sorrow.
Montecuculi, notwithstanding the absence of the elector
of Brandenburg, was again victorious on the Upper Rhine.
Turenne fell in the battle of Sasbach, A.D. 1675. The French
1164 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
were driven back on every side, and, being a second time
defeated on the Saar, retreated beyond Treves. They de-
fended themselves in this city, under Crecqui, for some time,
but were at length compelled to capitulate. The greater
number of them were cut to pieces on the entrance of the
imperialists, who mistook the explosion of some grenades for
an attack. A brilliant victory was gained at the same time,
A.D. 1676, at the foot of Etna, by the Dutch fleet over that
of France; De Ruyter, who was killed in this engagement,
was buried at Syracuse.
The French king now withdrew his • forces for a while,
leaving the fortresses, remaining in his hands, strongly for-
tified. These garrisons systematically plundered and de-
stroyed the country in their vicinity; Berg-Zabern, where
numbers of the inhabitants were burned to death, Brucksal,
and numerous villages were laid in ashes. The capture of
Philippsburg, one of the principal fortresses, by the imperial-
ists, merely incited the French to greater violence, and the
year 1677 opened amid all the horrors of war. Conflagra-
tions spread far and wide. St. Wendel, Saarbruck, where
the incendiaries were besieged in the castle, taken and slain,
Hagenau, Zweibrucken, Elsass-Zabern, Buschweiler, Ott-
weiler, Lutzelstein, Veldenz, Weissenburg, and four hundred
villages were reduced to heaps of ruins. The Dachsburg,
the strongest fort in the Pfalz, fell by treachery. The valu-
able library of the Pfalzgraf of Zweibrucken was carried to
Paris. La Broche, the captain of the incendiary bands, was
taken by the imperialists and shot. He was succeeded by
Montclas, who, after some bloody skirmishes in the neigh-
borhood of Strasburg, crossed the Rhine, set thirty villages
around Breisach in flames, and took Freiburg in the Breisgau
by surprise, where he maintained his position, the emperor,
deluded by his counsellors, the tools of France, no longer
making any effort for the preservation of the empire. The
Swiss, instead of aiding their German brethren, restricted
themselves to the defence of their frontiers, whence they re-
pulsed the duke of Lorraine, who sought refuge within their
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1165
territory. Germany offered but trifling resistance, and the
war became a succession of petty skirmishes. — The Nether-
lands were also greatly harassed by the French garrison of
Maestricht. Tangern and a number of villages were burned
down by the Marshal de Luxemburg, who pillaged the coun-
try so systematically that not a single head of cattle remained
in the territory within his reach.
The elector of Brandenburg had, in the meantime, hur-
ried home to defend his territory from the Swedes, who, in-
stigated by Vitry, the French ambassador, were there renew-
ing all the horrors of the thirty years' war. The elector's
army, numerically weak and worn with fatigue, was opposed
by one superior in number and accustomed to victory, under
Waldemar, the brother of the celebrated Gustavus "Wrangel.
The emperor, deluded into a belief that the invasion of Bran-
denburg by the Swedes merely masked an intention on both
parts to coalesce for the purpose of invading Silesia, refused
his aid. .The warlike bishop of Munster, formerly Branden-
burg's foe, now became his sole ally, and, arming in his de-
fence, held Hanover, which showed an inclination to assist
the Swedes, in check. The active mind of the elector and
the fidelity of his people, however, proved his best defence.
The peasants, cruelly abused by the Swedes, rose through-
out the country in his name, and the elector, secretly aided
by the citizens of Rathenow, succeeded in surprising and
killing almost every Swede within the walls. The few that
escaped fell back upon a strong detachment stationed at
Fehrbellin, which being, without the elector's permission,
attacked by the youthful Landgrave, Frederick of Hesse-
Homburg, the former was compelled to hasten to his aid
with his cavalry, the infantry being unable to come up in
time. He gained a complete victory, partly owing to the
experience and fidelity of Marshal Derflinger, who was orig-
inally a tailor's apprentice. Derflinger had also conducted
the surprise of Rathenow. Several of the old Swedish regi-
ments, habituated to victory, refused either to save them-
selves by flight or to yield, and were cut down almost to a
1166 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
man. The gallant Landgrave was pardoned for the rash-
ness of his attack. Brandenburg's equerry, Froben, observ-
ing, during the engagement, that the Swedes aimed at the
gray horse ridden by the duke, begged of him to change
horses with him, and was, a few seconds after, shot by the
enemy, A.D. 1675. The elector and Derflinger were, in the
ensuing campaign, again successful; the Swedes were de-
feated at "Wolgast ; Stettin was taken after a determined re-
sistance ; Stralsund, which had so long resisted Wallenstein,
and Greifswald, fell into their hands. In the winter of 1678,
the Swedes invaded Prussia, but were repulsed by the elector,
who pursued them in sledges across the gulf of Courland and
again defeated them in the vicinity of Riga, whence famine
and the severity of the cold compelled him to return. The
Dutch, under the younger Tromp, also beat the Swedes at
sea, and Wismar was taken by Brandenburg and by his
Danish allies. This war, the result of foreign influence in
Germany, again emptied the vial of wrath on the heads of
the people. How came Stettin and Wismar to fight for a
foreign ruler?
The fall of Ghent and Ypern, and the defeat of William
of Orange at St. Omer, inclined the Dutch to peace. This
ingratitude filled their former allies with disgust. The im-
becile emperor, in the meantime, taught to regard Branden-
burg, who had covered himself with glory by his successes
in the North, as more dangerous to his repose than France,
and supported by the futile perfidy of the Dutch, concluded,
without regard for the critical state of the empire, a hasty
and shameful treaty at Nimwegen, A.D. 1678, by which
Brandenburg was expressly excluded from all participation
in the advantages of the peace.1 A useless but splendid
victory was gained by William at Mons, before the news of
the conclusion of peace reached the Dutch camp. Freiburg
1 A medal of Louis XIY., struck on this occasion, represents Peace, accom-
panied by Pain and Pleasure, descending from heaven, and Holland wel coming
her with open arms while the imperial eagle vainly attempts to hold her back
by her robes.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1167
in the Breisgau was, by this treaty, ceded by the emperor,
Burgundy and the twelve frontier towns in the Netherlands
by Spain, to France, who, on her part, restored Lorraine,
which she, notwithstanding, provisionally occupied with her
troops. The traitor, William von Furstenberg, instead of
being beheaded like the Hungarian rebels who suffered at
that time, was loaded with every mark of honor, restored
to liberty, and afterward rewarded with the bishopric of
Strasburg and a cardinal's hat.
Brandenburg was condemned to restore his conquests to
Sweden. A French army, under Crecqui, advanced, A.D.
1679, against the Danes, Brandenburg's allies, laid Cologne,
Juliers, and Oldenburg under heavy contribution, without
the empire being able to protect herself from the insult, and
withdrew, after compelling the elector, deserted by the em-
peror and the empire, to accede to the terms of the peace
and to restore his Pomeranian conquests to Sweden. Had
he and the gallant Montecuculi been at the head of affairs in
Germany, how different might have been her fate!
The elector now turned his attention to Prussia, where,
as a Calvinist, he found the Lutherans, and, as an absolute
sovereign, the ancient noblesse, citizens, and provincial Es-
tates ranged in opposition to him. His first step was the
erection of the fortress of Friedrichsburg, whose cannons
commanded the city of Kcenigsberg. Rhode, the president
of the bench of aldermen in that city, too zealously defend-
ing her ancient privileges, was arrested and condemned to
death, a sentence that was afterward commuted to imprison-
ment for life. An opportunity was offered to him to ask for
pardon, of which he haughtily refused to take advantage.
The Freiherr von Kalkstein violently opposing the elector's
measures at the head of the provincial Estates, was also
arrested, but being allowed a certain degree of liberty on
parole, escaped to Warsaw, where he was privately seized
by the elector's agents and carried to Memel, where he was
executed, A.D. 1672. The elector was also sometimes forced
by necessity to have recourse to arbitrary measures in Bran-
1168 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
denburg, such as striking a false currency, levying duties
and heavy taxes for the payment of his troops, on whom he
depended for the preservation of his position in the empire.
He was also compelled to suppress several ancient and dis-
tinct local privileges for the sake of increasing the unity and
strength of his dominions. The excessive intolerance of the
Lutheran clergy received a severe check; the elector, en-
raged at their obstinacy, compelling them to bind themselves
by oath to obey every electoral edict without reservation.
The church was, by this means, rendered subservient to
every caprice on the part of the sovereign. The Lutheran
pastor at Berlin, Paul Gerhard the poet, was the only one
among the Lutheran clergy who preferred banishment to
servility.
The intrigues carried on simultaneously by the great
elector with Sweden, Poland, France, and Austria, and his
despotic rule over his subjects, are partly excused by his po-
sition and by the perfidy of his opponents. Frederick Wil-
liam used his utmost endeavors not only to raise the power
of his house, but also to free Germany from foreign influ-
ence. In his old age, actuated by his dislike of the Habs-
burg, and guided by his second wife, Dorothea, a princess of
Holstein, who sought to substitute her children for the heir-
apparent, he declared in favor of France. The emperor, be-
sides betraying him by the treaty of Nimwegen and robbing
him of the fruits of his contest with Sweden, had, on the
decease of "William, the last duke of Leignitz, Brieg, and
Wohlau, deprived him of his rightful inheritance and com-
pelled him to rest content with the possession of the district
of Schwiebus, A.D. 1675. Frederick, the heir-apparent, un-
able to support the tyranny of his stepmother, abandoned
the country, and his doting father was induced to bequeath
the whole of his possessions, Courland alone excepted, to the
sons of Dorothea. His will was, on his decease, annulled
by the court of Vienna, which had taken the prince under
its protection on condition of his binding himself to restore
Schwiebus on his father's death.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1169
The attempt made by the great elector to found a naval
power is worthy of remark. The subsidies, promised to him
by Spain on Louis's first invasion, remaining unpaid, he sent
out a small fleet under Cornelius van Bevern, A.D. 1679, who
waylaid and seized the rich Spanish galleons, and, in 1687,
he formed an African society, which sent out a fleet under
von der Groaben and founded Gross-Friedrichsburg on the
coast of Guinea. The existence of this colony being endan-
gered by the jealousy of the English and Dutch, it was sold
to the latter, A.D. 1780.
CCXXV. Ill-treatment of the Imperial Cities — The
Loss of Strasburg
Louis XIV., while carrying on his attacks externally
against the empire, exerted every effort for the destruction
of the remaining internal liberties of Germany. His inva-
sion of Holland had been undertaken under the plausible
pretext (intended as a blind to the princes) of defending the
monarchical principle, and, while secretly planning the seiz-
ure of Strasburg, he sought to indispose the princes toward
the free imperial cities. He, accordingly, flattered Bavaria
with the conquest of Nuremberg, Ratisbon, Augsburg, and
Ulm; Bavaria was, however, still apprehensive of the em-
peror and contented herself with retaining possession of the
old imperial city of Donauwcerth, notwithstanding the peace
of Westphalia, by which the freedom of that city had been
guaranteed. In 1661, French troops aided the bishop, van
Galen, in subjugating the provincial town of Munster and in
depriving her of all her ancient privileges. In 1664, French
troops, in a similar manner, aided the electoral prince of
Mayence to place the city of Erfurt under subjection. Erfurt
belonged originally to Mayence, but had long been free and
Protestant, and stood under the especial protection of Sax-
ony. The demand made by the elector, of being included in
the prayers of the church, being refused by the Protestant
citizens, the emperor, who beheld the affair in a Catholic
1170 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
light, put the city out of the ban of the empire, which was
executed by Mayence, backed by a French army, while Sax-
ony was pacified with a sum of money. The unfortunate
citizens opposed the Mayence faction within the city with
extreme fury, assassinated Kniephof, the president of the
council, and beheaded Limprecht, one of the chief magis-
trates, but were, after a gallant defence, compelled to
capitulate.
In 1665, Louis reduced the imperial cities of Alsace,
Strasburg excepted, to submission. In 1666, the Swedes,
under Wrangel, made a predatory attack upon Bremen and
bombarded the town, but withdrew on a protest being made
by the emperor and the empire. In the same year, Frederick
William of Brandenburg annihilated the liberties of the city
of Magdeburg, the archbishopric having, on the death of
Augustus of Saxony, fallen, in consequence of the peace of
Westphalia, under the administration of Brandenburg. In
1671, the ancient city of Brunswick had been seized by Ru-
dolph Augustus, duke of Wolfenbuttel, and robbed of all her
privileges. Most of the merchants emigrated. In 1672,
Cologne was subjugated by the elector, the city having, at
an earlier period, favored the Dutch. The citizens, tyran-
nized over by the council dependent on the elector, revolted,
but were reduced to submission, A.D. 1689. The rebellious
citizens of Liege were also reduced, by the aid of the elector
of Cologne, and deprived of their ancient privileges, A.D.
1684. A similar insurrection caused, A.D. 1685, at Brussels,
by the heavy imposts, was suppressed by force.
In East Friesland, Count Rudolph Christian, who .had
been murdered during the thirty years' war, had been suc-
ceeded by his brother, Ulric, whose son, Enno Louis, had, in
1654, been created prince. George Christian, Enno's brother
and successor, was involved in a dispute, on account of the
heavy imposts, with the city of Emden, and in a vexatious
suit with his niece, the wife of one of the princes Lichten-
stein, who claimed Harlingerland in right of her mother.
This suit was terminated by the invasion of Friesland by an
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1171
imperial army under Bernard van Galen, bishop of Munster,
who imposed a heavy fine, by way of compensation, on the
count. On the death of George Christian, in 1665, his
widow, a princess of Wurtemberg, carried on the govern-
ment in the name of her infant son, Christian Eberhard,
whose guardian, Ernest Augustus, duke of Brunswick, ren-
dered himself highly unpopular, and, on his departure, the
bishop of Munster, to whom the princess had promised, by
way of compensation, a share in the city of Emdeu, reap-
pearing, the citizens took up arms in their defence, but, sub-
sequently, made terms with the bishop and were supported
by Brandenburg against the princess, whose despotic rule
was formally opposed by the Estates. Tranquillity was re-
stored on the accession of the young prince in 1690.
Hamburg had been a scene of disturbance since 1671, on
account of the narrow-minded despotism of the aristocratic
council, which, in 1673, fraudulently obtained a decision, the
"Windischgrsetz convention, from the emperor, who rebuked
the complaining citizens and recommended them to submit.
The syndic, Garmer, who had been principally implicated in
the affair of the convention, intriguing with Denmark, be-
came suspected by the emperor and was compelled to fly
from Hamburg, A.D. 1678. The burgomaster, Meurer, was
also expelled. The convention was repealed, and Meurer
was replaced by Schluter, who was assisted by two honest
citizens, Schnitger and Jastram. The Danes, on the failure
of Garmer 's intrigues, sought to seize Hamburg by surprise
and to annex that city, under pretence of its having formerly
appertained to Holstein, to Denmark. The citizens were,
however, on the watch ; Brandenburg hastened to their aid,
and the Danes were repulsed. The ancient aristocratic fac-
tion now rose and falsely accused Schnitger, Jastram, and
Schluter, of a design to betray the city to Denmark; the
two former were quartered, the third was poisoned in prison ;
Meurer was reinstated in his office, and the WindischgraBtz
convention reinforced. The ancient pride of the Hansa had
forever fallen. In 1667, the Dutch pursued the English mer-
THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
chantmen up to the walls of Hamburg, captured them, and
injured the city, which, in order to escape war with England,
compensated the English merchants for their losses.
Strasburg, the ancient bulwark of Germany, was, how-
ever, destined to a still more wretched fate, and, deserted by
the German princes, was greedily grasped by France. The
insolence of the French monarch had greatly increased since
the treaty of Nimwegen. In 1680, he unexpectedly declared
his intention to hold, besides the territory torn from the em-
pire, all the lands, cities, estates, and privileges that had
thereto appertained, such as, for instance, all German mon-
asteries, which, a thousand years before the present period,
had been founded by the Merovingians and Carlovingians,
all the districts which had, at any time, been held in fee by,
or been annexed by right of inheritance to, Alsace, Bur-
gundy, or the Breisgau, and, for this purpose, established
four chambers of reunion at Besangon, Breisach, Metz, and
Tournay, composed of paid literati and lawyers, commis-
sioned to search for the said dependencies amid the dust of
the ancient archives. The first idea of these chambers of
reunion had been given by a certain Ravaulx to Colbert, the
French minister, and the execution of their decrees was com-
mitted to bands of incendiaries, who, in Alsace, the Nether-
lands, and the Pfalz, tore down the ancient escutcheons and
replaced them with that of France, garrisoned the towns,
and exacted enormous contributions from the citizens, with
which Louis purchased three hundred pieces of artillery for
the defence of the territory thus arbitrarily seized.
The whole of the empire was agitated, but, while a tedi-
ous discussion was as usual being carried on at Ratisbon,
the French carried their schemes into execution and sud-
denly seized Strasburg by treachery. This city, according
to her historian, Friese, had made every effort to maintain
her liberty against France. The citizens had, since the thirty
years' war, lived in a state of continual apprehension, main-
tained and strengthened their fortifications, kept a body of
regular troops, and, in their turn, every third day had
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1173
mounted guard. For sixty years, they had been contin-
ually on the defensive, and immense sums had been swal-
lowed up in the necessary outlay. Trade and commerce
declined. The bishop of Spires levied a high duty on the
goods of the Strasburg merchants when on their way through
Lauterburg and Philippsburg to the Frankfort fairs, while
France beheld the sinking credit of the city with delight,
exercised every system of oppression in her power, and pro-
moted disunion among the citizens. There were also traitors
among the Lutheran clergy. The loyalty of the citizens was,
however, proof against every attempt, and Louis expended
three hundred thousand dollars in the creation of a small
party. Terror and surprise did the rest. The city was
secretly surrounded with French troops at a time when
numbers of the citizens were absent at the Frankfort and
other fairs, September, 1680, and the traitors had taken care
that the means of defence should be in a bad condition. The
citizens, deluded by promises or shaken by threats, yielded,
and Strasburg, the principal key to Germany, the seat of
German learning and the centre of German industry, capitu-
lated, on the 13th of October, to the empire's most implacable
foe. Louis made a triumphal entry into the city he had won
by perfidy, and was welcomed by Francis Egon von Fureten-
berg, the traitorous bishop, in the words of Simeon, "Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation!" The city was strongly garrisoned
by the French, and the fortifications were rapidly improved
to such a degree as to render it one of the strongest places
in Europe. The great cathedral, belonging to the Protes-
tants, was reclaimed by the bishop, and the free exercise of
religion was, contrary to the terms of capitulation, restricted.
All the Lutheran officials were removed, the clergy driven
into the country. The Protestants emigrated in crowds.
The chief magistrate, the venerable Dominicus Dietrich, fell
a victim to private enmity and was cited to appear before
Louis at Paris, where he was long detained prisoner. Lou-
vois, on his steady refusal to recant, sent him into the in-
1174 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
tenor of France, where he was long imprisoned. He was,
toward the close of his life, allowed to return to Strasburg,
where he expired, A.D. 1794. His memory has been basely
calumnied by many German historians. Numbers of French
were sent to colonize Strasburg, Alsace, and Lorraine. Many
of the towns and districts received fresh names ; the German
costume was prohibited, and the adoption of French modes
enforced.
The elector of Brandenburg, influenced by his wife, en-
tering into alliance with France, and the Turks, at Louis's
instigation, invading Austria, that monarch found himself
without an opponent, and, after conquering Luxemburg, de-
stroyed Genoa, which still remained faithful to the empire,
by bombarding her from the sea, A.D. 1684. The emperor,
harassed by the Turks and abandoned by the princes, was
again compelled, A.D. 1685, to sign a disgraceful peace, by
which France retained her newly-acquired territory, besides
Strasburg and Luxemburg. Among all the losses suffered
by the empire, that of Strasburg has been the most deeply
felt. The possession of that powerful fortress by France
has, for almost two centuries, neutralized the whole of Up-
per Germany or forced her princes into an alliance with their
natural and hereditary foe.
CCXXVI. Vienna Besieged by the Turks
Louis, while thus actively employed in the West, inces-
santly incited the sultan, by means of his ambassadors at
Constantinople, to fall upon the rear of the empire.1 In
Hungary, the popular disaffection, excited by the despotic
rule of the emperor, had risen to such a height that the
Hungarian Christians demanded aid from the Turk against
their German oppressors. A conspiracy among the nobility
1 Saeviebat Reunionum pestis ad Occasum, dum alia ad Ortum ingrueret.
Ut enim socius socio fidem prsestaret, Gallus et Turca, Christianissimus et
Antichriatianissimus, novus Pylades atque Orestes, par nobile amicorum in vetita
juratorum, junctis consiliis ancipiti malo Germaniam premebant, alter GalHca
fide, Greece alter. — Fecialis Gallus, 1689.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1175
was discovered in 1671, and the chiefs, Frangipani (the last
of this house raised by treason), Nadasdi, Xriny, and Tat-
tenbach, suffered death as traitors at Neustadt. Xriny was
the grandson of the hero of Sigeth. His wife died mad. No
mercy was extended to the heretics by the triumphant Jesuits
and by the soldiers of fortune educated in their school. The
magnates were induced by fear or by bribery to recant.
The people and their preachers, however, resisted every
effort made for their conversion, and a coup d'etat was the
result. In 1674, the whole of the Lutheran clergy was con-
voked to Presburg, was falsely accused of conspiracy, and
two hundred and fifty of their number were thrown into
prison. These clergymen were afterward sold, at the rate
of fifty crowns per head, to Naples, were sent on board the
galleys and chained to the oar. Part of them were set at
liberty at Naples, the rest at Palermo, by the gallant Ad-
miral de Ruyter shortly before his death. The defenceless
communes in Hungary were now consigned to the Jesuits.
The German soldiery were quartered on them, and the ex-
cesses committed by them were countenanced, as a means
of breaking the spirit of the people. The banner of revolt
was at length raised by the Lutheran Count Tokoly, but the
unfortunate Hungarians looked around in vain for an ally
to aid them in struggling for their rights. The only one at
hand was the Turk, who offered chains in exchange for
chains. The emperor, alarmed at the impending danger,
yielded, and, A.D. 1681, granted freedom of conscience to
Hungary, but it was already too late.
Louis XIV. redoubled his efforts at the Turkish court
and at length succeeded in persuading the sultan to send
two hundred and eighty thousand men under the grand
vizier, Kara Mustapha, into Hungary, while he invaded the
western frontier of the empire in person. Terror marched
in the Turkish van. The retreat of the weak imperial army
under the duke, Charles of Lorraine, under whom the Mar-
grave, Louis of Baden, who afterward acquired such fame,
served, became a disorderly flight. The Turks reached the
1176 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
gates of Vienna unopposed. The emperor fled, leaving the
city under the command of Rudiger, Count von Stahren-
berg, who, for two months, steadily resisted the furious at-
tacks of the besiegers, by whom the country in the vicinity
was converted into a desert and eighty-seven thousand of
the inhabitants were dragged into slavery. Stahrenberg,
although severely wounded, was daily carried round the
works, gave orders, and cheered his men. The Turkish
miners blew up the strongest part of the walls, and the
whole city was surrounded with ruins and heaps of rub-
bish; still the Viennese, unshaken by the wild cries, the fu-
rious attacks, and immense numbers of the enemy, gallantly
resisted every attempt. The wounded were tended by the
Bishop Kolonitsch, who so zealously fulfilled his duty as to
draw a threat from the grand vizier that he would deprive
him of his head. ' The numbers of the garrison, meanwhile,
rapidly diminished, and the strength of the citizens was worn
out by incessant duty. Stahrenberg was compelled to punish
the sleepy sentinels with death. Famine now began to add
to the other miseries endured by the wretched Viennese,
who, reduced to the last extremity, fired, during a dark
night, a radius of rockets from the tower of St. Stephen's,
as a signal of distress to the auxiliary forces supposed to be
advancing behind the Leopold and Kahlenberg. The aid
so long awaited was, fortunately, close at hand. The vicin-
ity and greatness of the danger had caused an imperial army
to be assembled in an unusually short space of time ; the em-
peror had twenty thousand men under Charles, duke of Lor-
raine ; the electors of Bavaria and Saxony came in person at
the head of twelve thousand men each. Swabia and Fran-
conia sent nine thousand into the field. John Sobieski, the
chivalresque king of Poland, brought an auxiliary troop of
eighteen thousand picked men from the North. The Ger-
man princes ceded to him the command of their united
1 Kara Mustapha was subsequently strangled on account of his defeat, and
his head, found on the taking of Belgrade, was sent to the bishop, who sullied
his fame by his cruelty toward the Hungarian Protestants.
AQE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1177
forces, and, on Saturday, the llth of September, 1683, he
climbed the Kahlenberg, whence he fired three cannon as
a signal to the Viennese of their approaching deliverance,
and on the following morning fell upon the camp of the
Turks, who had thoughtlessly omitted taking the precau-
tionary measure of occupying the heights, and who, confi-
dent in their numerical strength, continued to carry on the
siege while they sent too weak a force against the advanc-
ing enemy. The Germans, consequently, succeeded in push-
ing on ; the imperial troops on the left wing, the Saxons and
Bavarians in the centre, leaving the right wing, composed
of Poles, behind. The Germans halted and were joined at
Dornbach by the Poles. A troop of twenty thousand Turk-
ish cavalry, the indecision of whose movements betrayed
their want of a leader, was routed by Sobieski's sudden at-
tack, and the Germans, inspirited by this success, fell upon
the Turkish camp. Thirty thousand Christian prisoners were
instantly murdered by command of the enraged vizier, who,
instead of turning his whole force against the new assailants,
poured a shower of bombs and balls upon Vienna. The
Turks, already discontented at the contradictory orders, re-
fused to obey and were easily routed. The grand vizier's
tent and an immense treasure fell into the hands of the
Poles ; the whole of the Turkish artillery into those of the
Germans. The secret correspondence between Louis XIV.
and the Porte was discovered among the grand vizier's pa-
pers. Forty-eight thousand Turks fell during the siege;
twenty thousand in the battle.
On the following day, the Polish king entered Vienna on
horseback and was greeted by crowds of people, who thronged
around him to kiss his stirrup. The emperor, who had taken
into deep consideration the mode in which a meeting with
SobiesM could be arranged without wounding his own dig-
nity, had at length resolved to come to his rencounter mounted
on horseback, and, after bestowing an amicable greeting upon
his deliverer, remained stiffly seated in his saddle, nor even
raised his hat, on his hand being kissed by Sobieski's son or
1178 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
on the presentation of some of the Polish nobles. The Polish
army was also ill-provided for, and the Poles evinced an in-
clination to return ; Sobieski, however, declared his intention
to remain, even if abandoned to a man, until the enemy had
been entirely driven out of the country, and unweariedly
pursued the Turks, twenty thousand of whom again fell
at Parkan, until they had completely evacuated the country,
when he returned to Poland.
Charles of Lorraine, aided by Louis of Baden, carried
on the war during the ensuing year and attempted to regain
Hungary. Still, notwithstanding the fate of Kara Mustapha,
who had, at the sultan's command, been strangled at Bel-
grade, and the inability of his successors, who were either
too deeply absorbed in the intrigues of the seraglio or too
unskilled in war to take the command of a second expedi-
tion, the Turkish commandants and garrisons retained pos-
session of the Hungarian fortresses and offered a brave and
obstinate resistance. Every attempt against Ofen failed,
notwithstanding the defeat of the relieving army at Hand-
zabek by Duke Charles. Ibrahim, surnamed Satan, main-
tained the city during a protracted siege, which cost the
Germans twenty-three thousand men, A.D. 1684. — In the
ensuing campaign, Caprara, field-marshal of the imperial
forces, besieged the fortress of Neuhausel, which, after be-
ing desperately defended by Zarub, a Bohemian nobleman
who had embraced Islamism and been created a pacha, was
finally taken by storm. The whole of the garrison, the pacha
included, fell. The whole of Upper Hungary fell into Ca-
prara's hands. The unfortunate Count Tokoly was carried
off in chains by the Turks, and his valiant wife, a daughter
of the decapitated Xriny and the widow of a Ragoczy, long
defended her treasures in the rocky fastness of Muncacz.
Most of her husband's partisans, however, went over to the
triumphant imperialists, and the greater part of the fortified
towns capitulated, A.D. 1685.— Ofen, defended by Abdurrha-
man Pacha and by a garrison, ten thousand strong, who were
favored by the inhabitants, all of whom were Turks, was
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1179
again besieged by the elector of Bavaria, while Charles of
Lorraine marched against the Turkish army advancing to
its relief. The contest was carried on with equal fury on
both sides. The Germans were repulsed with a loss of three
to four thousand men. The grand vizier was, meanwhile,
kept in check by Duke Charles, and Ofen, after a terrific
struggle, was finally taken by storm, September 2, 1686,
without an effort being made on the part of the terror-
stricken vizier. The Turks defended themselves even in the
courts and apartments of the ancient castle, where they were
slain together with their women and children. The brave
Abdurrhaman fell. Two thousand men, who had taken
refuge in one of the castle squares, alone received quarter.
The grand vizier fled. A fearful revenge was taken by the
emperor upon Hungary. A tribunal, known as the slaugh-
ter-house of Eperies, was held by General Caraffa. Every
Hungarian suspected of having sided with Tokoly was thrown
into prison and cruelly tortured, and a great number were
executed. Vengeance fell upon all who refused implicit
obedience to Austria ; the national right of election was an-
nulled, and the hereditary right of the house of Habsburg
proclaimed throughout Hungary. Charles of Lorraine was
again victorious over the Turks at Mohacz, A.D. 1687. He
was succeeded in the command by Louis, Margrave of Baden,
who, in 1691, again beat the Turks at Szalankemen, but was
compelled to yield his post to Frederick Augustus, elector of
Saxony. The inability of this prince induced the emperor
to bestow the command on Eugene, prince of Savoy, whom
Louis XIV. had, by personal ridicule, rendered his most
implacable foe. Eugene, whose diminutive person, half
concealed beneath an immense peruke and mounted on a
tall horse, bore a most ludicrous appearance, was one of
the greatest generals of his time and was idolized by his
soldiery, whom he ever led to victory. In the battle of
Zenta, he entirely broke the power of the Turks; he took
Belgrade, and, by the peace of Carlowitz, confirmed Austria
in the possession of the whole of Hungary. Ragoczy, A.D.
1180 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
1699, again set up the standard of rebellion in Hungary, but
was reduced to submission, and the next emperor, Joseph I.,
sought to conciliate the people by a greater show of lenity.
CCXXVII. French Depredations
THE edict of Nantes, published by Louis XIV., had
driven eight hundred thousand Reformers out of France.
Servile Switzerland repulsed them from her inhospitable
frontiers, and they emigrated to Holland, England, and,
more particularly, to Brandenburg, where they were per-
mitted by the great elector to settle at Berlin, A.D. 1685.
Their gradual intermixture with the natives produced the
peculiarly boastful and shrewd character for which the peo-
ple of Berlin are proverbial. Louis, at the same time, con-
tinued his encroachments, seized Treves, harassed Lorraine
and Alsace, and erected the fortress of Huningen,1 opposite
to Basel. The Swiss murmured, but, ever mercenary, fur-
nished him with all the contingents he required, and, during
the subsequent war, their number amounted to twenty-eight
thousand seven hundred men. Valckenier, the Dutch envoy
to Switzerland, at the same time, succeeded in raising eight
thousand five hundred men from the Reformed cantons.
The possession of the Pfalz had long been the principal
object of Louis's ambition. The Pfalzgraf, Charles Louis,
who had been deprived of his inheritance by French intrigue,
labored throughout the whole of his life to reconcile the va-
rious religious sects. At Friedrichsburg he built a church,
named by him the Temple of Concord, in which he had the
service successively performed according to the three Chris-
tian forms of worship, the Catholic, the Lutheran, and the
Calvinistic. He also abolished the severe laws against the
1 Over the gateway stood the following inscription, "Ludovicua Magnus, rex
Christianissimus, Belgicus, Sequanicus, Germanicus, pace Europas concessa,
Huningam arcem, sociis tutelam, hostibus terrorem, exstruxit." Louis carried
his contempt of the Baselese so far as to have a cannon founded for this fortress,
with the inscription, "Si tu te remues, Bale, Je te tue."
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1181
Anabaptists. His toleration drew colonists from every part
of Germany, who again cultivated his wasted lands and
rapidly restored Mannheim, in particular, to a state of pros-
perity. The capricious conduct of his consort, Charlotteof
Hesse-Cassel, provoked a divorce, and he married Mademoi-
selle Louise von Degenfeld, by whom he had thirteen chil-
dren, who, on account of the inequality of their mother's
birth, were excluded from the succession. Of his two chil-
dren by his former wife, the prince died early, and his
daughter, Elisabeth Charlotte, he was, in 1671, persuaded
by Louis XIV. to bestow upon Philip of Orleans, as security
against all further attacks on the part of France. Louis's
insolence was, however, thereby increased, and, under pre-
text of Charles Louis's having aided in again depriving him
of Philippsburg, he demanded one hundred and fifty thou-
sand florins by way of reparation and sent troops to Neu-
stadt in order to enforce payment. Germersheim was de-
clared dependent upon France, and the unfortunate elector,
unsupported by the empire, died of chagrin, A.D. 1685.
Louis instantly claimed the inheritance for Philip, Char-
lotte's husband, without regard to the right of the house of
Wittelsbach. The German princes, who had unscrupulously
deserted the imperial free towns and the nobility of the em-
pire in Alsace, and the Dutch republic were, at length, roused
by this insolent attack on their hereditary rights, and, enter-
ing into a close confederacy, formed, A.D. 1686, the great
alliance of Augsburg against France. Even Maximilian of
JBavaria, who, under the guidance of Marshal Villars and
of his mistresses, imitated all the vices of the French court,
saw his family interests endangered by the destruction of
the Pfalz, ranged himself on the emperor's side, and dis-
missed Villars, who, on quitting him, loaded him with
abuse. The pope also, terrified at the audacity of the
French monarch, once more pronounced in favor of Ger-
many. Each side vied with the other in diplomatic wiles
and intrigue. On the demise of Maximilian Henry of Co-
logne, William von Furstenberg, who had, by Louis's influ-
1182 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
ence, been presented with a cardinal's hat, had been elected
archbishop of Cologne by the bribed chapter and resided at
Bonn under the protection of French troops. The citizens
of Cologne, however, closed the gates against him and were
aided by Brandenburg troops from Cleves and by the Bava-
rians. The election was abrogated by the emperor, the em-
pire, and the pope, by whom Prince Joseph Clement of Ba-
varia was installed as archbishop of Cologne instead of the
cardinal. The great league was, A.D. 1688, considerably
strengthened by the accession of William of Orange to the
throne of England in the place of his Catholic father-in-law,
James II., who took refuge in France.
Louis XIV., foreseeing the commencement of a fresh and
great struggle, hastened to anticipate the league, and, in the
autumn of 1688, sent fifty thousand men, under General
Montclas, into the Pfalz, which was left totally unprotected
by the empire. The cities wore easily taken; Treves, Spires,
"Worms, Offenburg, Mayence, and the fortress of Philipps-
burg, which offered but a short resistance, also fell. The
electorates of Treves and Mayence were overrun and plun-
dered. Coblentz and the castle of Heidelberg alone with-
stood the siege. Louis, meanwhile, unsatisfied with occupy-
ing and plundering these countries, followed the advice of
his minister, Louvois, and, as far as was in his power, laid
waste the Pfalz and the rest of the Rhenish and Swabian
frontier provinces, partly to avenge his non-acquisition of
these fertile territories, partly with a view of hindering their
occupation by a German army. Montclas and Melac, the
latter of whom boasted that he would fight for his king
against all the powers-of heaven and of hell, zealously exe-
cuted their master's commands. Worms, Spires, Franken-
thal, Alzei, Oberwesel, Andernach, Kochheim, and Kreuz-
nach were reduced to ashes, the inhabitants murdered or
dragged into France and compelled to recant. In Spires,
the imperial vaults were broken open, and the remains of
the^emperors desecrated. Similar scenes were enacted on the
right bank of the Rhine. Mannheim, Oppenheim, Laden-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1183
burg, Weinheim, Heppenheim, Durlach, Bruchsal, Rastadt,
Germsheim, Baden, Bretten, Pforzheim, were burned to-the
ground. Heidelberg greatly suffered ; the castle held out.
The French advanced thence up the Neckar, plundered Heil-
bronn, Esslingen, Swabian Hall, took the Asberg and plun-
dered the arsenal, but were repulsed from Goeppingen and
Schorndorf , where the women inspirited the men by their ex-
ample. Wurzburg, Bamberg, Nuremberg, etc., were threat-
ened with destruction and heavily mulcted. Frankfort on
the Maine, Rotenburg on the Tauber, the latter of which was
surrounded by seventeen villages in flames, made a valiant
defence. Feuquieres was routed before Ulm, and numbers
of the fugitive French were slain by the enraged peasantry.
Ehingen was, in retaliation, burned to the ground. Tubin-
gen was taken and sacked by Montclas, who was, in his
turn, deprived of his booty before Freudenstadt by the
peasants of the Black Forest. The authorities of Stuttgard,
struck with terror, opened the gates to the French against
the wishes of the people, who loudly demanded arms. Melac
attempted to fire the city, but was expelled by the infuriated
peasantry and by the Swabian Landwehr, under Charles,
duke of Baden, and succeeded with difficulty in carrying off his
booty and the hostages he had taken as security for the pay-
ment of the fine imposed by him upon the city. The French
also penetrated into Upper Swabia and burned Villingen. —
They overran the Lower Rhine, laid the territories of Liege,
Juliers, etc., waste, and burned Siegburg, where they prac-
ticed every atrocity. — A list of twelve hundred cities and
villages, that still remained to be burned, was exhibited by
these brigand bands. In the spring, the Bohemian cities,
Trautenau, Braunau, Klattau, were completely destroyed,
and, on the 21st of June, four hundred houses were burned
in Prague. Five of the incendiaries were taken, and, before
their execution, confessed that the authors of the conflagra-
tion, one hundred and fifty in number, were accompanied by
a Bohemian captain and by a merchant, the secret emissaries
of France. "With such tools did Louis work. He attempted
1184 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
the life of William of Orange, the newly-elected monarch of
England, A.D. 1689.
The phlegmatic emperor was at length roused and hur-
ried the long-delayed levy of imperial troops. The great
elector was dead, and his son, Frederick, unable to cause his
will, by which his possessions were divided among his other
children, to be invalidated without the concurrence of the
emperor, openly declared against France and ceded the dis-
trict of Schwiebus to the emperor. The petty princes,
alarmed for their ancient privileges, now threatened to be
trodden under foot by the despotic French monarch, also fol-
lowed the general impulse for defence, and hence originated
the decree of the Ratisbon diet, which, with unusual energy,
expelled, A.D. 1689, every French agent from Germany and
prohibited the reception of French servants and intercourse
of any description with France, the emperor adding these
words, "because France is to be regarded not only as the
empire's most inveterate foe, but as that of the whole of
Christendom, nay, as even worse than the Turk." Leopold,
for the sake of promoting the unity of Germany, even laid
aside his ancient religious prejudices and bestowed the eighth
electoral dignity upon Ernest Augustus, duke of Brunswick-
Hanover, which placed the Protestant electors, Saxony,
Brandenburg, Hanover, on an equal footing with their Cath-
olic brethren: Bohemia, Bavaria, and the Pfalz, the new
elector of the Pfalz, Philip, belonging to the Catholic branch
of Neuburg. Wolfenbuttel, actuated by fraternal jealousy,
protested against the elevation of Hanover to the electoral
dignity. — The emperor also turned to Switzerland and re-
vived the memory of her former connection with the empire ;
how easily might she not have prevented the devastation
of the Rhenish province by falling upon the enemy's flank !
But she no longer sympathized with her German kindred,
and even threatened the emperor in case he refused to draw
his troops off her frontiers to the Upper Rhine, while she
continued to furnish the French king with his most valu-
able soldiery. Dr. Fatio, who, A.D. 1691, raised a rebellion
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEEXTB 1185
against the bribed and tyrannical government of Basel,
was arrested, cruelly tortured, and executed with two of
his companions.
The war commenced ; but the dullness and disunion of the
great league threw every advantage on the side of Louis.
William of Orange, occupied in confirming his possession of
the English crown, neglected Holland with a view of flatter-
ing his new subjects. The states-general remained devoted to
him both under their president, Fagel, who dted, A.D. 1688,
and his successor, Heinsius; these men were, however, no
military leaders, nor was the princely Count von Waldeck,
the Dutch commander-in-chief ; and the emperor, intent upon
following up his success in Hungary, had sent thither his
best generals and troops. Caprara, whom he despatched
into Holland, fell into a dispute with Sclicening, the Bran-
denburg marshal, and they were, consequently, merely in
each other's way. The elector of Bavaria, insincere in his
professions, held back, and even when elected stadtholder of
the Spanish Netherlands discovered equal indifference. The
elector of Saxony regained Mayence, but died in camp, and
Mayence fell under the command of General Thungen, the
greatest patriot of the day, who, in order to strike terror into
the French emissaries, condemned the first French incendia-
ries, who fell into his hands, to be burned alive. Schoening,
in conjunction with Saxony, drove the French out of Heil-
bronn ; and Frederick, elector of Brandenburg, aided by the
Dutch, took Bonn, A.D. 1689, that had been ceded by the
archbishop of Cologne to France. Waldeck was, neverthe-
less, defeated, A.D. 1690, at Fleurus, by a French force, his
superior in number, under the Marshal de Luxemburg; and
Cornelius Evertsen, the son of the Evertsen who fell in 1666,
was also beaten off Bevesier by a superior French fleet under
Tourville, who was, in his turn, defeated, A.D. 1691, by
the English under Allmonde; notwithstanding which, the
French took Namur and bombarded Liege. In 1692, the
Dutch gained a brilliant victory at La Hogue, but William,
who had returned from England, was defeated by the Mar-
_ GERMANY. VOL. HI.— 12
1186 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
shal de Luxemburg at Steenkerken, and the French under
Catinat were, at the same time, victorious in Savoy and
again penetrated into and devastated Swabia, turning their
chief rage upon Heidelberg and the splendid castle, com-
manding that city, the residence of the Pfalzgraf, whose
mighty towers were blown up and converted into the ruin
now the delight of the traveller. The incendiary bands then
mounted the Neckar. The duke, Charles Frederick, the ad-
ministrator of Wurtemberg, was taken captive ; his ransom
was fixed at half a million livres. The mother of the infant
duke, Eberhard, was threatened in Stuttgard, which mainly
owed its preservation to the courage of the peasantry; the
whole of the country was plundered ; the magnificent mon-
astery of Hirschau, the cities of Calw, Marbach, Nuenburg,
Vaihingen, etc., were laid in ashes, and numbers of hostages,
taken as security for the payment of the enormous sums
levied upon the inhabitants, were starved to death on ac-
count of the delay in the payment of the money. These
predatory incursions were renewed in the ensuing year, and
Winnenden, Baknang, etc., were burned. Rheinfels, nobly
defended by the Hessians, was long and fruitlessly besieged.
Numbers of the French fell. Louis, Margrave of Baden,
was now sent by the emperor from Hungary to the Rhine,
and that general instantly invaded Alsace, but, on attempt-
Ing to penetrate into the heart of France, A.D. 1693, the im-
perial troops, more particularly the Saxons, refused to fol-
low, and he was compelled to return. William of Orange
also suffered a second defeat in the Netherlands, near Neer-
winden. Villeroi followed in the steps of Luxemburg, who
had bombarded and almost entirely destroyed Brussels. The
allies regained Namur, A.D. 1694, but, nevertheless, grad-
ually displayed less energy.
The French, on the other hand, made considerable prog-
ress in Spain, where, notwithstanding the gallant defence
made by George, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, they took
Barcelona. Savoy was also compelled to sue for peace.
Mayence was again attacked, and a popular insurrection,
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1187
caused by the heavy war taxes, took place simultaneously
at Amsterdam, A.D. 1696. A disgraceful peace-was, conse-
quently, concluded at Ryswick, A.D. 1697, by which Louis
XIV., besides Lorraine, the Pfalz, Breisach, Freiburg, and
Philippsburg, retained all his conquests, among others Stras-
burg. It is worthy of remark that the French language
was, at this period, made use of in transacting all diplomatic
affairs, the French ambassadors no longer tolerating the use
of Latin.
Philip of the Pfalz instantly enforced the maxim, "Cujus
regio, ejus religio," throughout his new possessions and em-
ulated Louis XIV. in tyranny toward the Protestants, who
emigrated in great numbers; and Louis, notwithstanding
the peace, marched troops into the Wurtemberg comity of
Mumpelgard, where he established the Catholic form of ser-
vice, A.D. 1699. The Jesuits, at the same time, recom-
menced the persecution of the heretics in the imperial prov-
inces, and numbers of Silesians abandoned their native soil.
The complete neglect of the imperial fortresses on the
Upper Rhine was, after such cruel experience, perfectly in
accordance with the spirit of the age.
CCXXVIII. German Princes on Foreign Thrones
WHILE Germany was thus a prey to external foes, a
number of the reigning families in Europe became extinct,
and, by a strange whim of fate, bequeathed their thrones to
German princes. This circumstance, however, far from
proving beneficial to the German empire, greatly contributed
to estrange her native princes and to render their hereditary
provinces dependent upon their new possessions.
The house of Oldenburg had long reigned in Denmark
and directed its policy against the empire. Schleswig and
Holstein were, as provinces subordinate to Denmark, gov-
erned by a prince of this house in the Danish interest simi-
larly with Oldenburg, when, in 1666, the elder branch be-
came extinct.
1188 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
In Sweden, the Pfalzic dynasty, raised, A.D. 1654, to the
throne, also pursued an anti-German system, that of Oxen-
stierna, for the aggrandizement of the North.
The house of Orange was no sooner seated, A.D. 1688, on
the throne of England, than the interests of Germany were
sacrificed to those of Great Britain.
Frederick Augustus, brother to John George IV., elector
of Saxony, travelled over the half of Europe during his
youth. A" giant in size and strength, he took delight in the
dangers and pleasures pursued by the French gallants of
that period. On his arrival at Madrid, he mingled with the
combatants in a bull-fight, seized the most savage of the bulls
by the horns and dashed him to the ground. No woman
withstood his seductions, and, after escaping all the dangers
with which he was threatened by the jealous Southerns, he
returned to Saxony, where, A.D. 1694, he succeeded his
brother on the electoral throne. Louis XIV. was his model,
and, aided by his favorite, Flemming, on whom he had be-
stowed the title of Count, he began to subvert Saxony. The
extravagance of his predecessor was economy when com-
pared with his. One mistress supplanted another; all cost
incredible sums. His household was placed upon an immense
footing; palaces, churches, retreats (as, for instance, Moriz-
burg, the Saxon Versailles, notorious for its wanton fetes),
were erected ; the most costly chef-d'ceuvres were purchased
with tons of gold; the "green vaults," a collection of useless
treasures, was swelled with fresh valuables and curiosities of
every description. And for all this his little territory paid.
Not a murmur escaped the people until the elector, instead of
raising his numerous army as usual from volunteers, levied
recruits by force, and a revolt ensued, A.D. 1696. The rebel-
lion was quelled, and the recruits were forced by the inflic-
tion of torture to swear fealty to the colors.
The ensuing year found the elector at the summit of his
ambition. He was elected, by means of bribing the "Wai-
wodes and gaining Russia and the emperor of Germany
over to his interests, king of Poland. Russia was at that
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1189
period under the rule of Peter the Great, who raised her
power to a height destined at a future period to endanger
Europe. Sweden was at that time Russia's most formidable
opponent, and Peter, with the view of paralyzing the influ-
ence of that monarchy over Poland, favored the elevation of
the elector of Saxony. The emperor was won over by the re-
cantation of the new sovereign. The reception of the suc-
cessor of John Frederick, the sturdy opponent to Catholicism,
into the bosom of the ancient church was indeed a triumph.
Shortly previous to this event, Augustus had been involved
in some intrigues at Vienna, where he is said to have watched
unseen the raising of an apparition intended to work upon
the imagination of the archduke, afterward the emperor,
Joseph I., and to have thrown the priest, who personated
the ghost, out of the window into the palace court. He also
gained over the Jesuits by favoring their establishment in
Poland. The elevation of the house of Saxony, on the other
hand, deprived it of its station as the head of the Protestant
princes and of all the advantages it had thereby gained since
the Reformation, and Brandenburg became henceforward
the champion of Protestantism and the first Protestant power
in Germany.
The frustration of the schemes of Louis XIV. upon Po-
land and the ignominious retreat of the Prince da Conti, the
French competitor for that throne, after the expulsion of his
fleet under John Barth from the harbor of Dantzig, were the
sole advantages gained on this occasion by Germany. Au-
gustus was, A.D. 1697, elected king of Poland. Still, not-
withstanding his knee being kissed in token of homage by
the whole of the Polish nobility and the magnificence of his
state (his royal robes alone cost a million dollars), he was
compelled to swear to some extremely humiliating pacta
conventa and to refrain from bringing his consort, who
steadily refused to embrace the Catholic faith, into the coun-
try. The privileges of the Poles were secured; Saxony was
taxed to meet the expenses incurred by her sovereign, and
was compelled to furnish Poland with money and troops,
1190 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
while the Catholic prince, Egon von Furstenberg, the stadt-
holder during the absence of her sovereign, drained the
coffers of the Protestants, and, these sources proving insuf-
ficient, some of the hereditary demesnes were sold, among
others the ancestral castle of Wettin. Augustus was finally
reduced to the necessity of issuing a debased coinage. Al-
chemists were also had recourse to. One, named Kletten-
berg, was beheaded for failing in the discovery of gold; an-
other, Boettger, while imprisoned at Kcenigstein, invented
porcelain, by the fabrication of which the elector realized
immense sums. — The loss of the inheritance of Saxon-Lauen-
burg, whose last duke, Julius Francis, expired, A.D. 1689,
was severely felt by Saxony. The house of Anhalt, a branch
of that of Lauenburg, had the first claim, but was too weak
to compete for its right. That of Saxony had been confirmed
by the emperor, Maximilian I., but John George, neglecting
to take possession of it, was superseded by George William
of Brunswick-Celle, who occupied the duchy with his troops,
and Augustus, too much occupied with Poland to assert his
claim, consented to receive an indemnity of one million one
hundred thousand florins.
On the death of the great elector of Brandenburg, A.D.
1688, his will was declared invalid by his son, Frederick,
who maintained the indivisibility of the territory of Bran-
denburg against the claims of the children of his stepmother,
Dorothea, on whom he bitterly avenged himself. Frederick's
mean and misshapen person, the consequence of an accident
in his infancy, gained for him the sobriquet of the royal
.-Esop. His government was at first highly popular. Dankel-
mann, his prime minister, who had formerly saved his life,
was severe but just. The elector had, however, a taste for
pomp and luxury, in which he was encouraged by his favor
ite, von Kolbe, who placed his wife in his master's arms.
This notorious person was the daughter of a publican at
Emmerick, and, notwithstanding the title of Countess von
Wartenberg, bestowed upon her by the elector, often caused
him extreme embarrassment by the coarseness of her man-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1191
ners. It was by her means that her husband succeeded in
his base machinations. Dankelmann was suddenly arrested
and thrown into a dungeon at Spandau, and Kolbe succeeded
him as minister, with unlimited authority, under the name
of Count von "Wartenberg. Ignorant and mean, he solely
retained his office by flattering the weak vanity and ambi-
tion of the elector. The elevation of William of Orange to
the throne of England, and of Augustus of Saxony to that
of Poland, roused Frederick's jealousy, of which Kolbe took
advantage to inspire him with a desire for the possession of
a crown, and the transformation of the duchy of Prussia,
then no longer a Polish feof, into a kingdom was resolved
upon, and its recognition was effected by means of six mil-
lion dollars. The Jesuits in Vienna received two hundred
thousand. They treated the petty kingdom with ridicule,
but Prince Eugene, who foresaw that the successors of this
new monarch would increase in power and arrogance, said,
"Those ministers by whom the king of Prussia has been
recognized deserve to be hanged." The pope also strongly
protested against the weak concession made by the emperor.
A solemn coronation and the creation of the order of the
black eagle took place, A.D. 1701, at Koenigsberg. Frederick
placed the crown on his own brow, and then on that of his
consort. This princess favored the Pietists and had placed
the celebrated Franke, the founder of the Orphan Asylum
at Halle, near her person. He was, however, dismissed by
the king, who declared salvation to be the natural preroga-
tive of the kings of the earth. Frederick aped the stiff eti-
quette of the Spanish court and surrounded his person and
his palace with Swiss guards, while the ceremonious attitude
of his court, like the altar service in the Catholic churches,
proclaimed the majesty of this terrestrial deity, who merely
laid aside his dignity in his smoking-room. The royal dig-
nity cost enormous sums. Kolbe, who at the same time filled
his own purse, invented the most extraordinary taxes in order
to extract money from the people, as, for instance, on wigs,
dresses, hogs' bristles, etc. Alchemy was also had recourse
1192 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
to. An alchemist, who had assumed the title of Don Do-
minico Caetano, Conte de Ruggiero, and had grossly de-
ceived the king, was hanged on a gilt gallows in a Roman
toga made of gold paper. The fading beauty and increasing
impudence of the Countess von "Wartenberg also led to
Kolbe's downfall, and a dispute arising between him and
one of his creatures, Count Wittgenstein, on account of the
large sums taken by the latter from the fire-insurance office,
the whole of his criminal proceedings were discovered, and
he and his accomplices were punished. Kolbe and his in-
famous wife, however, escaped with honorable banishment
and a pension of twenty-four thousand dollars. A new pal-
ace was built at Berlin, where the citizens, whose taste was
in some degree influenced by the French settlers, vied with
the courtiers in luxury and splendor.
CCXXIX. The Northern War— Charles the Twelfth
ON the accession of Charles XII., in his seventeenth
year, to the throne of Sweden, the neighboring powers,
deeming the moment favorable, attempted to humble the
power of that kingdom. The league entered into, A.D.
1699, by Russia, Denmark, and Saxon-Poland, was brought
about by Patkul, a patriotic Livonian, who had been greatly
ill-treated by the Swedes. The rights and privileges of the
Livonians had been infringed by Charles XI., and a deputa-
tion from the Estates, in which Patkul was included, had»
notwithstanding the safe-conduct granted by the king, been
abused. Patkul fled and was sentenced to death in con-
tumaciam. Peter, the czar of Russia, sent him as his am-
bassador to Saxon-Poland, and took advantage of the quar-
rel between Livonia and Sweden to extend his sovereignty
along the Gulf of Finland to the detriment of Sweden. — The
hostility of the Danes had been also roused by the voluntary
annexation of Schleswig-Holstein to Sweden. In 1684, an
attempt made by Christian V. of Denmark to reannex Schles-
wig with Denmark was frustrated by the intervention of the
neighboring powers. Christian Albert of Schleswig-Holstein
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1193
expired A.D. 1694. His son, Frederick, married Hedwig
Sophia, the sister of Charles XII., with whom he formed
so strict a friendship as to allow his territory to be occupied
by Swedish troops.
On the formation of the league against Sweden, the Danes
invaded Holstein, and Augustus, king of Poland, overran
Swedish Livonia and unsuccessfully besieged Riga. Narwa
also withstood the Russian hordes, which, partly armed with
arrows and clubs and in wild disorder, were driven to the
assault by the terror of the knout. The allies had, however,
falsely judged the youthful scion of the house of Wittelsbach.
Charles XII. unsheathed his sword never again to restore it
to the scabbard. Suddenly invading Denmark, he bombarded
Copenhagen, compelled the king to accede to his terms of
peace, and, in the winter of 1700, crossed over to Livonia.
Without awaiting the arrival of reinforcements, he advanced
hastily against the czar, and, with merely nine thousand men,
defeated forty thousand Russians, or, as some have it, one
hundred thousand with eight thousand, at Narwa. After
driving the Russians out of the country, he attacked the
Saxons and Poles on the Duna, where, marshalling his
troops in the midst of the stream as they were beaten from
the bank, he again led them to victory. Augustus sent the
beautiful Aurora von Koenigsmark to him in the hope of en-
tangling him in an intrigue, but Charles refused to see her,
and, on meeting her accidentally in a hollow way, whence
there was no retreat, merely bowed, and, without uttering
a syllable, turned his horse's head and rode away. He was,
during the whole of his life, remarkable for his abhorrence
of women and wine. An army was vainly brought into the
field by Riese, the licentious Saxon general, whose effemi-
nacy rendered him an object of contempt to the Poles.
Charles was everywhere victorious; in 1702, at Clissow,
where he captured five hundred ladies belonging to the
Polish court, whom he sent home unharmed. His brother-
in-law, Frederick of Holstein, fell on this occasion. A broken
leg, which retained Charles at Cracow, retarded the cam-
1194 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
paign, notwithstanding the sharp pursuit of Augustus for
four days by the Swedes under Reinschild, from whom he
eventually escaped. Charles was, meanwhile, again com-
pelled to oppose the Russians, who invaded Finland, and
Poland remained in tranquillity until 1705, when he again
entered that country and took Warsaw, where he condemned
the Saxon general, Patkul, who is said to have defended that
city, as a Livonian by birth and a Swedish subject in the ser-
vice of the enemy, to death. Had Charles, instead of direct-
ing his attention almost solely upon Poland and Saxony,
turned the whole of his forces at first against Russia and
followed up the victory of Narwa by the destruction of the
budding creations of Peter the Great on the Gulf of Finland,
his fate, and probably that of Europe, might have been more
fortunate. His thoughts were, however, solely directed to
the elevation of another sovereign on the throne of Poland,
and young Sobieski having been surprised by Augustus at
Ohlau in Silesia and carried into Saxony, Stanislaus Lesc-
zinsky was elected in his stead by the partisans of Sweden
and Poland. The Swedes were, meanwhile, kept in check
at Punitz by the Saxon general, Count von der Schulenburg,
who procrastinated the war by his skilful manoeuvring. His
retreat across the Oder is celebrated in the annals of warfare.
The czar being again driven out of Lithuania by Charles, and
Schulenburg, on advancing to his aid, being completely routed
by Reinschild at Fraustadt, A.D. 1706, Augustus fell back
upon Russia, while Charles seized the opportunity to march
rapidly through Silesia into Saxony, where he was hailed as
the defender of the Protestant faith, with an enthusiasm
scarcely inferior to that with which Gustavus Adolphus had
formerly been welcomed.1
1 Augustus had rendered himself highly unpopular in Saxony by his tyranny
and still more BO by his secession from the Protestant church. He was repre-
sented, in a caricature of the times, driving Saxony into Poland on a wheelbar-
row. The popular song,
"0 du lieber Augustin
AUes ist hin
Polen ist weg,"
also belongs to this period
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1195
This bold step struck Augustus with terror, and he in
stantly sent his councillors, Imhof and Pfingsten, from Po-
land with full powers to conclude peace with the successful
Swede, and a treaty was hastily concluded between them
and Charles, which alone required the ratification of the
Polish monarch. But Augustus, who had kept his allies in
ignorance of the pending negotiations, had, meanwhile, been
compelled to aid the Russians in an engagement at Calisch
against the Swedes, in which the former proving victorious,
he entered Warsaw in triumph and declared the report of
peace having been concluded by him with Charles, false.
Charles was, however, already in possession of Saxony,
and Augustus was speedily compelled by necessity to aban-
don his Russian ally and to sue for the peace he had just
denied. A conference was held between the two monarchs,
whose personal appearance contrasted as strikingly as their
characters ; Augustus, gigantic in person, magnificently but
effeminately attired in false and curling locks and cloth of
gold; Charles, less in stature, but a thorough soldier, with
a small hat on his closely shaven head (a style that was
afterward imitated by Frederick the Great and Napoleon),
dressed in a coat of coarse blue cloth with copper buttons,
with enormous boots and a long sword. Peace was con-
cluded at Altranstadt. Augustus renounced the throne of
Poland and delivered up young Sobieski and the unfortu-
nate Patkul, who, although at that time Russian ambassa-
dor at Dresden, was claimed by Charles as a Livonian, a
Swedish subject by birth, and barbarously put to the rack.
According to Patkul 's own account, Augustus delivered him
up in revenge for his having once ventured to reproach him
for having spent a large sum of money, intended for the levy
of troops, on his mistresses and in the purchase of jewelry.
Flemming, who was also demanded by Charles, knew his
master too well to trust him and withdrew a while into
Prussia. Augustus, in order to appease the indignation
displayed by Russia on the conclusion of this peace,
threw his unfortunate councillors, Imhof and Pfingsten,
1196 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
under a false charge of having overstepped their author-
ity, into prison.
The residence of Charles XII. in Saxony, A.D. 1706, was
very remarkable. On his march through Silesia, the perse-
cuted Protestants in that country supplicated his aid. He
earnestly addressed the emperor on their behalf, sent four
regiments up the country with orders, hi case of necessity,
to retake possession by force of the churches, of which the
Protestants had been deprived by the Jesuits, and compelled
the emperor, who, at that time occupied with France, avoided
raising a fresh antagonist, to restore one hundred and twenty-
five churches to the Lutherans and to permit six new ones to
be built; but Charles no sooner quitted the country in order
to penetrate into the steppes of Russia than Joseph published
a severe edict against the increasing apostasy, on account of
the numbers of Protestants who now avowed their faith and
crowded to the new churches. Banishment for life and con-
fiscation were the punishments awarded to every apostate
Catholic. — Charles fixed his headquarters at Altranstadt in
Saxony, where, as sovereign of the country, he levied con-
tributions and recruited his army. While here, he received
a visit from Marlborough, the celebrated English general,
who persuaded him to grant peace to Germany, then har-
assed by France, and to turn his arms against Russia. An
alliance between France, Sweden, and Turkey, at that period,
would have ruined the empire.
In 1709, Charles invaded Russia at the head of forty thou-
sand men, most of whom had been raised in Germany, crossed
the Beresina (Napoleon followed in his steps) at Borissow,
took the Russian fortifications at Holowczyn (swimming the
river "Wabis, in which he sank up to his neck) by storm, at
one time fell among the Calmucks, numbers of whom he
slew with his own hand, and pursued the flying enemy until
he was himself lost among the wide forests and morasses.
The artillery sank in the swamps, the men perished for want
of food. General Lowenhaupt, when attempting to join him
with a fresh body of troops from Sweden, was waylaid and
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1197
defeated, after a desperate conflict that lasted three days, by
the czar at Liesna, notwithstanding which he succeeded in
joining him with six thousand men. Charles, after long and
vainly endeavoring to overtake the retreating enemy, who
(as during Napoleon's invasion) laid the country waste
through which he advanced, now led his wearied army
southward in order to form a junction with Mazeppa, the
Hetman of the Cossacks, who hoped by his aid to shake off
the Russian yoke. The country through which the Swedish
monarch passed had been converted into a desert by the fly-
ing Russians, and, in order to gain better winter quarters,
he advanced, in the depth of the winter of 1708-9, as far as
Gaditsch. Thousands perished of cold on the way thither,
and, in the spring and summer, his army was so much re-
duced in strength that the Russians regained courage and
ventured with their overwhelming numbers to attack him
as he lay before Pultowa. The Russian army had been,
moreover, disciplined, and was at the time commanded by
Germans (Ronne, Goltz, Pflug, Bauer, and Kruse). Charles,
who had been wounded in the foot while incautiously expos-
ing himself to the fire from the walls, was borne about in a
litter, which, during the engagement, was shattered by the
Russian artillery. The Swedes, whose ranks had been
thinned by cold and starvation, were, notwithstanding
their bravery, completely put to the rout; Charles escaped
with extreme difficulty. The last salvo was given by Prince
Maximilian Emanuel of Wurtemberg, who commanded a
Swedish regiment. He was taken prisoner and was re-
ceived with great honor by the czar. Charles fled with a
few of his followers into Turkey. The division of the Swed-
ish army under Lowenhaupt was overtaken and captured
by the Russians on the Dnieper.
The fugitive monarch was royally welcomed by the Porte
and allowed to fix his residence at Bender, whence he con-
ducted a Turkish war against Russia. The grand vizier had
already taken the field at the head of two hundred thousand
men and had closely shut up the czar in the Crimea. Charles,
1198 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
to whom, to his great mortification, the command of the army
had not been intrusted, galloped impatiently into the camp,
but arrived too late to hinder the czar's escape. From this
day dates the prosperity of Russia. The plans of the Swed-
ish monarch were frustrated by a German woman, Martha,
a native of Rinteln in Esthonia, a Lutheran, the maid-ser-
vant of a clergyman of Marienburg. She married a Swed-
ish dragoon, was carried off by the Russians, became succes-
sively slave and mistress to Scheremetoff, Menzikoff, and the
czar, and, under the name of Catherine, czarina and empress
of all the Russias. "With her jewels she bribed the grand
vizier to allow the Russians to escape. Her ring was after-
ward discovered among the treasures of the murdered
vizier.
Livonia and Esthonia, until now belonging to Sweden,
although by right German, fell, on the defeat of the Swedes
at Pultowa, under the rule of Russia. Riga capitulated,
A.D. 1710, after a heroic defence, and Courland was ac-
quired by Peter, who married the last duke of that country
to his niece, Anna, and killed him with excessive drinking.
On Dantzig, of which he also coveted the possession, he im-
posed a tribute of four hundred thousand dollars.
Peter next attacked Pomerania with a view of completely
annihilating the power of Sweden. Russia, Denmark, and
Poland, where Augustus had reascended the throne, again
coalesced. An anti-league, known as the alliance of The
Hague, was formed for the maintenance of peace and for
the protection of Sweden against her neighbors, by England,
Holland, and the emperor. Little energy was, however, dis-
played on her behalf. The Danes who had invaded Sweden
were, it is true, compelled to retire, but were allowed to take
possession of the bishoprics of Bremen and Verdun, in which
they were aided by an insurrection of the inhabitants, occa-
sioned by the tyranny of the Swedish governors. Stade was
burned down. The Saxons seized the whole of Poland on
the departure of Stanislaus, who, abandoned by his parti-
sans, took refuge with Charles in Turkey. In 1712, the
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1199
allied powers of Saxony and Russia took possession of Swe-
dish Pomerania, Stralsund and Wismar alone excepted.
Stenbock, who had brought a fresh body of sixteen thou-
sand men from Sweden, defeated the allies at Qadebusch,
but incurred the detestation of the Germans by the cruelty
with which, during the severe winter of 1713, he burned
down the city of Alton a, which belonged to Denmark, hi
revenge for the destruction of Stade. The inhabitants, ten
thousand in number, driven out of the burning city, were
denied a refuge in Hamburg, and numbers of them perished
of cold and hunger. Stenbock was shortly afterward shut
up near Tcenning by the enemy and forced to yield. (Capit-
ulation of Olden woth, A.D. 1713.) The czar avenged Al-
tona, on whose unfortunate inhabitants he bestowed a thou-
sand rubles, by burning Garz and Wolgast to the ground
and treating their inhabitants with horrid barbarity. These
successes decided Prussia, until now vacillating, to join the
anti-Swedish league, A.D. 1714, for which she was rewarded
by the promise of the future possession of Stettin.
Turkey, although threatened by the rising power of the
Russian empire, was a prey to the petty intrigues of the
seraglio, and turned a deaf ear to the remonstrances of
Charles XII. , who urged the necessity of carrying on the
war. He received a hint to quit the country, but, instead
of complying, barricaded his house, which he defended
against several thousand Turks, numbers of whom fell by
his hand, but was at length seized and carried out of the
country. With equal obstinacy, he remained for ten months
in bed at Demotika. He had, notwithstanding, succeeded
in successively overthrowing four grand viziers, and his long
stay in Turkey was fully justified by the hope of placing him-
self at the head of a powerful Turkish army. After having
exhausted every means of persuasion in his negotiations to
that effect with the Porte, he once more mounted on horse-
back, and, solely accompanied by Colonel During, made in
sixteen days a circuit through Hungary, Austria, Bavaria,
the Pfalz, Westphalia, and Mecklenburg to Stralsund, in or-
1200 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
der to avoid the Saxons and Prussians, and passing on his
way through Cassel, where, notwithstanding the marriage
that had lately taken place between his second sister, Ulrica
Eleonore, and Frederick, hereditary prince of Hesse-Cassel,
he preserved a strict incognito. The conduct of the newly-
married pah*, who had, during his absence, deeply intrigued
with the Swedish nobility, who, in the event of Charles's
death, projected the establishment of an oligarchical govern-
ment, had greatly displeased the king, who had frustrated
Frederick's hopes of succeeding to the throne by declaring
the young duke of Holstein, his elder sister's son, his lawful
heir. — Charles reached Stralsund during a dark November
night, A.D. 1714. The city was at the time besieged by his
numerous opponents, and, after gallantly defending it for
some months, he was at length compelled to fly to Sweden.
Wismar also fell.
The war was subsequently carried on at sea, generally to
the prejudice of Sweden, and Charles made some attempts
upon Norway. Goertz, the minister of Holstein, who en-
tered into a close compact with Charles, and, by his diplo-
matic arts, endeavored to dissolve the anti-Swedish league,
nevertheless displayed the greatest energy. The jealousy
of Denmark being roused by a slight advantage gamed by
the Russian fleet over that df Sweden, Gkertz seized the op-
portunity to open secret negotiations with the czar, and a
treaty was set on foot by which Russia was to retain her
conquests on the Gulf of Finland, and Stanislaus was to
be replaced on the throne of Poland. An alliance was
also proposed between Charles and Peter's daughter, the
Grandduchess Anna. The whole of the negotiations were,
however, detected by the seizure of a Swedish despatch
by the Danes. Denmark naturally viewed an alliance
between Sweden and Russia with dread; Saxony beheld
Poland slipping from her grasp ; Hanover saw the down-
fall of her projects upon Bremen and Verdun, and Prussia
that of hers upon Stettin; Charles's marriage endangered
alike the succession of Frederick of Hesse and that of the
AGE OP LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1201
young duke of Holstein to the throne, while the power he
thereby acquired gave a death-blow to the aspirations of the
Swedish aristocracy, and his assassination, before Goartz's
arrival in Sweden with the treaty already signed by the
czar, was. consequently, resolved upon. The leader of this
conspiracy and the number of his accomplices are still un-
known, but it appears that foreign powers, besides a faction
in Sweden, were implicated in this affair. A small Swedish
force under Armfeldt had perished from cold while crossing
the mountains that separate Norway from Sweden ; and an-
other, commanded by Charles in person, was besieging the
fortress of Friedrichshall in the south of Norway, when the
king was shot through the head while leaning over the re-
doubt, December 11, 1718. Frederick of Hesse-Cassel in-
stantly placed himself at the head of the council of war,
divided the whole contents of the military chest among the
superior officers, and hastily withdrew to Sweden to make
terms with the aristocracy, on whose favor his accession to
the throne solely depended. The duke of Holstein, who had
also helped himself to the contents of the military chest, was
excluded from the succession, and Schleswig was, without
his concurrence, ceded by Sweden to Denmark, in order to
pacify her foreign neighbors. The czar was richly indemni-
fied for the frustration of his projected alliance by the ces-
sion of the whole of Livonia and Esthonia, while Saxony was
confirmed in the possession of Poland, Hanover in that of the
bishoprics of Bremen and Verdun, besides receiving an in-
demnity of a million dollars, and Prussia was gratified with
the gift of Stettin, the whole of the tract of country lying
between the Oder and the Peene, and three million dollars.
Qcertz fell a sacrifice to this peaceful policy and was sen-
tenced to the block by the Swedish war council.
Northern Pomerania and its capital, Stralsund, now com-
prised the whole of the Swedish possessions on this side the
Baltic. The power of Sweden had deeply fallen. On the
demise of Frederick of Hesse in 1751, Adolf Frederick of
Holstein-Qottorp mounted the throne, but was powerless
1202 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
against the aristocracy, which ere long fell under Russia*
influence.
Russia had now supplanted Sweden as the greatest north-
ern power. In 1700, the city of Petersburg had been built
on the Gulf of Finland by the czar, who had drawn thither
a number of German artificers, introduced a superior style
of discipline into his army, and created a navy. The Ger-
man Livonians also aided his endeavors for the extension
of the power of Russia to the prejudice of their fatherland.
Russian ambassadors bent the courts of Sweden, Denmark,
and Poland to his interests. The Russian force under Menzi-
koff remained stationary in Germany and perpetrated the
most shameful acts of violence. Hamburg was compelled
to pay a contribution of two hundred thousand dollars, Lu-
beck one hundred thousand silver marks. In Mecklenburg,
they seized Posto under pretext of aiding the duke, Charles
Leopold of Schwerin, against his rebellious Estates. The
nobility fled the country. A part of the Russian troops
subsequently returned home, leaving a body of sixteen thou-
sand men under General Weide to vex the country, nor was
it until the conclusion of peace in 1719 that they were finally
driven across the frontier by the Hanoverian troops after an
obstinate defence at Walsmuhlen. Charles Leopold was de-
posed and his brother, Christian Louis, placed at the head of
the government. Charles fled to Dantzig, where he formed
a conspiracy against his brother's life, which was discovered,
and several of his accomplices were put to the wheel, hanged,
or beheaded, A.D. 1724. He afterward attempted to revolu-
tionize and regain possession of the country by force, and
for that purpose collected several thousand of the peasantry,
but was defeated at Neustadt and a second time expelled,
A.D. 1733.
The issue of the Northern war produced a melancholy
reaction in Poland. The restoration of Augustus to the
throne, by Russia, had greatly embittered the Poles, and
the Saxons t fell frequent victims to secret assassination.
Augustus, in revenge, sought to curb the spirit of the peo
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1203
pie by the most violent measures, and placed them totally
under the control of the Jesuits. In 1724, the citizens of
Thorn being compelled to bend the knee during a passing
procession by the Jesuits, by whom some innocent persons
were moreover treated with horrible cruelty, the populace
revolted, rescued one of their prisoners, and destroyed part
of the Jesuit college. The burgomaster, Rcesner, together
with eight of the citizens, were, in revenge, sentenced to
the block by a criminal court, established for that purpose
by the king. The executioner, tearing the heart from the
palpitating bosom of one of the victims, exclaimed, "Behold
a Lutheran's heart." Eighty of the citizens were thrown
into prison, the Lutheran church was given up to the Jesuits,
and a heavy contribution laid upon the city.
CCXXX. The Spanish War of Succession
ON the Rhine, a fresh war with France, more fearful in
character than any of its predecessors, was carried on simul-
taneously with that in the North, which caused little disturb-
ance to Germany. Charles II., the last of the Habsburg
dynasty in Spain, expired, A.D. 1700, leaving two daugh-
ters, Maria Theresa, consort of Louis XIV., and Margaretha
Theresa, consort of the emperor, Leopold I. The Spanish
throne being hereditary also in the female line, the agnati,
the male branch of the Habsburgs in Austria, were, conse-
quently, excluded from the succession, which fell to Maria
Theresa as the eldest daughter of the deceased monarch, but
she, prior to her union with Louis, having solemnly re-
nounced her right, it passed to her younger sister, the Ger-
man empress. The French ambassadors and the pope, who
once more favored France against Germany, had, neverthe-
less, induced the weak-minded Spanish monarch to declare
in his will the renunciation of Maria Theresa null, and
Philip, duke d'Anjou, his successor. This will was pro-
tested against by the emperor. The Spaniards were, even at
this period, too degraded to give force to public opinion and
1204 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
looked on with indifference, while Austria and France strove
for the rich prize, which, besides Spain, comprehended Na-
ples, Sicily, Milan, the Netherlands, and a large territory in
America, and a furious contest, in which all the powers of
"Western Europe declared, as their interests dictated, in favor
either of France or Austria, ensued.
England and Holland, the hereditary foes of France, sided
with Austria. William of Orange returned from England
in ill health and expired at Loo, A.D. 1702, after zealously
forwarding the league against France. He was succeeded
on the English throne by Anne, the sister of his deceased
consort, Mary, one of the daughters of the deposed king,
James II. The widow of George, prince of Denmark, she
was already in league with the Protestant party and had no
other alternative than to pursue the policy of her predecessor
on the throne of England, by which she at once secured the
affection of her subjects. Marlborough, the husband of the
queen's friend and companion, was at the head of affairs
in England, and Heinsius at the head of those of Holland.
Both of these statesmen followed in the steps of William of
Orange. Prussia was won over by Austria by being ele-
vated to a kingdom, and Hanover by the gift of the electoral
hat. Saxony was too deeply occupied with Poland to take
part in the war with France; her king, however, subsidized
by Holland and England, sent troops with meagre pay into
the field and pocketed the overplus.
Joseph Clement, elector of Cologne, notwithstanding the
protestation of his chapter, and, on this occasion, also his
brother Maximilian Emanuel, elector of Bavaria, whom
France had promised to confirm in the hereditary posses-
sion of the Netherlands, unmoved by the urgent entreaties
of his Estates, again embraced the French cause. Antony
Ulric of Wolfenbuttel, jealous of the electoral hat bestowed
upon the house of Luneburg-Hanover, raised troops for
France, in which he was imitated by the petty duke of
Gotha. Both of these prinoes were speedily disarmed. The
Swabian and Franconian circles, awed by Strasburg, de-
1205
clared themselves neutral. In Italy, Louis XIV. was fa-
vored by Victor Amadeus, duke of Savoy, whose daughter
he had united to his grandson Philip, the Spanish usurper,
by Charles, duke of Mantua, and by the pope, who dreaded
the preponderance of the imperial house in case of its acces-
sion to Milan, Naples, and Spain. Ragoczy, supported by
the Jesuits and by French gold, again rose in Hungary.
The campaign was opened by the French in Italy, A.D.
1701. Marshal Catinat took possession of Lombardy and oc-
cupied all the Alpine passes, notwithstanding which, Prince
Eugene, the commander of the imperial forces, eluded his
vigilance by leading his army across the frightful and hith-
erto impassable rocks of the Val Fredda. The artillery and
baggage were borne on the shoulders of the men or drawn
along by ropes. Passing through the pathless Sette Com-
muni, seven remarkable ancient German communes planted
in the midst of Italians, he descended near Vicenza into the
plains of Lombardy, to the terror and surprise of Catinat,
who instantly retired and formed a junction with Villeroi.
They were signally defeated at Chiari in the vicinity of
Brescia. The two armies kept each other in check through-
out the winter. On the 1st of February, 1702, at three
A.M., Eugene forced his way into Cremona, surprised the
sleeping French, and took Villeroi, who had not long before
boasted that he would set some of the Austrian princes
dancing on Shrove-tide, prisoner. Cremona proved unten-
able, and the French jestingly thanked the prince for hav-
ing delivered them from so bad a general as Villeroi, whom
Vendome, a man of great talent, was sent to replace by
Louis XIV., at the head of a large body of reinforcements,
and Eugene, whom the imperial military council ever left ill
provided with money and ammunition, was compelled to re-
tire, but, notwithstanding the manoeuvres of the enemy, he
contrived to maintain his footing in Lombardy, and, seizing
his opportunity, succeeded in surprising and beating the su-
perior forces of his opponents at Luzara. The want of troops
disabled him from following up his advantage, and in the
1206 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
ensuing year, A.D. 1703, he was called into Hungary to take
the field against Ragoczy, and Italy once more fell into the
hands of the French.
In the Netherlands, which had, simultaneously with Italy,
been invaded by the French, the fortresses had been thrown
open to them by the perfidious stadtholder, the elector of Ba-
varia, whose example was imitated by his brother of Cologne.
They were, however, actively opposed by the English and
Dutch. Marlborough's genius as a commander was still in
the bud. In 1702, he contented himself with the occupation
of the territory of Liege; in 1703, with that of Cologne and
with keeping the enemy in check. The elector of Cologne,
who, in 1702, had overrun the upper country with French
troops and boasted that not a single peasant existed within
twenty miles in that province, was compelled, after losing
Bonn, to seek refuge in France.
On the Upper Rhine, the imperial army, with which was
the emperor's son, the Roman king, Joseph, was commanded
by the venerable Turkish conqueror, Louis, Margrave of
Baden. The honor of taking Landau — which had been forti-
fied on Vauban's new plan, was deemed impregnable by the
French and was defended by Melac — was committed to the
young prince, who acted according to the advice of his vet-
eran marshal, and the place capitulated on the 9th of Sep-
tember, 1702, the very day on which Ulm was treacherously
seized by the elector of Bavaria, and a dangerous diversion
was created to the rear of the imperialists. In October, the
French crossed the Rhine at Huningen, in order to form a
junction with the electoral troops, but were beaten back at
Friedlingen by the Margrave, who, in the ensuing cam-
paign, A.D. 1703, again confined himself to the defensive
and sought by his manoeuvres to prevent the invasion of Ger-
many by the French and their junction with the Bavarian
troops, a division of whom, under Count Arco, attempting
to advance upon Huningen, were forced by General Styrum
to retreat upon "Waldshut. Marshal Villars, nevertheless,
succeeded, in May, in stealing through the narrow passes of
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1207
the Black Forest to Tuttlingen, where he joined the Bava-
rian army on its return up the Danube. Maximilian and
Villars met as ancient friends, but the impatience of the
German elector was ere long roused by the arrogance of the
French, and, although their united forces might have en-
abled them to cope with the imperialists and to invade
Austria, a separation was resolved upon ; Villars undertook
to watch the movements of the imperialists, and the elector
entered the Tyrol, through which Marshal Vendome was
advancing from Italy. The junction of the French armies,
at that time divided by the Alps, was of the highest impor-
tance for their mutual support and for bringing their forces
to bear with redoubled strength on any given point.
In June, the elector entered the Tyrol at the head of six-
teen thousand men. The fortress of Kufstein surrendered,
but was burned with the whole of the garrison, the com-
mandant, who held the keys, being absent, and no one being
able to get out. Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol, also
fell, and a squadron of Bavarians, under General Nouvion,
marched thence up the Inn, while the elector mounted the
Brenner with the main body. Signal-fires shone during the
night on every mountain, and the brave Tyrolese, headed
by Christian Koill of Kutzbuhel and the postmaster, Auf-
schneider, of Weydra, flew to arms. The struggle com-
menced in the valley of the Upper Inn. Martin Stertzinger,
sheriff of Landeck, awaited Nouvion's squadron behind the
broken bridge of Pontlaz, where the road mounts to the Fin-
stermunzthal. The Bavarians vainly attempted to cross the
water and to disperse the bold sharpshooters on the opposite
bank, who spread death among their ranks. On a sudden, a
terrific crash was heard to their rear, the mountains seemed
to be falling on their heads, and enormous stones and trunks
of trees, set in motion by the concealed peasantry, rolled with
frightful rapidity upon their serried ranks, casting both horses
and riders into the rushing stream. The peasants had also
fabricated cannons, capable of bearing ten rounds, out of
hollowed fir-stems. Nouvion fled with the remnant of his
1208 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
forces, but found the bridge at Zams broken down and was
compelled to yield. General Portia fell beneath the peas-
ants' hatchets. — The elector had, meanwhile, marched up
the Brenner along the highroad toward Italy. But he was
awaited above, behind their fortifications, by fresh troops of
peasantry, and, before it was possible for him to attack them,
the news arrived of the insurrection to his rear. General
Verrito, whom he had left at Hall, which he had strongly
fortified, had been attacked by the peasants called to assist
in the works and killed by the blows of their hammers (he
having spread a report of his invulnerability). The whole
of the Bavarian garrison had been slain, and all the other
Bavarian poets to his rear razed. The treasures in the cas-
tle of Ambras, which the elector had caused to be packed
ready for removal, were retaken by the peasantry. Inns-
bruck revolted. The loss of the Scharnitz, the most impor-
tant of the mountain passes between the Tyrol and Bavaria,
which was seized by an officer, named Heindl, belonging to
the imperial army, with the assistance of the Bavarians,
threatened the elector with the greatest danger. This pass
and that of Hall in the valley of the Inn, the only paths by
which he could retreat, were closed by the Tyrolese, in the
hope of shutting him in and taking him and his whole army
prisoners; but, after a terrible m616e at Zirl, in which Count
Arco was shot close to his side by a Tyrolean sharpshooter,
who mistook him, owing to the richness of his garb, for the
elector, he succeeded in forcing his way to the Scharnitz.
Out of sixteen thousand Bavarians, five thousand alone
regained their native country. Vendome had merely suc-
ceeded in reaching Trent, whence he was repulsed, and
the whole plan of the campaign was thus frustrated by the
native valor of the people. Had the circle of Swabia, Fran-
conia, the Rhine, and Burgundy risen en masse, like their
Tyrolese brethren, how speedily might not the French in-
vader have been chased across the frontier !
Their example remained unfortunately uniznitated, and
Villars was allowed unopposed to lay Swabia waste. Landau
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1209
again fell into the hands of the French, and a bold advance
of the Margrave of Baden upon Augsburg, with the design of
aiding that city against the Bavarians, miscarried through
the jealousy and ill-will of Styrum, who allowed himself to
be surprised and defeated at Hochstadt. Augsburg was laid
under contribution by the Bavarians. Breisach1 was also
pusillanimously yielded by the Counts Arco and Marsigli to
the French.
The war was carried on with great spirit in the campaign
of 1704. Prince Eugene returned from Hungary, leaving
General Heister to keep Ragoczy, whom he had beaten at
Tirnau, in check, and joined his forces with those of Louis of
Baden. Marlborough also, deceiving Marshal Villeroi, who
had, on his liberation, been sent to oppose him in the Neth-
erlands, hastened to Heilbronn to form a junction with his
allies, who now took up a concentrated position, while the
French forces lay scattered in various directions. Villeroi,
who had hastened in pursuit of Marlborough, joined Tallard
at Strasburg, but was prevented by Eugene, who threw him-
self in his way, from accompanying him through the Kinzig-
thai across the Black Forest to the Danube for the purpose
of forming a junction, in which Tallard succeeded, with
Maximilian and Villars at Hochstadt. Marlborough and
Louis, however, drove the Bavarians under Arco, who had
again taken up an isolated position, from the Schellenberg,
and Eugene's unexpected arrival before Villeroi could set off
in his pursuit, placed it in their power to shut Villars, Tal-
lard, and Maximilian up in Hochstadt. The obstinacy of the
old Margrave, who refused to hazard an engagement, threat-
ened to frustrate the plan, had not Eugene and Marlborough,
well acquainted with his weak point, occupied him with the
siege of Ingolstadt, while they, at the head of merely fifty-
two thousand men, attacked the enemy, fifty-eight thousand
strong, so unexpectedly at Hochstadt, on the 13th August,
1 The following words were placed over the bridge-gate of Breisach:
"Limes eram Gallis, nunc pons et janua fio,
Si perguut, Gallis nullibi limed erit."
GERMANY. VOL. III.— 18
1210 THE HISTORY Of GERMANY
1704, as almost to annihilate him. The French lost twenty
thousand dead and wounded; fifteen thousand under Mar-
shal Tallard were cut off and taken prisoners ; the Bavarians
alone escaping across the Danube toward the Rhine. The
Swiss mercenaries under General Zurlauben displayed ex-
treme bravery and repulsed three attacks. The General
was taken prisoner after receiving seven wounds. — The
news of this glorious victory spread joy throughout Ger-
many. Marlborough received the lordship of Mindelheim in
fee and was created Prince of the German empire. Eugene
took possession of Bavaria. Augsburg and Ulm were liber-
ated. The old Margrave marched to the Rhine and retook
Landau and Treves, Villeroi retreating in dismay. Hagenau
was so actively besieged by Thungen that the French garri-
son fled, panic-struck, during the night. An attack upon
Breisach failed.
Unfortunately, however, instead of, after the retreat of
the French depredators, conciliating the Germans and once
more reuniting them in their true interests, the Bavarians
were cruelly forced to atone for the guilt of their prince.
Prince Eugene is, nevertheless, free from reproach. He
expressly warned against every ill-treatment of the people.
The emperor annexed all the country between Passau and
Salzburg to his hereditary provinces, left the rest of Bavaria
under the care of a regency, and enrolled all the young men
in his army. The nobility and the public officers placed
themselves under the Austrian rule, as the safest mode of
bearing the crisis, and were consequently spared. The whole
weight of the emperor's wrath fell upon the wretched peas-
antry, who, laden with exorbitant dues and ground to the
dust with the heavy charge for the quartering of soldiery,
assembled, and, in a public address to the diet at Ratisbon,
declared that they were compelled by necessity to take up
arms. The imperial government at Munich, on the other
hand, declared that every peasant, taken with arms in his
hand, should be punished "with the gallows and the sword,
the banishment of his children, and the confiscation of the
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH
whole of his property" ; that the villages of the rebels should
be burned down; that parents, whose children had taken up
arms, should share the punishment awarded to them, etc.
Of the Bavarian recruits who might join the peasantry only
every fifteenth man should, "through especial clemency,"
be put to death.
Two students, Plinganser and Meindl, and the postmas-
ter, Hirner, meanwhile, led the peasants to the field and were
everywhere victorious. But, on the formation of a superior
council under the title of "defence of the country," they
were joined by numbers of the nobility, who merely betrayed
and ruined their cause. It was in vain that the latter took
Braunau and SchsBrding, formed themselves into regiments
under different colors, and compelled the Austrians to enter
into negotiation; the nobles interfered in the conferences,
kept the peasants either in the dark or attempted to lead
them astray and into disputes among themselves, and played
into the emperor's hands. When the peasantry, enraged at
the procrastination, attempted to seize Munich by surprise,
they were betrayed by a public officer, CEttlinger, who had
hypocritically set himself up as their adviser. The imperial
general, Kriechbaum, was sent with all speed to Munich.
The peasantry were, notwithstanding, beforehand with him.
The suburb Au rose in open insurrection; Balthes, the smith,
a giant, sixty-one years of age, under the cry of "Save the
children" (the Bavarian princes, who, it was believed, were
to be carried into Austria), forced the city gate, dashed out
the brains of the Austrian sentinel with his club, and opened
a way for the peasantry, who got part of the city into their
hands, but CEttlinger, who managed the communication be-
tween the principal body of the peasantry, purposely either
withheld or spread false news, in consequence of which the
party that had forced its way into the city was left without
reinforcements and was soon placed between two fires, be-
ing attacked in front by General "Wendt, who made a sally
from the town, while General Kriechbaum fell upon their
rear. Fighting at disadvantage on foot, continually charged
1212 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
by the enemy's horse, they retreated to Sendling, where the
survivors, headed by a Frenchman, named Gautier, in-
trenched themselves in the churchyard, which they defended
to the last. Fifteen hundred were slain, last of all the brave
smith, A.D. 1705. The wounded were dragged back to Mu-
nich and left to freeze in their blood in the open street dur-
ing the whole of the winter night, Christmas, "as a terrible
example to all faithless subjects." Colonel Truchsess of the
imperialists had, meanwhile, taken the town of Kelheim by
surprise and put the mandate into terrible execution. The
main body of the peasantry was still of imposing strength,
but had separated for the purpose of opposing the various
divisions of the enemy; several of the leaders, moreover,
were traitors. Prielmayr, d'Oksfort, Zelli purposely mis-
led their followers. Hoffman, being suddenly attacked by
Kriechbaum, lost his presence of mind and suffered a terri-
ble defeat at Aitenbach, where four thousand peasants fell.
Oksfort deserted to the Austrians and betrayed Braunau into
their hands. The remainder of the divided and betrayed
peasantry, under Plinganser and Meindl, deemed themselves
too weak to keep the field and dispersed. — A fearful revenge
was taken. Eight hundred peasants, who capitulated in
Cham, were almost all cut to pieces, and numbers of the
prisoners were put to a cruel death. All the ringleaders
were either hanged or quartered, and a fourfold tax was
laid upon the whole country.
The aged emperor, Leopold, meanwhile, expired, A.D.
1705. His son, Joseph I., commenced his reign with the
restoration of religious liberty to Hungary, which had more
effect in quelling Ragoczy's insurrection than even the vic-
tories gained by General Heister. The implicit confidence
reposed by the emperor upon Eugene also put a temporary
stop to the disorders of the court military council, which
had, up to this period, regularly left the imperial army un-
provided with money, provisions, and other necessaries,
winked at fraud and negligence of every description, and
so carefully regulated the movements of the commanders-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1213
in-chief that success was often frustrated, or victories were
sometimes obliged to be gained against its express com-
mands. This evil system was now put an end to. Eugene
was given unlimited power. Joseph also acted with a jus-
tice, too long procrastinated, although solely at the expense
of Bavaria, toward the imperial free towns. Donauworth
was again declared free; Augsburg and Ulm received com-
pensation for their losses. The electoral princes of Bavaria
and Cologne were, as the dukes of Mantua and Savoy had
formerly been, also solemnly put out of the ban of the
empire.
Prince Eugene hastened to reconquer Italy, where Ven-
dome had, until now, retained the mastery and by his arro-
gance and violence deeply offended the duke of Savoy, who
once more turned to the emperor. Vendome, however, dis-
armed the whole of the Savoy troops, and Victor Amadeus,
who was merely supported by a small Austrian corps under
Stahrenberg, was unable to keep the field. The emperor
was, nevertheless, grateful for his accession, ceded to him
some of the frontier districts of Lombardy and the duchy
of Mantua, and, as France had formerly done, flattered him
with the royal diadem. Eugene took the field, but was met
by the French with such superior forces that the first battle,
near Casano, remained undecided, and the second, near
Govardo, ended in his defeat, nor was it until the recall of
Vendome in 1706, and the nomination of the duke of Orleans
as commander-in -chief of the French, that Eugene, pushing
rapidly forward, finally joined Victor Amadeus and hast-
ened, September 7, 1706, to prepare a surprise, similar to
that of Hochstadt, for the French, who were, at that con-
juncture, occupied with the siege of Turin. The heroic valor
of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, who commanded eight
thousand Prussians, of General Rehbinder with the Pfalzers,
and of "William, duke of Gotha, decided the victory. The
French lost one hundred and sixty-four cannons, and their
power in Italy was so completely annihilated, A.D. 1707, that
they agreed to a treaty, by which they consented to evacuate
1214 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Italy, on condition of their garrisons, left in the fortresses,
being allowed free egress. Eugene instantly despatched
General Daun to the conquest of Naples. The pope, Clem-
ent XI., violently protested against this step, and even pro-
visionally excommunicated the whole of the German army ;
the time when the papal anathema struck terror had, how-
ever, long passed by. The Germans entered Naples, where
the French and Spaniards were equally unpopular, in tri-
umph, and the women and girls presented each of the men
with a wreath of flowers and a goblet of wine. The Bohe-
mian, Martinitz, became viceroy.1 An attempt, made by
Eugene, to penetrate into the south of France, failed, like
its predecessors. He laid siege, it is true, to Toulon, but
was unsuccessful; the gallant duke of Gotha fell in the
trenches, A.D. 1708, and he was, through fear of being cut
off, compelled to retreat." Italy was, however, maintained
by the emperor, and an attack made by the papal troops
near Ferrara was gloriously repulsed.
While the war was thus energetically prosecuted by Eu-
gene on the other side of the Alps, it was but lamely con-
ducted in Germany. Louis of Baden, instead of joining
Marlborough on the Moselle, procrastinated with the weak-
ness of age, and the imperial army under his command fell
a prey, owing to the ill-will and indolence of some of the
Estates of the empire, to disunion and want. One prince
sent his contingent too late; another, not at all. One re-
called his men; another refused to allow his to advance.
One left the soldiers without food or clothing ; another pro-
1 Neapolitan diplomacy had many a ridiculous feature. According to ancient
usage, the kings of Naples, on their investiture, presented the pope with a white
palfrey. On the present occasion, both pretenders, Charles and Philip, endeav-
ored to obtain this favor from the pope, who, not daring to make the decision,
refused to accept the palfrey from either competitor. The French, hereupon,
secretly introduced a palfrey into his palace yard and pretended that he had
accepted it, although it had, by his orders, been beaten out of the yard.
Austria made a solemn protest, A.D. 1701. Eugene's success put an end to
these follies.
• During the siege of Fenestrelle, he climbed a tree in order to take a sketch
of the fortress. A cannon-ball carried away the bough against which he leaned,
but, unmoved by the accident, he calmly finished the sketch ere he descended.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1215
tosted against the charge for billeting. Louis was, conse-
quently, unable to maintain himself on the left bank of the
Rhine, and, on crossing the river, was instantly followed by
the French under Villars, who again laid the Pfalz waste
and Swabia under contribution. Thungen alone recrossed
the Rhine and pillaged the country to their rear. On the
death of the old Margrave, in 1707, Prince Eugene exerted
his interest in favor of Thungen 's nomination to the chief
command, but the oldest of the princes of the empire,
Christian Ernest, Margrave of Anspach and Baireuth, a
man of known incapacity, was chosen instead. He allowed
himself to be again driven from the lines of Schollhof en, and
ten thousand sacks of flour, demanded by Villars under the
threat of a renewal of the former scenes of atrocity practiced
by the French, to be carried through his camp into that of
the enemy.
In the Netherlands, Marlborough gained another brilliant
victory over the ill-fated Villeroi at Ramillies, where the
French lost twenty thousand men, killed, wounded, and
prisoners, and eighty-eight cannons, A.D. 1706. The Dutch,
notwithstanding, refused to take part in his projected inva-
sion of France, the reigning burgher families deeming them-
selves already secure on that side and dreading the expenses
of the war. Marlborough was, consequently, reduced to a
state of inactivity, A.D. 1707, and occupied himself with
carrying on negotiations of an important character. Charles
XII. was, at that conjuncture, at Altranstadt. The preven-
tion of a dangerous alliance between Sweden and France,
and the acquisition of the aid of the powers of Northern
Germany in the war against the latter country, were in-
trusted to Marlborough, who fulfilled his mission with his
habitual success, and Charles XII. was persuaded once more
to evacuate Germany. Frederick I. of Prussia was gained
by Marlborough 's mingling with his servants as he sat at
table and offering him the napkin, and George of Hanover
by being nominated generalissimo of the imperial forces in
the place of Christian Ernest of Baireuth, who had laid
1216 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
down the command. The new generalissimo made his ap-
pearance with a brilliant suite, gave balls and wasted enor-
mous sums in useless festivities, complaining meanwhile that
the other Estates of the empire contributed nothing toward
the maintenance of the army. Matters went on in the old
routine. The imperial commander, Mercy, gained a victory
by surprise, during a thick fog, over the French under Vil-
lars, A.D. 1708, notwithstanding which, George remained
with the main body in a complete state of inactivity.
A junction again taking place between Eugene and Marl-
borough, and Ouverkerk, the Dutch general, being also
drawn into their interests, the war reassumed a more serious
aspect. Both sides assembled their forces for a decisive en-
gagement, which took place at Oudenarde, where, owing to
the good understanding between Eugene and Marlborough,
a complete victory was gained over Vendome.1 Both sides
again assembled their forces, and, in the ensuing year, a
still bloodier engagement, the most important fought during
this war, took place at Malplaquet, where Eugene and Marl-
borough were again victorious over Villars. The Prussians,
who fought "like devils" under Dessau, decided the day,
which was, on the side of the French, merely disputed by
the Swiss.* In this battle, the killed and wounded amounted
to forty-five thousand. George still effected nothing on the
Upper Rhine, although Mercy allowed himself to be sur-
prised and defeated at Rumersheim. George resigned the
command in the ensuing year, A.D. 1709.
France, exhausted * by continual reverses, now sued for
peace and even evinced an inclination to abandon Spain, but
the German cabinets, rendered insolent by success, impo-
An attempt was at this time made to remove Eugene by mdans of a
poisoned letter, sent to him either by the French or by the Jesuits.
* Several of the Swiss regiments lost all their officers. This battle took place
on the llth of September, the day on which, A.D. 1697, Eugene had beaten the
Turks at Zeuta, and, A.D. 1701, the French at Chiari.
8 Germany also, and particularly the Rhenish provinces. The general
misery occasioned immense migrations of Protestants from the Upper Rhine to
England and the English colonies. They excited little attention during the
commotions of the times.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1217
litically insisting upon the expulsion of Philip of Spain by
his uncle, Louis XIV., the negotiations were broken off,
and, on the sudden death of the emperor, Joseph, A.D. 1710,
affairs assumed a totally different aspect.
CCXXXI. Charles the Sixth
CHARLES, Joseph the First's younger brother, had, A.D.
1704, been sent into Spain for the purpose of setting up his
claim as the rightful heir of the house of Habsburg in oppo-
sition to that of the usurper Philip. It had been decided
that Spain should, under Charles, remain separate from
Austria under Joseph, the union of so many crowns on one
head, as formerly on that of Charles V., being viewed with
jealousy by the English, the Dutch, and the empire. Charles
had, like his brother, been surrounded from his birth with
the stiff ceremonial of the old Spanish court and with a gor-
geous magnificence that flimsily veiled the absence of gen-
uine grandeur. Charles, like Joseph during the Landau
campaign, was accompanied in his journey to Spain by a
suite of the most useless description, such as butlers, clerks
of the kitchen, plate-cleaners, etc. He travelled through
Holland to England, where he was conducted through rows
of beautiful girls to Queen Anne's bedchamber, where she
presented to him the most beautiful of her ladies-in-waiting,
each of whom he honored with a salute. He was at that
time unmarried, but shortly afterward Elisabeth ' of Wolfen-
buttel was sent to him as a bride. From England he went
to Lisbon, Portugal supporting the house of Habsburg
through dread of the united power of France and Spain.
An army, composed of Dutch and English, was also as-
sembled at Lisbon for the purpose of enforcing Charles's
claims, and Prince George of Darmstadt, who had for some
1 A Lutheran princess. Elisabeth was well received at Vienna, but, in
Brunswick, the superintendent, Nitsch, said from the pulpit, "One princess
have we sacrificed to Popery, a second to Paganism (a Russian prince), and,
were the devil to come to-morrow, we should give him a third."
1218 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
time resided in Spain, would have been its well-chosen com-
mander, had not his nomination been opposed by English
jealousy. He it was who, acquainted with the negligent
manner in which Gibraltar, otherwise impregnable, was
guarded, and seconded by the united fleets of England and
Holland under Rook, took that fortress, but was compelled
to endure the shame of beholding the British flag, instead of
that of Charles, planted on the summit of the rock. A fresh
troop of English auxiliaries, under Lord Peterborough, placed
Charles, A.D. 1704, completely under the guardianship of
England. Barcelona, where Prince George had some old
connections, and whence it was hoped to raise the whole of
Catalonia against Philip, was besieged from the sea; the
first assault, led by George, was, however, unsupported,
from a motive of jealousy, by Lord Peterborough, and the
life of the gallant prince was sacrificed. The town fell,
eventually, into the hands of the English, and Charles fig-
ured there as a phantom monarch; but, anxious to conceal
his utter dependence upon Lord Peterborough, he had the
folly ever to oppose his wisest and most necessary measures.
The French, taken by surprise, were repulsed on every side,
and the king, Philip, a mere puppet of state, fled from Ma-
drid.1 Charles refused to enter Madrid on account of the
want of a state-carriage, and, by his folly, delayed the per-
formance of a ceremony which would have made the deepest
impression upon the Spaniards, and the junction of the troops
concentrated at Lisbon and Barcelona. The French again
took breath; Marshal Berwik was victorious at Almanza,
A.D. 1707, and Charles was speedily shut up in Barcelona.
It was not until 1710 that the allies again assembled their
forces, the Germans under the gallant Count von Stahren-
berg, the English under Stanhope, and reopened the cam-
paign. They gained a signal victory at Saragossa; Philip
was a second time put to flight, and King Charles at length
entered Madrid, where the people, jealous of his dependence
1 The Spanish crown diamonds (an incredible number) were, on this occasion,
sent to Paris, and were seized by Louis in payment for the aid granted by him.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1219
upon the English heretics, received him with ominous silence.
The pope and the Jesuits secretly worked against him. The
moment when he would have been welcomed with open arms
had been irretrievably neglected. France sent reinforce-
ments and her best general, Vendome. At this critical mo-
ment, Stanhope separated from the Germans and allowed
himself and the whole of his army to be made prisoners at
Brihuega. Stahrenberg, for whom Vendome had prepared
a similar fate, kept the enemy, greatly his superior in num-
ber, in check at Villaviciosa ; Charles was, nevertheless,
once more limited to Barcelona, and the death of his brother
recalling him to Germany, he returned thither, A.D. 1711,
and received the imperial crown at Frankfort. His consort,
Elisabeth, and Stahrenberg remained for two years longer
at Barcelona, but were finally compelled to abandon that
town, and unhappy Catalonia fell a prey to the cruel ven-
geance of Philip's adherents.
Charles was the only remaining prince of the house of
Habsburg, his brother, Joseph, having died without issue.
He united all the crowns of Habsburg on his head, and the
hope of placing that of Spain, independent of the German
hereditary provinces, on the head of a younger branch of
that family, was, consequently, frustrated. This circum-
stance entirely changed the aspect of affairs. England, who
was imitated by the allies of lesser importance, deemed Ger-
many and Spain more dangerous when united under one
head than France and Spain under two, and unexpectedly
declared in Philip's favor. Torrents of blood were again
fruitlessly shed, and France, aided by all the other European
powers, once more grasped her prey.
In England, the popular rights of the Anglo-Saxons had
been forcibly suppressed by the Gallo-Norman feudal aris-
tocracy. Since the Reformation, the popular element had,
however, again risen, a reaction had taken place, and, in the
middle of the seventeenth century, had produced a great
revolution, which cost Charles I. his head, a deed of blood
which raised enmity and engendered suspicion between hia
1220 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
descendants, the Stuarts, and the people. The Stuarts were
expelled, and William of Orange was called to the throne.
Among those who, in the parliament and in the ministry,
contended for the control of the state, two parties had formed,
the Tories or ancient Norman feudal aristocracy, who, al-
though upholding their aristocratic privileges, were devoted
to the monarchy, of which they made use for the suppression
of popular liberty; and the "Whigs, or Anglo-Saxon freemen,
who, enriched by trade, proud of their martial deeds, obsti-
nately defended their ancient rights, were ever on the watch
for the legal acquisition of fresh ones, and were no less de-
voted to the monarchy, by means of which, in their turn,
they sought to overthrow the Tories. The Tories had natu-
rally befriended the Stuarts; William, and, after him, Anne,
were, consequently, supported by the Whigs. Dependence
on a popular faction was, however, in this, as it has been in
all ages, a royal bugbear, and the Tories merely awaited a
fitting opportunity to eject their opponents from the queen's
privy council.
This opportunity presented itself on the death of the em-
peror Joseph. The Tories, under pretext of the dangerous
ascendency of Germany and Spain when united under one
head, ranged themselves on the side of France, who rewarded
their neutrality with commercial advantages that flattered
the material interests of the people and reduced the Whig
opposition to silence. They were, moreover, seconded by a
court intrigue. The Duchess of Marlborough, rendered in-
solent by the fame and wealth of her husband, whose noble
qualities were obscured by excessive covetousness, * wounded
the queen's vanity by refusing to give her a handsome pair
of gloves, to which she had taken a fancy, and by other acts
of impoliteness ; she was, in consequence, dismissed, and had
the barefaced impudence suddenly to draw the whole of the
1 Marlborough possessed great financial as well as military talent. In unison
with the Jew, Medina, for instance, he set up stock-jobbing or commercial trans-
actions with government paper, which afterward became general throughout Eu-
rope; he, moreover, defrauded the public treasury by lowering the pay of his
troops, etc.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1221
enormous sums she had placed in the Bank of England, in
order to produce a scarcity of gold, which, however, simply
caused her husband, notwithstanding the laurels he had
gained, to be prosecuted on a charge of embezzlement. His
friends shared his fall ; the Whigs lost office and were suc-
ceeded by a Tory government.
Prince Eugene hastened to London, but his friend Marl-
borough was already undergoing his trial, and, although
Queen Anne gave him a polite reception and presented him
with a diamond- hil ted sword, he was refused a second inter-
view, and his supplications in Marlborough's favor proved
ineffectual. The people gave him an enthusiastic welcome,
and such was the popular rage against the Tories, that, A.D.
1712, one of his nephews was killed in a street fight. The
Earl of Ormond replaced Marlborough as commander-in-
chief of the British troops in the Netherlands, but, no sooner
was battle offered, than he retreated under pretext of obey-
ing secret orders. The Dutch under Albemarle, in conse-
quence of this faithless desertion, suffered a defeat, and
Eugene found himself compelled to retire from his position
at Quesnoy.1
The Tories, after playing this shameful part, threw off the
mask and concluded a private treaty, the peace of Utrecht,
A.D. 1713, with France, the stipulations of which were, the
possession of Gibraltar, the key to the Mediterranean, of
Minorca and St. Christopher, the demolition of the fortress
of Dunkirk, ever an eyesore to the English, and free trade
with all the Spanish colonies, in return for which they recog-
nized Philip as king of Spain. The Dutch also endeavored
1 The Grisona afforded a striking example of the mode in which French influ-
ence gained ground. Thomas Massner, a councillor of Coire, whose son had
been carried off as a hostage by the French in the vicinity of Geneva, in retalia-
tion, seized the person of the grand-prior of Vendome, who was then on his way
through Switzerland, A.D. 1710. His just demand for an exchange of prisoners
was disregarded, and, in 1712, he was forced by his own countrymen, through
dread of France, to deliver up the grand-prior ; nay, they accused him of foment-
ing disturbances, compelled him to See the country, quartered him in effigy, and
allowed him to die in misery, while his son was detained a prisoner in France.
The family of Sails headed the French faction in the Grisons,
122J THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
to make peace by a speedy accession to the articles under
negotiation, but were, nevertheless, compelled to purchase it
by a shameful humiliation. The coachman of the Dutch
plenipotentiary, Count von Rechtern, having bestowed a
box on the ear on an insolent French lackey, the ambassa-
dors of the states-general were forced to apologize in person.
The German empire, although abandoned by England
and Holland, might still have compelled France to listen to
reason had not her polyarchical government put every strong
and combined movement out of the question. Prince Eugene
vainly depictured the power of unity and conjured the Ger-
man Estates to rise en masse. He thundered at Mayence —
to deaf ears. The emperor's exhortations to the imperial
diet were equally futile: "His Majesty doubts not but that
every true patriot will remember that not exclusively the
country and the people, but, in reality, the grandeur and
liberty of his fatherland, consequently, the eternal loss of his
honor and rights and his unresisting submission to foreign
insolence, are at stake." The imperial Estates remained
unmoved and tardily contributed the miserable sum of two
hundred thousand dollars toward the maintenance of the
imperial army, while Villars continued to collect millions on
the Rhine and in Swabia. Van der Harsch alone distin-
guished himself by the gallant defence of Freiburg in the
Breisgau.
Eugene found himself compelled to enter into negotiation
with Villars. The French, however, were so insolent in
their demands that Eugene, acting on his own responsibility,
quitted Rastadt, where the congress was being held, upon
which the aged despot at Paris, fearing lest rage might at
length rouse Germany from her torpor, yielded; Eugene re-
turned and peace was concluded in the neighboring town of
Baden, A.D. 1714. The treaty of Utrecht was recognized;
Philip remained in possession of Spain, England in that of
Gibraltar, etc. The emperor, Charles VI., on the other
hand, retained all the Spanish possessions in Italy, Naples,
Milan, Sardinia, besides the Netherlands and the fortresses
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1223
of Kehl, Freiburg, and Breisach, and the territory hitherto
possessed by the French on the right bank of the Rhine, for
which France was indemrified by the cession of Landau.
The island of Sardinia was, in the ensuing year, given by
Austria in exchange for Sicily to the duke of Savoy, who
took the title of King of Sardinia. The emperor, as sover-
eign of the Netherlands, now concluded a treaty with Hol-
land, according to which the fortresses on the French fron-
tier were to be garrisoned and defended by both Austrians
and Dutch. Prussia came into possession of Neufchatel, as
nearest of kin to Maria of Nemours, its former mistress, who
was allied by blood to that royal house.
This peace was partially concluded by Eugene for the
emperor, independent of the empire. The lesser powers,
nevertheless, acceded to it, France brutally declaring her in-
tention to carry on the war against all recusants. The elector
of the Pf alz, to whom the possession of the Upper Pfalz had
been already assured, was frustrated in his expectations, the
traitors of Bavaria and Cologne regaining their possessions
and being released from the ban.1 Marlborough, conse-
quently, lost Mindelheim ; he was, however, restored to favor
in England. Prince Eugene merely regarded the peace as a
necessary evil, to which he unwillingly yielded. He clearly
foresaw that, instead of bringing security to Germany, it
would lead to fresh attacks and losses. "We somewhat re-
semble," he wrote at that period, "a fat cow, which is only
made use of so long as she has a drop of superfluous milk.
The word 'peace' has an agreeable sound, but only differs
1 The order of the golden fleece was even bestowed by the emperor upon
Charles Albert, the son of Maximilian Emannel of Bavaria. In the curiotts folio,
"Fortitude leonina Max. Emanuelis," published, at that period, by the Jesuits,
the scene ia allegorieally represented. The imperial eagle hangs his head and
looks down with lamentable condescension on the Bavarian lion, who regards
him with insolent contempt. Among the engravings, with which this work
abounds, there is one in which the genius of the Society of Jesus i« represented
with the I. H. S. on his breast, offering his humble thanks to the statue of Max.
Emannel and pointing to a large donation-plate containing twelve magnificent
Jesuit houses, which the elector had built for them at the expense of the people.
The elector himself, attired in the imperial robes of Rome, sits on horseback with
an enormous allonge peruke on hia head. His countenance- is that of a satyr.
1224 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
from 'war' as the present does from the future. He whose
vocation it is, after war, to collect the chips, alone sees the
heaps of wood that have been fruitlessly cut. The best peace
with France is a mute war. France will seize the first op-
portunity to rend a fresh piece from the empire. When
the Netherlands shall have been reduced to submission, the
Rhine will be made the frontier and the foundation of a
fresh peace. The abbess of Buchau wished me joy of the
blessed peace. I am, on all sides, persecuted with congratu-
lations of this sort. Amid all my misfortunes it is often
difficult to refrain from laughter."
In the following year, A.D. 1715, Louis XIV., the vain,
licentious despot, whose tyranny over Germany covered her
with far deeper shame than her submission to the genius
of Napoleon, expired. Anne, queen of England, also died,
without issue, and was succeeded by the next heir, George,
elector of Hanover, whose mother was the daughter of Fred-
erick, king of Bohemia, and of Elisabeth, the daughter of
James I. of England. George favored the "Whigs. Peace
had, however, been unalterably concluded with France.
Tranquillity had scarcely been restored to the empire than
she was again attacked by the Turks, and Prince Eugene
once more took the field. Supported by Stahrenberg and
Charles Alexander of Wurtemberg,1 he defeated them, A.D.
1716, in a bloody engagement near Peterwardein, where the
1 This prince turned Catholic when in the emperor's service. On one occa-
sion, when at Venice, the haughty nobles boasting, in .his hearing, of their su-
perior state of civilization, and ridiculing the Germans as barbarians, he invited
them to a banquet on the evening fized by him for his departure, and gave them
the following theatrical entertainment. It was night time; a single lamp glim-
mered in the street, where Cicero's ghost was seen wandering up and down. A
German traveller entered, and, finding all the doors closed, drew out his watch
to see the hour, then a printed book, with which he amused himself for some
time, and at length, in his impatience, fired off a pistol in order to wake the
sleeping Italians. Cicero's ghost now advanced, demanded an explanation of
the watch, the printed book, and the gunpowder, expressed his astonishment
on finding that these great inventions had been discovered by the barbarians of
the North, and inquisitively demanded "what things of still greater importance
the Italians had invented, if barbarians had distinguished themselves so highly?"
Upon which a Savoyard appeared, crying, "Heckles! Heckles I" for sale. The
curtain dropped; the prince was already gone.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1225
grand vizier fell, and a second time at Belgrade, when they
sued for peace, which was concluded at Passarowitz, A.D.
1718. The emperor was confirmed in the possession of Bel-
grade, a part of Servia and Wallachia. The establishment
of the Granitzers or military colonies on the Turkish frontier
was a fresh proof of Eugene's genius.
Venice still retained her enmity toward the emperor, by
whom she had been unaided in her war with the Turks, dur-
ing which she had lost the Morea. In retaliation, she entered
into a fresh intrigue against him with Alberoni, the Spanish
minister. The reannexation of Italy to Spain was again at-
tempted. A Spanish army occupied Sicily, A.D. 1718. The
impatience with which Spain had, since the death of Louis
XIV., borne the tutelage of France, had, however, inclined
the prince regent, Philip of Orleans, in favor of a quadruple
alliance with the emperor, England, and Holland, by which
Spain was compelled to withdraw her troops from Sicily and
Alberoni to resign. The Venetians were, at that conjunc-
ture, commanded by Count von Schulenburg, the same who
had so repeatedly been defeated by Charles XII. in Poland.
The same ill-success attended him in his Venetian command,
during which he merely distinguished himself by raising the
excellent fortifications of Corfu, and those on the Dalmatian
coast, destined, on the loss of the Morea, to protect Venice
against Turkish aggression.
Charles VI. was the last of the male line of the house of
Habsburg. His only son died during infancy, and his whole
care was to secure the inheritance of all his crowns to his
daughter, Maria Theresa, whose hand he had bestowed upon
Francis, the youthful duke of Lorraine, an object he hoped
to attain by means of the Pragmatic Sanction, a guarantee
purchased from all the great European powers. Blinded by
paternal affection, he imagined that the sovereigns of Eu-
rope would consider a treaty binding, an example of naivet6
remarkable in the midst of the faithlessness of the age. His
efforts proved vain. After carrying on a long and futile ne-
gotiation, he discovered that England, France, and Spain
1226 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
(afterward Saxon-Poland also) had confederated, A.D. 1729,
at Seville against the Pragmatic Sanction. Frederick Wil-
liam I., who succeeded Frederick I. on the throne of Prus-
sia, actuated by a feeling of German nationality and by his
private antipathy to George, king of England, alone re-
mained true to the emperor and fulfilled the treaty concluded
with him in 1726, at "Wusterhausen ; the accession of the
other powers to the Sanction was purchased at an enormous
sacrifice. France was promised Lorraine ; Spain was bribed
with Tuscany, Parma, and Placentia; England and Holland
were gained by the abolition of the commercial society of
Ostend, which dealt a fatal blow to Dutch trade, A.D. 1731.
The grand pensionary of Holland, Slingelandt, Heinsius's
powerful successor, displayed great activity in the conduct
of this affair. Augustus of Saxon-Poland was gained over
by the assurance of the succession of the crown of Poland to
his son, Augustus III. On the death of Augustus II., A.D.
1733, the Poles proceeded to a fresh election; Stanislaus
Lescinsky again set himself up as a candidate for the crown,
and, although the Polish nobility evinced little inclination
to favor the youthful Augustus, the emperor, true to his
plighted word, exerted his utmost influence in his behalf.
The empress Anne, the widow of the duke of Courland,
the last but one of the house of Kettler, and niece to Peter
the Great, had governed Russia since 1730. That empire
trad long harbored the most inimical projects against Po-
land, and, as early as 1710, had proposed the partition of
that kingdom to the emperor and to Prussia. Anne, on the
present occasion, despatched her favorite, Marshal Munnich,
at the head of forty thousand men, to Poland, for the pur-
pose of securing the election of Augustus, that tool of Rus-
sian diplomacy. Her deep interest in this affair and her
contempt of Saxony are clearly proved by the fact of her
having expelled Maurice the Strong, marshal of Saxony,
who had been elected duke of Courland,1 and bestowing the
1 Ferdinand, the last of the Kettler family, died A.D. 1725. Anna, the
widow of his predecessor, Frederick William, became enamored of Maurice, for
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1227
ducal mantle on her paramour, Biron, or, more properly,
Buren, the grandson of a hostler. Stanislaus fled to Dantzig,
where he was protected by the faithful citizens, but the city
being bombarded by Munnich, he escaped across the flooded
country in a boat, in order to save the city from utter de-
struction, and Munnich's departure was purchased with two
million florins by the citizens. Stanislaus found a hospitable
reception at the court of Frederick William I., who was be-
yond the sphere of Russian influence.
France, Spain, and Sardinia (Savoy) now unexpectedly
declared war against Charles VI. on account of his interfer-
ence in favor of Augustus. War was not declared against
Augustus himself but against Russia. It was simply an
open pretext for again plundering the empire. England and
Holland remained neutral. The Russians sent thirty thou-
sand men to the aid of the emperor, who actually reached
the Rhine, but too late, peace having been already con-
cluded. The loss of the French marshal, Berwik, in the com-
mencement of the campaign, before Philippsburg, greatly
facilitated Eugene's endeavors (he was now worn out and
past service) to maintain himself on the Rhine. In Italy,
Villars, now a veteran of eighty, gained, but with immensely
superior forces, a battle near Parma, in which Mercy, the
imperialist general, fell. His successor, Kcenigsegg, had
the good fortune to surprise the enemy on the Secchia near
Quistello, and to capture the whole of his camp together with
five hundred and seventy guns. He was, however, unsuc-
cessful in a subsequent engagement at Guastalla, owing to
the want of reinforcements and money. Don Carlos of
whose election she at first exerted her utmost influence. It so happened, how-
ever, that Maurice had, at that time, a liaison with Adrienne le Couvreux, the
beautiful Parisian actress, who had given him the whole of her jewels and fort-
une in order to furnish him with the means of forwarding his interest in Conr-
land; he, moreover, seduced one of Anna's ladies-in-waiting, which so greatly
enraged her that her love changed to hate, and Maurice was compelled to flee
from Courland. He went to Paris, where his faithful and beautiful Adrienne,
the darling of the Parisians, was poisoned by a duchess, who had also become
enamored of her handsome lover. See Espagnac's Life of Maurice and Forater'a
Augustus II.
1228 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Spain also went, A.D. 1734, to Sicily, and took possession
of the whole of the kingdom of Naples.
These circumstances were, as if by miracle, not turned to
advantage by France, which would probably have been the
case had not Louis XV. preferred mistresses and barbers to
military achievements. A truce was concluded, and the
former stipulations made by the emperor were accepted.
Don Carlos retained possession of Naples; Tuscany and
Parma fell to Lorraine, which was bestowed upon Stanislaus
Lescinsky, A.D. 1736, on whose death it was to revert to
France. Stanislaus was named the benefactor of Lorraine ;
he was a kind-hearted and generous man, who smoked his
pipe and was the sincere well-wisher of the people amid
whom fate had cast him on his expulsion from the throne
of Poland. He died in 1766, and Lorraine became hencefor-
ward French. The Lothringians had long and gloriously
defended themselves under their ancient dukes against the
French. They had been shamefully abandoned by the em-
pire, and, without any blame attaching to them, been made
the victims of family policy. They deserved a better fate
than that of sinking into the insignificance inseparable from
a state half French, half German.
The Genoese had remained true to the emperor, by whom
they were supported against the Corsicans, who refused to
submit to the republic of Genoa, with a German force under
Prince Louis of Wurtemberg,1 who, more by gentle meas-
ures than by violence, restored tranquillity to Corsica, A.D.
1732. On his departure, the contest was renewed by a Ger-
man adventurer, Theodore von Neuhof, a Westphalian no-
bleman, who had been educated by the Jesuits at Munster,
whence he had fled on account of a duel to Holland, and,
after entering the Spanish service, had visited Africa, been
taken prisoner, and had become agent to the dey of Algiers,
by whom he was despatched at the head of a body of troops
to the island of Corsica, for the purpose of liberating the
1 Brother to Max. Emanuel, who was taken prisoner at Pultowa, the Bon of
Frederick Charles, Eberhard Lome's uncle and guardian.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1229
inhabitants from the Genoese yoke. He rendered himself
extremely popular and became king of Corsica, A.D. 1736.
But, while travelling in Europe for the purpose of seeking
for a recognition of his authority and for aid, the French
landed in Corsica and forced the islanders once more to rec-
ognize the supremacy of Genoa. Theodore took refuge in
England, where he died a prisoner for debt.1
Prince Eugene had, meanwhile, continued to guard the
frontiers of the empire. A thorough German,* ever bent
upon the promotion of the glory and welfare of Germany,
he beheld her downward course with heartfelt sorrow, of
which his letters give abundant and often touching proof.
He was misunderstood by all except his soldiery, who, in
those wretched times, were by him inspired with an enthu-
siasm, and who fought with a spirit worthy of a better age.
But the fine army, disciplined by him, was shamefully
neglected on the death of its commander. Favorites, men
of undoubted incapacity, were appointed to the highest mili-
tary posts, the number of which was immensely multiplied.
There were no fewer than nineteen imperial field-marshals
and a still greater number of field-lieutenant-marshals, mas-
ters of the ordnance, etc., all of whom were in the receipt of
large salaries, were utterly devoid of military knowledge,
and refused to recognize each other's authority. The war
establishment was reckoned from one hundred and twenty
to one hundred and thirty thousand men, but forty thousand
alone had been levied and those were allowed to starve.
The whole of the pay flowed into the pockets of the superior
officers. The military court-council and the field-marshals
played into each other's hands, and the officers, from the
highest to the lowest, emulated each other in dishonesty and
fraud. The emperor, notwithstanding these abuses, deemed
it possible, with an army of this description, to make great
1 On the accession of Jerome, Napoleon's brother, to the throne of West-
phalia, it was said, "It is but just that a Corsican nobleman should become king
of Westphalia, a Westphalian nobleman having been king of Corsica."
* The counts of Savoy boasted of their descent from the ancient Saxon line
of Wittekind.
1230 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
conquests in Turkey capable of repaying his losses in the
West. Count Seckendorf , a Protestant (the prototype of the
chattering oracles and busy speculators, who were, at a later
period, looked up to as prodigies in Catholic countries, merely
on account of their being Protestants), was placed at the
head of the army, which was also accompanied by Francis
of Lorraine as voluntary field-marshal. The Turks, ever
accustomed to make the attack, were taken by surprise.
Seckendorf, A.D. 1737, took the important fortress of Nissa;
but his further operations were so clumsily conducted, and
the army was in such a state of demoralization, that all
speedily went wrong. Money and provisions became scarce,
then failed altogether; the soldiery murmured; the jealous
Catholic generals refused obedience to the Protestant gen-
eralissimo. General Doxat yielded Nissa without a blow on
the approach of the Turks; an offence for which he after-
ward lost his head. Seckendorf, accused by his enemies,
was recalled and thrown into prison, and the emperor, like
Ferdinand II. in "Wallenstein's case, denied the commands,
imposed by himself on his general, and threw the whole
blame upon him alone. Seckendorf remained a prisoner
until the emperor's death.
The campaign of 1738 was opened by Kcenigsegg, who,
unexpectedly penetrating into the country, was successful
at Kornia, but was left without reinforcements and speedily
recalled. He was replaced by Wallis, who blindly obeyed
the senseless orders of the military court-council, and, taking
up a most unfavorable position, placed himself in the power
of the Turks, who, commanded by French officers, among
others by Bonneval, who had been raised to the dignity of
pacha, crushed him by their superior numbers at Kruska.
He lost twenty thousand men, and retreated in dismay, leav-
ing Belgrade, whither he could have retired in perfect safety,
behind him. General Schmettau hurried to Vienna and
offered to defend Belgrade, but exhorted to speedy measures.
The emperor, however, trusted neither him nor Koenigsegg;
in fact, no one who discovered energy or a love of honor.
AOE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1231
Schmettau was commissioned to bear to General Succow, an
officer utterly incompetent to fill the office, his confirmation
in the command of Belgrade. Wallis received full power to
negotiate terms, and instantly offered to yield Belgrade; a
step to which necessity alone could have induced the emperor
to accede. Immediately after this the emperor sent a second
ambassador, Neipperg, who, ignorant of the negotiations
entered into by "Wallis, refused to sacrifice Belgrade, and
was, consequently, treated with every mark of indignity by
the Turks, who spat in his face, supposing him to be a spy.
Bound in chains, in momentary expectation of death, Neip-
perg also lost his presence of mind, offered to yield Belgrade,
and, through the mediation of the French ambassador, the
Marquis de Villeneuve, to whom Russia had also given carte
blanche on this occasion, concluded the scandalous peace of
Belgrade, by which Belgrade, Servia, and Wallachia were
once more delivered up to Turkey. Succow, notwithstand-
ing Schmettau's remonstrances, yielded Belgrade, A.D. 1739,
before the ratification of the treaty at Vienna. Wallis and
Xeipperg suffered a short imprisonment, but were, on account
of their connection with the aristocracy, at that period omnip-
otent, shortly restored to favor and reinstated in their offices.
Schmettau entered the Prussian service.
The house of Habsburg became extinct in 1749. Charles
conduced, even in a greater degree than his father, to stamp
the Austrians, more especially the Viennese, with the char-
acter by which they are, even at the present day, distin-
guished. The Austrians were formerly noted for their chiv-
alric spirit and still more so for their constitutional liberty.
During the unhappy struggle for liberty of conscience their
character became deeply tragical and parallel in dignity to
that of any other nation ennobled by misfortune, but, dur-
ing the reign of Charles VI., it took a thoughtlessly good-
humored, frivolous, almost burlesque tone. The memory of
their ancestors' rights had faded away, the horrid butchery
was forgotten ; the education of the Jesuits had, in the third
generation, eradicated every serious thought, had habituated
1233 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
the people to blind obedience, while they amused them, like
children, with spiritual comedies, to which the great comedy,
acted by the court, was a fitting accompaniment. The per-
son of the monarch was, it is true, strictly guarded by Span-
ish etiquette, but his innumerable crowd of attendants,
fattening in idleness and luxury, ere long infected the whole
nation with their license and love of gayety. The court of
Vienna was entirely on a Spanish footing; the palace, the
pleasure grounds, the Prater, an imitation of the Prado at
Madrid, the ceremonies, even the dress, notwithstanding the
ill accordance between the great Spanish hat and drooping
feathers and the short mantle with the allonge peruke lately
introduced by the French. The emperor was beheld with
distant awe as a being superior to the rest of mankind ; he
was, even in privacy, surrounded by pomp and circumstance ;
his name could not be uttered without a genuflection. He
was surrounded by a court consisting of no fewer than forty
thousand individuals, all of whom aided in the consumption
of the public revenue. The six offices filled by the lord chief
steward, the lord chief chamberlain, the lord chief marshal,
the lord chief equerry, the lord chief master of the chase,
and the lord chief master of the falcons, each of whom super-
intended an immensely numerous royal household, took prec-
edence. There were, for instance, two hundred and twenty-
six chamberlains. Then followed twelve offices of state, the
privy council (the highest government office), the military
council, the imperial council, three councils of finance (the
court of conference, the exchequer, and board of revenues),
a chief court of justice (into which the provincial govern-
ment of Lower Austria had been converted), and five espe-
cial governments for Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary,
Transylvania, and Bohemia, all of which resided at Vi-
enna. There were, besides these, the embassies, a prodig-
ious number, every count, prelate, baron, and city of the
empire having, at that period, an agent at Vienna. The
whole of the year was unalterably prearranged, every court
fete predetermined. Then came a succession of church f es-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1233
tivals, with solemn processions, festivals of the knights of
the Golden Fleece, and those of the ladies of the order of the
Cross, instituted, A.D. 1688, by Eleonora, the consort of Fer-
dinand III., etc. ; tasteless family fetes, with fireworks, sense-
less allegories, and speeches in an unheard-of bombastical
style, imitated from the half-oriental one of Spam. The
machinery of this world of wonder was managed by the
prime minister, Count Sinzendorf, an execrable statesman
but — an admirable cook. Half Vienna was fed from the
imperial kitchens and cellars. Two casks of Tokay were
daily reckoned for softening the bread for the empress's
parrots; twelve quarts of the best wine for the empress's
night-draught, and twelve buckets of wine for her daily
bath.
The people were reduced to the lowest grade of servility.
The Lower Austrian Estates, on the occasion of taking the
oath of allegiance, thus addressed Charles VI. : "The light
of heaven is obscured by your Majesty's inimitable splendor.
The universe is not spacious enough to be the scene of such
events, when your most faithful and obedient Estates reach
the height of happiness by casting themselves at the feet of
your Majesty. The ancient Golden Age is iron in compari-
son with the present one illumined by the sun of our pros-
perity. Your faithful and submissive Estates would, on this
account, have erected a splendid temple, like that of Au-
gustus, consecrated to returning peace and prosperity, could
anything have been anywhere discovered that was not al-
ready possessed by your imperial Majesty." Conlin, in the
notes to his Poetical Biography of Charles VI., gives an ac-
count of the reception of the empress at Linz, which is equally
entertaining. In Vienna, the numerous sinecures enabled
adventurers, the upper and lower lackeys, to live a riotous
life, which affected the morals of the people. Eating and
drinking became an affair of the utmost importance ; adul-
tery and immorality among the nobility a mark of bon-ton ;
the search after amusement the citizen's sole occupation.
The Spanish austerity of the court had, notwithstanding,
GERMANY. VOL. EQ.— 14
1234 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
prevented immorality, under the name of philosophy, from
supplanting religion, as had been the case in France. Fri-
volity was confined to the limits of a jest reconcilable with
the established piety or rather bigotry, and thus came into
vogue, Stranitzki, in the Leopoldstadt theatre, by means of
this tone exciting the inextinguishable laughter of the popu-
lace, and Father Abraham making use of it in his sermons
at Santa Clara.
Vienna, on the reconciliation between the emperor and
the pope, was erected into a bishopric, A.D. 1772. The em-
peror, like his predecessors, was a slave to the priests and
expended as much upon church festivals as upon court fetes.
The most extraordinary splendor was displayed in 1729, on
the canonization of St. John von Nepomuk by the pope. The
festival, which lasted eight days, was participated in by the
whole of the Austrian monarchy, nay, by the whole of
Catholic Christendom. Vienna was the scene of unusual
pomp; the interior of St. Stephen's was hung with purple;
the courtiers and citizens vied with each other in splendor.
Almost the whole population of Bohemia poured into Prague;
more than four hundred processions of townships bearing
offerings, as to a pagan sacrifice; Altbunzlau with garnets
and rubies, Koenigsgratz with pheasants, Chrudim with crys-
tals, Czaslau with silver, Kaurziem with evergreen plants,
Bechin with salmon, Prachin with pearls and gold sand, Pil-
sen with a white lamb, Saaz with ears of corn, Leitmeritz
with wine, Rakonitz with salt, etc. The whole of the city
and its innumerable towers were splendidly illuminated.
An immense procession marched to Nepomuk, the saint's
birthplace, with numbers of figures and pictures of the Vir-
gin and saints, banners and dramatic representations, taken
from the life of the saint. l — At that pious period lived the
Tyrolean Capuchin, Father Gabriel Pontifeser, who enjoyed
great repute as confessor to Maria Anna, queen of Spain,
consort to Charles II., the last of the Habsburg dynasty,
1 See Schottky, The Carlovingian Age.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH . 1235
but who refused every post of honor and contented himself
with erecting a Capuchin monastery in his native town,
Clausen, with Spanish gold. The queen adorned it with
valuable pictures, etc., part of which were, A.D. 1809, car-
ried to Munich. At that time also died at Cappel in the
Pazuaunthal the pious pastor, Adam Schmid, who was so
beloved by the people that numerous tapers are still kept
burning around his tomb as around that of a saint.1
CCXXXII. The Courts of Germany
AUGUSTUS of Saxony expired A.D. 1733, leaving three
hundred and fifty-two children, among whom Maurice,
known as the marshal of Saxony, the son of the beautiful
Aurora, countess of Koenigsmark," equalled him in extraor-
dinary physical strength and surpassed him in intellect, but,
as a French general, turned the talents which, under other
circumstances, he might have devoted to the service of hig
country, against Germany. Flemming, the powerful min-
ister, also died, leaving sixteen million dollars, of which he
had robbed the country, and half of which his widow was
compelled to relinquish. The most notorious of the king's
mistresses, Countess Cosel, had drawn from him twenty
million dollars. Saxony had fallen a prey to the most de-
praved of both sexes. The whole of these shameful acts are
recounted hi the "Gallant Saxon" of Baron von Pollnitz and
in the Memoirs of the Margravine of Baireuth. The de-
scriptions of the fetes given at Morizburg to the Countess
Aurora von Koenigsmark or in honor of foreign princes, his
guests, graphically depicture the luxury of this royal de-
bauche. Mythological representations were performed on
an immense scale, festivals of Venus in the pleasure-gardens,
festivals of Diana in the forests, festivals of Neptune on the
1 Beda, Weber's Tyrol.
* She was cold, intriguing, and busied herself, as her Memoirs show, with
money matters. She became provostess of Quedlinburg, "for which," as Uffen-
bach writes in his Travels, "her fine, large, majestic figure, but not her well-
known character, well suited,"
1236 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Elbe, on which occasions a Venetian Bucentaur, frigates,
brigantines, gondolas, and sailors dressed in satin and silk
stockings, were paraded; festivals of Saturn in the Saxon
mines; besides tournaments, peasants' fetes, fairs, masque-
rades, and fancy balls, in which the army as well as the
whole court sustained a part. He kept Janissaries, Moors,
Heiducks,1 Swiss, a name now signifying bodyguardsmen or
porters, and put the common soldiers and court menials dur-
ing the celebration of fetes into such varied disguises, as, in
a certain degree, to transform the whole country into a the-
atre. In Wackerbarth's biography there is a description of
a firework for which eighteen thousand trunks of trees were
used, and of a gigantic allegorical picture which was painted
upon six thousand ells of cloth. One party of pleasure at
Muhlberg cost six million dollars. Architecture was ren-
dered subservient to these follies. The Japan palace alone
contained genuine Chinese porcelain to the amount of a mil-
lion dollars, besides sumptuous carpets composed of feathers.
At Dresden, a hall is still shown completely furnished with
the ostrich and heron plumes used at these fetes. Luxury
and a tasteless love of splendor were alone fostered by this
unheard-of extravagance, and it was merely owing to a
happy chance that the purchase of the Italian antiques and
pictures, which laid the foundation to the magnificent Dres-
den Gallery, flattered the pride of King Augustus. His pri-
vate treasury, the celebrated green vaults, were, like his
fetes, utterly devoid of taste. There were to be seen im-
mense heaps of precious stones, gold and silver, a room full
of pearls, columns of ostriches' eggs, curious works of art,
clocks, and all manner of toys, each of which cost enormous
sums. One of these costly pieces, clever enough, represents
a harlequin cudgelling a peasant, each of the figures being
formed out of a single pearl of immense size. This was, in
point of fact, the only relation between the prince and the
people. The cries of the people were unheard ; of the pro-
1 Attendants in the Hungarian costume. — Trans.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1237
vincial Estates a servile committee alone acted; and Au-
gustus, in the plenitude of his condescension, in return for
the enormous contributions granted by his Estates, yielded,
after a parley of twenty-nine years, to the desire of his peo-
ple, and published new reformed regulations for the diet,
intended to stop the mouths of all malcontents, which, with
open mockery, he reserved to himself the power, "in his
paternal love for his people, of altering and improving."
Augustus III., his son and successor on the throne of
Saxony, although personally more temperate, allowed his
favorite, Bruhl, on whom he bestowed the dignity of Count,
to continue the old system of dissipation. Bruhl, who had
an annual salary of fifty thousand dollars, without reckon-
ing the immense landed property bestowed upon him, erected
his palace in the vicinity of the royal residence, and, like a
major-domo or grand vizier, surpassed his royal master in
luxury of every description. He held a numerous court, and,
as he ever placed his servants in the highest and most lucra-
tive offices, the nobility contested for the honor of sending
their sons, as pages, into his service. His wardrobe was the
most magnificent in the empire; he had always a hundred
pair of shoes, and other articles of dress in hundreds by him,
all of which were made in Paris. He had a cabinet filled
with Parisian perukes. Even the pastry on his table was
sent from Paris. In order to raise the sums required for his
maintenance, he seized all deposits, even the money belong-
ing to wards, and, under the title of "contributions," made
great loans from wealthy individuals, particularly at Leipzig,
for which he gave bankbills, which speedily fell so much in
value as to be refused acceptance. He also established a
general property tax and continually alienated crown prop-
erty. He was, moreover, professionally a traitor to his coun-
try and sold his master to the highest bidder. At that period,
the petty collateral Saxon line of Merseburg, founded, A.D.
1653, by Christian, a son of John George, became extinct.
The last duke was such a fiddle-fancier that he was always
accompanied by a carriage filled with those instruments, and
1238 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
so imbecile, that his wanton consort, on the birth of an ille-
gitimate child, pacified him by declaring that the infant had
brought with it into the world a gigantic bass-viol, which
she had ordered to be made for him.
The Saxon dukes of the Ernestine line were divided into
several houses. Ernest, duke of Weimar, A.D. 1736, forbade
his subjects "to reason under pain of correction." Freder-
ick, duke of Gptha, gave the first example of the shameful
traffic in men, afterward so often imitated, by selling, A.D.
1733, four thousand impressed recruits to the emperor for
one hundred and twenty thousand florins, and, in 1744, three
regiments to the Dutch. He occupied Meiningen with his
troops and supported the nobles in their rebellion against
his cousin, Antony Ulric, who had persuaded the emperor
to bestow upon his consort, Elisabeth Caesar,1 a handsome
chambermaid, the rank of princess, and to declare his chil-
dren capable of succeeding to his titles. The nobility tri-
umphed, and the children were, by a shameful decree of the
Estates of the empire, declared incapable of succeeding to
their father's possessions; the hopes of Gotha were, never-
theless, frustrated, Antony Ulric instantly contracting a
second marriage with a princess of Hesse, who brought
him a numerous family.
In Bavaria, Maximilian Emanuei II. reigned until 1726.
He was the author of great calamities. It was entirely
owing to his disloyalty, to the treacherous diversion raised
by him to the rear of the imperial army, that France was
not completely beaten in the commencement of the war of
succession. Nor was his close alliance with France merely
transient, for, hi the ensuing century, his became the ruling
policy of almost every court in Western Germany. The
elector, perverted by Villars and others of the French cour-
tiers, solely made use of the French tongue, and, surrounded
1 Frederick William, the reigning duke, Antony Ulric's elder brother, disap-
proved of this marriage, and, on the death of Elisabeth, who, happily for herself,
died early, allowed her coffin to remain unburied, merely sprinkled over with
Band. On his death, he was treated with similar indignity by his brother, who
left both coffins standing side by side in this condition during a year.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1239
by female singers and dancing-girls, imitated every Parisian
vice. His consort, Theresa Cunigunda, the daughter of
Sobieski, the noble sovereign of Poland, filled with disgust
at the licentious manners of the court, became, under the
guidance of the Jesuit, Schmacke, a strict devotee. The
elector, in order to escape the reproaches of his Bavarian
subjects, chiefly resided, in his quality of stadtholder of the
Netherlands, at Brussels, where, in one continued maze of
pleasure, he lavished on his mistresses and expended in
horses, of which he kept twelve hundred, and in pictures,
which he had a good opportunity to collect in the Nether-
lands, such enormous sums, as to render the imposition of
triple taxes necessary in Bavaria. The provincial diet had
not been consulted since 1699. His son, Charles Albert, who
reigned until 1746, was equally the slave of luxury. He was
passionately fond of hunting, and kept, besides his mistresses,
an immense number of dogs. Keyssler, who, in the course
of his interesting travels, visited Bavaria in 1729, gives the
following account: "The electoress, Maria Amelia, a little
and delicate lady, shoots well at a mark, and often wades up
to her knees in a bog while following the chase. Her shoot-
ing-dress is a green coat and trousers and a little white
peruke. She has a great fancy for dogs, which is plainly
evident at Nymphenburg by the bad smell of the red damask
carpets and beds. The little English greyhounds are valued
most highly. The electoress, when at table, is surrcrunded
by a good number of them, and one sits on either side of her,
seizing everything within their reach. Near her bed a dog
has a little tent with a cushion, and on one side hangs a bust
of Christ with the crown of thorns.— There is a couch for a
dog close to the elector's bed, and there are couches for
twelve more in the fine writing- room adjoining." The elec-
toress becoming jealous of her husband's mistresses, a terri-
ble quarrel ensued, in which he physically ill-treated her.
Sophia von Ingenheim was his favorite. He established the
lotteries, so destructive to the morals of the people, in
Bavaria.
1240 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
The other Wittelsbach branch in the Pfalz pursued a
similar career. The elector, Philip "William, who succeeded
to the government, A.D. 1685, died in 1690. His son, John
"William, fled, on account of the disturbances during the
war, from the Upper Rhine to Dusseldorf, the capital of
Juliers, where he followed hi the steps of his cousin Maximil-
ian at Brussels, kept a harem and made a valuable collection
of pictures. On his death, in 1716, his brother, Charles
Philip, assisted by the Jesuit, Usleber, inflicted the most
terrible cruelties on the Pfalz and renewed, A.D. 1742, the
violent religious persecution, while indulging in passions that
disgraced his years, until death relieved the afflicted country
from this monster, and Charles Theodore, of the line of Sulz-
bach, a sensualist of a milder nature, succeeded to the gov-
ernment. Gustavus Samuel, duke of Pfalz-Zweibrucken,
had, A.D. 1696, during a visit to Rome, turned Catholic, in
order to obtain a divorce from his wife and permission to
wed a daughter of one of his servants, named Hoffman.
Hesse gained the county of Hanau in 1736. The last
count, John Reinhard, died; his daughter, Charlotte, mar-
ried Prince Louis of Darmstadt ; the county was, neverthe-
less, divided between Darmstadt and Cassel. During the
life of William, Landgrave of Cassel, his son, the hereditary
prince, Frederick, secretly turned Catholic. His father, how-
ever, frustrated the plans of the Jesuits by convoking the
provincial Estates, demanding a guarantee from the Protes-
tant princes, binding the hereditary prince by a will whereby
the Catholics were deprived of all their hopes, and separat-
ing the prince from his sons, who were brought up in the
Protestant faith.
License was carried to the greatest excess in Baden-Dur-
lach, where the Margrave, Charles "William, built Carlsruhe
in the midst of the forests, A.D. 1715, and, in imitation of
the celebrated French deer-parks, kept a hundred and sixty
garden nymphs, who bore him a countless number of chil-
dren. The scandal caused by this conduct induced him, in
1722, to dismiss all except sixty or seventy of the most beau-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH
tiful. He kept his favor tes shut up in the celebrated leaden
tower, which still forms tne handle to the great double fan,
formed half by the streets of Carlsruhe, half by the alleys
stretching through the forest contiguous to the palace. Dur-
ing his promenades and journeys he was accompanied by
girls disguised as Heiducks.
In Wurtemberg, the duke, Everard, left, A.D. 1674, a son,
William Louis, who dying, A.D. 1677, his brother, Frederick
Charles, undertook the guardianship of his son, Everard
Louis, then in his first year. l This regent discovered extreme
imbecility, and, after the shameful seizure of the city of
Strasburg by Louis XIV., visited Paris for the purpose of
paying his respects to that monarch, notwithstanding, or
rather on account of which, the French king allowed Melac
to plunder the territory of "Wurtemberg. "What was there
to be apprehended from a coward? Everard Louis, who at-
tained his majority in 1693, instead of healing the wounds of
his country, extended his household, gave magnificent fetes,
grandes battues, and, A.D. 1702, founded the order of St.
Hubert, the patron of the chase, etc. What reason had he
for constraint, when the Tubingen theologians carried on a
violent dispute with the Dillinger Jesuits, whether the Cath-
olic or the Lutheran faith was more advantageous for princes,
and the Tubingen chancellor, Pfaff, gained the victory by
clearly demonstrating that no faith allowed more latitude to
princes than the Lutheran. In the absence of native nobil-
ity, who had, under Ulric, duke of Wurtemberg, abandoned
the country, foreign nobles were attracted to the court for
the purpose of heightening its splendor. It was in this man-
ner that a Mademoiselle von Graevenitz, accompanied by her
brother, came from Mecklenburg to Stuttgard, and, ere long,
became the declared mistress of the duke. Nay, a clergyman
was even found, although the duke was already married, to
1 Everard's brother's son, Sylvius Nimrod, married a daughter of the last
duke of Miinsterberg, A.D. 1647, of the house of Podiebrad, in whose right he
laid claim to the Silesian duchy of (Els, which the dukes of Miinsterberg had
received, A.D. 1495, from Wladialaw, king of Bohemia, in exchange for the de-
mesne of Podiebrad in Bohemia.
1242 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
perform the marriage ceremony. This open bigamy scan-
dalized both the emperor and the empire. The departure of
GrsBvenitz was insisted upon, but was refused by the duke
until the provincial Estates had, by way of compensation,
voted a sum of two hundred thousand florins. But, scarcely
had the duke received the money than Grsevenitz returned,
apparently married to a Count Wurben, a Viennese, who
had lent himself for a consideration to this purpose, and
who, after being created grand provincial governor of Wur-
temberg, was sent out of the country. His wife, the grand
provincial governess, remained for^ twenty years in undis-
puted possession of the duke, and governed the country in
his name. Her brother figured as prime minister, and, as
she furnished the court of Vienna with money and the king
of Prussia from time to time with giants for his guard, she
was protected by foreign powers. She was named, and with
truth, the destroyer of the country, for she sold offices and
justice, commuted all punishments by fine, extorted money
by threats, bestowed the most important commercial monop-
olies on Jews,1 mortgaged and sold the crown lands, etc.
She managed the duke's treasury and — her own. His was
ever empty, hers ever full ; she lent money to the duke, who
repaid her in land. By means of spies, the violation of pri-
vate correspondence, and a strict police, she suppressed the
murmurs of the people. Osiander, the churchman, alone
had the courage to reply, on her demanding to be included
in the prayers of the church, "Madame, we pray daily, 'O
Lord, preserve us from evil. ' " It was forbidden under pain
of punishment to speak ill of her. The provincial Estates
attempting to defend themselves from the enormous exac-
tions, the duke threatened the "individuals," in case the
1 On one occasion she seized a qtiantity of English goods for her wardrobe,
and the duke wore some of the stolen gold brocade in public. On another occa-
sion, a person offering her five thousand florins for an apothecary's license, she
took the money, gave a receipt, but did not send the patent. The person called
in order to freshen her memory. The countess could not recall the circumstance,
demanded the receipt in proof, took it away and did not reappear. The person
in question received neither the money nor the patent.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1243
assembly any longer opposed his demands. During the fam-
ine of 1713, the peasants were compelled to plant great part
of their land with tobacco. On the increasing discontent of
the people and of the Estates, which showed itself more par-
ticularly at Stuttgard, the duke quitted that city and erected
a new residence, Ludwigsburg, A.D. 1716, at an immense
expense. On laying the foundation-stone, he caused such a
quantity of bread to be thrown to the assembled multitude
that several people narrowly escaped being crushed to death.
The general want increased, and, in 1717, the first great
migration of the people of Wurtemberg to North America
took place. The countess at length demanded as her right
as possessor of the lordship of Welzheim a seat and a vote on
the Franconian bench of counts of the empire, which being
granted in her stead to her brother, a quarrel ensued, and
he took part with her enemies against her. She also vent-
ured to treat the duke with extreme insolence. Her beauty
had long passed away with her youth, and, on the presenta-
tion of the beautiful Countess "Wittgenstein, her empire com-
pletely ended. She was imprisoned and deprived of her im-
mense demesnes. On the death of the duke, she lost still
more of her ill-gotten wealth, and the court Jew, Suss, her
agent, also privately robbed her.
Everard Louis expired, A.D. 1733, leaving no issue, and
was succeeded by his Catholic cousin, Charles Alexander,
who, although a distinguished officer, was totally inept for
government. He intrusted the helm of state to his court
Jew, Siiss Oppenheimer, who shamelessly robbed the coun-
try. He established a "gratification court," where all the
offices of state were sold to the highest bidder; "a court of
exchequer," where justice was put up to auction. To those
who were unable to pay he lent money at the rate of a gros
per florin (the Jews' groschen). He also kept a large shop,
from which he furnished the court wardrobes, and estab-
lished a lottery for his private gain. He, moreover, ex-
tended the system of monopoly to leather, groceries, coffee-
houses, even to the cleaning of chimneys, as well as the
1244 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
right of pre-emption, as, for instance, in regard to wood;
and, lastly, burdened the country, even foreigners during
their residence in it, with a heavy protection, income, and
family tax, A.D. 1736. He also gave way to the most un-
bridled license, and either by fraud or by violence disturbed
the peace of families. — The patient endurance of the people
and the example of the Pf alz inspired the Jesuits with the
hope of recatholicizing Wurtemberg by means of her Catho-
lic duke. The first step was to place the Catholics on an
equal footing with the Protestants, and a conspiracy, in
which Suss took part, was entered into for that purpose.
Troops were expected from the bishop of Wurzburg. Orders
were prepared for the Wurtemberg household troops. The
people were to be disarmed under pretext of putting a stop to
poaching. The duke, who, it was probably feared, might,
if present, oppose severe measures, was to be temporarily
removed. The ancient constitution was to be done away
with; "The hydra head of the people shall be crushed,"
wrote General Remchingen, one of the chief conspirators, to
Fichtel, the duke's privy-councillor. But, during the night
of the 13th of March, 1737, the duke suddenly expired, a
few hours before the time fixed for his departure. He was
long supposed to have been assassinated, but, most probably,
died of apoplexy. His cousin, Charles Rudolph, undertook
the government during the minority of his son, Charles Eu-
gene, who was then in his ninth year. The Catholic con-
spiracy fell to the ground ; Remchingen fled ; the Jew, Suss,
was exposed on the gallows1 in an iron cage.
The first elector of Hanover, Ernest Augustus, who sud-
denly restored the power of the divided and immoral Guelphic
house, was not free from the faults of the age. Although
the champion of the honor of Germany, he was a slave to
French fashions, unprincipled and licentious, faithless and
1 These gallows were made of the iron which Honauer had attempted to turn
into gold. Honauer first adorned them in 1597, then the Jew Suss, three al-
chemists, Moutani, Muscheler, and VOD Muhlenfels, a Stuttgard incendiary,
and, lastly, a thief, who had attempted to steal the iron from the same gallows..
They were very high and weighed thirty -six hundred weight and twelve pounds.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1245
ungrateful to his noble consort, Sophia, in whose right his
son mounted the throne of Great Britain. He built Mont-
brilland for his mistress, Madame von Kielmansegge, and
the Fantaisie for the other, the Countess Platen. His Ital-
ian chapel -director, Stephani, controlled the government.
His neglected consort, Sophia, a woman of high intelligence,
consoled herself by her friendship for Leibnitz, the greatest
genius of the day. George, his son and successor, married
a near relation, Sophia Dorothea, the daughter of the last
duke of Celle, who, becoming enamored of a Count Koenigs-
mark, attempted to fly with him in the design of turning
Catholic. Her plan was discovered and frustrated; the
count was beheaded and she was detained a prisoner for
life, A.D. 1691. The elector, notwithstanding the severity
with which he visited adultery in his wife, was not free
from a similar imputation. He kept numerous mistresses,
among others, Irmengarde Melusina von Schulenburg, who
gained such undisputed sway over him that he took her to
England on his accession to the throne, created her duchess
of Kendal, and induced Charles VI. to bestow upon her the
title of Eberstien as princess of the empire. He mounted
the British throne, A.D. 1714, and, in order to confirm his
seat, completely devoted himself to the interests of Great
Britain. Hanover was utterly neglected and converted into
an English province, a stepping-stone for England into the
German empire. The fact that the absence of the prince
afforded no alleviation of the popular burdens is character-
istic of the times. The electoral household, notwithstanding
the unvarying absence of the elector, remained on its former
footing for the purpose of imposing upon the multitude and
of assuring lucrative appointments to the nobility. The pal-
ace bore no appearance of being deserted; except the elector
himself, not a courtier, not a single gold-laced lackey, was
wanting to complete the court; the horses stamped in the
stalls, nay, the fiction of the royal presence was carried to
such a degree that the Hanoverians were cited for their de-
votion to royalty and for their rage for titles. The courtiers,
1246 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
resident in Hanover, assembled every Sunday in the electoral
palace. In the hall of assembly stood an arm-chair, upon
which the monarch's portrait was placed. Each courtier
on entering bowed low to this portrait, and the whole as-
sembly, as if awe-stricken by the presence of majesty, con-
versed in low tones for about an hour, when the banquet, a
splendid repast prepared at the elector's expense, was an-
nounced. The clemency whereby the fate of the subjects
of other states is sometimes alleviated, had, however, disap-
peared with the monarch, and to this may be attributed the
rude arrogance of the nobility and the cruelty of the legis-
lature, which, even up to the present time, retained the use
of torture. The example offered by the people and parlia-
ment of England might have been followed, but the Hano-
verian diet had slumbered since 1657, and merely vegetated
in the form of an aristocratic committee. The minister, von
Munchhausen, was the first who governed, as far as the
spirit and circumstances of the times allowed, in a patriotic
sense. He gained great distinction by founding the univer-
sity of Gcettingen, which he richly endowed, A.D. 1737.
Royal Hanover no longer condescended to send her sub-
jects to the little university of Helmstsedt in Wolfenbuttel.
In Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, the aged duke, Antony Ulric,
who gave way to unbridled license in his palace of Salzdah-
lum, but who promoted science by the extension of the cele-
brated Wolfenbuttel library,1 turned Catholic when nearly
eighty, in order to testify his delight at the marriage of his
grand-daughter with the emperor, Charles VI. His son,
Augustus William, imitated his luxury, and, guided by a
certain von Dehn, gave himself up to all the fashionable
vices of the day and persecuted Munchhausen. He was suc-
ceeded by his brother, Louis Rudolph, A.D. 1731, by whom
order was restored. He left no issue, and was succeeded,
A.D. 1735, by Ferdinand Albert von Bevern (a younger
branch, founded by a brother of Antony Ulric), a learned
1 Bettor than by his wearisome romances and his expensive Italian opera.
AQE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1247
collector of scientific objects, who was shortly afterward
succeeded by his son, Charles.
In Mecklenburg, the scandalous government of Charles
Leopold was succeeded by the milder one of his brother,
Christian Louis, A.D. 1719.
In East Friesland, George Albert, the son of Christian
Everard, continued the contest with the Estates and the city
of Emden, and created, in opposition to the ancient Estates
or malcontents, fresh and obedient ones. Right was in this
instance again unprotected by the emperor and the empire,
by whom the ancient Estates were denounced as rebels.
Emden resisted, several bloody battles took place, but at
length the Danes came to the count's assistance, the ancient
Estates were suppressed, and the property of the malcontents
was confiscated. Charles Edward, the count's son, married,
A.D. 1727, a princess of Baireuth, and entered into an agree-
ment by which, on his dying without issue, in 1744, East
Friesland was annexed to Prussia.
In Denmark, Frederick IV. married Anna Sophia, the
beautiful daughter of his chancellor, Reventlow. Extrava-
gant devotion was brought into vogue during the reign of
his son, Christian VI., by his consort, Sophia Magdalena, a
princess of Baireuth, and by her court chaplain, Blume,
A.D. 1746. The celebrated minister, Bernstorf, commenced
a beneficial reform in the administration under his son,
Frederick V.
Holstein had severely suffered during the war and under
the licentious government of Count Gortz, after whose execu-
tion the affairs of state were conducted almost equally ill by
the family of Bassewitz in the name of the youthful duke.
The nobility were extremely cruel and intractable. In 1721,
a Ranzau caused his elder brothers to be assassinated ; an-
other, in 1 722, starved several of his serfs to death in prison.
Both were merely punished by a short imprisonment. A
third member of this family had, however, as early as 1688,
offered a very contrary example, by being the first to liberate
the serfs on his estates. A controversy among the priest-
1248 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
hood caused the citizens of Kiel, A.D. 1708, to rise in open
insurrection. The Ditmarsch peasantry revolted, A.D. 1740,
on account of the abuses to which the levy of recruits gave
rise.
Leopold of Dessau was the only one among the fallen
princes of the house of Anhalt who earned distinction. He
reformed the Prussian army, introduced the use of metal
ramrods and a rapid movement in close columns, and pre-
pared Prussia for the great part she was henceforward to
perform on the theatre of war in Europe.1 He was ex-
tremely rough in his manners, was subject to ungovernable
fits of fury, was, moreover, a drunkard, and tyrannized over
the people of Dessau. He, nevertheless, lived in great har-
mony with the beautiful daughter of an apothecary/ who
was recognized by the emperor.
A collateral branch of the house of Hohenzollern-Bran-
denburg, the reigning one of Prussia, continued to reign in
the Margraviates of Baireuth and Anspach. Christian Ernest
of Baireuth, A.D. 1712, created the alchemist, Krohnemann,
prime minister, but sent him, nevertheless, to the gallows
for his ill-success in discovering the secret of making gold.
His son, George "William, founded the far-famed Hermitage,
where the hermit passed his days in wanton luxury. His
son, Frederick, married the celebrated princess, Frederica
Sophia Wilhelmina of Prussia, sister to Frederick the Great,
whose Memoirs so graphically depicture the times. She has
unhesitatingly and unsparingly described both her father's
and husband's court and related all the events of that period :
the fact that a princess could thus speak of her own relations
is a strong proof, were any wanting, of the prevalence of
French frivolity. Her husband had, A.D. 1743, founded the
1 He was the darling of the soldiery, and the Dessau march, long after his
time, led the Prussians to victory.
* Anna Louisa Fohso, the apothecary's daughter, had steadily refused to
become his mistress. He remained, on his side, faithful to her during his cam-
paigns and married her on succeeding to the government. She bore him ten
children, five of whom were sons. Three fell and the other two were severely
wounded during the seven years' war.
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1249
university of Erlangen, but was, notwithstanding, a mere
lover of the chase, and was first misled by her to spend sums
in the erection of palaces, theatres, etc., ill-suited to the
revenue of his petty territory.
Charles William Frederick von Anspach, who succeeded
to the government in 1729, was feared as a madman and a
tyrant. He intrusted the administration to the nobility,
more particularly to the family of Seckendorf, while he
gave himself up to the pleasures of the chase, to a couple
of mistresses, and to fits of rage, which caused him to im-
brue his hands in the blood of others. He was for some
time completely guided by a Jew, named Isaac Nathan,
who practiced financial swindling, and, for a short period,
solely reigned under the title of "resident." The little Mar-
grave, wishing to bestow a great honor on the English mon-
arch, sent him the red order of the eagle set in brilliants.
The Jew, Ischerlein, who was on an understanding with
Nathan, undertook the commission and falsified the dia-
monds, which was instantly perceived by King George,
who accordingly neglected to send a reply to the Margrave.
An inquiry took place and the imposition was discovered.
The Margrave instantly sent for the Jew and for a heads-
man. Ischerlein came, was bound down to a chair, but no
sooner caught sight of the headsman than, springing up, he
ran, with the chair attached to him, round the long table
standing in the middle of the hall, until the headsman, en-
couraged by the Margrave, at length contrived to strike off
his head across the table. Nor did the resident escape the
Margrave's wrath; he was closely imprisoned, deprived of
the whole of his ill-gotten wealth, and, A.D. 1740, expelled
the country. The Margrave, during another of his fits of
rage, shot the keeper of his hounds. He died of apoplexy,
caused by the fury to which he was roused by the conduct
of Mayer, the Prussian general, who, at that period, A.D.
1757, chastised the petty princes of the empire. — These Mar-
graves of Anspach and Baireuth appeared as protectors of
Protestantism in opposition to the princes of Hohenlohe (Bar-
1250 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
tenstein and Schillingsfurst), who, as Catholics, tyrannized
over their Protestant relatives, the Counts von Hohenlohe
(QEhringen), attempted to abrogate the consistory at GEhrin-
gen and to extirpate Protestantism. The Margrave's troops
compelled the princes to remain tranquil, and, notwithstand-
ing the loud complaints of the Bavarian Jesuits, to make full
restitution.
CCXXXIII. The Ecclesiastical Courts— The Salzburg
Emigration
THE archbishops and prince-bishops of the Catholic
church, instead of being taught by the great lesson in-
culcated by the Reformation, emulated the temporal princes
in luxury and license. Clement of Cologne, brother to the
elector of Bavaria, had fixed his voluptuous court at Bonn.
Here French alone was spoken, and luxury was carried to
such a height that even during Lent there were no fewer
than twenty dishes on the archiepiscopal table. This gal-
lant churchman had a hundred and fifty chamberlains and
passed great part of his time at Paris, where he associated
with the licentious courtiers and acted in a manner that in-
spired even the French with astonishment. Duclos relates,
"It was very strange to see the elector of Cologne, who re-
sided at Paris, standing in the royal presence, the king sit-
ting in an armchair, and, when dining with the Dauphin,
sitting among the courtiers at the lowest end of the table.
When at Valenciennes, he caused his intention of preaching
on the first of April to be proclaimed. The church was
thronged on the given day. The elector mounted the pul-
pit, gravely bowed to the assembly, made the sign of the
cross, and exclaiming, 'April fools all of ye!' descended amid
the sound of trumpets, hunting-horns, and kettle-drums, and
quitted the church." The city of Cologne was completely
ruined under his government. The religious persecution
drove all the industrious manufacturers and traders into the
neighboring country, and enriched Muhlheim, Dusseldorf,
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1251
and Elberf eld at the expense of Cologne, which was at length
almost solely inhabited by monks and beggars.
The bishops, to whom the venerable episcopal cities and
cathedrals offered a silent reproof, withdrew, for the more
undisturbed enjoyment of their pleasures, to more modern
residences, where they revelled in magnificence and luxury.
Bonn, Bruchsal, and Dillingen severally afforded a voluptu-
ous retreat to the archbishops of Cologne, Spires, and Augs-
burg. John Philip Francis, bishop of Wurzburg, a scion of
the noble house of Schonborn, held an extremely splendid
court. His palace and the buildings pertaining to it were
built on the plan of Versailles, and are, even at the present
day, objects of admiration.1 He was, moreover, bishop of
Bamberg, where he held a separate court, to which no less
than thirty chamberlains were attached. Father Horn, who
ventured to preach against ecclesiastical luxury and license,
languished for twenty years chained in a deep dungeon at
Wurzburg, until 1750, when death released him from his
sufferings. The archbishop of Salzburg had twenty-three
chamberlains and sixteen courtiers, the chateaux of Mira-
bella, Klessheim, and Hellbriinn, establishments, completely
on a temporal footing, with pleasure-gardens, basins, foun-
tains, grottos with statues of naked divinities, nymphs and
satyrs, a menagerie, orangery, and theatre. Luxury was
here hereditary and was transmitted from one archbishop to
another. In 1699, for instance, the archbishop, John Ernest,
entertained the consort of Joseph, the Roman king, with
fetes; among others, with a grande battue, in which bulls,
bears, wild boars, deer, etc., were driven into a narrow cir-
cle and torn to pieces by large hounds, and with a ball, on
the conclusion of which he presented her with a silver table
and a costly mirror for her morning toilet.
This example was followed by numerous other bishops,
1 One of his predecessors, Peter Philip von Dornbach, had, A.D. 1669, thrown
the cornet, Eckhard von Peckern, a handsome youth, whose attractions were,
in the eyes of a Madame von Polheim, superior to those of the bishop, into prison
and starved him to death. See Schramberg's article concerning the family of
Dornbach.
1252 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
princely abbots, and prelates of every description. Augustin,
abbot of Altaich, had an annual income of one hundred thou-
sand florins and expended three hundred thousand. The
priests of the Teacher of humility paraded in gilt carriages
drawn by six stallions, Heiducks standing behind, footmen
running before, followed by a train of gay cavaliers, chased
the wild-boar in their forests or lounged in luxurious bou-
doirs, their fat fingers gleaming with diamonds, on soft
cushions, their mistresses around, a dainty banquet before
them. Their luxury had long become proverbial. The epis-
copal cellars abounded with the good things of this world,
and men, bound by a vow of denial and poverty, unhesitat-
ingly named their store-places the cellar of God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, of all saints, etc. The
depravity, especially of the women, in all the episcopal de-
mesnes and cities was proverbial. The spiritual fathers took
their daughters to their bosom and servility boasted of the
honor.
The rich benefices, the offices in the cathedrals and other
establishments, were, like all the higher civil and military
posts, monopolized by the nobility. In order to secure the
exclusion of the burghers, those alone who counted a cer-
tain number of ancestors or who paid a considerable sum of
money could be admitted. An ill-successful applicant said,
on one occasion, "I am not rich enough to take the vow
of poverty!" The nobility, habituated from their birth to
luxury and license, continued the same practices in the
establishments of the church.
Deep amid the mountains of Salzburg dwelt a pious com-
munity, which, since the time of the first Reformation, had
secretly studied the German Bible, and, unaided by a priest-
hood, obeyed the precepts of a pure and holy religion. The
gradual extension of this community at length betrayed its
existence to the priests, and, in 1685, the first cruel persecu-
tion commenced in the Tefferekerthal, and, on the failure of
the most revolting measures for the conversion of the wretched
peasants to Popery, they were expelled their homes and sent
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1253
to wander o'er the wide world, deprived even of a parent's
joy, their children being torn from them in order to be edu-
cated by the Jesuits. In the ensuing year, a number of
mountaineers with their preacher, Joseph Schaidberger,
were also compelled to quit their native country.
The secret church, however, far from being annihilated
by these measures, rapidly increased her number of prose-
lytes. The purity and beauty of a religion free from the
false dogmas of a grasping hierarchy offered irresistible at-
tractions to the hardy and free-spirited mountaineers; the
persecution, the license permitted at the ecclesiastical court
of their spiritual sovereign, the utter depravity pervading
the whole of the upper classes, the church, and the army,
filled them with the deepest disgust and caused them to
cling with still greater tenacity to their secret persuasion.
Divine service was performed during the silent night in the
depths of the forest or in the hidden recesses of the moun-
tains. They buried their Bibles in the forest, and, at first,
refused to confide the place of their concealment to their
wives and daughters. By practicing the external cere-
monies of the Catholic church, they remained, notwith-
standing their numbers, long undiscovered. A trifling in-
cident at length disclosed the whole. One of their number,
shocked at the profanation of the Saviour's name by the use
of the Catholic salutation, "Praised be Jesus Christ," by
drunkards and gamesters, refused to reply to it, and, being
imitated by the rest of his persuasion, a discovery took place.
The brutal archbishop, Leopold Antony von Firmian, ' con-
demned the first who refused to return this salutation to be
cruelly beaten, to be bound up awry with dislocated limbs,
1 Finnian had given the pope one hundred thousand dollars for the Pallium.
His attendants and associates were chiefly Italians, and he would follow the
chase for days together. The rest of his time was devoted to the Countess Arco
at the chateau of Elesheim, and the government was intrusted to his chancellor,
a poor Tyrolese, named Christian, a native of Ball, who Italianized his name and
termed himself Christiani da Rallo. The pope bribed him with fifty thousand
dollars to gain the archbishop over to his interests. — Panse, History of the Salz-
bwg Emigration. Part of the city of Salzburg had been buried, shortly before
these events, A.D. 1669, by the fall of a mountain.
1254 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
to be exposed during the depth of winter to hunger and cold,
in order to compel them to recant. They remained firm.
The miserable peasants imagined in their simplicity that the
diet would exert itself in their favor ! They still harbored a
hope that the interests of the great German nation, cf which
they formed a part, might be represented in the diet! But
their deputation found that in Ratisbon affairs dragged,
slowly on, and that while the lawyers scribbled the bishop
acted. The Protestant deputies, who had taken up the cause
of the Salzburg peasantry, allowed themselves to be led astray
by the sophistry, evasions, and impudent assertions of the
Baron von Zillerberg, Firmian's subtle agent at Ratisbon.
The deputation was, on its return, thrown into prison, and
the persecution was carried on with unrelenting cruelty.
Physical torture proving ineffectual, the archbishop tried
the effect of enormous fines. This measure proved equally
futile. Enraged at his ill success, he at length sent a com-
mission to find out the numbers of the heretics, and, on be-
ing informed that they amounted to twenty thousand, ob-
served, "It does not matter, I will clear the country of the
heretics although it may hereafter produce but thorns and
thistles." The commissioners asked the people whether they
were Lutheran or Zwinglian. The simple-minded peasants
had never heard of either ; they had only studied the Bible,
and replied, "We are evangelical." They were now ir-
remediably lost. However, putting their trust in God,
they formed a great confederacy at Schwarzach, August
5, 1731, and swore to lay down their lives rather than deny
their faith. Each man, on taking this oath, stuck hi" finger
into a saltcellar, whence the confederacy received the appel-
lation of the Salzbund of God, possibly a play upon the name
of their country or upon the biblical saying, "Ye are the salt
of the earth," or, what is still more probable, in allusion to
the mysteries taught by Theophrastus Paracelsus, who had
died at Salzburg and had recognized a divine primordial fac-
ulty in salt. The smith, Stullebner of Huttau, was the most
remarkable among their leaders. He preached so eloquently
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1255
that the whole of his congregation generally hurried to em-
brace him at the conclusion of his discourse. A parody upon
his sermons has been published by the Jesuits. The peasants
were also encouraged by their poet, Loinpacher, one of whose
songs has been preserved by Vierthaler.
The confederacy, in point of fact, possessed sufficient
strength, especially in the mountains, to defend itself against
the archbishop and his myrmidons, but the Catholics cunning-
ly represented these peasants — who were neither Catholics,
nor Lutherans, nor Zwinglians, and consequently belonged to
none of the privileged churches — as political rebels, in order
to deprive them of the protection of the Protestant princes ;
and it was principally on this account, if not from an enthu-
siastic notion of religious humility, that they formed the de-
termination not to oppose violence to violence, to the great
discomfiture of the archbishop and of Rail, who had already
promulgated a report of their being in open rebellion.1 The
emperor, Charles VI., meanwhile, alarmed lest the contagion
might spread among his own subjects in the mountains, lent
a willing ear to the tale which furnished him with a ready
pretext for taking the severest measures. The deputation,
sent by the Salzburg peasantry to beg for his interference,
was, by his orders, imprisoned at Linz ; a decree, command-
ing the unconditional submission of the Salzburg rebels, was
published, and six thousand men were sent into the moun-
tains in order to enforce obedience. The soldiers, incited by
their officers and by the priests, fell upon the peasantry like
hounds upon the timid deer. They were dragged from their
homes, cruelly beaten, together with their wives and chil-
dren, and plundered. For upward of a month, during Sep-
tember and October, 1731, these crimes were countenanced
by the archbishop, who tortured the heads of the communes
in prison while the villagers fell a prey to the license of the
1 The arsenal at Werfen was plundered during the night time; it was ere
long, however, clearly proved to have been done by suborned Catholics. Al-
though, as Casparis relates, all the peasantry were, like the Tyroleae, sharp-
shooters, they unresistingly allowed themselves to be disarmed.
1256 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
soldiery. The peasantry, nevertheless, still continued stead-
fast in their faith, and the king of Prussia threatening to
treat his Catholic subjects as Firmian treated his Protestant
ones, Rail became alarmed lest the wretched peasant might
in the end find a protector (the emperor also being compelled
on account of the Pragmatic Sanction to keep on good terms
with the Protestant princes), and came to the determination
of expelling every Protestant from the country, as, at the
same time, the most convenient method of contenting the
pope, of extirpating heresy in the mountains, and of pacify-
ing the king of Prussia, to whom the colonization of the wide
uncultivated tracts in his territories was an object of no small
importance. Recourse was, however, again had to every de-
visable method for the conversion of the peasantry, in order
to guard, if possible, against the entire depopulation of the
country by emigration. The most scandalous measures were
resorted to, but in vain. The sentence of banishment was
passed, and, although the laws of the empire assured free
egress to all those emigrating on account of religion together
with the whole of their property, they were totally disre-
garded by the archbishop and the imperial troops, and the
peasantry were hunted down in every direction. Those at
work in the fields were seized and carried to the frontier
without being allowed to return home, even for the purpose
of fetching their coats. Men were in this manner separated
from their wives, parents from their children. They were
collected in troops and exposed to the gibes of the priests,
the soldiers, and the Catholic inhabitants, who gathered
around them as they were hurried along. Besides being
thus compelled to abandon their homes, they were deprived
by the commissioners of any sums of money they happened
to possess, and were merely granted a meagre and insuffi-
cient allowance for the expenses of the journey.
These cruelties were, however, unfelt when compared
with the deprivation of their children. Upward of a thou-
sand children were torn from their parents. Some of the
peasants, broken-hearted at this calamity, forgot their oath
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1257
and begged to be allowed to remain in order to avoid separa-
tion from their children ; they were mercilessly beaten, driven
out of the country, sometimes obliged to stand helplessly by
while their unhappy children were tortured and ill-treated.
Complaints were unavailing. "We obey the emperor's com-
mand," was the sole reply. Frederick William I., the noble-
hearted king of Prussia, was the only German prince who
exerted himself in their favor, and even threatened the arch-
bishop with reprisals ; but he was too distant ; the inhuman
separation of the children from their parents, a barbarity
worthy of cannibals and of the savages of the wild, not of
a civilized nation, so deeply revolted the Prussian monarch
that he despatched commissioners to Salzburg in the hope of
saving some of the children by this exertion of his authority,
but in vain. Some of the boys, more courageous than the
rest, afterward succeeded in escaping from the hands of the
Jesuits, and in begging their way to the new settlements on
the Baltic.
The expelled peasantry were, ere long, followed by crowds
of voluntary emigrants, more particularly from Berchtes-
gaden. They were mocked and ill-treated during their pas-
sage through the Catholic countries, but found a friendly
reception in Wurtemberg, Nuremberg, and Hesse. A part
of them went to Holland and North America, but the greater
number, amounting to sixteen thousand three hundred souls,
went into Prussia and settled in the dwelling-places assigned
to them by the king on the Niemen near to Tilsit, where their
descendants still flourish.
The pope bestowed high encomium and the title of ex-
celsus on the archbishop. The establishment of a fresh In-
quisition completely extinguished the liberty of conscience
still feebly glimmering in the mountains. The more wealthy
inhabitants were, notwithstanding the religious test, exposed
to suspicion and to the consequent confiscation of their prop-
erty. Missionaries travelled from house to house, listened
to the guileless talk of the women and children, and then
followed confiscation, scourging, imprisonment, or banish-
GERMANY. VOL. HI.— 15
1258 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
ment. The Reck or rack-tower in the fortress of Werfen
was destined exclusively for heretics, who were slung at an
immense depth by long chains. According to the assertion
of a traitor named Vitus Loitscherger, no fewer than two
hundred persons were, in 1743, delivered to the Inquisi-
tion.
A similar persecution, though not to such an extent, be-
fell the secret Protestants in Austria at about the same period.
The mountaineers in the Salzkammergut were, A.D. 1733,
first treacherously examined under an assurance of liberty of
conscience and then carried away by the soldiery and trans-
ported to Transylvania. The twelve hundred first sent away
were, in 1736, followed by three hundred more. But when,
in 1738, a great number of Protestants were discovered in
the Traun district and in Kremsmunster, permission to emi-
grate was refused and some hundreds of them were shut up
in a crooked position, exposed to the inclemency of the
weather and miserably fed; many of them died. In 1740,
Count von Seckau banished eight hundred men, but retained
their wives and families, whom he compelled to embrace
Catholicism.
In 1660, the rebellion of the peasantry, belonging to the
countship of "Wied on the Rhine, and, in 1680, that of the
Bohemian peasants, against the heavy socage-service, occa-
sioned its limitation by the emperor to a certain number of
days. The people of Hauenstein in the Black Forest also
refused to remain bound as serfs to the monastery of St.
Blase, and, in 1728 and 1730, formed a secret confederation,
under the name of Saltpetres, for the recovery of their lib-
erty, and, in fact, purchased their freedom from the abbot
in 1738. In 1757, the Styrian peasantry rebelled against the
heavy average-service.1 In 1665, the citizens of Lubeck, in
1 On the 7th of August, 1704, the peasantry attacked the unpopular Count
von Wurmbrand in his castle in Styria, dragged him forth and murdered him,
each man dealing him a blow in order that all might, without exception, par-
ticipate in the murder. In 1709, a noble clerk was beaten to death with flails
by the peasantry. The nobles still possessed sufficient power to tyrannize. A
Count von Droste-Vischering in the Bergland, being obstructed when hunting
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1269
1708 those of Hamburg, in 1720 those of Brussels, opposed
the usurpations of the city oligarchy, which secretly man-
aged the government and practiced usury. In 1716, the
citizens of Spires again rebelled against their bishop, who
threatened to take summary vengeance on one of their num-
ber who is said to have spoken ill of him. His fellow-citi-
zens took his part and prevented the bishop from executing
his threat, until the peasantry, at his instigation, suddenly
attacked the city, killed numbers of the citizens, and dis-
armed the rest. This martial bishop was named Henry
Hartard von Rollingen.
Since the great revolt of the peasantry in Switzerland,
that people had, from time to time, vainly sought to shake
off the yoke of the city aristocracy. After a long fermenta-
tion, Toggenburg, so long enslaved by the Catholic cantons
and by the abbot of St. Gall, was, 1707, on the intercession
of Zurich and Berne, restored to the enjoyment of religious
liberty. The entry of the Zurichers into Toggenburg and
the acts of violence committed by the Reformers of Toggen-
burg in a Catholic church, however, again roused the an-
cient religious feud. The Catholic population, who had risen
for the abbot, tore their leader, Felber, whom they suspected
of treachery, to pieces. The anger of the Catholic cantons
was roused. At Schwyz, the brave Stadler, who spoke in
favor of the rights of the people of Toggenburg, was be-
headed. "War broke out. At Bremgarten, the vanguard of
the Catholics was beaten by the Bernese. The Catholics,
doubly enraged at this repulse and animated by the nuncio
and by the monks, rose en masse and overwhelmed the Ber-
nese vanguard at Muri ; three hundred of the Bernese were
burned to death in the church and on the tower of Meri-
schwarden, where they had long defended themselves; the
wounded were torn to pieces by dogs. A second decisive
battle was fought, A.D. 1712, at Villmergen, where a con-
by a smithy, had it razed to the ground. The proprietor complained and re-
ceived full compensation for his loss, but was not allowed to rebuild the smithy.
See Montanus, Olden Times in Clevea and Berg.
1260 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
test had formerly taken place for a similar cause. The Re-
formed cantons were victorious. The Bernese generals,
Tscharner and Diessbach, being dangerously wounded,
Frisching, the mayor, a man seventy-four years of age,
took the command and gained the day. The Catholics left
between two and three thousand men dead on the field.
Peace was made at Aargau, and the confederation remained
unbroken, notwithstanding the attempt made by Louis XIV. ,
shortly before his death, to divide it into two independent
parts according to their confession of faith, in order to rule
with greater facility over both. A dispute that not long
afterward broke out between Lucerne, ever so zealously
Catholic, and the pope contributed, no less than the defeat
at Villmergen, to promote toleration toward the Reformers.
On the occasion of the consecration of the church at Udli-
genswyl, in 1725, dancing was prohibited by the clergyman,
Andernatt, but being allowed by the temporal authorities,
Andernatt appealed to his spiritual superiors and protested
against the permission. He was suspended and banished by
the council of Lucerne, but was protected by Passionei, the
nuncio, who quitted Lucerne and removed his residence to
Altorf . The dispute increased in virulence ; the pope threat-
ened, but the five Catholic cantons assembling and declar-
ing in favor of the council of Lucerne, he was compelled to
yield, and Andernatt remained in banishment, A.D. 1731.
Shortly after this, the same council of Lucerne, by way of
compensation to the pope, condemned an unlucky peasant,
Jacob Schmidli of Sulzig, for reading the Bible and expound-
ing it to others, to the stake and his house to be levelled with
the ground, A.D. 1747.
The Swiss governments, at that period, relieved them-
selves from their discontented subjects by sending them into
foreign service. The higher posts in the army were heredi-
tary hi the aristocratic families and were extremely lucra-
tive. From 1742 to 1745 there were twenty-two thousand
Swiss serving in France, twenty thousand in Holland, thir-
teen thousand six hundred in Spain, four thousand in Sar-
AGE OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH 1261
dinia, two thousand four hundred in the imperial army, be-
sides several regiments at Naples and the old Swiss guard
at Rome.
In Berne, the power became gradually more firmly cen-
tred in a few of the great aristocratic burgher families.
Besides the actual reigning council there was another pseudo
one, in which the young patricians managed all the business,
in order to learn the art of government ; the rest of the citi-
zens were excluded from all participation in public affairs.
The material comfort of the citizens was well attended to by
the aristocracy, and Berne consequently excelled almost all
her sister cities in wealth and luxury; but the mind of the
citizen was enslaved, and the insolence with which the patri-
cians and their wives treated their fellow-citizens surpassed
even the brutality of the coxcombs attached to the worst of
the German courts. A conspiracy, set on foot by Henzi, the
Bernese captain, was discovered, and he was executed to-
gether with two of his associates. The headsman several
times missing his stroke and hacking him on the neck, he
cried out, "Everything, down to the headsman, is bad in
this republic!" His charge against the aristocracy, in which
he describes the manners of that time, is a masterly produc-
tion. His death has been immortalized by Lessing.
1262 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
CCXXXIV. Frederick William the First
THE Reformation had been converted by Luther into
a cause of the princes, but they knew not how to
improve the power placed by him in their hands.
Saxony at first took the lead, but speedily retrograded, and
Denmark, the successor to her forsaken power, ever actuated
by an unholy motive, merely aimed, under pretence of pro-
tecting religious liberty, at extending her sway over the
cities and provinces of Germany. A separation, conse-
quently, ere long again took place between her and Swe-
den, but the death of Gustavus Adolphus gave a death-
blow to every hope, and Sweden imitated the mean policy
of Denmark. The Guelphic house, when scarcely settled
and promoted to the electoral dignity, emigrated to Eng-
land, and Luther's grand bequest was transferred solely to
the house of Brandenburg.
Frederick I., although fond of pomp and luxury and
oftentimes misled, was fully conscious of the value of sow-
ing for the future. The assumption of the royal dignity was
simply an external sign of future and still unobtained grand-
eur, a hint to posterity. The improvement of the Prussian
army by Prince Leopold of Anhalt- Dessau, who benefited
Prussia with the science he had acquired under Eugene,
whose military creations in Austria had died with him, was
of far greater importance, and no less so was the toleration
with which the king favored liberty of thought in the new
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1263
university of Halle, although, it may be, simply owing to
his desire to raise its fame by that means above that so long
enjoyed by the Saxon universities.
Leibnitz, although indubitably the greatest genius of the
age, was, owing to his works being written either in Latin
or in French, his high favor with the electoral house of
Hanover, and his courtly habits, destitute of influence over
the people. A few of the learned men of the times met
with better success in supplying the real wants of the peo-
ple, which was principally done by the professors of thfe
university of Halle, Thomasius and Franke, both of whom
formerly belonged to that of Leipzig. Thomasius felt that
Germany must be roused before she could be rescued from
her state of deep degradation; he consequently rejected the
Latin pedantry hitherto fostered by the universities and de-
manded that the learned men of Germany should again
speak and write in pure German, the first step toward the
enlightenment of the people, the banishment of the ancient
superstitions, of the thousand-fold prejudices, and of the slav-
ish fear, by which his countrymen were artificially bound.
He appealed to reason and at the same time inculcated true
Christian benevolence, respect for the natural rights of man.
To his eloquence was it entirely owing that a stop was al-
most everywhere put to the burning of witches. He spoke
with equal warmth against torture and the other practices
of the Roman law, by which German liberty was ignomin-
iously converted into slavery. But in this he was unsuc-
cessful; priestly prejudices were voluntarily sacrificed, but
those in which temporal tyranny found an advantage were
held sacred. He no sooner interfered with political matters
than he fell under the ban. In Saxony, he was the first
who ventured to reveal the base policy of the long deceased
Hoe von Hoenegg. Justly roused to anger, he dared to
maintain, in defiance of the Danish court-chaplain, Masius,
who, like Pfaff in Tubingen, had recommended Lutheran-
ism, on account of its servility, to all princes, that religion
was of too holy a nature to be degraded to a mere political
1264 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
tool. This assertion was the signal for persecution. In Co-
penhagen, his controversial works were burned by the hang-
man. At Leipzig, an attempt was made to seize his person
and the whole of his property was confiscated. He found
an asylum at Halle and a noble patron in Frederick I., who
gave his pen unshackled liberty.
He was accompanied in his retreat from Leipzig by the
pious Franke, the founder of the celebrated Orphan Asylum
at Halle. He was Thomasius's best friend, and not only
shared his views on education, but sought to realize them by
the introduction, for the first time, of solid instruction into
his orphan school, where, besides the Latin and theological
pedantry of the schools, to which all instruction had been
hitherto restricted, the German language, modern languages,
mathematics, natural philosophy, and history were taught.
But Franke was also a pietist or disciple of the school of
piety founded by Spener. Sound human reason and genu-
ine feeling had at that time leagued against the pedantry of
the schools, which was as remarkable for want of sense as
for its cold heartlessness, and even a cursory glance at the
immense revolution effected since this period by enlighten-
ment and, it may be, no less by sentiment, at once demon-
strates the importance of the protection granted by Prussia
to the first prophets of modern intelligence.
Frederick I. was succeeded, A.D. 1730, by his son, Fred-
erick William I., who, although an enemy to freedom of
thought and the persecutor of Thomasius's successor, the
philosopher, "Wolf, whom he threatened with the gallows and
expelled Halle, was an excellent guardian over the material
interests and morals of his subjects. His first step, immedi-
ately on his accession to the throne, was the reduction of his
father's court, which was placed on an extremely simple and
economical footing. Gold-embroidered dresses and enormous
perukes were no longer tolerated. The king appeared in a
little blond peruke, a close-fitting dark-blue uniform turned
up with red, with his sword at his side and a strong bamboo
in his hand. The French, their license, and their manners
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1265
were so hateful to him that, in order to render them equally
unpopular with the people of Berlin, he ordered the provosts
and jailers to be dressed in the last French fashion, and
"The Marquis dismissed with Blows," a piece eminently
anti-Gallic, to be represented on the stage. Often, when,
like the other German princes, tempted by the crafty French
court, would he exclaim, "I will not be a Frenchman. I am
thoroughly German and would be content were I but presi-
dent of the imperial court of finance. ' ' On another occasion,
he said, "I will place pistols and swords in my children's cra-
dles and teach them to keep the foreigner out of Germany."
He believed and often declared himself to be "only the
first servant of the state," and excused his excessive despot-
ism on the score of duty. ' This also accorded with his relig-
ious notions. He considered himself as a servant of God
and wished to be the faithful shepherd of his flock. En-
dowed with great personal activity, he tolerated idleness in
no one, and would sometimes bestow a hearty drubbing with
his own hand on the loungers at the street corners in Berlin.
Manly and courageous, he had a horror of effeminacy and
cowardice, and, on one occasion, gave a Jew a good thrash-
ing for dreading the whip. He bore an almost implacable
hatred to his own son, afterward Frederick the Great, merely
because he suspected him of cowardice.
He habituated his subjects to labor and industry, and
promoted their welfare to an extraordinary degree, while at
the same time he filled the exchequer. Partly for the pur-
pose of depriving the people of Berlin of other modes of ex-
1 Among the executions that took place at his command, that of the intrigant,
Clement, who, by stirring up the cabinets of Austria and Prussia, sought to fish
In troubled waters, has attracted most attention. The most remarkable among
them was, however, that of a Count von Schlubeuth, who had treated his serfs
with extreme cruelty. He set the king at defiance, and said, "It is not the
fashion to hang a noble." He was, nevertheless, hanged on the ensuing morn-
ing. When the king for the first time introduced the taxation of the nobility
and was opposed in this measure by the Estates of Eastern Prussia, he boldly
prosecuted his intended reforms, and wrote, "I establish my sovereignty like a
rock in bronze." — He set a great value on his giant-guard, and, on one occasion,
thrashed the whole of his military council for condemning one of them to death
for thieving. — Stenzd, History of Prussia.
1266 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
travagance, partly for that of concentrating the whole powei
of the state by the foundation of a large metropolis, he com-
pelled the people to build new houses in Berlin, in the Fried-
richsstadt. The purport of his decree ran simply thus, "The
fellow is rich, let him build." Simplicity of dress and man-
ners, economy, thrift, public morality, health, honesty, and
truth, were strictly enjoined. In his daily intercourse with
the people, he praised industrious workmen and clean house-
wives, scolded the idle and dirty. House thieves were mer-
cilessly hanged before the house-door. In his own person he
offered an example of economy. While other princes gave
expensive fetes to their foreign guests and ambassadors,
Frederick William conducted them to his smoking-room arid
invited them to smoke and drink beer with him. This cham-
ber was often the scene of important negotiations. Even
Francis of Lorraine, who subsequently mounted the imperial
throne, was a frequent visitor to this smoking-room for the
purpose of gaining the vote of Prussia for the approaching
election. Still, the coarse amusements of this monarch, who
took delight in plying his foreign guests with beer until
drunkenness ensued, and in rendering them sick to death
with the unaccustomed fumes of tobacco, his utter contempt
of learning, as shown by his treatment of the learned Gund-
ling1 as a court-fool, and the brutal jokes passed upon him
and others for the amusement of his boon companions, but
too forcibly indicate a recurrence to the uncouth manners of
the preceding century.
The army, excellently organized by Dessau, was the ob-
ject of the king's greatest care, and it was from him (he al-
ways wore a uniform) that the whole state and population
took the martial appearance still forming their strongest
- Gundling, although created a baron, a member of every council of state,
and, moreover, president of the Academy of Sciences, was compelled to permit
an ape, dressed like himself, to be seated at his side at table, mustaches to be
painted on his face, etc., etc. His body was, after his decease, notwithstand-
ing the protest of the clergy, buried, at the royal command, in a cask instead of
a coffin. The king, on one occasion, compelled the Frankfort professors to dis-
pute with his court-fools over the thesis, "Savants are foola."
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1267
characteristic, and which, at that time, was alone able to
enforce respect. Germany had, for a century, been plun-
dered by the foreigner. Arms alone were wanting for her
defence and the terrors of war would again march in her
van. The formation of an army was consequently the grand
desideratum, and Frederick William may therefore be par-
doned for his Potsdam hobby,1 his grenadier guard, com-
posed of men of gigantic stature, whom he collected from
every quarter of the globe, either received in gift or carried
away by force. His recruiting officers were everywhere
notorious for the underhand means by which they gained
recruits, and were often exposed to the greatest peril when
engaged in pressing men into the service. In Holland, one
of them was, sans ceremonie, hanged. Hanover threatened
Prussia with war on account of the subjects stolen from her
territory. There was, moreover, a feud between the king of
Prussia and George, king of England and elector of Han-
over, the latter having wedded the Margravine of Anspach,
the object of Frederick William's affection, and having be-
stowed upon him in her stead his sister, Sophia Dorothea, to
whom, like a good and steady citizen, he nevertheless re-
mained faithful.
The sound sense that rendered this gallant monarch the
irreconcilable enemy of France also guided him in his policy
toward Poland. Instead of acceding to the partition of that
kingdom, of contenting himself with her smallest division,
and of exposing the frontiers of Germany to the colossal
power of Russia, he endeavored to raise her as a bulwark
against the hostile North, and strenuously counselled the
Polish nobility to remauf united, to keep themselves free
from foreign influence, and to elect as their sovereign one of
their own order, no foreigner, least of all one recommended
by Russia. Well may Germany revere this noble prince!
His policy was, as that of all her sovereigns ought ever to
have been and to be, genuinely German. The straightfor-
1 He greatly extended and beautified Potsdam on account of the refusal of
the Berlinese to maintain too numerous a garrison.
1268 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
ward German honesty of the father was, nevertheless, des-
tined to cede to the foreign tastes of the son.
The young crown prince, Frederick, was extremely beau-
tiful during his infancy and early evinced the rarest intelli-
gence. The timidity inspired by the severity of his father
was mistaken by the latter for cowardice and hypocrisy, and
the terms on which they lived became daily worse. The son
devoted the whole of his leisure to the study of French works,
which, owing to their lightness and wit, naturally presented
far greater attractions to his young and imaginative mind
than the heavy German literature of the day, with the best
of which he was, moreover, unacquainted, studies of that
nature being unpatronized at courts, and Frederick's sole
guide being the young and libertine Lieutenant von Katt,
who initiated him in modern French philosophy. Voltaire
at that time reigned supreme. His ideas, his wit, his style,
were the delight of his contemporaries. Diminutive, horri-
bly ugly, a devil's mask under an enormous peruke, he was
the ape of our great Luther, and the effect he produced upon
France, a caricature of the Reformation in which German
dignity and depth of thought were parodied by French flip-
pancy and frivolity. Like Luther, he waged war with the
priesthood, and by ridiculing their depravity ruined them in
the opinion of the public. ' But, instead of confining his at-
tack to the abuses in the church, he directed it against Chris-
tianity itself. Instead of seeking to heal the diseases of the
church, he attempted to destroy all she still retained of holy,
sound, or good. He sought to replace the strict and moral
precepts of the ancient religion by a modern and frivolous
philosophy, by which men were* taught to disbelieve the
promises of the Saviour, were relieved from every fear of
eternal punishment, and were permitted to follow their own
inclinations in this world. Virtue and vice both disappeared
and were replaced by wit and dulness. The witling was
never in the wrong, might act as he pleased, and was ever
the more amiable the more he laughed at others. Although
guilty of the most abominable crimes, he was ever an excel-
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1269
lent wit, courted by all and tolerated everywhere. The sim-
plicity of virtue was the climax of ridicule, a scorn and an
obloquy. Morality was treated with open contempt, and the
most barefaced license was practiced under pretence of obey-
ing the laws of nature. The youthful prince heard, on the
one hand, the brutal invectives of his father, long-winded
discourses from the pulpit, which, in the bombastic and in-
sipid style of the day, prohibited the most innocent enjoy-
ments; and, on the other hand, read the most ravishing
descriptions of scenes of sensual delight and the delusive
phrases of the convenient philosophy of the day, which dis-
solved every tie of duty by the pretended boon of liberty,
and all this in the honeyed words of Voltaire. The contrast
was too forcible. The secrecy with which the prince was
compelled to prosecute his French studies naturally added to
their zest. He was as if inspired and began to write, to phi-
losophize, and to poetize completely in Voltaire's style ; nor
did he neglect to put his precepts into practice, and his youth
and health ere long fell a prey to the consequences of vice.1
His father, on discovering these proceedings, punished
him unmercifully with his cane. The royal youth attempted
to escape, during a journey through Franconia, to the En-
glish court, which, on account of his engagement to one
of the English princesses, seemed to offer the safest asylum ;
his design was, however, discovered; he was seized at Frank-
fort and carried into the presence of his father, who person-
ally ill-treated him, and, drawing his sword, was on the point
of running him through, when he was prevented by General
Mosel. The prince and his accomplice, Katt, were, however,
condemned to death for desertion, and the execution of the
sentence was merely prevented by the representations of
the foreign courts. Frederick pined for several weeks in
prison with a Bible and a book of hymns for recreation. A
scaffold was erected opposite his prison window, and he was
1 Hence his unblessed marriage at a later period, his separation from his
wife and the companions of his youth, and his solitary existence in the palace
of Sans Souci.
^270 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
compelled to witness the execution of his ill-chosen friend
and counsellor, Katt. Nor was the lesson without effect.
On his release, he passed gradually through the different
offices in chancery, and made himself acquainted with all
the minutiae of the business of the state. While thus occu-
pied, he discovered so much talent that a complete reconcilia-
tion took place between him and his father, who gave him
the Rheinsperg for his residence, where, without neglecting
political science, he cultivated the muses and carried on a
correspondence with Voltaire and other celebrated French
philosophers and poets. Both father and son learned to re-
gard each other with mutual esteem, and the latter, on
mounting the throne, far from recalling his former ill-treat-
ment, ever spoke with reverence and gratitude of the parent
who so well prepared him for a period replete with peril.
CCXXXV. Maria Theresa
CHARLES VI. expired, A.D. 1740. The inutility of the
Pragmatic Sanction became instantly apparent, each of the
parties interested in its revocation forgetting their oath, and
the Habsburg possessions were alone saved from dismember-
ment by Maria Theresa, Charles VI. 's daughter, a woman
distinguished for beauty and for a character far surpassing in
vigor that of her father and those of many of her ancestors.
Charles Albert, the licentious elector of Bavaria, quitted
the arms of his mistresses, Moravika and the Countess Fug-
ger, in order to set up a claim to the whole of the Habsburg
possessions. He not unjustly maintained that if the property
were to pass into the female line, his claim, as the direct
descendant of Albert, duke of Bavaria, who had married a
daughter of Ferdinand I., was superior to that of Maria
Theresa herself. For the better success of his project, he
entered into alliance with France, * the ancient foe, and, with
Prussia, the modern rival of the house of Habsburg.
1 He wrote in the basest terms to the French king, as, for instance, * Je
regarderai 8. M. toujours comme men seul soutien et mon unique appui. Si vous
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1271
Frederick "William of Prussia also expired A.D. 1740, leav-
ing to his son Frederick II. thirty million dollars in the ex-
chequer and a well-disciplined army, amounting to seventy-
two thousand men. The moment seemed propitious, and
Frederick, without waiting for Bavaria or France, invaded
Silesia during the autumn under pretext of making good his
ancient but hitherto unassorted claim upon the duchies of
Liegnitz, Wohlau, Brieg, and Jsegerndorf. The Austrians
under Neipperg, taken by surprise, were defeated at Molwitz
near Brieg by the Count von Schwerin, Frederick merely
acting the part of a spectator in this first engagement. The
result of this success was a treaty, at Nymphenburg, with
France ' and Bavaria, which was also joined by Saxony ; and
tho elector of Bavaria, with a numerous French army under
Belleisle and a Saxon force under Rutowski, the natural son
of Augustus, entered Bohemia and was proclaimed king at
Prague, the Bohemians, as Frederick said, gladly seizing
the opportunity to free themselves from the unpopular rule
of the Habsburg. Even the Catholic clergy in Silesia, whom
Frederick greatly flattered, were opposed to the Habsburg.
The Catholic church was not only permitted to retain the
whole of her immense revenue, but was prohibited by Fred-
erick to send any portion of it to Rome. The Catholic faith
was, at the same time, protected, and the Catholics had
every reason to be contented with the Prussian monarch.
Maria Theresa was exposed to the utmost peril. Hun-
gary, where but shortly before the sovereignty of the Habs-
burg had been confirmed amid torrents of blood, alone re-
mained true to her cause. She convoked the proud magnates
to the diet and appeared among them attired in the Hun-
garian costume, the sacred crown upon her head, the sabr»
me faitea monter, s'il etoit possible, sur ce trdne imperial, je n'ai point de termes
qui puissent exprimer toute 1'etendue de ma reconnoissance. " He promised,
" Je tdcherai toujours d'unir les interets de 1'empire a ceux de la France. Je
verrai le jour de mon elevation devenir 1'epoque la plus glorieuse de votre ram-
isfere." — Schlosser's History of the Eighteenth Century.
1 The French king had the impudence at the time that he recognized the
elector as emperor to nominate him his lieutenant-general.
THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
girded to her side, radiant with beauty and spirit, and called
upon them, on their duty as cavaliers, to stand up in her
cause. The whole assemblage, fired with enthusiasm by
her charms, exclaimed with one voice, "Moriamur pro rege
nostro, Maria Theresa!" (Let us die for our king, Maria
Theresa!) and took the field at the head of their serfs, thirty
thousand cavalry, and wild hordes of Pandurs and Croats,
which, leaving the French at Prague, moved upon Bavaria.
The circumstance of the elector being at that conjuncture at
Frankfort 1 for the purpose of solemnizing his coronation as
Charles VII., emperor of Germany, inflamed the Hungarians
with still greater fury. Bavaria was terribly devastated,
particularly by Menzel, general of the hussars, a Saxon by
birth, who took Munich, A.D. 1742, on the same day on
which the elector was crowned at Frankfort, revived all the
horrors of the thirty years' war, and, on the Bavarians
threatening to rise en masse, gave orders that "all those
taken with arms in their hands should be compelled to cut
off each other's noses and ears, and should then be hanged." *
Barnklau (or, more properly, Percklo, Baron von Schon-
reuth) and Trenk with the Pandurs committed equal ex-
cesses, and the peasants, driven to despair, rose against
them. The inhabitants of Cham and Mainburg were cut
down to a man, those of Landsberg kept their ground, and
those of Tolz succeeded in depriving the Pandurs of great
part of their booty. Lukner, who afterward became a field-
marshal in the French service, chiefly distinguished himself
among the Bavarians. Seckendorf, now an old man and an
Austrian exile, was raised to the command of the Bavarian
troops, but effected little. Barnklau took Ingolstadt, hitherto
deemed impregnable. Khevenhiiller shut up sixteen thou-
sand French, who had, under Segur, ventured from Bohemia
1 Charles was crowned by his brother of Cologne. Belleisle, the French am-
bassador, played the chiaf part, and, formally taking upon himself the character
of protector, took precedence of all the German princes.
* When the French cried out "Pardon, Monsieur!" the hussars responded
with "More! More!" cutoff their heads at a blow, stuck them on their sabre
points, and carried them about in triumph.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1273
into Austria, in Linz, and took them prisoner,1 before Fred-
erick, who had invaded Moravia and taken Olmutz, could
advance to their assistance.
On the second defeat of the Austrians under Charles of
Lorraine (in whose name Browne commanded), at Chotusiz,
by Frederick, Maria Theresa offered, A.D. 1742, to cede
Silesia to him on condition of his withdrawal from the treaty
of Nymphenburg. The offer was instantly accepted, and
peace was concluded at Breslau. Saxony was also gained
over by the gift, on the part of Maria Theresa, of rich lands
in Bohemia to Count Bruhl.
The next step was the expulsion of the French from
Prague. Belleisle was closely shut up. A fresh French
army under Harcourt approached to his relief and drove the
Austrians out of Bavaria, but fell a prey to cold and famine.
A third army under Maillebois penetrated as far as Bohemia,
but retraced its steps, being forbidden by the miserable petti-
coat-government under Louis XV. to hazard an engagement.
Belleisle, driven desperate by famine, at length made a vig-
orous sally and fought his way through the Austrians, but
almost the whole of his men fell victims during the retreat
to the severity of the winter. The Bavarians under Seck-
'endorf and twenty thousand French under Broglio, who at-
tempted to come to his relief, were defeated by Khevenhuller
at Braunau.
Fortune declared still more decidedly during the cam-
paign of 1743 in Maria Theresa's favor, George II., king of
England (who, not long before, through fear of losing Han-
over, had yielded to the counsels of France and Prussia and
had voted in favor of Charles VII.), actuated by a double
jealousy, on account of England against France and on ac-
count of Hanover against Prussia, bringing a pragmatic
army levied in Northern Germany* to her aid. Notwith-
1 Segur's wife was received on her appearance in the theatre at Paris with
the derisive cry of "Linz! Linz!" and died of shame and terrdr.
1 Among which were twenty thousand Swiss mercenaries and sir hundred
Hes«ians whom he had purchased from the Landgrave of Hesse, who had also
1274 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
standing his bad generalship, he was victorious at Dettin-
gen, not far from Aschaffenburg, over the French, who
were still worse commanded by Noailles. In the ensuing
year, Charles of Lorraine crossed the Rhine at the head of
the whole Austrian army and laid Alsace and Lorraine
waste. '
These successes were beheld with impatience by Fred-
erick, who plainly foresaw the inevitable loss of Silesia,
should fortune continue to favor Maria Theresa. In Aus-
tria, public opinion was decidedly opposed to the cession of
that province. In order to obviate the danger with which
he was threatened, he once more unexpectedly took up arms
and gained a brilliant victory at Hohenfriedberg in Silesia,
and another at Son* in Bohemia, where Prince Lobkowitz,
in attempting to rally his troops, cut down three Austrian
captains, but was himself thrown down and cast into a ditch.
Schwerin took Prague. The now venerable Dessau was again
victorious at Kesselsdorf in Saxony, and Maria Theresa was
compelled by the treaty of Dresden, A.D. 1745, once more to
cede Silesia to the victorious Prussian. — The war with France
was still carried on. The Marchioness of Pompadour at that
time governed Louis XV. and bestowed the highest offices in
the army on her paramours. She was at length seized with'
a whim to guide the operations of the campaign in person
and took the field with an immense army (among which
were twenty-two thousand Swiss), commanded by Noailles.
The campaign was, however, a mere fete for the king and
his mistresses, and nothing of importance was in consequence
effected. The vanguard under Segur was defeated at Pf affen-
hofen, and some skirmishing parties were cut to pieces by the
peasantry in the forest of Bregenz. The main body was de-
sold six thousand of his subjects to Charles Vll. It was merely owing to a
favorable chance that the unfortunate Hessians were not compelled to fight
each other.
1 The sultan Mahmud V. attempting to make peace between the contending
parties, the French ambassador at The Hague remarked, "The Turks begin to
think like Christians." "And the Christians," replied the grand pensionary,
Fagel, "act, none the less, like Turks."
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1275
tained by the siege of Freiburg in the Breisgau, where it lost
twelve thousand men, A.D. 1744. Charles VII. expired in
the ensuing year, and his youthful son and successor, Maxi-
milian Joseph, being inclined to peace, Bavaria being, more-
over, a scene of fearful desolation and Seckendorf neglected
by the French, the treaty of Fussen, which restored every-
thing to its ancient footing, was concluded, A.D. 1745, be-
tween Bavaria and Austria. — The French instantly with-
drew from the Upper Rhine to prosecute the war with
redoubled fury in the Netherlands, where they were served
by Maurice of Saxony, who had a theatre in his camp and
made life one long fete diversified by victories. He was
opposed by the English under the Duke of Cumberland and
by the Dutch under Waldeck. He defeated them at Fon-
tenoy and took Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels, where Louis
XV. made a triumphal entry, A.D. 1745. In the following
year, Charles of Lorraine entered the Netherlands with an
imperial auxiliary force, but was again beaten by Rancoux
and Cumberland at Laffeld, A.D. 1746. Maurice1 also took
Maestricht. And all these deeds were done for France ! This
attack had, like its predecessors, the effect of placing a Prince
of Orange at the head of the army and of the state. On
William's accession to the British throne, and on his dying
without issue, the house of Orange was represented by a
side-branch, John William Friso, stadtholder of Friesland.
He was drowned, and his posthumous son, William IV.,
succeeded, A.D. 1711, to the hereditary stadtholdership. —
France also at that time created a diversion for England.
Charles Edward Stuart,3 the grandson of the exiled king,
James II., aided by French gold, raised a rebellion in Scot-
1 The French had the impudence to speak of him as ' 'ce brave Comte de
Saxe, qui lave ai bien par sa valeur la honte d'etre ne Allemaud." Maurice
wrote a work on the science of war. He died A.D. 1750, and was buried at
Strasburg.
s He afterward married the Countess Stolberg, so celebrated for her beauty,
who, under the title of Duchess of Albany, lived unhappily with this simple
prince. She was termed "la reine des cceurs," on account of her amiability.
She was the friend of the Italian poet Alfieri.
1276 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
land in the hope of expelling the house of Hanover from the
throne of Britain, but was defeated at Culloden, A.D. 1746.
In Italy, the Austrians under Lobkowitz also opposed the
French, Spanish, and Neapolitans, while an English fleet
struck Naples with terror. It was not, however, until 1746,
that the war was decided by the arrival of strong reinforce-
ments from Austria. Browne was victorious at Guastalla,
Lichtenstein at Piacenza, and Provence was on the point
of being invaded, when the population of Genoa, hitherto
stanch imperialists, rebelled against General Botta, who
had condemned some of the citizens to the lash and had de-
manded a contribution of twenty-five millions as well as all
their arms, and, headed by a Doria, drove the imperialists,
after a battle that lasted several days, out of the city,
December, 1746. The war was at length terminated by the
peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Each party remained in statu
quo, Maria Theresa alone ceding Parma, Piacenza, and
Guastalla to a Spanish prince, with the proviso of their
reversion to Austria in case of his dying without issue; her
husband, Francis I., was recognized emperor by all the
European powers. On his coronation, A.D. 1746, at Frank-
fort, Maria Theresa withdrew in order that all the honor
might be conferred upon him alone, and no sooner was the
ceremony concluded, than, stepping on the balcony, she
motioned to the people and was the first to cry "Vivat!"
Francis, nevertheless, was merely invested with the imperial
dignity, and Maria Theresa reigned alone, aided by her subtle
minister Kaunitz. Francis, although totally devoid of am-
bition, possessed great mercantile inclinations and amused
himself with secretly transacting money business. He had
the merit of reforming the imperial household and of putting
a stop to the lavish expenditure that had been allowed under
Charles VI.
Frederick II., after gaining laurels in the field, equally
distinguished himself as a statesman and a bel esprit. Like
his father, absolute in his sovereignty, he brought the ma-
chine of state, alone subservient to his will, to a higher de-
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1277
gree of perfection. His administration was unparalleled.
The increase of the wealth of the country by the cultivation
of waste land and by industry, a limited expenditure, and
the strict observance of economy and order, formed the basis
of his plan. He equally aimed at order, simplicity, and strict
justice in legal matters, and, in 1746, caused the corpus juris
F rider icianum, the basis of the provincial law of Prussia,
to be drawn up by Cocceji. The use of torture was abol-
ished. The strictness with which the public officers were
disciplined was as flattering to the people as the fame they
had lately gained during the war and the acquisition of the
fine and fertile province of Silesia. Frederick, although at
that period at the height of his popularity, withdrew, A.D.
1747, from public to private life. In the lonely solitudes of
Sans Souci, a palace built by him in the vicinity of Berlin,
he lived separate from his consort, Elisabeth Christina
of Wolfenbuttel, and devoted himself to the state and to
the study of French literature. With the exception of his
generals and ministers, the blind instruments of his will, he
was surrounded by Frenchmen. He founded an academy
of sciences, presided over by Maupertius and almost totally
composed of Frenchmen. ' Frederick both wrote and com-
posed in French. He also played well on the flute.
While Prussia was thus rising in the scale of European
powers, Saxony was reduced by her minister, Bruhl, to the
1 His favorite, Voltaire, visited him in 1745, and again in 1750, with the in-
tention of remaining with him ; the two philosophers did not, however, long
agree. Frederick sometimes set a limit to the pretensions of the vain, mean,
and grasping Frenchman, who treated the Germans with unheard-of insolence.
On one occasion, when at table with the king, he termed one of the royal pages
a Pomeranian beast. The king, shortly afterward, making a journey through
Pomerania with Voltaire in his suite, the page in revenge spread a report of his
being the king's ape, and the peasants, deceived by his extraordinary ugliness,
assembled in crowds round his carriage, from which they would not allow him
to descend, teasing him as if he were in reality an ape. Voltaire at length fled
from the Prussian court, carrying away with him some interesting papers be-
longing to the king. He was deprived of them at Frankfort on the Maine, and
was allowed to depart. A correspondence, nevertheless, continued to be carried
on between him and the king, who again esteemed him as a man of talent, when
BO longer reminded of his puerilities by his presence.
1278 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
verge of ruin. He had already burdened her with a debt of
a hundred million dollars, for two years he had withheld the
public salaries, and these measures proving insufficient, he
had sold Saxon troops to the Dutch and English for the
defence of their colonies, A.D. 1751. Josepha, princess of
Saxony, had, four years earlier, been married to the French
Dauphin, to whom she bore three kings, Louis XVI., Louis
XVIII., and Charles X., whose sad fate might well result
from the union of two courts governed by a Pompadour and
a Bruhl. — The deep dungeons of the Konigstein, the Son-
nenstein, and the Pleissenburg were crowded with malcon-
tents. These horrors occasioned the retreat of Count Zin-
zendorf from the world, and, in 1722, his offer of an asylum
in the Herrnhut to persons equally piously disposed. He
termed himself "the assembler of souls." He was ban-
ished as a rebel by Bruhl, but was, A.D. 1747, permitted
to return and to continue his pious labors.
The rising prosperity of Prussia, the superior talents and
statesmanship of her king and his unsparing ridicule had
gained for him the enmity of all his brother sovereigns.
The mention of Silesia filled Maria Theresa alternately with
rage and sorrow, and her subtle minister ingratiated himself
ever the more deeply in her favor by his unwearying en-
deavors to regain possession of that rich and fertile country.
Elisabeth, empress of Russia, enraged at Frederick's biting
satire on her unbridled license, was, notwithstanding the
little interest felt by Russia in the aggrandizement of Aus-
tria, ready to lend her aid. England was, on account of her
ancient alliance with Austria, pointed out as a third ally.
France, on the eve of declaring war with England on account
of her colonies, sought, as formerly, to form a confederacy
with Prussia. Monsieur de Rouille said to Kniphausen, the
Prussian ambassador at Paris, "Write to your king that he
must aid us against Hanover; there is plenty to get; the
king has only to make the attack; he will have a good
haul." Frederick had, however, no intention to quarrel
with England, and before the French minister had recov-
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1279
«red from his astonishment at the refusal, Kaunitz1 unex-
pectedly proposed an alliance between Austria and France,
and Maria Theresa was actually induced, in her anxiety to
gain over Louis XV., to send a confidential letter to Madame
de Pompadour, whom she addressed as her cousin. France,
independent of the condescension of the Austrian empress,
naturally lent a willing ear to the proposal, nor will she at
any time refuse her aid to one German potentate against
another so long as her interest is promoted by civil dissen-
sions in Germany. The possession of a German province
would again have rewarded France had not the league, not-
withstanding its strength, been overthrown. Austria de-
prived herself of her glorious title of defender of Germany
against France, and for the future lost the right of reproach-
ing other states with their unpatriotic policy.3 On the second
1 Prince Kaunitz's policy to raise France at the expense of the empire ran
exactly counter to that of Frederick "William of Prussia and offers a rare example
of depravity. Kaunitz founded the Viennese chancery of state, the wheel by
which the mechanism of government was turned. He was the oracle of the
diplomatic world and was long termed "the European coachman." He, how-
ever, forgot that the policy of the German emperor ought also to be German.
He was one of those wiseacres of his time who overlooked the real wants, pow-
ers, and limits of the nations under his rule, and who formed artificial states in
defiance of nature. Countries appertaining to one another, nations similar in de-
scent, were torn asunder; others, separated by nature or differing in origin, were
pronounced one. Enmity was sown between the most natural political allies,
and those whom nafoire had intended for opponents were joined together in alli-
ance. The greater the inconsistency the more indubitable the talent of the di-
plomatist. Kaunitz was a thorough personification of this unnatural policy. He
was even in his person a caricature. His admirer, Hormayr, relates of him,
"He never enjoyed nor could endure the open air. If, during the summer heats,
when not a leaf stirred, he, by chance, sat in his armchair in the chancery gar-
den adjoining the Bastei or passed thence, a few steps further, to the palace, he
carefully guarded his mouth with his handkerchief. He always dressed accord-
ing to the weather and had his rooms well furnished with thermometers and
barometers. In the autographic instructions given to each of his lecturers, he
begged of them never to mention in his hearing these two words, 'death and
smallpox.' His highest expression of praise was ever, 'My God! I could noi
have done it better myself.' "
8 Keith, the English ambassador, did not fail to represent the iniquitous con-
duct of France against the German empire to the empress, Maria Theresa. In
reference to the possibility that France might repay herself for her alliance with
a province of Western Germany, Maria Theresa declared her policy to be that
of the house of Habsburg, not that of Germany: "I can take little interest in
distant provinces ; I must confine myself to the defence of the hereditary states,
and have but two enemies to dread, Turkey and Prussia," Frederick was, in
1280 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
of May, 1756, the treaty of Versailles was concluded between
Austria and France. According to the terms of this treaty,
France was to bring one hundred and five thousand! men
into the field and to take ten thousand Bavarians and Wur-
tembergers into her pay against Prussia, besides paying an
annual subsidy of twelve million francs to Austria, in return
for which she was to hold part of the Netherlands with the
harbor of Ostend. The rest of the Netherlands (Luxemburg
excepted) was bestowed upon a French prince, Philip of
Parma. The fortress of Luxemburg was to be razed to the
ground. Austria, on the other hand, was to hold Silesia and
Parma; Saxony, Magdeburg, the circle of the Saal, and
Halberstadt; Sweden, Pomerania; Poland, at that time in
alliance with Saxony, the kingdom of Prussia; Russia, Cour-
land and Semgall. Cleves was also to be severed from
Prussia. — This treaty was, however, merely provisional.
The alliance between the two empresses and France (the
Marquise de Pompadour), termed by Frederick "Palliance
des trois cotillons," was still by no means concluded. Nego-
tiations with Russia were still pending. Saxony, although
destined to play a part of such importance, had not yet been
consulted.1 Her adherence, as well as that of Sweden, was
point of fact, as little German in his policy. He would unhesitatingly have re-
warded France for her aid with a German province, nor was it owing to him
that, at all events, part of the Netherlands did not fall under her rule. Once
only, during the seven years' war, was he struck with the folly of two German
powers fighting for the advantage of France. "Imagine, my Lord," wrote
Mitchel, "the wretched state of Europe. The two principal powers of Germany
have almost succeeded in ruining each other, while France looks on with secret
delight, apparently aiding one and perhaps stirring up the other in order to ac-
celerate the downfall of both. Would it were possible to reconcile Prussia and
Austria, and to turn both against France! Senseless and impossible as this
project may appear, it was, nevertheless, assented to by Frederick II. in a con-
ference before the battle of Prague."
1 The proof is contained in the documents concerning the occasion of the
seven years' war; Leipzig, Teubner, 1841. When Austria, in 1746, laid the
preliminaries to an alliance with Russia against Prussia, into which she at-
tempted to draw Saxony, Saxony refused her participation and was consequently
not admitted into the negotiations secretly carried on, at a later period, by Aus-
tria with France and Russia. The revelations, asserted by Frederick the Great
to have been made to him by Mentzel, the clerk of the Saxon chancery, from
papers out of the secret cabinet, were, consequently, by no means the principal
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1281
deemed certain, Bruhl, the Saxon minister, bearing a per-
sonal hatred to Frederick on account of the scorn with which
he had been treated by that monarch.
The news of the treaty of Versailles found Frederick pre-
pared for the event. Clearly foreseeing the certain and
speedy coalition of his enemies, he determined to be the
first in the field and to surprise them ere they had time to
coalesce. Deeply sensible of the hazard of his position, he
carried poison on his person during the whole of the pro-
tracted war, being firmly resolved not to survive the loss of
his possessions. To appeal to God and to the justice of his
cause was denied him, for his sufferings were merely a retali-
ation of those he had inflicted upon others. The partition of
Prussia in 1756 was equally just with that of Austria in
1741. National enthusiasm was a thing unknown, for the
people were slaves accustomed to be passed from one rule to
another. Frederick's sole resource lay in his genius, and in
this he alone confided for success as he courageously un-
furled his flag before Austria had armed or war had been
declared by France. A man of a less decisive character
would have hesitated, would still have hoped, negotiated, or
have made concessions to such overwhelming opponents, in-
stead of boldly taking the initiative and proving to the aston-
ished world that peril, however great, may be surmounted
by courage and decision. Frederick's enemies intended to
bring against him a force of five hundred thousand men,
to surround and crush him. This force had, however, still
to be levied ; the object of Frederick's whole policy was con-
sequently the prevention of the coalition of the forces of his
opponents in order to attack them singly. The pretended dis-
covery of papers in Berlin, disclosing the whole plan of the
coalition, provided him with a pretext for the declaration of
war, and the diplomatic world was by this means led to be-
cause of the war. Frederick learned the most important secrets from Vienna
and Petersburg. Maria Theresa also committed the imprudence of solemnizing
the festival of St. Hedwig, the protectress of Silesia, with remarkable pomp at
Vienna.
GERMANY. VOL. m. — 16
1282 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
lieve in the reality of the manoeuvres he had simply foreseen.
His denunciation of a coalition, still formally unconcluded,
was instantly productive of the catastrophe.
England, deluded by a pretended alliance between France
and Prussia, joined Austria and Russia, an alliance that was
viewed with pleasure by George II., between whom and
Frederick a personal dislike existed. The deception was,
however, no sooner discovered than the parliament and the
prime minister, Pitt, ranged themselves on the side of Prussia,
and the king was compelled to yield. Hesse-Cassel, Bruns-
wick, Gotha, and Lippe also joined Prussia. The rest of the
empire, seduced by bribery, sided with Austria and France.
Bavaria, apparently the least likely of all the European
powers to join with Austria for the destruction of Prussia,
had, since 1750, received monthly from France (from the
secret fund) the sum of 50,000 livres, amounting in all to
8,700,000 livres. The Pfalz also received 11,300,000; Pfalz-
Zweibmcken, 4,400,000; Wurtemberg, 10,000,000; Cologne,
7,300,000; Mayence only 500,000; Anspach, Baireuth, Darm-
stadt about 100,000; Liege, Mecklenburg, Nassau, some-
thing more, altogether 3,000,000; even the petty principal-
ity of Waldeck received 50,000. The empire was in this
manner bought. France had so much superfluous wealth
that she also paid a subsidy of 82,700,000 livres to Austria,
and another of 8,800,000 to Saxony, toward the expenses of
the war with Prussia.
CCXXXVI. The Seven Years' War
IN the autumn of 1756, Frederick, unexpectedly and with-
out previously declaring war, invaded Saxony, of which he
speedily took possession, and shut up the little Saxon army,
thus taken unawares, on the Elbe at Pirna. A corps of
Austrians, who were also equally unprepared to take the
field, hastened, under the command of Browne, to their
relief, but were, on the 1st of October, defeated at Lowositz,
and the fourteen thousand Saxons under Rutowsky at Pirna
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1283
were in consequence compelled to lay down their arms, the
want to which they were reduced by the failure of their sup-
plies having already driven them to the necessity of eating
hair-powder mixed with gunpowder. Augustus III. and
Bruhl fled with such precipitation that the secret archives
were found by Frederick at Dresden. The electress vainly
strove to defend them by placing herself in front of the
chest ; she was forcibly removed by the Prussian grenadiers,
and Frederick justified the suddenness of his attack upon
Saxony by the publication of the plans of his enemies. He
remained during the whole of the winter in Saxony, furnish-
ing his troops from the resources of the country. It was
here that his chamberlain, Glasow, attempted to take him
off by poison, but, meeting by chance one of the piercing
glances of the king, tremblingly let fall the cup and con-
fessed his criminal design, the inducement for which has
ever remained a mystery, to the astonished king.
The allies, surprised and enraged at the suddenness of
the attack, took the field, in the spring of 1757, at the head
of an enormous force. Half a million men were levied,
Austria and France furnishing each about one hundred and
fifty thousand, Russia one hundred thousand, Sweden twenty
thousand, the German empire sixty thousand. These masses
were, however, not immediately assembled on the same spot,
were, moreover, badly commanded and far inferior in dis-
cipline to the seventy thousand Prussians brought against
them by Frederick. The war was also highly unpopular and
created great discontent among the Protestant party in the
empire. On the departure of Charles of "Wurtemberg for
the imperial army, his soldiery mutinied, and, notwithstand-
ing their reduction to obedience, the general feeling among
the imperial troops was so much opposed to the war that
most of the troops deserted and a number of the Protestant
soldiery went over to Frederick. The Prussian king was
put out of the ban of the empire by the diet, and the Prus-
sian ambassador at Ratisbon kicked the bearer of the decree
out of the door.
1284 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Frederick was again the first to make the attack, and, in
the spring of 1757, invaded Bohemia. The Austrian army
under Charles of Lorraine lay before Prague. The king,
resolved at all hazards to gain the day, led his troops across
the marshy ground under a terrible and destructive fire from
the enemy. His gallant general, Schwerin, remonstrated
with him. "Are you afraid?" was the reply. Schwerin,
who had already served under Charles XII. in Turkey and
had grown gray in the field, stung by this taunt, quitted his
saddle, snatched the colors and shouted, "All who are not
cowards, follow me!" He was at that moment struck by
several cartridge-balls and fell to the ground enveloped in
the colors. The Prussians rushed past him to the attack.
The Austrians were totally routed; Browne fell, but the city
was defended with such obstinacy that Daun, one of Maria
Theresa's favorites, was, meanwhile, able to levy a fresh
body of troops. Frederick, consequently, raised the siege of
Prague and came upon Daun at Collin, where he had taken
up a strong position. Here again were the Prussians led
into the thickest of the enemy's fire, Frederick shouting to
them, on their being a third time repulsed with fearful loss,
"Would ye live forever?" Every effort failed, and Benken-
dorf 's charge at the head of four Saxon regiments, glowing
with revenge and brandy, decided the fate of the day. The
Prussians were completely routed. Frederick lost his splen-
did guard and the whole of his luggage. Seated on the verge
of a fountain and tracing figures in the sand, he reflected upon
the means of realluring fickle fortune to his standard.
A fresh misfortune befell him not many weeks later.
England had declared in his favor, but the incompetent En-
glish commander, nicknamed, on account of his immense
size, the Duke of Cumberland, allowed himself to be beaten
by the French at Hasteubek and signed the shameful treaty
of Closter Seeven, by which he agreed to disband his troops. '
1 The Hanoverian nobility, who hoped thereby to protect their property,
were implicated in this affair. They were shortly afterward well and deservedly
punished, being laid under contribution by the French.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1285
This treaty was not confirmed by the British monarch. The
Prussian general, Lewald, who had merely twenty thousand
men under his command, was, at the same time, defeated at
Gross-Zagerndorf by an overwhelming Russian force under
Apraxin. Four thousand men were all that Frederick was
able to bring against the Swedes. They were, nevertheless,
able to keep the field, owing to the disinclination to the war
evinced by their opponents.
Autumn fell, and Frederick's fortune seemed fading with
the leaves of summer. He had, however, merely sought to
gain time in order to recruit his diminished army, and Daun
having, with his usual tardiness, neglected to pursue him, he
suddenly took the field against the imperialists under the
duke of Saxon- Hildburghausen and the French under Sou-
bise. The two armies met on the 5th of November, 1757,
on the broad plain around Leipzig, near the village of Boss-
bach, not far from the scene of the famous encounters of
earlier times. The enemy, three times superior in number
to the Prussians, lay in a half-circle with a view of surround-
ing the little Prussian camp, and, certain of victory, had
encumbered themselves with a numerous train of women,
wigrnakers, barbers, and modistes from Paris. The French
camp was one scene of confusion and gayety. On a sudden,
Frederick sent General Seidlitz with his cavalry among
them, and an instant dispersion took place, the troops flying
in every direction without attempting to defend themselves;
some Swiss, who refused to yield, alone excepted. The Ger-
mans on both sides showed their delight at the discomfiture
of the French. An Austrian coming to the rescue of a
Frenchman, who had just been captured by a Prussian,
"Brother German," exclaimed the latter, "let me have this
French rascal!" "Take him and keep him!" replied the
Austrian, riding off. The scene more resembled a chase
than a battle. The imperial army (Reichsarmee) was thence
nicknamed the runaway (Reissaus) army. Ten thousand
French were taken prisoners. The loss on the side of the
Prussians merely amounted to one hundred and sixty men.
1286 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
The booty chiefly consisted in objects of gallantry belonging
rather to a boudoir than to a camp. The French army per-
fectly resembled its mistress, the Marquise de Pompadour.'
The Austrians had, meanwhile, gained great advantages
to the rear of the Prussian army, had beaten the king's
favorite, General Winterfeld, at Moys in Silesia, had taken
the important fortress of Schweidnitz and the metropolis,
Breslau, whose commandant, the Duke of Bevern (a col-
lateral branch of the house of Brunswick), had fallen into
their hands while on a reconnoitring expedition. Frederick,
immediately after the battle of Rossbach, hastened into
Silesia, and, on his march thither, fell in with a body of two
thousand young Silesians, who had been captured in Schweid-
nitz, but, on the news of the victory gained at Rossbach, had
found means to regain their liberty and had set off to his
rencounter. The king, inspirited by this reinforcement, hur-
ried onward, and, at Leuthen, near Breslau, gained one of
the most brilliant victories during this war over the Aus-
trians. Making a false attack upon the right wing, he sud-
denly turned upon the left. "Here are the Wurtembergers,"
said he, "they will be the first to make way for us!" He
trusted to the inclination of these troops, who were zealous
Protestants, in his favor. They instantly gave way and
Daun's line of battle was destroyed. During the night, he
threw two battalions of grenadiers into Lissa, and, accom-
panied by some of his staff, entered the castle, where, meet-
ing with a number of Austrian generals and officers, he
civilly saluted them and asked, "Can one get a lodging here
too?" The Austrians might have seized the whole party,
but were so thunderstruck that they yielded their swords,
the king treating them with extreme civility. Charles of
1 Seidlitz, who covered himself with glory on this occasion, was the best
horseman of the day. He is said to have once ridden under the sails of a wind-
mill when in motion. One day, when standing on the bridge over the Oder at
Frankfort, being asked by Frederick what he would do if blocked up on both
sides by the enemy, he leaped, without replying, into the deep current and swam
to shore. The Black Hussars with the death's head on their caps chiefly distin-
guished themselves during this war.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1287
Lorraine, weary of his unvarying ill-luck, resigned the com-
mand and was nominated stadtholder of the Netherlands,
where he gained great popularity. At Leuthen twenty-one
thousand Austrians fell into Frederick's hands; in Breslau»
which shortly afterward capitulated, he took seventeen thou-
sand more, so that his prisoners exceeded his army in number.
Fresh storms rose on the horizon and threatened to over-
whelm the gallant king, who, unshaken by the approaching
peril, firmly stood his ground. The Austrians gained an
excellent general in the Livonian, Gideon Laudon, whom
Frederick had refused to take into his service on account
of his extreme ugliness, and who now exerted his utmost
endeavors to avenge the insult. The great Russian army,
which had until now remained an idle spectator of the war,
also set itself in motion. Frederick advanced, in the spring
of 1758, against Laudon, invaded Moravia, and besieged
Olmutz, but without success; Laudon ceaselessly harassed
his troops and seized a convoy of three hundred wagons.
The king was finally compelled to retreat, the Russians,
under Fermor, crossing the Oder, murdering and burning
on their route, converting Custrin, which refused to yield,
into a heap of rubbish, and threatening Berlin. They were
met by the enraged king at Zorndorf . Although but half as
numerically strong as the Russians, he succeeded in beating
them, but with the loss of eleven thousand of his men, the
Russians standing like walls. The battle was carried on
with the greatest fury on both sides; no quarter was given;
and men were seen, when mortally wounded, to seize each
other with their teeth as they rolled fighting on the ground.
Some of the captured Cossacks were presented by Frederick
to some of his friends with the remark, "See, with what
vagabonds I am reduced to fight!" He had scarcely recov-
ered from this bloody victory than he was again compelled
to take the field against the Austrians, who, under Daun and
Laudon, had invaded Lusatia. He, for some time, watched
them without hazarding an engagement, under an idea that
they were themselves too cautious and timid to venture an
1288 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
attack. He was, however, mistaken. The Austrians sur-
prised his camp at Hochkirch during the night of October
the 14th. The Prussians — the hussar troop of the faithful
Ziethen, whose warnings had been neglected by the king,
alone excepted — slept, and were only roused by the roaring
of their own artillery, which Laudon had already seized and
turned upon their camp. The excellent discipline of the Prus-
sian soldiery, nevertheless, enabled them, half-naked as they
were, and notwithstanding the darkness of the night, to place
themselves under arms, and the king, although with immense
loss, to make an orderly retreat. He lost nine thousand men,
many of his bravest officers, and upward of a hundred pieces
of artillery. The principal object of the Austrians, that of
taking the king prisoner or of annihilating his army at a
blow, was, however, frustrated. Frederick eluded the pur-
suit of the enemy and went straight into Silesia, whence he
drove the Austrian general, Harsch, who was besieging
Neisse, across the mountains into Bohemia. The approach
of winter put a stop to hostilities on both sides.
During this year, Frederick received powerful aid from
Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, brother to Charles, the reign-
ing duke, who replaced Cumberland in the command of the
Hanoverians and Hessians, with great ability covered the
right flank of the Prussians, manoeuvred the French, under
then* wretched general, Richelieu, who enriched himself with
the plunder of Halberstadt, across the Rhine, and defeated
Clermont, Richelieu's successor, at Crefeld. His nephew,
the crown prince, Ferdinand, served under him with distinc-
tion. Toward the conclusion of the campaign, an army un-
der Broglio again pushed forward and succeeded in defeat-
ing the Prince von Ysenburg, who was to have covered
Hesse with seven thousand men, at Sangerhausen ; another
body of troops under Soubise also beat Count Oberg on the
Lutterberg. The troops on both sides then withdrew into
winter quarters. The French had, during this campaign,
also penetrated as far as East Friesland, whence they were
driven by the peasantry until "Wurmser of Alsace made terms
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1289
with them and maintained the severest discipline among his
troops.
The campaign of 1759 was opened with great caution by
the allies. The French reinforced the army opposed to the
duke of Brunswick and attacked him on two sides, Broglio
from the Maine, Contades from the Lower Rhine. The duke
was pushed back upon Bergen, but nevertheless gained a
glorious victory over the united French leaders at Minden.
His nephew, the crown prince, Ferdinand, also defeated an-
other French army under Brissac, on the same day, at Her-
ford. The imperial army, commanded by its newly nomi-
nated leader, Charles of Wurtemberg, advanced, but was
attacked by the crown prince, while its commander was
amusing himself at a ball at Fulda, and ignominiously put
to flight. Frederick, although secure against danger from
this quarter, was threatened with still greater peril by the
attempted junction of the Russians and Austrians, who had
at length discovered that the advantages gained by Fred-
erick had been mainly owing to the want of unity in his
opponents. The Russians under Soltikow, accordingly, ap-
proached the Oder. Frederick, at that time fully occupied
with keeping the main body of the Austrians under Daun at
bay in Bohemia, had been unable to hinder Laudon from
advancing with twenty thousand men for the purpose of
forming a junction with the Russians. In this extremity,
he commissioned the youthful general, Wedel, to use every
exertion to prevent the further advance of the Russians.
Wedel was, however, overwhelmed by the Russians near the
village of Kay, and the junction with Laudon took place.
Frederick now hastened in person to the scene of danger,
leaving his brother, Henry, to make head against Daun.
On the banks of the Oder at Cunnersdorf, not far from
Frankfort, the king attempted to obstruct the passage of the
enemy, in the hope of annihilating him by a bold manoeuvre,
which, however, failed, and he suffered the most terrible de-
feat that took place on either side during this war, August
the 12th, 1759. He ordered his troops to storm a sand moun-
1290 THE HISTOR1 OF GERMANY
tain, bristling with batteries, from the bottom of the valley
of the Oder; they obeyed, but were unable to advance
through the deep sand, and were annihilated by the enemy's
fire. A ball struck the king, whose life was saved by the
circumstance of its coming in contact with an etui in his
waistcoat pocket. He was obliged to be carried almost by
force off the field when all was lost. The poet, Kleist, after
storming three batteries and crushing his right hand, took
his sword in his left hand and fell, while attempting to carry
a fourth.
Soltikow, fortunately for the king, ceased his pursuit.
The conduct of the Russian generals was, throughout this
war, often marked by inconsistency. They sometimes left
the natural ferocity of their soldiery utterly unrestrained, at
others, enforced strict discipline, hesitated in their move-
ments, or spared their opponent. The key to this conduct
was their dubious position with the Russian court. The em-
press, Elisabeth, continually instigated by her minister, Bes-
tuscheff, against Prussia, was in her dotage, was subject to
daily fits of drunkenness, and gave signs of approaching dis-
solution. Her nephew, Peter, the son of her sister, Anna,
and of Charles Frederick, Prince of Holstein Gottorp, the
heir to the throne of Russia, was a profound admirer of the
great Prussian monarch, took him for his model, secretly
corresponded with him, became his spy at the Russian court,
and made no secret of his intention to enter into alliance with
him on the death of the empress. The generals, fearful of
rendering themselves obnoxious to the future emperor, con-
sequently showed great remissness in obeying Bestuscheff's
commands. Frederick, however, although unharassed by
the Russians, was still doomed to suffer fresh mishaps. His
brother, Henry, had, with great prudence, cut off the mag-
azines and convoys to Daun's rear, and had consequently
hampered his movements. The king was, notwithstanding,
discontented, and, unnecessarily fearing lest Daun might still
succeed in effecting a junction with Soltikow and Laudon,
recalled his brother, and by so doing occasioned the very
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1291
movement it was his object to prevent. Daun advanced;
and General Fink, whom Frederick had despatched against
him at the head of ten thousand men, fell into his hands.
Shut up in Maxen, and too weak to force its way through
the enemy, the whole corps was taken prisoner. Dresden
also fell ; Schmettau, the Prussian commandant, had, up to
this period, bravely held out, notwithstanding the smallness
of the garrison, but, dispirited by the constant ill success, he
at length resolved, at all events, to save the military chest,
which contained three million dollars, and capitulated on a
promise of free egress. By this act he incurred the heavy
displeasure of his sovereign, who dismissed both him and
Prince Henry. ' Fortune, however, once more favored Fred-
erick; Soltikow separated his troops from those of Austria
and retraced his steps. The Russians always consumed
more than the other troops, and destroyed their means of
subsistence by their predatory habits." Austria vainly of-
fered gold; Soltikow persisted in his intention and merely
replied, "My men cannot eat gold." Frederick was now
enabled, by eluding the vigilance of the Austrians, to throw
himself upon Dresden, for the purpose of regaining a posi-
tion indispensable to him on account of its proximity to Bo-
hemia, Silesia, the Mere, and Saxony. His project, how-
ever, failed, notwithstanding the terrible bombardment of
the city, and he vented his wrath at this discomfiture on the
gallant regiment of Bernburg, which he punished for its
want of success by stripping it of every token of military
glory. The constant want of ready money for the purpose
of recruiting his army, terribly thinned by the incessant war-
fare, compelled him to circulate a false currency, the En-
glish subsidies no longer covering the expenses of the war
and his own territory being occupied by the enemy. Saxony
1 Frederick the Great has been ever charged with ingratitude for this treat-
ment of his brother, who expired during the ensuing year. Schmettau is the
same officer who had risen to such distinction during the war with Turkey.
* Frederick replied to the loud complaints, "We have to do with barbarians,
foes to humanity. We ought, however, rather to seek a remedy for the evil
than to give way to lamentations." — Klober.
1292 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
consequently suffered, and was, owing to this necessity,
completely drained, the town-council at Leipzig being, for
instance, shut up in the depth of winter without bedding,
light, or firing, until it had voted a contribution of eight
tons of gold; the finest forests were cut down and sold, etc.
Berlin, meanwhile, fell into the hands of the Russians, who,
on this occasion, behaved with humanity. General Tottle-
ben even ordered his men to fire upon the allied troop, con-
sisting of fifteen thousand Austrians, under Lascy and Bren-
tano, for attempting to infringe the terms of capitulation by
plundering the city. The Saxons destroyed the chateau of
Charlottenburg and the superb collection of antiques con-
tained in it, an irreparable loss to art, in revenge for the de-
struction of the palaces of Bruhl by Frederick. No other
treasures of art were carried away or destroyed either by
Frederick in Dresden or by his opponents in Berlin. — This
campaign offered but a single pleasing feature, the unex-
pected relief of Colberg, who was hard pushed by the Rus-
sians in Pomerania, by the Prussian hussars under General
Werner.
Misfortune continued to pursue the king throughout the
campaign of 1760. Fouquet, one of his favorites, was, with
eight thousand men, surprised and taken prisoner by Laudon
in the Giant Mountains near Landshut ; the mountain coun-
try was cruelly laid waste. The important fortress of Glatz
fell, and Breslau was besieged. This city was defended by
General Tauenzien, a man of great intrepidity. The cele-
brated Lessing was at that time his secretary. "With merely
three thousand Prussians, he undertook the defence of the
extensive city, within whose walls were nineteen thousand
Austrian prisoners, and, on Laudon threatening to storm the
place and not even to spare the child within its mother's
womb, he coolly replied, "Neither I nor my men happen to
be in the family way." He maintained the city until re-
lieved by Frederick. The king hastened to defend Silesia,
for which Soltikow's proscrastination allowed him ample
opportunity. Daun had, it is true, succeeded in forming a
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1293
junction with Laudon at Liegnitz, but their camps were sep-
arate, and the two generals were on bad terms. Frederick
advanced close in their vicinity. An attempt made by Lau-
don, during the night of the 15th of August, to repeat the
disaster of Hochkirch, was frustrated by the secret advance
of the king to his rencounter, and a brilliant victory was
gained by the Prussians over their most dangerous antag-
onist. The sound of the artillery being carried by the wind
in a contrary direction, the news of the action and of its dis-
astrous termination reached Daun simultaneously; at all
events, he put this circumstance forward as an excuse, on
being, not groundlessly, suspected of having betrayed Lau-
don from a motive of jealousy. He retreated into Saxony.
The regiment of Bernburg had greatly distinguished itself in
this engagement, and on its termination, an old subaltern
officer stepped forward and demanded from the king the res-
toration of its military badges, to which Frederick gratefully
acceded.
Scarcely, however, were Breslau relieved and Silesia de-
livered from Laudon's wild hordes, than his rear was again
threatened by Daun, who had fallen back upon the united
imperial army in Saxony and threatened to form a junction
with the Russians then stationed in his vicinity in the Mere.
Frederick, conscious of his utter inability to make head
against this overwhelming force, determined, at all risks, to
bring Daun and the imperial army to a decisive engagement
before their junction with the Russians, and, accordingly,
attacked them at Torgau. Before the commencement of the
action, he earnestly addressed his officers and solemnly pre-
pared for death. Daun, naturally as anxious to -evade an
engagement as Frederick was to hazard one, had, as at Col-
lin, taken up an extremely strong position, and received the
Prussians with a well -sustained fire. A terrible havoc en-
sued ; the battle raged with various fortune during the whole
of the day, and, notwithstanding the most heroic attempts,
the position was still unearned at fall of night. The con-
fusion had become so general that Prussian fought with
1294 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Prussian, whole regiments had disbanded, and the king was
wounded, when Ziethen, the gallant hussar general, who
had during the night cut his way through the Austrians,
who were in an equal state of disorder, and had taken the
heights, rushed into his presence. Ziethen had often excited
the king's ridicule by his practice of brandishing his sabre
over his head in sign of the cross, as an invocation for the
aid of Heaven, before making battle; but now, deeply
moved, he embraced his deliverer, whose work was seen
at break of day. The Austrians were in full retreat. This
bloody action, by which the Prussian monarchy was saved,
took place on the 3d of November, 1760.
George II., king of England, expired during this year.
His grandson, George III., the son of Frederick, Prince of
Wales, who had preceded his father to the tomb, at first de-
clared in favor of Prussia, and fresh subsidies were voted to
her monarch by the English parliament, which at the same
tune expressed "its deep admiration of his unshaken forti-
tude and of the inexhaustible resources of his genius."
Female influence, however, ere long placed Lord Bute in
Pitt's stead at the helm of state, and the subsidies so urgently
demanded by Prussia were withdrawn. The duke of Bruns-
wick was, meanwhile, again victorious at Billinghausen over
the French, and covered the king on that side. On the other
hand, the junction of the Austrians with the Russians was
effected in 1761 ; the allied army amounted in all to one hun-
dred and thirty thousand men, and Frederick's army, solely
consisting of fifty thousand, would in all probability have
been again annihilated, had he not secured himself behind
the fortress of Schweidnitz, in the strong position at Bunzel-
witz. Butterlin, the Russian general, was moreover little
inclined to come to an engagement on account of the illness
of the empress and the favor with which Frederick was be-
held by the successor to the throne. It was in vain that
Laudon exerted all the powers of eloquence, the Russians
remained in a state of inactivity and finally withdrew. Lau-
don avenged himself by unexpectedly taking Schweidnitz
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1295
under the eyes of the king by a clever coup-de-main, and
had not a heroic Prussian artilleryman set fire to a powder
magazine, observing as he did so, "All of ye shall not get
into the town!" and blown himself with an immense num-
ber of Austrians into the air, he would have made himself
master of this important stronghold almost without losing a
man. Frederick retreated upon Breslau.
The empress, Elisabeth, expired in the ensuing year, A.D.
1762, and was succeeded by Peter III., who instantly ranged
himself on the side of Prussia. Six months afterward he was
assassinated, and his widow seized the reins of government
under the title of Catherine II. Frederick was on the eve of
giving battle to the Austrians at Reichenbach in Silesia and
the Russians under Czernitscheff were under his command
when the news arrived of the death of his friend and of the
inimical disposition of the new empress, who sent Czernit-
scheff instant orders to abandon the Prussian banner. Such
was, however, Frederick's influence over the Russian gen-
eral, that he preferred hazarding his head rather than aban-
don the king at this critical conjecture, and, deferring the
publication of the empress's orders for three days, remained
quietly within the camp. Frederick meanwhile was not idle,
and gained a complete victory over the Austrians, the 21st
of July, 1762. The attempt made by a Silesian nobleman,
Baron Warkotsch, together with a priest named Schmidt,
secretly to carry off the king from his quarters at Strehlen,
failed. In the autumn, Frederick besieged and took Schweid-
nitz. The two most celebrated French engineers put their
new theories into practice on this occasion ; Lef evre, for the
Prussians against the fortress; Griboval, for the Austrians
engaged in its defence. Frederick's good fortune was shared
by Prince Henry, who defeated the imperial troops at Frei-
burg in Saxony, and by Ferdinand of Brunswick, who gained
several petty advantages over the French, defeating Soubise
at Wilhelmsthal and the Saxons on the Lutterbach. The
spiritless war on this side was finally terminated during the
course of this year, A.D. 1762, by a peace between England
1296 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
and France.1 Golz had at the same time instigated the
Tartars in Southern Russia to revolt, and was on the point
of creating a diversion with fifty thousand of them in Fred-
erick's favor. Frederick, with a view of striking the empire
with terror, also despatched General Kleist into Franconia,
with a flying corps, which no sooner made its appearance in
Nuremberg5 and Bamberg than the whole of the South was
seized with a general panic, Charles, duke of Wurtemberg,
for instance, preparing for instant flight from Stuttgard.
Sturzebecher, a bold cornet of the Prussian huzzars, accom-
panied by a trumpeter and by five and twenty men, ad-
vanced as far as Rotenburg on the Tauber, where, forcing
his way through the city gate, he demanded a contribution
of eighty thousand dollars from the town council. The citi-
zens of this town, which had once so heroically opposed the
whole of Tilly's forces, were chased by a handful of huzzars
into the Bockshorn, and were actually compelled to pay a
fine of forty thousand florins, with which the cornet scoff-
ingly withdrew, carrying off with him two of the town-
councillors as hostages. So deeply had the citizens of the
free towns of the empire at that time degenerated.
Frederick's opponents at length perceived the foil}' of
carrying on war without the remotest prospect of success.
The necessary funds were, moreover, wanting. France was
weary of sacrificing herself for Austria. Catherine of Rus-
sia, who had views upon Poland and Turkey, foresaw that
the aid of Prussia would be required in order to keep Aus-
tria in check, and both cleverly and quickly entered into an
understanding with her late opponent. Austria was, conse-
quently, also compelled to succumb. The rest of the allied
powers had no voice in the matter. Peace was concluded at
1 This campaign was merely a succession of manoeuvres and skirmishes, in
which Lukner and his huzzars chiefly distinguished themselves against the
French, whose service Lukner afterward entered. He had, at an earlier period,
headed the Bavarians against Austria.
2 Nuremberg had never before yielded. Frederick observed on this occasion,
"Kleist has snatched the maiden wreath from the gray locks of that ancient
virgin."
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1297
Hubertsburg, one of the royal Saxon residences, February
the loth, 1763. Frederick retained possession of the whole
of his dominions. The machinations of his enemies had not
only been completely frustrated, but Prussia had issued from
the seven years' war with redoubled strength and glory ; she
had confirmed her power by her victories, had rendered her-
self feared and respected, and had raised herself from her
station as one of the principal potentates of Germany on a
par with the great powers of Europe.
CCXXXVII. Frederick Sanspareil
THE Prussian king, who well deserved his sobriquet of
Sanspareil, devoted himself, on his return to Sans Souci, to
the occupations of peace, in which he might also serve as a
model to all other princes. Everything prospered under his
fostering care. The confidence inspired by his government
attracted numbers of foreigners into the country, where he
placed waste lands in a state of cultivation, built numerous
villages, made roads and canals, and promoted agriculture
and industry. Prussia quickly recovered from the calami-
ties of war, and the royal exchequer and the wealth of the
country increased at an equal ratio. Among his economical
measures, the monopolies in tobacco and coffee are alone
reprehensible.
The cultivation of the potato, against which there ex-
isted a popular prejudice, in Prussia and afterward through-
out Germany was mainly forwarded by him. The impor-
tance of this root as an article of food had been strikingly
proved during the seven years' war. In Silesia — where
its cultivation had been enforced by Count Schlaberndorf,
the Prussian minister — the famine, caused by the failure of
the crops in 1770, had been, notwithstanding the immense
concourse of poor, felt with far less severity than in the
neighboring countries ; in Saxony, where one hundred thou-
sand, in Bohemia, where one hundred and eighty thousand
men perished of hunger, and whence twenty thousand per-
1298 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
sons migrated to Prussia, the land of potatoes. The new
monopolies or regie were more particularly unpopular on ac-
count of the persons employed in their administration being
brought from France by the king, who thus virtually ex-
posed the brave victors of Rossbach to the chicanery of their
conquered foe.
The army next occupied his attention. In the autumn
and spring he held great reviews for the sake of practice,
and perfect order and discipline were maintained during the
whole of his reign. The faults in the internal organization
of the army were first discovered after his death. Frederick,
although personally a patron of art and a promoter of civili-
zation, greatly depreciated the progress of enlightenment in
Germany, nor did he perceive that the bourgeoisie, whom he
had, on his accession to the throne, found in a state of igno-
rance and discouragement, had gradually risen to one of
great moral and mental refinement, while the nobility, whom,
at least hi Prussia, he had found, during his earlier years,
simple in their habits and fitted for the duties of their sta-
tion, had, as gradually, sunk in luxury and become totally
incapable of mental exertion. His exclusive nomination of
nobles to all the higher posts in the army was at first natu-
ral, the peasant recruits being already accustomed, in their
native provinces, to the sway of the nobility; but his total
exclusion, at a later period, of the whole of the citizen class,
was productive of immense evils to his successor. The sys-
tem of flogging was another abuse. Severe punishments
had formerly been found necessary among the infantry on
account of the inclination of the homeless mercenary to de-
sert his colors or to plunder; but the infliction of corporeal
punishment first became general in the army on the enrol-
ment of the peasant serfs, when the system of flogging,
prevalent in the villages, was introduced into the army.
This system, consequently, merely prevailed in Prussia and
Austria, Slavonian provinces long sunk in the deepest slavery.
Other states followed their example, but were unable to carry
this system into effect wherever a spark of honor still glowed
THE RISE OP PRUSSIA 1299
in the bosoms of the people. ' The retention of the unsuita-
ble military dress introduced by his father, of pigtails, pow-
dered hair, tight breeches, etc., was another of Frederick's
caprices.
The simple and strict administration of justice continually
occupied the attention of the king. The Codex Frid. formed
the basis of the provincial law of Prussia, which was not,
however, completed until after his death, by Canner, A.D.
1794. The injustice enacted in other countries was viewed
by him with deep abhorrence, and never was his anger more
highly excited than when he imagined that his name had
been abused for the purpose of passing an iniquitous judg-
ment. A windmill, not far from Sans Souci, obstructed the
view, but the miller threatening to lay a complaint against
him in his own court of justice, he chose rather to endure
the inconvenience than to resort to violence. Another mill-
er, Arnold, charging a nobleman with having diverted the
water from his mill, Frederick, anxious to act with strict
justice, sent a confidential officer to the spot to investigate
the affair. The officer, either owing to negligence or to
some private reason, pronounced in favor of the miller, who
was actually in the wrong, and the king instantly deprived
three of his chief -justices and a number of the lower officers
of the law of their appointments and detained the former for
some time in prison. Still, notwithstanding his arbitrary
and, on some occasions, cruel decisions, he inspired the law
officers with a wholesome fear, and by the commission of one
injustice often obviated that of many others. His treatment
of Colonel Trenck, an Austrian, whom he detained a close
prisoner at Magdeburg for eighteen years, made much noise.
This handsome adventurer had secretly carried on an inter-
course with the king's sister, had mixed himself up with poli-
1 Louis XV. attempted to introduce the Prussian military system, and, with
it, that of flogging, into the French army, but the soldiers mutinied, shot the
subalterns who had ventured to use the cane, and one of the latter, on being
ordered to give the lash to one of the privates, instantly ripped up his own belly.
This fact is related by Schubart, at that time one of the brightest ornaments of
Germany, who concludes with the exclamation, "What a disgrace for Germany !"
1300 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
tics, devised intrigues, and a barefaced indiscretion had oc-
casioned his long imprisonment, whence he was liberated on
Frederick's death. — The manner in which the king answered
all the cases and petitions presented to him, by a short mar-
ginal note, was extremely characteristic, his remarks and de-
cisions being generally just, but witty, satirical, often cruel,
and always badly written, on account of his imperfect knowl-
edge of his mother tongue.
He was equally laconic in conversation and abrupt in
manner. With a large three-cornered laced hat on his head,
rather stooping shoulders, a threadbare blue uniform with
red facings and broad skirts, a long pigtail hanging behind,
the front of his waistcoat sprinkled with snuff, which he took
in enormous quantities, short black breeches and long boots,
his sword buckled to his side and his celebrated crutch-cane
in his hand, he inspired all whom he addressed with awe.
No one, however, possessed in a higher degree the art of
pleasing, whenever he happened to be surrounded by per-
sons of congenial taste and pursuits, or that of acquiring
popularity. '
Frederick exercised immense influence on the spirit of the
times, the general impulse toward enlightenment. The age
had indeed need of assistance in its attempts to repel the
mists of ignorance and superstition by which it was obscured.
The pedantry of the schools had already partially yielded be-
fore the attacks of Thomasius, who had been the first to rend
asunder the veil and to admit the light, which, under Fred-
erick's administration, now poured freely hi on all sides.
1 Innumerable anecdotes are related of him. During the seven years' war,
a Croat aiming at him from behind a bush, he looked sternly at him, shook his
cane (which he carried even when on horseback) at him, and the Croat fled. —
The people of Potsdam had stuck up a caricature in which he was represented
with a coffee-mill in his lap, at the street corner; he saw it as he passed along
and told the bystanders to hang it lower down and they would see it with greater
convenience. — One of the subalterns of his guard, being too poor to buy a watch,
attached a bullet to his chain and wore it in his pocket. This was perteived by
the king, who one day purposely asked him what time it was. The officer, un-
able to evade an expose, drew forth the bullet, saying as he did so, "My watch
points but to one hour, that in which I die for your Majesty." Frederick in-
stantly presented him with his own watch, set in brilliants.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1301
The influence of the French philosophers of the day neces-
sarily preponderated. Fortunately, they were not all as
frivolous as Voltaire, and the more fervid enthusiasm of
Rousseau, the clear political views of Montesquieu, were
far better suited to the gravity of the German. Still, not-
withstanding the influence of Frederick the Great, Gallo-
mania did not long characterize our literature. Gottsched
at Leipzig attempted its establishment, but it was completely
overthrown by Lessing at Wolfenbuttel, and to it succeeded
Graecomania and Anglomania, a predilection for the ancient
authors of Greece and Rome, first tastefully displayed by
Heyne at Gottingen, and for the liberal and manly literature
of England, with which a closer acquaintance had been
formed since the accession of the house of Hanover to that
throne. The patriotic pride of Lessing, the study of the
classics and of English literature, served as a guard against
French exaggeration, which, nevertheless, exercised but too
powerful an influence upon the German character. Voltaire
first taught the German to take a hasty and superficial view
of religion, and Rousseau first enervated his honest heart by
false and sickly sentimentality. During the first stage of
his progress toward the enlightenment he so much needed,
he was but a contemptible and ridiculous caricature of his
French model.
The enlightenment of the past century, about which so
much has been said and written, demanded a religion of love
and toleration (the demand of the first Pietists, who after-
ward became noted for intolerance), in the place of the re-
ligion of intolerance hitherto inculcated by the church, the
equality of all confessions of faith (as established in North
America), the conformity of the dogmas of the church with
the demands of sound human reason (rationalism), or the
total proscription of the dogma in so far as they were in-
compatible with what it pleased the philosophers of the day
to consider natural and reasonable (natural religion, deism).
The result of these demands was absolute infidelity, which
rejected every religion as equally false and even denied the
1302 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
existence of a deity (atheism), the adoration of nature and
the most extravagant sensuality (materialism).
The beneficent government of humane sovereigns, wise
guardians of the people, was demanded instead of the despot-
ism that had hitherto prevailed, and the future happiness of
the human race was declared to be the infallible result of
this blessed change in the administration. On the separa-
tion of the North American colonies from England, their
parent country, and their formation into a republic, repub-
lican notions began to spread; they were, moreover, greatly
fostered by the example of the ancients, whose histories were
diligently studied, and by the contrat social of Rousseau,
which reproduced the ancient German political principle of
a constitution based upon the union of free and equal mem-
bers of society as a new discovery. At first, the general
demand was for that best of all republics, the sovereignty
of virtue ; but, by degrees, the republic became a matter of
speculation for vices impatient of the restraint imposed by
laws.
The immorality that, like a pestilence, had spread from
France and infected the courts and the higher classes in Ger-
many, took shelter beneath the new doctrines of humanism.
Open profligacy was, it is true, discouraged, but the weak-
nesses of the heart, as they were termed, served as an excuse
for the infraction of the Catholic vow of celibacy and of the
strict moral tenets of the Protestant church. The tears of
the sentimentalist atoned for the weakness of the flesh. An
incredible increase in the production and study of romances
naturally followed. The unprincipled sentimentality of the
middle classes was even more pernicious in effect than the
open profligacy of the nobility and of the courts. It was
owing to this cause alone that Germany, at the outbreak of
the French Revolution, at a time that called for energy and
for the exertion of every manly virtue, contained so many
cowards.
Good and evil advanced hand in hand as enlightenment
progressed. Men, confused by the novelty of the ideas pro-
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1303
pounded, were at first unable to discern their real value.
The transition from ancient to modern times had, however,
become necessary, and was greatly facilitated by the toler-
ance of the great sovereign of Prussia, who, notwithstanding
that, by his predilection for French philosophy and his incli-
nation toward rationalism, he at first gave a false bias to the
moral development of Germany, greatly accelerated its prog-
ress. He gave his subjects full liberty to believe, think, say,
write, and publish whatever they deemed proper, extended
his protection to those who sought shelter within his terri-
tories from the persecution of the priests, and enforced uni-
versal toleration. On one occasion alone, one that escaped
the observation of the sovereign, did the censor, Justi, dare
to suppress a work, the "Letters on Literature," in which
his own dull productions were severely criticised. The
works, printed in Prussia from 1740 to 1786, offer a con-
vincing proof of the unparalleled liberality of this absolute
sovereign. The freedom from restriction greatly favored
the progress of German literature, but still more so the
personal indifference of the king, which prevented it from
becoming servile. How insignificant was Ramler, whom he
appointed poet-laureate ! how great was Lessing, who never
paid court to or was noticed by him !
Frederick was, in his private hours, chiefly surrounded
by foreigners: Maupertius, the Marquis d'Argens, Alga-
rotti, Mitchel, the English ambassador, Marshal Keith, a
Scotchman, a proscribed partisan of the exiled Stuart, such
a noble-hearted man that Frederick said of him, "Le bon
Milord me force de croire a la vertu," General Lentulus, and
the notorious De la Mettrie. ' He carried on a frequent cor-
1 "Who wrote openly, "that there is no God, no immortality, that man is
intended to follow every natural impulse, that sensual pleasure is his only aim
in life, that virtue is a ridiculous dream destructive of enjoyment, and that death
is the end of all things." His depraved course of life was consistent with his
principles. Frederick, nevertheless, appointed him his lecturer. Mitchel relates
that Frederick always spoke of Voltaire as a rogue, although he continued to
correspond with him. This taste may, perhaps, be physically accounted for;
Zimmermann says that during the latter part of Frederick's life he could not
touch a dish without first seasoning it with immense quantities of Cayenne.
1304 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
respondence with Voltaire1 and D'Alembert, the latter of
whom he appointed president of the Royal Academy of Ber-
lin. Raynal and Rousseau, two of the noblest of the French
writers, took refuge within his states, one at Berlin, the other
at Neufchatel, from the persecution to which the freedom of
their opinions had exposed them. Frederick was himself an
author of no mean talent; in his youth he wrote an "Anti-
machiavel," in which he recommended to princes a moral
policy, never followed by himself, and several poems; at a
later period, the "History of his Own Times"; that of the
"Seven Years' War"; "Considerations, Financial and Polit-
ical, on the State of Europe"; "Memoirs of the House of
Brandenburg"; besides numerous spirited letters, which
were collected after his death.
The fall of the Jesuits was the first great result of the
advance of enlightenment. One extreme is ever productive
of another. The dissolution of these guardians of ignorance
was perhaps alone rendered possible by the existence of an
equal degree of exaggeration on the side of their opponents.
The policy of the times, moreover, favored the general in-
clination. The princes greedily grasped at the church prop-
erty that had escaped the general plunder during the Ref-
ormation. In France, Spain, and Portugal, the ancient
bulwarks of Catholicism, ministers rose to office who, con-
vinced of the excellence of Frederick's policy, kept pace with
their times, and followed as zealously in his footsteps as the
German princes formerly had in those of Louis XIV. In
Austria, the Archduke Joseph, the eccentric son of Maria
Theresa, glowed for a Utopia of liberty and justice, and
Kaunitz persuaded the otherwise bigoted empress to pursue
the old Ghibelline policy by which the pope was rendered
subordinate to the head of the empire. Pope Clement XIV. ,
1 Voltaire compared Frederick with the emperor Julian the Apostate, who
abolished Christianity and restored Paganism. He generally concluded his con-
fidential letters with the words "ecrasez 1'infame," meaning Christianity. On
the 24th of July, 1763, he wrote to D'Alembert that surely five or six men of
genius like them could overthrow a religion founded by twelve beggars. He
greatly complained of Frederick's want of energy in the cause.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1306
a man of great enlightenment, also filled St. Peter's chair at
that time, and hence it happened that the notorious Society
of Jesus was solemnly dissolved in all Catholic countries by
a papal bull, A.D. 1773. The unfortunate pope was instantly
poisoned by the revengeful Jesuits. Frederick, true to his
principle of universal toleration1 and desirous of displaying
his independence," permitted them to retain their former
footing in Catholic Silesia. On the dissolution of the So-
ciety, the most scandalous deeds were brought to light. The
attention of the public was taken up with judicial proceed-
ings and satirical writings. A scandalous lawsuit, that of
Father Marcellus at Augsburg, for unnatural crimes com-
mitted in the school under the control of the Jesuits, the
opening of the prisons of the Society at Munich, where twelve
skeletons were discovered attached to chains, created the
greatest noise. The history of the Society, and the prin-
ciples on which it was based, were now thoroughly investi-
gated and criticised. It is, however, probable that some of
the governments would not have so readily assented to its
dissolution but for the extraordinary wealth it possessed.
The courts were in want of money, and, on this occasion,
made a truly royal booty, of which but a small portion was
set aside for educational purposes. The emperor Joseph
appears to have had this booty very much in view. His
mother, Maria Tharesa, who, in 1748, had, in her right as
queen of Hungary, assumed the title of Apostolical Majesty,
and, in 1752, had driven four thousand Protestants out of
Styria, was merely induced to give her consent to the disso-
lution of the Society on moral grounds. A written docu-
ment, containing the substance of her confessions to her
Jesuit confessor, was sent to her from Madrid, a proof of
1 He often said, ' 'In my states every one can go his own way to heaven. "
8 The Jesuits were so delighted that they spread a report that the king was
on the point of turning Catholic. The ex-Jesuit Demelmaier declared from the
pulpit at Straubing that the king's coach-horses had fallen on their knees before
the pyx. Shortly afterward, on Frederick's siding with Bavaria against Austria,
as Dohm relates, his picture was seen in a Bavarian village at the side of that
of a saint, with a lamp beneath it.
GERMANY. VOL. HI.— 17
1300 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
perfidy by which she was first convinced of the immorality,
according to their statutes, legally practiced by the members
of the Society.
At the very time that Germany was delivered from the
curse of Jesuitism, the crime, termed by way of distinction
the crime of the age, was committed against Poland, and
clearly indicates the moral principle by which the statesmen
of that time were guided. Virtue was never the object of
their policy, but simply a means for the success of some po-
litical scheme. "Do not talk to me of magnanimity," said
Frederick, "a prince can only study his interest." Poland,
like Germany, owed the loss of her unity to her aristocracy ;
but the "Waiwodes and Starosts, instead of founding petty
states, like the German dukes and counts, and of allowing
the formation of a civic class, became utterly ungovernable,
and, too jealous to place the crown on the head of one of
their own number, continued, from one generation to an-
other, to elect a foreigner for their king. As long as Poland
still maintained a shadow of her ancient dignity, her choice
was free and unbiassed and ever fell upon some weak prince,
as, for instance, the Elector of Saxony ; but, as her internal
dissensions became more frequent, she allowed her potent
neighbor to impose a sovereign upon her. On the demise of
Augustus III., A.D. 1763, Catherine II. of Russia effected
the election of one of her numerous paramours, the hand-
some Stanislaus Poniatowski, a Pole by birth and her servile
tool. A foreboding of the dreadful doom awaiting their
country was roused by this stroke of Russian policy in the
bosom of some patriotic Poles, who confederated for the pur-
pose of dethroning the favorite of the foreign autocrat.
Catherine, however, sent one of her armies into the wretched
country, which was by her orders, by the orders of the self-
termed female philosopher, laid waste with most inhuman
barbarity. Cannibals could not have perpetrated more cold-
blooded acts of cruelty than the Russians, whom the noble
and gallant Pulawski vainly opposed, A.D. 1769. Catherine,
fearing lest the Turks might aid the unfortunate Poles,
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1307
attacked them also, and victoriously extended her sway to
the South.
The whole of the states of Europe, although threatened
by the increasing power of Russia, remained inactive. Eng-
land was occupied with her colonies, France with her mis-
tresses and fetes, Sweden was powerless. Austria and
Prussia, the most imminently threatened, might, if united,
have easily protected Poland, and have hindered the advance
of Russia toward the Black Sea, but they were filled with
mutual distrust. In 1769, Frederick II. and Joseph held a re-
markable conference at Neisse, in Silesia, when an attempt
was made to place German policy on a wider basis. "Who
could withstand, was it said, a coalition between all the
powers of Germany? "I think," said Frederick the Great,
"that we Germans have long enough spilled German blood;
it is a pity that we cannot come to a better understanding. "
Joseph lamented the unpatriotic alliance between Austria
and France, and even Prince Kaunitz, the propounder of
that alliance, declared that the cession of Lorrai.ie to France
was a political blunder that never could have taken place
had he been in office at that period. And yet, in despite of
these declarations, the sovereigns came to no understanding;
nor was a second conference, held in the ensuing year at
Mahrisch-Neustadt, notwithstanding the fine protestations
reiterated on this occasion, more effective.1 The want of
concord was entirely owing to Frederick's disbelief in the
sincerity of Austria. Austria had already bestowed the
hand of an archduchess on the king of Poland, and had
tendered'her aid to the overwhelming Catholic party among
the Polish nobility. Had Prussia united with Austria for
the rescue of Poland, the influence of Russia would, it is
1 Frederick, on seeing Lsudon, whom he had formerly despised on account
of his ugliness, and who had bitterly enough avenged the insult, among Joseph's
suite, took him by the arm and placed him nert to him at table— "Sit down here,
sit down here, I would rather have you at my side than opposite to me." At
Neustadt, Frederick is said to have observed to the emperor, while reviewing
the assembled troops, "The most extraordinary thing in our interview is that all
these thousands should fear us twol"
1308 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
true, have been weakened, while that of Austria would have
been thereby strengthened, without her having gained the
slightest advantage. These grounds determined Frederick
not only to leave Russia unopposed, but even to make use of
her against Austria, and his brother, Henry, whom he sent
to St. . Petersburg, accordingly, carried on negotiations to
this intent. The Austrians, upon this, held a council of war,
in which the question, whether it was advisable to declare
war with Russia in case Prussia sided against them with
Russia, was agitated. The question was negatived, A.D.
1771, and, from this moment, the partition of Poland was
determined upon. Austria, no longer desirous of driving
the Russians out of Poland, was merely intent upon sharing
the booty, and, abandoning her ancient character as the pro-
tectress of that ill-fated country, was the first to make the
attack by formally taking possession of the Zips, to which
she asserted her ancient right, before Russia, notwithstand-
ing her arbitrary rule in Poland, had formally declared the
incorporation of the Polish provinces with the Russian em-
pire. Prussia, meanwhile, cleverly made use of the recip-
rocal jealousy between Russia and Austria to secure her
portion of the booty. The three powers bargained with each
other for Poland like merchants over a bale of goods, and
Russia, the originator of the whole scheme and the first
possessor of the country, retained by far the largest share. '
The negotiations were brought to a close, August 5, 1773;
the Austrians and Prussians entered Poland, of which the
Russians had already taken possession, and proclaimed her
partition, "in the name of the indivisible Trinity," to which
Catherine more particularly added, "for the restoration of
the prosperity of Poland." Russia seized almost the whole
of Lithuania; Austria, Galicia; Prussia, the province of the
Lower Vistula, under the name of Western Prussia. The
rest of Poland was bestowed upon the wretched king, Stanis-
1 Gregory Orlow, Catherine's favorite, was of opinion that the Russian min-
isters, who had concurred in the partition, deserved to be deprived of their heads
for not having retained the whole of Poland for his mistress.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1309
laus, under the name of the republic of Poland, on which the
laws prescribed by the three powers were imposed, and which
was so constituted as to render unity for the future imprac-
ticable in Poland and to favor the wildest anarchy. Every
noble had the liberum veto, that is, the power of annihilat-
ing the decisions of the diet by his single vote. With a con-
stitution of this nature, Poland naturally sank ever deeper
into the abyss of ruin.
Two voices alone throughout Germany ventured to pro-
test against this political murder. Maria Theresa had in
her old age committed the control of foreign affairs to her
son Joseph and to Kaunitz, but she no sooner learned the
partition of Poland than she thus addressed the latter:
"When the whole of my possessions were disputed and I no
longer knew where to sit down in peace, I placed my trust
in the justice of my cause and in the aid of Heaven. But,
in this affair, where injured right not only openly cries for
vengeance against us, but in which all justice and sound
reason are opposed to us, I must affirm that never through-
out the whole course of my existence have I been so pained,
and that I am ashamed to be seen. Let the prince reflect
what an example we offer to the whole world by hazarding
our honor and reputation for the sake of a miserable bit of
Poland. I see plainly that I am alone and am no longer
en vigueur, and I therefore let the matter, though not with-
out the greatest sorrow, take its own course." She signed
her name with these words, "Placet, as so many and learned
men desire it; but when I have been long dead, the conse-
quences of this violation of all that until now has been
deemed holy and just will be experienced. " The other voice
was that of the Swabian, Schubart, who ventured, even at
that period, to lament the fate of "Poland pale with woe" in
one of his finest poems.
Prussia had, moreover, come off the worst in the parti-
tion, the other powers refusing at any price to permit her
occupation of Dantzig. The object of this refusal on the
part of Russia was to prevent the whole commerce of Poland
1310 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
from falling into the hands of Prussia. Frederick revenged
himself by the seizure of Neufahrwasser, the only navigable
entrance into the harbor of Dantzig, and by the imposition
of oppressive dues.
CCXXXVIII. Joseph the Second
THIS emperor, who so zealously aided in the annihilation
of an innocent nation and thus repaid John Sobieski's noble
devotion with most unexampled ingratitude to his descend-
ants, who evinced such utter want of feeling in his foreign
policy, was, to the astonishment of the whole world, in his
own dominions, the greatest enthusiast for popular liberty
and the greatest promoter of national prosperity that ever
sat upon a throne. On the death of his father, Francis I.,
A.D. 1765, 1 he became co-regent with his mother, and, al-
though at first merely intrusted with the war administra-
tion, ere long interfered in every state affair, in which he
was especially supported by the prime minister, Kaunitz,
who, while apparently siding with him against the caprice
or too conscientious scruples of his mother, rendered him his
tool. The contradiction apparent in Joseph's conduct, the
intermixture of so much injustice with his most zealous en-
deavors to do right, are simply explained by the influence of
Kaunitz, who, like an evil spirit, ever attended him.
For the better confirmation of the unnatural alliance be-
1 Frederick II. writes of this puppet sovereign — "The emperor, not daring
to interfere in state matters, amused himself with the transaction of mercantile
business. He laid by large sums from his Tuscan revenues in order to speculate
in trade. He always retained alchemists in his service engaged in the search
for the philosopher's stone, and he attempted by means of burning-glasses to
dissolve several small diamonds into one large one. He established manufact-
ures, lent money on mortgages, and undertook to furnish the whole of the im-
perial army with uniforms, arms, horses, and liveries. In partnership with a
certain Count Bolza and a tradesman named Schimmelmann, he farmed the Saxon
customs, and, in 1756, even supplied the Prussian army with forage and flour.
Although his consort passionately loved him and was a pattern of conjugal ten-
derness, she bore his ever-recurring infidelities without a murmur. The day be-
fore his death, he presented his mistress, the Princess von Auersberg, with a
bill for two hundred thousand florins. The validity of a gift of this description
was questioned, but Maria Theresa ordered the bill to be duly honored."
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1311
tween Austria and France, Maria Antonia (named by the
French, Marie Antoinette), Maria Theresa's lovely and
accomplished daughter, was wedded, A.D. 1770, to the Dau-
phin, afterward the unfortunate Louis XVI. She was re-
ceived at Strasburg by the gay bishop, Cardinal Rohan, with
the words, "The union of Bourbon with Habsburg must re-
store the golden age." Seven hundred and twelve people
were crushed to death during the wedding festivities at Paris*
The emperor Joseph, during his mother's lifetime, estab-
lished beneficial laws, abolished the use of torture, A.D. 1774,
and, by the publication of an Urbarium, sought more par-
ticularly to improve the condition of the peasantry. The
collection of the taxes and the lower jurisdiction were to
be undertaken by the state whenever the noble was unable
to defray the expenses of the administration, and villages,
consisting of more than one hundred and twenty houses,
were raised to the importance of country towns and were
granted several immunities. The government also entered
into negotiation with the nobility on account of the gradually
increasing pressure of socage-service. The cautious nobles,
however, declared to the empress that they would not vol-
untarily yield, but would submit were arbitrary measures
resorted to. These Maria Theresa refused to adopt, and the
Bohemian peasantry, to whom hopes of redress had been
held out, rose in open insurrection, which was quelled by
force, A.D. 1775. Their leader, Joseph Czerny, and three
others were hanged, one in each of the four quarters of the
city of Prague.
Joseph was, shortly after this occurrence, again seized
with a strong desire to extend his dominions. On the death
of Maximilian Joseph, elector of Bavaria, without issue, A.D.
1777, the next heir, the weak and licentious Charles Theo-
dore, of the collateral branch of the PfaLz, evincing a disin-
clination to Bavaria on account of his predilection for his
natural children and for his residence, Mannheim, which he
had greatly beautified, Joseph persuaded him to cede Lower
Bavaria to Austria. This cession was, however, viewed
1312 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
with equal displeasure by the next of kin, Charles, duke of
Pfalz-Zweibrucken, and by the Bavarians, who still retained
their ancient hatred of Austria. Maria Anna, the talented
widow of Duke Clement, Charles Theodore's sister-in-law,
placed herself at the head of the Bavarians, supported by
Count Gortz, whom Frederick II., who sought at every
hazard to prevent the aggrandizement of Austria, had sent
to her aid. The opposing armies took the field, but no de-
cisive engagement was fought, and this war was jestingly
termed the potato war, the soldiers being chiefly engaged in
devouring potatoes within the camps. Frederick the Great
said that the war had brought him more hay than laurels,
as it almost entirely consisted in foraging excursions. Fer-
dinand, the hereditary prince of Brunswick, maintained
himself in a strong position at Troppau. "Wurmser, the
imperial general, surprised the enemy at Habelschwert and
gained a trifling advantage. Neither side was in earnest;
Frederick was old and sickly — Maria Theresa so timid that
she secretly negotiated with Frederick behind her son's back
by means of Baron Thugut, who had formerly been an or-
phan lad. France was in a state of indecision. Austria is
said to have promised to cede to her a part of the Pfalz,
which Louis XVI., on the contrary, aided with a subsidy;
but however that may be, France did not come openly for-
ward. Russia, on the other hand, threatened Austria, who
at length consented, by the treaty concluded at Teschen,
A.D. 1779, to accept the province of the Inn and to relinquish
the rest of Bavaria.
Maria Theresa expired A.D. 1780.1 Joseph II. no sooner
became sole sovereign than he began a multitude of reforms.
1 She was remarkably beautiful in her youth, but later in life became ex-
tremely corpulent and was disfigured by the smallpox. She retained her live-
liness of disposition to the last. With the same spirit as when at Frankfort,
beaming with delight, she stepped upon the balcony and was the first to cry
"Vivat" at the moment of the coronation of her husband, did she in the Burg
theatre at Vienna, on receiving the news of the birth of her first grandson, after-
ward the emperor Francis II., rise from her seat and call out joyfully, in the
Viennese dialect, to the parterre, "der Leopold hot an Buabn!" "Leopold has
a boyl"
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1313
With headlong enthusiasm, he at once attempted to uproot
every ancient abuse and to force upon his subjects liberty
and enlightenment, for which they were totally unfitted.
Regardless of the power of hereditary prejudice, he arbitra-
rily upset every existing institution, in the conviction of pro-
moting the real welfare of his subjects. His principal attack
was directed against the hierarchy. On the assassination of
the unfortunate pope, Clement VII., by the Jesuits, Pius
VI., a handsome and rather weak-headed man, well fitted
for performing a part in church exhibitions, and a tool of the
ex-Jesuits, was placed on the pontifical throne. Joseph was
by chance at Rome during his election, on which he exer-
cised no influence, although the Romans enthusiastically
greeted him as their emperor, A.D. 1774. Pius instantly
checked every attempt at reform, evinced great zeal in hold-
ing church festivals, processions, and other spectacles, in
which he could show off his handsome person, and did his
utmost to displease the emperor. He even recognized Fred-
erick the Great as king of Prussia, on account of the pro-
tection accorded by him to the Jesuits. Joseph, however,
treated him with contempt, and openly showed his independ-
ence of the pontifical chair by declaring the papal bull invalid
throughout his states unless warranted by the placet regium.
He completely abolished the begging orders and closed six
hundred and twenty-four monasteries; he also placed the
more ancient monastic orders under the superintendence of
the bishops, and finally published an edict of toleration, by
which the free exercise of religion was granted to all, * except
to the Deists (who believed in one God according to rational
ideas, not according to revelation), whom he condemned to
receive five-and-twenty strokes, the number sacred to the
1 In the Styrian mountains, whole villages suddenly confessed the Lutheran
tait-h they had for a century past professed in secret. In 1793, there were no
fewer than twenty-two thousand Protestants in Carinthia. Many of the communes
at first suspected the edict of toleration of being another crafty method of en-
snaring them, by encouraging them to confess their real faith for the purpose of
destroying them, and it was not without difficulty that they became convinced
of the emperor's sincerity. — Travels Into the Interior of Germany, 1798.
1314 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Austrian bastinado. He also emancipated the Jews. The
German hymns of the ex-Jesuit, Denis, were introduced into
the Catholic churches. Hieronymus, archbishop of Salzburg,
and the bishops of Laibach and Konigsgrsetz supported the
emperor; but Cardinal Migazzi,1 archbishop of Vienna, and
Cardinal Bathyany, archbishop of Gran, ranged themselves
beneath the papal banner. Pius VI., terrified at these nu-
merous innovations, crossed the Alps in person to Vienna,
A.D. 1782, for the purpose of moderating the emperor's zeal.
His path was lined with thousands, who on their knees re-
ceived his blessing. He was, nevertheless, rendered bitterly
sensible of the inopportunity of his visit by the emperor and
by Kaunitz. The emperor did not honor the great mass per-
formed by him with his presence. No one was allowed to
speak with him without special permission from the emperor,
and, in order to guard against secret visits, every entrance
to his dwelling was walled up, with the exception of one
which was strictly watched. Whenever the pope attempted
to discuss business matters with the emperor, the latter de-
clared that he understood nothing about them, must first
consult his council, and requested that the affair might be
conducted in writing. Kaunitz, instead of kissing the hand
extended to him by the pope, shook it heartily ; he also neg-
lected to visit him, and, on the pope's paying him a visit
under pretext of seeing his pictures, received him in a light
robe-de-chambre. The pope, after spending four weeks with-
out effecting anything, at length found himself constrained
to depart. The emperor accompanied him as far as Maria-
bronn, and two hours afterward ordered that monastery to
be closed in order to show how little the pope had influenced
him.
1 Joseph's want of tact was never more truly displayed than in his treatment
of Migazzi. The Jansenist priest, Blaarer, of Briinn, becoming an object of his
persecution, Joseph summoned Blaarer to Vienna and made him superintendent
of the seminary of priests, a post hitherto held by Migazzi. On the arrival of
the pope at Vienna, Migazzi was compelled to quit the city and to pay two thou-
sand seven hundred florins to a house of correction for having carried on an
illegal correspondence with him.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1315
The people and the clergy were, however, dazzled by
the appearance of the holy father, and Joseph, fearful of
irritating them too greatly, in reality put a transient stop to
his reforms. The pope passed through Munich, where he
was received with every demonstration of respect by Charles
Theodore, and by Augsburg1 through the Tyrol, where a
monument on the highroad near Innsbruck tells to this day
of the enthusiasm with which his presence inspired the
mountaineers. On his return to Rome, A.D. 1783, he was
reproached for having made so many concessions, and was
persuaded to refuse his recognition of the archbishop of
Milan nominated by Joseph. The emperor was, in return,
unsparing of his threats, and unexpectedly appeared at Rome
in person, *A.D. 1783. The archbishop of Milan was con-
firmed in his dignity, and the Roman populace evinced the
greatest enthusiasm for Joseph, in whose honor the cry,
"Evviva nostro imperatore!" continually resounded in the
streets.
The pope, nevertheless, recovered from his terror, and
created a new nunciature for Munich as a bulwark of the
hierarchy in Germany, upon which Joseph deprived the
nuncios of all the privileges they had hitherto enjoyed,
which he bestowed upon the provincial bishops, more par-
ticularly upon those of Germany, whom he sought by these
means to place in opposition to the bishop of Rome. In
effect, Mayence, Treves, Cologne, and Salzburg held a con-
gress, A.D. 1785, at the bath of Ems, and declared in favor
of the emperor's principles. Frederick II. (Prussia and the
ex- Jesuits were at that time in close alliance), however, en-
couraged the pope, through his agent, Ciofani, at Rome, to
make a vigorous opposition. John Miiller, the Swiss histo-
rian, also turned his cheaply-bribed pen against the reforms
attempted by Joseph, whom he libels as a despot, and whose
1 He wrote triumphantly to the cardinals that he had dispensed his blessing
to countless thousands from the windows of the same house whence teterrima
ilia Augustana confessio had been first proclaimed. — Acta Hist. Eccl. nostri
1316 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
good intentions he cunningly veils. The most violent oppo-
sition was that raised in Austria. In the more distant prov-
inces, the clergy accused him of attempting the overthrow of
Christianity. In Lemberg, a monk plotted against his life :
Joseph had him imprisoned in a madhouse. In Innshruck,
a popular disturbance took place on account of an alteration
being made in one of the church altars, the priests having
spread a report of the emperor's intention to destroy all
altars. At Villach, a figure, intended to represent Dr. Lu-
ther, was carried about on a wheelbarrow and cast into the
Danube. In several places, the Protestants were ill-treated.
Freedom of the press being granted by Joseph, the most vio-
lent and abusive charges against him were published by the
clergy and publicly sold by Wucherer, the Viennese book-
seller, who made a large profit by them. Joseph's enemies
were, however, less injurious to him than his false friends,
who incessantly loaded him with praise and spread the most
unchristian, atheistical, and immoral ideas; Blumauer, for
instance, who wrote in imitation of Voltaire, and whose im-
pudent and shallow works found a great sale. In many
places, this party ventured to treat church ceremonies with
open ridicule, and Joseph was repeatedly compelled to pro-
test against the misinterpretation of the edict of toleration
and the unbounded license, by which means, as Dohm well
observes, he was no longer beheld with awe by the one party
or with confidence by the other.
Notwithstanding the congress of Ems, he was opposed
not only by the Austrian clergy, but also by that of the em-
pire, on which he had, moreover, made a violent attack, by
separating all the portions of the bishoprics of Passau, Coire,
Constance, and Liege, lying within his hereditary states, and
placing them within the jurisdiction of the bishoprics within
his territories. Olmiitz was erected into an archbishopric;
Briinn was formed into a new diocese.
Joseph's reforms extended to the state as well as to the
church, and everywhere met with the same opposition. His
attempt to give unity to the state, to establish uniform laws
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1317
and a uniform administration,1 was contravened by the di-
verse nationalities and by the difference in the state of civili-
zation of the various nations beneath his rule. His attempt
to confer the boon of liberty on the lower class, to humble
the unrestricted power of the nobility, to establish equality
before the law and an equal taxation, was opposed not only
by the hitherto privileged classes, but also by the peasantry,
who either ignorantly misunderstood his intention, or were
purposely misled in order to check the progress of his reforms
by excesses, as was, for instance, the case among the Wal-
lachian population of Transylvania, where a certain Horja,
who gave himself out for a plenipotentiary of the emperor,
excited the peasantry to revolt against the nobility, assassi-
nated one hundred and twenty nobles, destroyed two hun-
dred and sixty-four castles, and the emperor was finally
compelled to put him down by force. He and bis colleague
Kloczka were condemned to the wheel, and two thousand of
the Wallachian prisoners were compelled to behold their exe-
cution ; one hundred and fifty were, according to the custom
of their country, impaled alive. And yet Joseph's clemency
had been so great as to inspire him with a desire to abolish
the punishment of death. Thus did his subjects deceive his
belief in their capability of improvement. The nobility were
rendered his mortal enemies by the condemnation of Colonel
Szekuly to exposure in the pillory for swindling, and by that
of Prince Podstatsky-Lichtenstein, for forging bank-notes, to
sweep the public streets. Among other offences against the
nobility was that of throwing open to the public the great
Prater, which had hitherto been the exclusive resort of the
aourt and nobility. The higher nobility, protesting against
this innovation, received the following characteristic reply
from the emperor : ' ' Were I only to associate with my equals
1 He simplified it first of all in Vienna, by the abolition of the abuses intro-
duced by the multiplicity of writing in all the public and government offices. In
Moser's Patriot. Archiv. the Viennese snail's pace before the time of Joseph II.
is fully described ; a petition or an account had to pass, in the course of being
copied, registered, answered, signed etc., through no fewer than eighty-five
hands.
1318 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
I should be compelled to descend into my family vault and
to spend my days amid the dust of my ancestors." The
nobility were also deeply wounded by the law empowering
natural children to inherit the property of their unmarried
fathers, which had been established by Joseph as a protec-
tion to the daughters of the citizens against their seductive
artifices. He also ennobled a number of meritorious citizens
and even created Fries, the manufacturer, who had greatly
distinguished himself by his commercial enterprise and pa-
triotism, count.
In 1785, he was, for a third time, led by his fixed idea
for the extension of his domains, so little consistent with his
character, so noted for humanity in all other respects, to re-
new negotiations with Charles Theodore for the possession of
Bavaria. A German confederacy, set on foot by Frederick
II., however, set a limit to his pretensions; and, in his dis-
pleasure at this frustration of his plans, he was induced by
the intriguing Russian empress to join her in the conquest
of the East. A personal interview took place between the
two powers at Cherson.1 The partition of Turkey, like that
of Poland, formed the subject of their deliberations. A di-
version made to their rear by Gustavus III. of Sweden, how-
ever, compelled Catherine to recall the greater portion of her
troops. Russia, since the days of Peter the Great, had been
a field of speculation for Germans, who, to the extreme det-
riment of their native country, increased the power of Russia
by filling the highest civil and military posts. A Prince
Charles of Nassau-Siegen, who served at this period as Rus-
sian admiral, was shamefully defeated by the Swedes, lost
fifty-five ships and twelve thousand men, and was forced to
fly for his life in a little boat. The Turkish campaign was,
owing to these disadvantageous circumstances, far from bril-
1 He had, in 1780, visited her at St. Petersburg and had treated her so flatter-
ingly, that, on his offering to kiss her hand, she threw her arms round his neck.
She travelled in the same carriage with him to Smolensk. Her coachman boast-
ed, on this occasion, of driving two powers, for whom the whole universe was
not wide enough, in such a narrow space.
THE RISS OF PRUSSIA 1310
Kant. The Russians merely took Oczakow by storm and fixed
themselves, as the Austrians should have done in their stead,
close to the mouths of the Danube. Joseph was even less
successful. The extreme heat of the summer of 1788 pro-
duced a pestilence, which carried off thirty-three thousand
Austrians. The bad inclination generated among the lower
class by the nobility and clergy had crept into the army. At
Caransebes, the troops were seized with a sudden panic and
took to flight, carrying the emperor along with them, with-
out an enemy being in sight. The Turks, commanded by
French officers, were several times victorious. Sick and
chagrined, the emperor returned to Vienna, and it was not
until the ensuing year that the honor of the imperial arms
was restored by Laudon (who had fallen into neglect), aided
by the Duke of Coburg and General Clairfait. He retook
Belgrade, but his further progress was checked by the nego-
tiation of peace. Hungary was in a state of disturbance,
the Netherlands hi revolt, the emperor ill, and peace with
foreign powers indispensable.
The nobility and clergy triumphed, and harassed the un-
fortunate emperor — who had returned from the Turkish cam-
paign suffering from an illness from which he never recov-
ered— completely to death. Irritated by their opposition and
by their strong position in the Hungarian diet, he dissolved
that assembly, carried the sacred crown of Hungary to
Vienna, abolished all the privileges of that country, and
placed the Magyars on a level with his German subjects.
The people were too dull of comprehension to perceive the
advantage they thereby gained, or were deceived by the no-
bility and clergy, who described the emperor as a heretic,
and declaimed against the violation of popular rights while
skilfully concealing the interests of their order beneath the
mask of the national pride of Hungary. The chief points
most sturdily opposed by the nobility were the liability, hith-
erto unknown, of their order to taxation and the alleviation
of the burdens borne by the miser a contribuens plebs, as
the Hungarian serfs were officially termed.
1320 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
The Netherlands were in a still more violent state of fer-
mentation. Joseph, confiding in his alliance with France,
which he had, at an earlier period, visited : for the purpose
of seeing his sister Marie Antoinette, compelled the Dutch,
A.D. 1781, to annul the barrier-treaty and to withdraw their
garrisons from the fortresses of the Austrian Netherlands.
The occupation of the fortresses of a powerful emperor by
the Dutch, who, moreover, kept them in a bad state of re-
pair, was certainly wholly unfitting, but they were equally
neglected by Joseph, who caused almost the whole of them
to be razed to the ground as no longer necessary for the de-
fence of the frontier against France. He then demanded
from Holland the opening of the Scheldt. His demand was
by no means unjust; by what right do the Dutch close the
mouths of the rivers of Germany? Joseph, however, con-
tented himself with threats and with sending down the river
two ships, upon which the Dutch fired." War was, never-
1 The extreme splendor of the French court struck him with astonishment
and he earnestly warned his sister of the result. His simple attire as, under
the incognito of Count Falkenstein, he visited the public buildings, etc., and
mingled with the people, attracted universal admiration. He was praised at the
expense of his corpulent and thick-skulled brother-in-law, Louis XVI :
A nos yeux ^tonnes de sa simplicite
Falkenstein a montr6 la majest^ sans faste.
Chez nous, par un honteux contraste
Qu' a-t-il trouv^? du faste sans majeste.
Joseph visited several distinguished men during his stay in Paris, among others,
Buffon, the great naturalist, to whom he said, "I beg you will give me the copy
of your work forgotten by my brother." His brother, Maximilian of Cologne,
had rudely refused a copy offered to him by Buffon, with the remark, "I will
not rob you of it." The emperor also mounted to Rousseau's wretched garret,
where he found him occupied in copying notes, for he was no longer the lion of
the day. On his return to his dominions, he neglected, when at Geneva, to visit
Voltaire, whose immorality he detested. The philosopher was mortally wounded
by this proof of disrespect. Joseph, on the other hand, did not fail to honor
Albert von Haller, the eminent poet and physician, with a visit on his route
through Berne. Von Erlach. the highborn mayor of Berne, also awaited his
arrival in his castle with planted cannon and a great display of magnificence,
and had himself announced under the title of Count ; Joseph, however, merely
sent him his verbal excuses, "that he was too dusty from travelling to visit such
a fine gentleman." A good lesson for the republicans!
2 Kaunitz had vainly attempted to dissuade the emperor from this scheme
and had always said, "They will fire upon them," which Joseph refused to
believe. The event had no sooner answered Kaunitz's expectation than he
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA
theless, averted by a gift of nine million florins from the
Dutch to the emperor, whose conduct on this occasion was
construed as a sign of weakness by the Austrian Nether-
lands, where the powerful and influential clergy seized every
opportunity to raise enemies against him. When, in 1786,
Joseph abolished the ecclesiastical schools as dens of the
grossest darkness and ordered a great universal seminary
for fifteen hundred scholars to be founded on entirely mod-
ern principles, a popular tumult, which was only put down
by the military, ensued. The fermentation, however, con-
tinued. During the war with Turkey, Joseph allowed the
affairs in the Netherlands to take their own course, but, in
1789, commenced acting with great energy, and General
d' Alton was compelled to have recourse to force and to dis-
solve the Estates. The civil governor, Count Trautmanns-
dorf , ?, man of great weakness of character, in the hope of
winning over the people by kindness, relaxed the reins of
government, rendered it contemptible, and frustrated every
measure taken by d'Alton. The opposition instantly re-
gained courage. Van der Noot, a lawyer of deep cunning,
had, during his secret visits to The Hague and to Berlin,
secured the aid of Holland and Prussia, the latter of which
sent General Schonfeld to take the command of the insur-
gents. Cardinal Frankenberg, archbishop of Malines, a
stately political puppet, was placed at the head of the new
government constituted at Breda, and the officers and young
men, who were already infected with republicanism, were
called to arms. D'Alton, unable to maintain Brussels, laid
down the command. Ghent was taken by stratagem. The
insurgents, disguising themselves in the uniforms belonging
to an Austrian regiment which had been dispersed and partly
informed the emperor of the fact in a laconic note, merely containing the words
"They have fired." This oft-related anecdote is not so much to the point as the
information given by Sinclair (the first political economist, who visited the em-
peror in 1786), concerning Joseph's displeasure against England. The English,
offended at the impolitic alliance between Austria and France, were unsparing
in their attacks upon the emperor both in parliament and by the press, and
undeniably encouraged the Dutch to fire upon the imperial ships.
1322 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
taken prisoner, marched to Ghent, were allowed to enter by
the deceived garrison, and took the city. The Austrians
under General Bender alone retained possession of Luxem-
burg. On the llth of January, 1790, the whole of the Neth-
erlands, under the name of "United Belgium," declared
itself independent. A dispute, however, arose among the
victors. The hierarchical faction, to which Van der Noot
belonged, attacked the weaker democratical party, the
Vonckists, so called from its principal leader, Vonck, which
had countenanced the insurrection in the hope of the estab-
lishment of a republic; they were, moreover, followers of
the modern French philosophers and the avowed enemies
of the priesthood. Their houses were plundered ; their gen-
eral, Mersch, a devoted partisan of the democratical cause,
was divested of the command; several -persons were cruelly
murdered; one, for instance, who mocked a procession, had
his head sawn off.1 Joseph's unpopularity in the Nether-
lands was chiefly occasioned by his offer to cede them to
Bavaria. How could his zeal for the welfare of his subjects
find credence when he attempted to sell them to another
sovereign?
About the same time, the Hungarian nobility assumed
such a threatening attitude, and found means to rouse the
people to such a pitch of excitement, that Joseph was com-
pelled to revoke the whole of his ordinances for the welfare
of Hungary. On hearing that even the peasantry, on whom
he had attempted to bestow such immense benefits, had risen
against him, he exclaimed, "I shall die, I must be made of
wood if this does not kill me!" and three weeks afterward
he expired, after revoking his most important reforms for
the sake of avoiding the necessity of having recourse to ex-
treme measures. He died at Vienna on February 20, 1790,
as Jellenz observed, "a century too early," and as Remer
1 In the insurgent army, a Capuchin was to be seen wearing a high black cap
to which an enormous cockade was attached; in his hands he carried a sabre
and a crucifix ; in his yellow girdle, pistols, a knife and a rosary ; his gown was
sewn up between his legs, which were stuck bare into short boots.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1323
said, "mistaken by a people unworthy of such a sover-
eign."
Joseph II. (der Andre) was handsome in his person ; his
eyes were blue and expressive, hence the saying "Imperial
blue, ' ' in order to denote that color in the eye. Frederick
the Great thus spoke of him in a letter to Voltaire, "Edu-
cated amid bigotry, he is free from superstition ; habituated
to pomp, his habits are simple ; grown up amid flattery, he
is still modest."
His bronze statue at Vienna bears the following just in-
scription : " Josepho Secundo, qui saluti publicae vixit non diu
sed totus." Shortly before his death, he wrote, "Although
there have formerly been Neros and a Dionysius, although
there have been tyrants who abused the power delivered to
them by fate, is it on that account just, under pretence
of guarding a nation's rights for the future, to place every
imaginable obstacle in the way of a prince, the measures of
whose government solely aim at the welfare of his subjects?
I know my own heart; I am convinced of the sincerity
of my intentions, of the uprightness of my motives, and I
trust that when I shall no longer exist, posterity will judge
more justly and more impartially of my exertions for the
welfare of my people."
His brother and successor, Leopold III., whose govern-
ment of Tuscany offered a model to princes, made every
concession to the nobility and clergy, in order to conciliate
his subjects, and restored the, ancient regime throughout
Austria. The whole of the monasteries were not, however,
reopened; in Bohemia, bondage was not reinforced; and the
Lutherans and Reformers were also tolerated. All the other
privileges of the nobility and clergy were restored. Tuscany
fell to Ferdinand, Leopold's second son. The Dutch were
granted an amnesty and the full enjoyment of their ancient
privileges, but they had already become habituated to the
independence they had asserted and refused to submit. Gen-
eral Schonfeld, the leader placed at the head of the insur-
gents by Prussia, at first maintained a haughty demeanor,
1324 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
but, on the reconciliation of Austria with Prussia at the con-
gress of Reichenbach, he appears to have acted under con-
trary orders and to have made use of his position to ruin the
cause he pretended to uphold. Avoiding an engagement,
he marched up and down the country until the imperialists
were reinforced, when he retreated and threw up the com-
mand. General Kohler, who was appointed to replace him,
fled to Brussels, where his troops, assisted by the populace,
stormed the house of assembly, plundered the arsenal and
magazines and decamped, leaving the Austrians to enter the
country unopposed.
CCXXXIX. Frederick William the Second
"OLD FRITZ," as the Prussians named their great mon-
arch, had expired, A.D. 1786. He retained his faculties to
the last; his eccentricities had, however, increased, and,
in his contempt for the whole human race, he expressed a
wish to be buried among his favorite greyhounds.
His nephew, Frederick William II., was an additional
proof of the little resemblance existing between the different
monarchs of Prussia. He left the machine of government,
arranged by his uncle, unaltered, but intrusted its manage-
ment to weak and incompetent ministers, who encouraged
his fondness for the sex, his inclination to bigotry, and his
belief in apparitions. Frederick's faithful servant, Herz-
berg, the aged minister, w.as removed from office and re-
placed by Wollner, a wretched charlatan, who strengthened
the king's belief in ghosts by means of optical glasses ; by
General Bischofswerder, a priestly slave, who opposed tolera-
tion; by Luchesini and Lombard, weak diplomatists, who
unnerved the policy of Prussia; by then* want of decision,
their impolitic want of faith ; and by the two mistresses of the
king, Madame Rietz, created Countess Lichtenau, and the
Fraulein von Voss, created Countess Ingenheim. These
favorites were utterly devoid of talent and merely rendered
the business of state a mass of inextricable confusion. Docu-
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1325
ments and letters of the utmost importance lay carelessly
scattered over the royal apartments, to which women, pages,
sycophants of every description had free ingress. The high-
est offices of state were bestowed by favor; the royal treas-
ury, containing seventy millions, was so lavishly scattered as
to be speedily replaced by an equal amount of debt. The
order of merit, with which Frederick had decorated merely
seventy of the heroes of the seven years' war, was now show-
ered indifferently upon the lounging courtiers. The crown
lands, the object of the late king's care, were given away or
made use of as a means of ennobling a number of most un-
worthy personages. Complaisant lackeys, chambermaids'
favorites, expert rogues, ready to lend their services on all
occasions, were placed on an equality with the ancient
nobility. These newly-dubbed nobles were mockingly termed
the freshly-baked or the six-and-eighty. Mirabeau, who
was at that time French agent at Berlin, wrote the follow-
ing laconic account of the new Prussian court: "A decreased
revenue, an increased expenditure, genius neglected, fools
at the helm. Never was a government nearer ruin. I am
returning to Paris, for I will no longer be condemned to act
the part of a beast and crawl through the dirty, crooked
paths of a government which daily gives fresh proof of its
ignorance and servility."
The king, notwithstanding these defects, was not devoid
of military ambition, and an opportunity for its display was
not long wanting. Like Joseph, he was tempted to the at-
tack by the weakness of Holland. William IV., the first
hereditary stadtholder, expired A.D. 1751. Louis Ernest,
duke of Brunswick, whose hauteur rendered him highly
unpopular, reigned for some time in the name of the youth-
ful heir, "William V. The ancient spirit of the people had
insensibly decayed. The great wealth of the inhabitants
had engendered habits of luxury. In the East Indian colo-
nies, the governor, Valckenier, gained an evil fame by the
cold-blooded murder of twelve thousand Chinese, who had
ventured to complain of his tyrannical conduct. On the
1326 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
conquest of Bengal, A.D. 1757, by the English, the expul-
sion of the Dutch from the Indian continent was planned,
but the first outbreak of the war was occasioned in 1780, by
the public sale in Holland of English ships captured by North
American privateers. A small Dutch fleet and a number of
Dutch merchantmen were seized by the English. The weak-
ness of the navy was, with great justice, laid to the charge
of the duke of Brunswick, who had neglected it in order to
set the army on a better footing, and he was compelled to
resign his authority. The Dutch, nevertheless, twice suc-
ceeded in repulsing the English fleet on the Doggersbank
and on its way to the Sound; but they suffered terrible
losses in the colonies. They were also abandoned by France
and Russia, the chief authors of the war, and were finally
compelled, by the peace of Versailles, A.D. 1783, to cede
Negapatam, their principal settlement on the Indian conti-
nent, several African colonies, and even their ancient mari-
time privilege, which protected the cargo beneath their flag.
This ill-starred peace increased the unpopularity of the heredi-
tary stadtholder, who was completely ruled by the duke of
Brunswick. His open attempts to usurp monarchical power,
in which he was encouraged by his consort, Wilhelmina, the
sister of Frederick William II., by Count Gkertz, the Prus-
sian ambassador, and by Harris, the malicious English en-
voy, added to the popular exasperation, and the storm, which
the French had also greatly fomented, at length burst forth.1
On the 4th of September, 1786, Gyzelaar of Dordrecht de-
clared in the states-general that all the evil that had befallen
the republic took its rise in the bosom of the first servant of
the state, the hereditary stadtholder. These .words were a
signal for revolt. The armed burgher guard dissolved the
councils, all of which favored the house of Orange, at Utrecht,
1 Sinclair, the celebrated Scotch political economist, who was at that time
travelling through Holland, expressed himself strongly against the intrigues of
France. Dutchmen were bribed with money previously borrowed from their
countrymen; the house of the French ambassador was a temple of Venus, to
whom virtue was sacrificed ; abusive and immoral pamphlets found a large sale.
— Sinclair's La/e.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1327
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc. The province of Holland first
declared the deposition of the stadtholder, who took refuge
in the fortress of Nimwegen and supplicated aid from Prussia.
Frederick "William hesitated and was at first unwilling to have
recourse to violence, upon which Wilhelmina, the consort of
the stadtholder, quitted Nimwegen, and, as Goertz in his
Memoirs says, "took the bold but well-planned step" of re-
turning to Holland solely for the purpose of allowing herself
to be insulted by the rebels in order to rouse the vengeance
of her brother. The Princess was, in fact, stopped on the
frontier and treated with little reverence by the citizen sol-
diery;1 she was, however, restored to liberty. This insult
offered to a Prussian princess decided the king, and he sent
Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick (the same who had distin-
guished himself when hereditary prince in the seven years'
war, and again in 1778, by his gallantry in the camp of
Troppau, and who now held the appointment of generalis-
simo of the Prussian forces), with an army into Holland,
which he speedily, and almost without opposition, reduced
to submission. Count Salm, who had been charged with
the defence of Utrecht, secretly withdrew. The reaction
was complete, and, A.D. 1787, all the patriots or anti-Orange-
men were deprived of their offices.
Prussia was, in her foreign policy, peculiarly inimical to
Joseph II. Besides supporting the Dutch insurgents, she
instigated the Hungarians to rebellion and even concluded
an alliance with Turkey, which compelled Joseph's suc-
cessor, the emperor Leopold, by the peace of Szistowa, A.D.
1791, to restore Belgrade to the Porte. — The revolt of the
people of Liege, A.D. 1789, against their bishop, Constantino
Francis, also gave Prussia an opportunity to throw a garri-
son into that city under pretext of aiding the really oppressed
citizens, but, in reality, on account of the inclination of the
bishop to favor Austria. "When, not long after this, Prussia
1 The officer, by whom she had been arrested, refused to quit her room and
resraled himself with beer and tobacco in her presence. — Jacobi, History of the
Disturbances in the Netherlands.
1328 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
united with Austria against France, the restoration of the
bishop was quietly tolerated.
Frederick William II., although misled by "Wollner and
Bischofswerder to publish, A.D. 1788, edicts1 of censure and
religious ordinances contrary to the spirit of the times and
threatening to impede the progress of enlightenment, ab-
stained from enforcing them, and the French philosophy,
patronized by Frederick II., continued to predominate under
the auspices of the duke of Brunswick, the grand-master of
the Masonic lodges in Germany.
The secret society of Freemasons had in the commence-
ment of this century spread from England over Germany
and greatly promoted the progress of civilization. In Eng-
land, the ancient corporation of stonemasons had insensibly
been converted into a loyal club, which no longer practiced
architecture, but retained its symbols and elected a prince
of the blood-royal as its president. After the execution of
Charles I., Ramsey, preceptor to the children of Charles II.,
during his exile made use of the Scottish Masons in order to
pave the way for the restoration of the Stuarts. Hiram, the
builder of the Temple of Solomon, under whose mystical
name the Saviour, the builder of the Christian church, was
generally understood, was now supposed to represent Charles
I., and was honored as the "murdered master." The Jes-
uits played a principal part in this Scottish Masonry and
transferred much that was Jesuitical to Masonry (Freema-
sonry or the royal art). On the second fall of the Stuarts,
the new Hanoverian dynasty established an English Prot-
estant lodge in opposition to that of Scotland and gave it, as
its principal symbol, the letter G (George) in a sun. Free-
masonry now rapidly spread among the Protestants, gained
a footing, in 1733, in Hamburg, in 1740, in Berlin, and ere
1 In Berlin, Schulz, known as the pigtail minister, was deprived of his office
for venturing to exchange the stately ecclesiastical peruke for a fashionable
queue and for preaching Rationalism instead of Christianity. The edicts were
brutal in their denunciations, nor was the horror they inspired diminished by the
knowledge that the religious and moral regulations contained in them proceeded
from the lackeys of a Lichtenau.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1329
long became the centre of civilization in its nobler and moral
sense. Frederick II. favored the society and became a mem-
ber. The aim of this society was the erection of the invisible
temple of humanity, and its allegorical symbols, the trowel,
the square, the leather apron, were borrowed from the tools
used in common masonry. The object, promised but never
attained by the church, the conferment of happiness on the
human race by the practice of virtue and by fraternity, by
the demolition of all the barriers that had hitherto separated
nations, classes, and sects, was that for which this society
labored. In Germany, Freemasonry had ever a moral pur-
pose. It was only in France that it became matter for spec-
ulation and vanity, and it was merely owing to the rage for
imitating every French folly that French Freemasonry, with
its theatrical terrors, its higher degrees sold to the credulous
for solid gold, and its new rites of the self-denominated
Templars, ' intended as a bait to the nobility, gained a foot-
ing in Germany. Adventurers of every description prac-
ticed upon the credulity of the rich and noble and defrauded
them of their gold. The Sicilian, Cagliostro, was the prince
of impostors.
The society of Freemasons was prohibited by the Catholic
states of Southern Germany, where another secret society of
a far more dangerous character was, however, formed. In
the Protestant countries, the advance of civilization had been
gradual, the seed had slowly ripened in the fostering bosom
of futurity. But, in Bavaria, but one step was made from
the ridiculous stories of Father Kochem to the infidelity of
Voltaire, and the rising generation, emancipating itself from
the yoke of the Jesuits, instantly fell into the opposite ex-
treme and attempted to annihilate by force not merely the
church but every positive religion. It was in this spirit that
Professor "Weishaupt founded, at Ingolstadt, A.D. 1776, the
order of the Illuminati, to which he gave the old Jesuitical
1 Freemasonry was alleged to have been first practiced by the ancient Tem-
plara.
GEEMANY. VOL. HI. — 18
1330 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
constitution, that is, the initiated took the oath of uncondi-
tional obedience to their secret superiors. This fanatical
conspiracy against religion no sooner became known to the
numerous free-thinkers of Northern Germany than they sed-
ulously endeavored to enter into connection with it, and, by
the intervention of the notorious Baron von Knigge, a Hano-
verian adventurer noted for talent and depravity, the Illumi-
nati became connected with the Freemasons, and, by means
of Nicolai, the Berlin bookseller, the editor of the Universal
German Library, they had a public organ at once bold and
wary. The Illuminati were, notwithstanding, decidedly an-
tipathetical to the great majority of Freemasons in Northern
Germany. Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, in his quality as
grand-master, convoked all the German Freemasons to a
great congress at "Wilhelmsbad near Hanau, A.D. 1782, by
which the contradictions that had hitherto appeared in eclec-
tic Freemasonry, as it was termed, were as far as possible re-
moved. In the ensuing year, the great lodge of the Three
Globes at Berlin discovered far greater energy by declaring
every person who attempted to degrade Freemasonry to a
society inimical to Christianity incapable of becoming or of
remaining a member. The society of the Illuminati in Bava-
ria was, two years later, discovered and strictly persecuted,
A.D. 1785. "Weishaupt fled to Gotha, where he was protected
by the duke, Louis Ernest. Some of the members were im-
prisoned, deprived of their offices, etc. This also served as
a lesson to the Freemasons, who were thoroughly reformed
by the celebrated actor, Schroeder, in Hamburg, and Felzler,
formerly a Capuchin, in Berlin, by on the one hand checking
the inclination to irreligion, on the other, by banishing dis-
play and superstition and by restoring the ancient simple
Anglican system, in a word, by regerinanizing gallicized
Freemasonry.
The society of the Illuminati continued, meanwhile, to
exist under the name of the German Union, and, as a proof
of its power, the innumerable satires published against Zim-
mermann in Hanover on his raising its mask, may be ad-
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1331
duced. In Mayence, the coadjutor of the archbishopric, von
Dalberg, had established an academy, which rivalled those
of the Protestants. Here dwelt Forster, the celebrated dis-
coverer, the witty Heinse, John Muller, the Swiss historian,
etc., and it was here that Illuminatism took refuge; Dai-
berg himself took the oaths and entered the society under
the name of Crescens. Weishaupt was named Spartacus;
Knigge, Philo; Louis Ernest, duke of Gotha, Timoleon;
Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, who had refused entirely
to renounce his connection with the Illuminati, Aaron; von
dem Busche, Bayard; Bode, Amelius; Nicolai, Lucian, etc.
— The society was, however, first essentially raised in im-
portance by its connection with Mirabeau, the talented but
unprincipled French agent at Berlin and Brunswick; and
Bode, a privy-councillor of the duke of "Weimar, "Weishaupt's
successor, and von dem Busche visited Paris "for the pur-
pose of illuminating France." Philip, duke of Orleans, at
that time grand-master of the French lodges, received them
with open arms. Their path had already long been smoothed
by another German, von Hollbach, a wealthy nobleman of
the Pfalz, who had formed a secret society, of which Vol-
taire was the honorary president and Diderot the most active
member, and who dissipated his wealth in order to inundate
the world with licentious and atheistical works. He was the
author of that scandalous work, "Le Systeme de la Nature."
The deadly hatred with which Philip of Orleans viewed the
French king, whose throne he coveted, the condemnation of
the revolutionary principles of the secret societies by Freder-
ick the Great and still more strongly by Frederick "William
II., and, finally, the deep resentment of the Illuminati, on
account of their persecution in Bavaria, caused the society
to rest its hopes on popular agitation, and, aided by French
Freemasonry, it spread the ideas of the liberty and equality
of mankind, of the establishment of a universal republic, of
the fall of royalty, and of the abolition of Christianity. The
favorite saying of the Illuminati was, "The last king ought
to be hanged with the entrails of the last priest." These
1332 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
ideas, unable to take root in Germany, secretly spread and
rankled throughout France, the native soil to which they
had returned.
CCXL. German Influence in Scandinavia and Russia
WHILE Germany was thus a prey to French influence in
her western provinces, her native influence had spread to-
ward the east and north. Scandinavia had borrowed from
her Lutheranism and fresh royal dynasties. The house of
Oldenburg reigned over Sweden and Norway. Under Fred-
erick V., the Hanoverian, John Hart wig Ernest, Count von
Bernstorff, became prime minister, A.D. 1750, and bestowed
great benefits upon the country. Denmark remained, never-
theless, faithful to her unneighborly policy toward Germany,
and took advantage of the confusion that universally pre-
vailed during the seven years' war to extort a million from
the citizens of Hamburg. Frederick V. expired A.D. 1766.
His son and successor, Christian VII., a being both mentally
and physically degraded, the slave of low debauchery and
folly, married Caroline Matilda, an English princess, to
whose beauty and mental charms he, however, remained
totally indifferent. In the hope that travelling might wean
him from his gross pursuits, he was persuaded to make a
tour through Europe. On the journey, his private physi-
cian, a young man named Struensee, the son of a clergyman
of Halle in Saxony, succeeded in gaining his confidence.
On the return of the king, whose manners had not been im-
proved by his travels, Struensee inoculated the crown prince
for the smallpox, and by that means placed himself on a more
Ultimate footing with the queen, who constantly watched by
the cradle of her child, and they formed a plan to place the
king entirely beneath their influence and to govern in his
name. The old ministers, and among them Bernstorff, were
removed ; the nobility lost their influence at court ; Struensee
became prime minister, and, in conjunction with his friend
Brand, took upon himself the whole weight of the govern-
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1333
ment. He concentrated the power of the state, effected the
most beneficial reforms, more especially in the financial de-
partment, which was in a state of extreme disorder, and re-
leased Denmark from the shameful yoke hitherto imposed
upon her by the arbitrary Russian ambassador, Philosophow.
Russia was not slow in plotting the ruin of the bold German
who had thus ventured to withdraw Denmark from her in-
fluence. Juliana, the queen-dowager, and her son, Freder-
ick, step-brother to the reigning monarch, were easily gained.
The banished councillors, the neglected Danish nobility, and
even the officers of the guard, aided in the machinations de-
vised against the queen and Struensee. Struensee, rendered
incautious by success, treated the queen with too great fa-
miliarity in public, published mandates of the highest impor-
tance without the king's signature, and offended the guard
by attempting to disband them. The irritated soldiery mu-
tinied; blood was shed, and Struensee gave proof of his
weakness by yielding and retaining the guard around the
king's person. This succesc increased the audacity of the
conspirators ; after a splendid court ball, hi the January of
1772, Colonel Koller threw his regiment into the palace, and,
on the following morning, astonished Copenhagen learned
that a great change in the government had taken place ; the
king, terrified at the threat:: of the conspirators, had signed a
warrant for the arrest of the queen, Struensee, and Brand,
and had been placed in honorable imprisonment under the
care of his step-brother, who governed in his name. The
queen, Caroline Matilda, was dragged from her bed, and,
notwithstanding her violent struggles (she is said to have
thrown down the officer who seized her), was cast into prison.
Struensee met with similar treatment. He was told that by
a confession of having carried on an improper intercourse
with the queen he could alone save his life. The queen's
enemies required this confession in order to proceed against
her. Struensee is said to have been induced through fear
of death to make this shameful confession (it was perhaps
forged). The queen was now told that the only means of
1334 THE- HISTORY OF GERMANY
saving Struensee's life was by a confession of adultery, which
is said to have been drawn from her by her compassion for
him. She is also said to have fainted when confessing her
guilt. That an innocent woman would thus consent to her
own dishonor is more than improbable, and the only infer-
ence to be drawn from the circumstance is, either that of her
guilt or of the imposition of a false confession. Struensee
was, in consequence of this confession and of the charge
made against him of his former illegal assumption of au-
thority, sentenced to be deprived of his right hand and of
his head. Brand suffered the same punishment, A.D. 1772.
The queen was separated from her husband and banished
to-Zelle, where, three years afterward, she died of a broken
heart, in her twenty-fourth year, asserting her innocence
with her latest breath, A.D. 1775. The king remained, until
1784, under the guardianship of his step-brother, in a half
idiotic state, and died at a great age, A.D. 1808. Frederick
VI. was his son and successor. Peter Andrew, Bernstorff's
nephew, succeeded in rising to the head of the government,
in the conduct of which he displayed great talent and merit.
He it was who first abolished feudal bondage in Denmark
and the slave-trade in the colonies. The cession of Holstein
to the Russian line of the house of Oldenburg took place
immediately after the catastrophe of 1772.
In Sweden, on the extinction of the house of Wittelsbach
in the person of Charles XII., and after the ensuing disputes
for the succession, during which Frederick of Hesse for some
time wore the crown, Adolphus Frederick of Holstein-Got-
torp, a collateral branch of the house of Oldenburg, had
mounted the throne, A.D. 1743. The government was, how-
ever, entirely in the hands of the nobility, by whom, on the
death of Charles XII., the honor of Sweden had been already
sold and the conquests had been ceded without a blow, and
who, in pursuance of their own petty private interests, were
split into a French and Russian faction, the former of which
was denominated the Hats, the other the Caps. Gustavus
III., Adolphus Frederick's youthful and high-spirited succes-
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1335
sor, by a sudden revolution put an end to this wretched aristo-
cratic government and declared himself sole sovereign, A.D.
1771. His first step was the restoration of the ancient glory
of Sweden by a declaration of war with Russia for the rule
of the Baltic. The war had been carried on at sea with
various fortune since 1788, when, in 1792, the king was shot
at a masked ball at Stockholm by one Ankarstrom, an ac-
complice of the nobility, who aided him by surrounding the
person of their victim. His brother, Charles, duke of Suder-
mania, undertook the government during the minority of his
nephew, Gustavus Adolphus IV.1 Germany exercised no
control over Sweden, which still retained possession of Rugen
and Upper Pomerania. Her influence extended far more
widely over Russia, where Peter the Great had given his new
metropolis, Petersburg, a German name, and whither he had
invited great numbers of Germans for the purpose of teach-
ing his wild subjects arts and sciences, military tactics, and
navigation. A German, the celebrated girl of Marienburg,
whom he raised to his bed and throne, became, on his death
in 1725, czarina and autocrat of all the Russias, under the
name of Catherine I. She was succeeded by Peter II., the
grandson of Peter the Great, the son of the unfortunate
Alexis. Alexis was, like his father, subject to violent fits of
fury, but was totally unendowed with his intellect. Peter,
naturally fearing lest his reforms and regulations might, on
his son's elevation to the throne, be choked in the bud, con-
demned him to lose his head for the good of his country.
Alexis had married the Princess Charlotte Christina Sophia
of Brunswick- Wolfenbuttel, whose history might well form
a subject for romance. Unable to endure his violence, she
gave herself out for dead and secretly escaped to North
America, where, on her husband's death, she married Lieu-
tenant D'Auband, a man of great personal merit, with whom
she returned to Prance, his native country, whence she ac-
1 The best account of this event is to be met with in Arndt's Swedish His-
tory.— Leipzig, 1839.
1336 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
companied him to the Mauritius or Isle de France, where
he held an appointment. On his death, she returned to
Paris, where she ended her adventurous life at a great age.
Peter II. owed his succession to the throne to the influ-
ence of the old Russian party among the nobility, particularly
to that of Prince Dolgorouky, by whom the Germans were
regarded with feelings of the deepest hostility. He expired
A.D. 1730, and, with the consent of Anna and Elisabeth,
the two surviving daughters of Peter the Great, one of his
nieces was raised to the Russian throne. Ivan, the brother
of Peter the Great, had left two daughters, Catherine, mar-
ried to Charles, the unworthy duke of Mecklenburg, and
Anna, married to the last of the Kettler family, Frederick
William, duke of Courland.1 Anna was, at this conjunc-
ture, a widow, and the reigning duchess of Courland. She
resided in great privacy at Mitau with her paramour, Ernest
von Biron, the grandson of a hostler, whose wife she retained
near her person as a cloak to their intercourse. The weak-
ness of Anna's conduct had pointed her out as a proper tool
to the old Russian faction, as a puppet in whose name they
could reign. These expectations were, however, deceived ;
Anna, on mounting the throne, discovered the utmost energy
and decision, intrusted the administration of the empire to
Germans distinguished for talent, and humbled the old Rus-
sian faction among the nobility. Biron, whom she created
duke of Courland, was, it is true, a better lover than states-
man, but she repaired that weakness by placing an intelli-
gent theologian, Ostermann, a native of Mark, who had been
compelled to flee his country on account of a duel, and who
had been the instructor of her youth, at the head of diplo-
matic affairs, and Munnich, a nobleman from Oldenburg,
who had fought at Malplaquet and had afterward planned
the great Ladoga canal at Petersburg, a man remarkable
1 On the occasion of this wedding, Peter the Great had aJl the dwarfs in his
immense empire collected. There were seventy- two of them. The two ugliest
were compelled to marry, and the ceremony was performed amid the jokes and
jeers of the assembled court.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1337
for energy and activity, at the head of the army. Both
these men followed in the footsteps of Peter the Great,
snatched Russia from her ancient state of incivilization and
developed her immeasurable power without regard for the
injury they might thereby inflict upon their native country.
Miinnich, by the expulsion of Stanislaus Lescinsky, first ren-
dered Poland dependent upon Russia. He also gained great
victories over the Turks and Tartars and extended the south-
ern frontier of Russia. An insurrection of the Russian no-
bility against his rule and that of Ostermann was powerfully
and prudently quelled, and was punished by numerous exe-
cutions and sentences of banishment.
The Russian nobility speedily revenged themselves on the
death of Anna in 1740. Anna's sister, Catherine, duchess
of Mecklenburg, left a daughter Anna, who married Antony
Ulric, duke of Brunswick. Her son, Ivan, then two months
old, was elected czar and placed under the guardianship of
Biron and of the German faction, but, in the following year,
the Russians raised Elisabeth, the youngest daughter of Peter
the Great, to the throne, banished all the Germans, Biron,
Ostermann, Miinnich, and even the unoffending duke, An-
tony Ulric, to Sibera, and allowed the youthful Ivan to pine
to death in prison. Elisabeth, who inherited the coarseness
without the virtues of her father, gave way to the most re-
volting excesses and placed the administration in the hands
of the old Russian faction.1 She was succeeded, A.D. 1762,
by her nephew, Peter III., the son of her sister, Anna, and
of Charles Frederick, duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Peter was
a German both by birth and education and an enthusiastic
admirer of Frederick the Great. The German exiles were
instantly recalled from Siberia. During Biron's banishment,
1 Among the soldiers of the guard, all of whom were her paramours, and to
whose attachment she mainly owed her elevation to the throne, there were, how-
ever, two Germans, the musician, Schwartz, and the subaltern, Grundstein,
whom she especially favored. They were ennobled, raised to high rank and
granted immense possessions, but were afterward banished. A German valet
named Sievers was also created count of the empire and supreme court marshal.
1338 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Charles of Saxony had been raised by Russian influence to
the government of Courland. The favors showered by Peter
upon the Germans, numbers of whom he invited into the
country for the purpose of bestowing upon them the highest
offices in the army and in the state, rendered him hateful to
the Russian nobility. The despotic temper he had inherited
from his grandfather and his contemptuous treatment of his
consort, Catherine, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, ' raised ene-
mies around his person, and Catherine, an imperious and
ambitious woman, placed herself at the head of the con-
spirators, took him prisoner and poisoned him, A.D. 1762.1
She mounted the throne of Russia under the name of Cath-
erine II., surrounded herself with Russian and German tal-
ent, and, in imitation of Frederick the Great, played the
philosopher while enacting the despot. Her most celebrated
ministers and generals were at the same time her lovers;
still, notwithstanding her licentious manners, she had a
highly cultivated mind (she corresponded by letter with
the most distinguished savants and poets of Europe), and
discovered equal energy and skill as a diplomatist. By the
partition of Poland, by fresh conquests on the Turkish fron-
tier, and by her encouragement of civilization in the interior
of her unwieldy empire, she increased the power of Russia
to an extraordinary degree, and for this purpose made use
of a multitude of Germans, who unceasingly emigrated to
Russia, there to seek their fortune. Among others, her
cousin William Augustus, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, studied
navigation on board the Russian fleet, but, falling from the
1 An alliance had formerly been attempted to be formed between him and
Amelia, the daughter of Frederick William I. of Prussia, but had been prevented
by the declaration of that king that he should deem himself dishonored by her
adoption of the Greek faith.
2 She had borne him a son, whom he refused to acknowledge, and who first
mounted the imperial throne as Paul I., on the death of his mother. He mar-
ried, A.D. 1776, the Princess Dorothea Augusta Sophia of Wurtemberg, who, on
her marriage, was rebaptized by the Greek church, Maria Federowna. She be-
came the mother of the emperors Alexander and Nicolas, of the granddukes Con-
stant! ne and Michael, of Catherine, queen of Wurtemberg, and of Anna, Princess
of Orange.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1331)
masthead, when sailing in the Baltic, was drowned, A. D.
1774. Noble German families from Esthonia and Courland
took their place beside the ancient Russian nobility in all
offices civil or military. German savants guided the in-
ternal civilization of the empire, her academies, her mines,
that ever fruitful source of Russia's wealth. German intel-
ligence was in every direction actively employed in molding
the rude natural powers of the country and of the people into
a fearful weapon against Germany.
The German element still continued to preponderate in
the German provinces on the Baltic, Livonia, Esthonia, and
Courland, which, either at an earlier or at the present period,
fell under Russian rule. The civil privileges of the cities,
particularly those of Riga, solely underwent a change. The
constitutions of the free towns ill accorded with the Russian
mode of government, and, A.D. 1785, were forcibly exchanged
for the political and financial regulations of the governors.
The nobility alone retained the whole of its ancient privi-
leges, owing to the predominance of the aristocratic as well
as that of the autocratic principle in Russia. A revolt of
the Lettish peasantry, who had imagined that the new
crown-tax, imposed upon them by the government, was in-
tended to liberate them from their ancient obligations to the
native German nobility, was suppressed by force, A.D. 1783.
Even under the reign of the emperor Alexander, Baron Un-
gern-Sternberg, an Esthonian noble, followed the profession
of the robber-knights of old, by means of false signals drew
ships upon sandbanks and rocks, pillaged them, and mur-
dered those of the crew who escaped drowning. He was at
length captured and condemned to the mines. '
1 Vide Petri, Pictures of Livonia and Esthonia, a rich source of information
concerning those countries.
1340 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
CCXLI. The Minor German Courts
WHILE Austria and Prussia pursued a new political path
under Joseph and Frederick, the courts of minor importance
persevered for the greater part in their ancient course, or
sought to heighten the luxury they had learned from Louis
XIV. by imitating the military splendor of Frederick II.
The predilection of the Prussian monarch for the French lan-
guage had, moreover, brought it, together with French man-
ners and customs, into vogue at all the German courts and
among the whole of the German nobility. Every young
man of family was sent to Paris to finish his education, to
be initiated into every description of vice, and to acquire bon
ton, as it was termed, all of which thejr were assisted on their
return in disseminating throughout Germany by French am-
bassadors, spies, teachers of French and dancing, barbers,
and governesses.1 The use of the German language was
considered a mark of the lowest vulgarity. French alone
was tolerated. And it was by this perverted, unpatriotic
nobility that the weak princes were led still further astray
and Germany was misgoverned.
Augustus III. and Bruhl had, after the peace of Huberts-
burg, returned to Saxony, where, unmoved by the sufferings
of the people during the war, they continued their former
luxurious habits. Their first business was a splendid repre-
sentation of Thalestris, an opera composed by the Princess
Maria Antonia. Augustus was succeeded, A.D. 1763, by
Frederick Augustus, a prince morally well-disposed, whose
sole noxious amusement was his passion for the chase, so
detrimental to the peasantry. He was also devoid of the
ambitious pretension of grasping at the crown of Poland.
1 The French governesses reproved their German pupils with, "fi, on vous
prendroit pour une Allemande, " or said in their praise, "c'est un tresor que la
Demoiselle. Elle ne fait pas un mot d'Allemand."
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1341
The court was, nevertheless, kept up from habit on its former
extensive scale, while the diet merely served as a protection
to the overdrawn privileges of the nobility.
Among the Saxon duchies, Weimar presented an honor-
able contrast with almost all the other petty states. The
Duchess Amalia and her son, Charles Augustus, formed a
court, like that of Hermann, the venerable Landgrave of
Thuringia, an assemblage of beaux esprits. Here Wieland,
Herder, Goethe, Schiller, resided beneath the most liberal
patronage ever granted to the children of song. Ernest,
duke of Gotha, although also highly refined in his tastes,
dwelt in greater seclusion. The dukes of Coburg and Hild-
burghausen were overwhelmed with debt.
In Bavaria, the emperor, Charles VII., left a debt of
forty millions. Maximilian Joseph was, on the contrary,
extremely economical, permitted Sterzinger to attack super-
stition, the Illuminati to spread enlightenment, and attempted
to simplify the law by the introduction of Kreitmayr's new
criminal code, which was, however, still too deeply imbued
with blood. But, while Thurriegel, the Bavarian, trans-
formed the Sierra Morena in Spain from a wilderness into a
fertile province, the soil of Bavaria still lay partially unre-
claimed. The bad government also recommenced under her
next sovereign, Charles Theodore, who mounted the Bava-
rian throne, A.D. 1777. This prince had, at an earlier period,
held a splendid court at Mannheim. He established the first
German theatre. French theatres and Italian operas had
been hitherto solely patronized by the German courts. He
also greatly enriched the picture gallery at Diisseldorf. His
luxury was embellished by taste. He succeeded to Bavaria
in his fifty -third year. In order to satisfy his predilection
for the Rhine, he offered his new possession for sale to Aus-
tria, and, on finding himself compelled to retain it, trans-
ported his luxurious court from Mannheim to Munich. Rum-
ford, an Englishman, embellished the latter city and was the
inventor ®f the celebrated soup, named after him, for the poor,
which had become indeed necessary, the misery of the people
^342 THE HISTORY OF GER3IAXY
being considerably increased by the badness of the govern-
ment. A Countess Torring-Seefeld was the favorite of the
elector, who was, moreover, governed by his confessor, the
ex-Jesuit, Frank, who also conducted the great persecution
of the Illuminati. Appointments were shamefully sold;
brutality and stupidity were the characteristics of the rul-
ing powers; the oppression was terrible. The elector was
compelled to undertake a petty campaign against a bold
robber, the notorious Hiesel, one of those spirits called forth
by tyrannical stupidity on the part of a government. — The
Pfalzgraf Charles, of the collateral line of Pfalz-Zweibriicken,
commonly resided on the Carlsberg near Zweibrucken, where
he kept fifteen hundred horses, and a still greater number of
dogs and cats, which required the attention of a numerous
household. He collected upward of a thousand pipe-heads
and innumerable toys. Every passer-by was compelled to
doff his hat on coming in sight of the Carlsberg; a foreigner,
ignorant of the law, was, on one occasion, nearly beaten to
death.
In Wurtemberg, the duke, Charles Eugene, reigned from
1744, when he attained his majority, until 1793. He was, in
many respects, extremely remarkable. Learned, and gifted
with taste and talent, he was the slave of luxury and vice.
He spent enormous sums on the army. He sought to unite
Louis XIV. and Frederick II. in his own person. Educated
in the academy of Frederick the Great at Berlin, he was, on
account of the excellency of his conduct, declared by that
monarch fit to assume the reins of government, in his seven-
teenth year; but he had no sooner returned to Stuttgard
than, with his friend Count Pappenheim, he committed the
most boyish acts of folly, rousing the inhabitants with false
cries of alarm during the night, and throwing hoops over
the heads of those who ventured to peep from their win-
dows, etc., etc. Frederick II. had bestowed upon him the
hand of his niece, Elisabeth Frederica Sophia of Baireuth,
notwithstanding which Charles embraced the imperial cause
during the seven years' war, in order to bribe the empress
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1343
and the imperial Aulic council to overlook the crimes com-
mitted by him against his country. He also, at that time,
accepted enormous sums of money from France, trusting to
whose support he divorced his guiltless consort on a craftily
laid charge of infidelity. A certain Rieger led him to expend
immense sums on military show. The best artists of Rome
and Paris, Jomelli, Noverre, Vestris, were in his salary. He
built the Solitude, in which he placed a complete and sepa-
rate establishment, with a church, etc., on a forest-grown
mountain, and rendered the whole year a succession of fetes,
operas, ballets, grandes battues, etc., etc. Montmartin, the
prime minister, a Frenchman, who treated the servile Ger-
mans with the scorn they so richly merited, extorted their
money by the most barefaced exactions of every description,
by taxes, by the sale of public offices, and was faithfully
aided by Wittleder, a Thuringian, who had come into the
country as a Prussian subaltern to give lessons in drilling,
and had become director of the ecclesiastical council and
enriched himself with plundering the property of the church.
This wretch, who was authorized to sell all civil appoint-
ments, for which he was to receive ten per cent, usually said
to the applicant, "Give the duke five hundred florins and me
one thousand!" In order to render this source of revenue
still more lucrative, he created a number of new appoint-
ments and rendered affairs so uselessly complex that the
Wurtemberg system became henceforward a proverbial
nuisance.
Wurtemberg still possessed her ancient provincial diet,
but its power was sadly crippled. A select committee had
seized the whole control, over the affairs of the state, which
it administered in secret without rendering an account to the
people. Montmartin 's order to the provincial collectors, Hoff-
mann and Staudlin, to deliver up to him the whole of their
funds, first roused them to opposition. The duke, however,
surrounded the house of assembly with his troops and seized
the whole contents of the treasury, A.D. 1758. The author
of the submissively couched protest of the diet, the provincial
1344 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
councillor, John Jacob Moser, the best head and the honest-
est man in the country, was arrested, and pined unheard for
five years in the fortress of Hohentviel. Montmartin declared
to the Estates, "that the duke was far too lofty-minded ever
to allow laws to be prescribed to him by people like them."
He established a great lottery, A.D. 1762, compelled the peo-
ple to purchase tickets, and sent two hundred lots for sale to
the diet, and, on its protesting against it, the drawing of the
lottery was, in defiance, fixed to take place within the house
of assembly. He finally projected an income-tax, which
drew at least fifteen kreutzers1 annually from the most in-
digent among the population, and rose at an equal ratio.
Huber, the grand bailiff of Tubingen, protested against this
imposition. A deputation of the citizens hastened into the
duke's presence and represented to him the misery of the
country. His only reply was the exclamation, "Country!
what country? I am the country!" and an order for the in-
stant march of several regiments into Tubingen. Huber
and the most respectable among the citizens were carried
prisoners to the citadel, and the tax was levied by force.
The Estates carried their complaint before the supreme court
of judicature, and, owing to the energetic support granted to
them by Frederick II., gained then* cause. The duke was
sentenced by the imperial Aulic council instantly to liberate
Moser, to desist from every species of violence, and within
the space of two months to enter into a constitutional agree-
ment with the Estates. Moser was set at liberty. a The duke
instantly took his revenge on the city of Stuttgard, which had
sided with Tubingen, by migrating, A.D. 1764, with his whole
court to Ludwigsburg, where he remained for several years,
deceiving the Estates with mock promises while endeavor-
ing, by means of Montmartin, whom he despatched for that
1 About fivepence English money. — Trans.
8 Dann of Tubingen and other members of the diet having attempted to bring
the committee of the Estates to account for its former secret and arbitrary pro-
ceedings, concerning which Moser had it in his power to give full information,
the committee dreaded his liberation and would willingly have prevented it.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1345
purpose to Vienna, to give a more favorable turn to his cause.
He was, however, finally compelled to obey the decision of
the Aulic council. Montmartin and Wittleder were dis-
missed ; the latter was, moreover, deprived of a large sum
of money; the theatrical corps was reduced to one-half, and
some other trifling modes of economy were resolved upon.
The hereditary compact, as it was termed, was at length
concluded, A.D. 1771; by it, the power of the duke was for
the future to be restrained within constitutional limits; all
the servants of the state were to be sworn on the constitu-
tion ; the nomination of foreigners to public posts was to be
avoided; the ancient mode of taxation and the church prop-
erty were to be restored ; the army was to be diminished ;
several noxious monopolies and the lotteries were to be abol-
ished; the game-laws to be restricted; and, on the other
hand, the forests, which had been dreadfully thinned, to be
spared. The duke, nevertheless, refused to accede to this
compact or to return to Stuttgard until the Estates and the
city had each presented him with a sum of money. He had,
moreover, little intention to keep the terms of compact.
Money was again extorted, the depredations countenanced
by the game-laws were carried to a greater extent than ever;
every transgression was, however, winked at by the com-
mittee, which dreaded the convocation of a new diet, by
which its power would be controlled. For twenty years the
diet had not sat, and the committee poured into the ducal
coffers all the money that could be drawn from the country,
and, among other things, paid the duke fifty thousand florins
on condition of his not forming a matrimonial alliance with
an Austrian princess. He contracted a le'ft-handed mar-
riage with Francisca von Bernedin, whom he created Coun-
tess von Hohenheim, and, on his fiftieth birthday, A.D. 1778,
promised in a naive proclamation, which was read from
every pulpit in his dominions, henceforth to lead a. better
life and to devote himself solely and wholly to the welfare
of his subjects. The committee, deeply moved by his pro-
testations, instantly voted him a sum of money, with which
1346 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
he built the magnificent chateau of Hohenheim for his bride.
Records of every clime and of every age were here collected.
A Turkish mosque contrasted its splendid dome with the
pillared Roman temple and the steepled Gothic church. The
castled turret rose by the massive Roman tower; the low
picturesque hut of the modern peasant stood beneath the
shelter of the gigantesque remains of antiquity; and imita-
tions of the pyramids of Cestius, of the baths of Diocletian,
a Roman senate-house and Roman dungeons, met the aston-
ished eye. The pious-minded prince also established a new
lottery, and, A.D. 1787, in order to raise funds, sold a thou-
sand of his subjects to the Dutch, who sent them to the
Indies, whence but few of them returned. They were, more-
over, cheated of their legal pay. The sale of public appoint-
ments also recommenced. The duke had, since 1770, occu-
pied himself with the Charles College, so called after him,
where the scholars, who were kept with military severity,
received excellent instruction in all the free sciences. This
academy produced many men of talent. The curse of tyr-
anny, nevertheless, lay over the country, and one of the
students belonging to the academy, the great Frederick
Schiller, grew up in hatred of the yoke and fled. Schubart,
an older and equally liberal poet, was treacherously seized
and confined by the duke for ten years on the Hohenas-
berg.
In Baden, the Margrave, Charles Frederick, became cele-
brated for the mildness and beneficence of his government.
He abolished feudal service A.D. 1783.
In Hesse-Cassel reigned the Landgrave Frederick, who
sought to raise Cassel to a residence of the first rank, erected
palaces and chateaux, laid out pleasure-grounds, founded
academies, immense museums, etc., and was ever in want
of money. Among other public nuisances, he established a
lottery, and, after draining the purses of his miserable sub-
jects, enriched himself by selling their persons. In 1776, he
concluded a treaty with England, by which he agreed to
furnish twelve thousand Hessians for the service of her
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1347
colonies.1 Hesse-Cassel, at that period, merely contained
four hundred thousand inhabitants. English commissioners
visited Cassel and examined the men purchased by their
government, as if they had been cattle for sale. The com-
plaints of parents for the loss of their sons were severely
punished, the men were imprisoned, the women sent to the
penitentiary. This human traffic was also carried on during
the reign of George William, Frederick's son and successor.
The last Hessians sent to the colonies were four thousand in
number, A.D. 1794. The celebrated Seume relates in his
biography: "No one was at that time safe from the under-
strappers of this trafficker in the bodies and souls of men.
Every means were resorted to: persuasion, cunning, fraud,
violence. Foreigners of every sort were seized, thrown into
prison, and sold. My academical inscription, the only proof
of my legitimation, was torn to pieces." Seume was sent
out of the country with the Hessians to fight for England
against the Americans during the war of independence. His
daily recreation, the study pf Horace, attracted the attention
of his superiors and he was made sergeant. An enthusiastic
republican, he was compelled to serve against those who so
gloriously asserted their freedom and their rights. — Hanau
also furnished one thousand two hundred ; Waldeck, several
hundred German slaves ; "Wurtemberg, Saxe-Gotha, and the
bishop of Munster followed their example. Louis IX. of
Hesse-Darmstadt, the best drummer in the holy Roman
empire, expired, A.D. 1790.
Frederick, Margrave of Baireuth, expended the whole
1 "Almost all the princes are marchands d'hommes for the powers that pay
them highest for the men and take them on the easiest conditions." — Memoires
de Feuquieres. "A couple of a thousand years ago it was said of the Tynans,
'that their merchants were princes.' We can say with equal truth, 'our princes
have become merchants, they offer everything for sale, rank, decorations, titles,
law, and justice, and even the persons of their subjects.' " — "There is a Hes-
sian prince of high distinction. He has magnificent palaces, pheasant-preserves
at Wilhelmsbad, operas, mistresses, etc. These things cost money. He has,
moreover, a hoard of debts, the result of the luxury of his sainted forefathers.
What does the prince do in this dilemma? He seizes an unlucky fellow in the
street, expends fifty dollars on his equipment, sends him out of the country, and
gets a hundred dollars for him in exchange." — Huergel/mer.
1348 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
revenue of his petty territory in building, in theatres, and
fetes. Frederick II., his brother-in-law, on viewing the
splendid plan of the Hermitage, observed, "In this I cannot
equal you." He died, A.D. 1763, without issue, and Bai-
reuth fell to Alexander, Margrave of Anspach, who was com-
pletely governed by his mistress, an Englishwoman, Lady
Craven, and who sold fifteen hundred of his subjects to Eng-
land for colonial service. On their refusal to march, he sent
them out of the country in chains. His frequent travels, in
which he was accompanied by Lady Craven, cost the coun-
try enormous sums, and he at length first secretly, then
openly, ceded the whole territory, together with its inhabi-
tants, to Prussia. The Margraviate would, on account of
the failure of legitimate issue, independently of this cession,
have reverted to the Prussian line. The excellent adminis-
tration of the minister, Hardenberg, had, since 1792, con-
soled the people for the miseries they had so long endured.
Charles, duke of Brunswick, who reigned during the
seven years' war, was a spendthrift, paid Niccolini, the bal-
let-master, a salary of thirty thousand dollars, sold his sub-
jects, and was ever on bad terms with his Estates. His
brothers, Anthony Ulric, who espoused a niece of Anna,
empress of Russia, and whose son mounted the Russian
throne, Louis, who acquired such unpopularity in Holland,
and Ferdinand, the great leader in the seven years' war,
gained greater celebrity. Two of his brothers also fell dur-
ing the seven years' war, Albert at Sorr, Frederick at Hoch-
kirch. His sister, Elisabeth Christina, was consort to Fred-
erick I. His son and successor, Ferdinand, who had greatly
distinguished himself in the field, introduced a better system.
His refined and cultivated mind and benevolent heart ren-
dered him the idol of the Freemasons, who elected him their
grand-master in Germany. His court was constantly visited
by foreigners of note. He, however, evinced too great par-
tiality for the French.1 He also sold, owing to his connection
1 On one occasion, his table being solely occupied by French guests, one of
them impudently told him that he was the only foreigner present.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1349
with England, four thousand men for her colonial service.
His brother, Frederick Augustus, came into possession of
CEls in right of his wife, a princess of Wurtemberg. His
second brother, Leopold, was drowned, A.D. 1785, in a flood
at Frankfort on the Oder, while nobly attempting to save
the lives of the citizens.
England raised troops in Hanover and sent four thousand
men to Gibraltar, while the Germans, purchased from Hesse,
etc. , were despatched to the East Indies, there to gain un-
grateful laurels in the war with Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib.
Hanover was governed by Field-marshal Freitag, who intro-
duced English Toryism into Germany and gave the first ex-
ample of the ministerial and aristocratic pride, now almost,
as it were, hereditary in that state. Zimmermann, a Swiss
physician, a man distinguished hitherto for the liberality of
his opinions, was transformed into a servile critic. His other
distinguished compatriots, John Muller and Girtanner, also
sold themselves, body and soul, to the despotic foreigner.
The elector, George III., sat on the throne of England, the
slave of insolent ministers and of a factious mob. His life
was often attempted by madmen. His own mind became
at length affected. He was also afflicted with a hereditary
disorder in the eyes, and, after having for some time discov-
ered indubitable signs of mental derangement, entirely lost,
A.D. 1811, his eyesight and his senses.1 He lived until 1820
in complete seclusion, his son George, who succeeded him as
George IV., the finest gentleman, the most immoral charac-
ter, and the greatest monarch of his times, governing in his
stead as Prince Regent.
Oldenburg ceased, A.D. 1773, to be a province of Denmark
and became one of Russia, the Holstein-Gottorp branch of
the ancient house of Oldenburg, reigning in Russia, ceding
Holsteiii in exchange to the branch of that house on the
1 His mental malady, which had been for some time suspected, was placed
beyond all doubt by his address to the House on opening parliament, which he
gravely commenced with the words — ''My lords, gentlemen, and woodcocks,
cocking up your tails!" and proceeded without a single deviation through the
remainder of the speech.
1350 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
throne of Denmark. Oldenburg was created a duchy by
the Russian czar, and declared the hereditary property of
Frederick Augustus, prince of Holstein. Germany suffered
another loss by the reannexation of Holstein to Denmark.
Peter, the only son of the duke, was tormented by religious
scruples and fled from his bride, the Princess Sophia of
Darmstadt, on their wedding-day. He became completely
deranged, and was finally compelled to yield the reins of
government to his cousin, Peter Frederick Louis.
The most terrible abuses were committed in the minor
states, where they attracted less notice. Count William von
Schaumburg-Lippe, who gained great distinction as field-
marshal in the Portuguese service and was in his own coun-
try honored as the father and benefactor of his people, offers
an honorable exception. The rest of the petty princes imi-
tated the extravagance of their more powerful neighbors.
Frederick Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst dissipated the revenue
of his petty territory in France, never returned home, and
forbade, under pain of punishment, petitions to be sent to
him. Haase, the privy-councillor, governed in his stead,
and shamelessly defrauded the people by artfully multiply-
ing his offices to such a degree that Sintenis, the author,
for instance, was compelled to appeal from Haase, the privy-
councillor, through Haase, the privy-councillor, to Haase,
the privy-councillor. He also sold twelve hundred men for
the service of the English colonies. Frederick Augustus, on
learning the execution of the French king, refused to take
food and died in great mental agony. In Anhalt-Bernburg,
the peasantry rebelled on account of the devastation caused
by the strict protection of the game, A.D. 1752. Charles
William of Nassau beat a peasant, accused of poaching, to
death with his own hand, and was in consequence banished
by Joseph II. for some years from his own dominions.
The follies perpetrated in almost all the petty countships,
several of which were gradually raised to principalities, are
.perfectly incredible. Barons of the empire even held a petty
court and aped the pretensions and titles, nay, the military
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1351
show of their powerful neighbors. A Count von Limburg-
Styrum kept a corps of hussars, which consisted of one
colonel, six officers, and two privates. There were court-
councillors attached to the smallest barony belonging to the
empire, and, in Franconia and Swabia, the petty lords had
their private gallows, the symbol of high jurisdiction. These
vanities were however expensive, and the wretched serfs,
whose few numbers rendered the slightest impost burden-
some, were compelled to furnish means for the lavish ex-
penditure of their haughty lords. '
The ecclesiastical courts had long fallen into the lowest
depths of depravity. Their temporal luxury had increased.
Frederick Charles, of the family of Erthal, elector of May-
ence, acted the part of a Leo X., patronized the arts and sci-
ences, but lived so openly with his mistresses that Mayence,
infected by the example of the court, became a den of in-
famy.' The ecclesiastical princes plainly perceived the im-
possibility of the restoration of ancient episcopal simplicity,
and, unconscious of their approaching fall, pursued a com-
mon plan, that of rounding off their territories (Cologne had
already annexed to itself Munster ; Mayence, "Worms ;3 Treves,
1 Vide the account of these miniature courts in Weber's Democritus.
9 "Incredible things take place here in Mayence. A prize thesis, in proof
of the excellency of celibacy, has just been proposed by a prince, around whose
throne stand three mistresses. " — Letters of a travelling Dane. "I saw the elector
in his box at the theatre, surrounded by ladies in full dress, whom I was told
were actually court-ladies, court-ladies of an archbishop ! — On Dalberg's nomina-
tion as coadjutor to the archbishopric, a triumphal arch was erected in his honor
with the inscription 'Jmmortalitati' in a transparency. Either accidentally or
purposely the letter t in the third syllable was omitted." — Travels of a French
rant. "On the publication of Heinse's obscene romance, Ardinghello, the
archbishop sent him twenty louis d'or, and appointed him his lecturer. A Jew
at Mayence kept a subscription library, full of the most immoral and licentious
works, under the protection of the police." — Remarks on a Journey from Stras-
burg to the Baltic. The archbishops were kept in countenance by the aristo-
cratic canons, who accumulated benefices to such a degree that one of the pro-
vosts of the cathedral, for instance, a Count von Elz, drew an annual income of
seventy- five thousand goldens from the church. The Favorite, a chateau built in
the French style, was erected by the elector Lothar Francis von Stadion. — Lang's
Travels on the Rhine, 1805.
3 In this city there was not a pretty girl who had not been either "niece or
sister" to some ecclesiastic. The peasants here also rebelled on account of
the game-laws. Vide Travels of a Female Emigrant.
1352 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Augsburg,1 and Wurzburg, Bamberg), and, as a next step,
declaring themselves, like the Gallic church, independent of
Rome. Since the expulsion of the Jesuits, they had the im-
perial house (in Cologne, Joseph's brother Maximilian be-
came, A.D. 1780, coadjutor and shortly afterward archbishop
elector) and the enlightenment of the age, moreover, on their
side. As early as 1763, Hontheim, the suffragan-bishop of
Treves, had, under the name of Justus Febronius, published
a work "concerning the state of the church and the legal
power of the pope," which had excited general attention,
and, A.D. 1785, the German archbishops in the congress of
Bad Ems had, notwithstanding the opposition raised by
Pacca, the papal legate (the same who, at a later period
under Napoleon, accompanied the pope into exile), attacked
the primacy of Rome, the false decretals of Isidore, and all
the rights so long exercised by the pope over the German
church, on the grounds set forth in that work. Eybel's
work, "Quid est Papa?" was condemned by a papal bull.
The ecclesiastical states were, if possible, worse admin-
istered than the temporal ones. The proverb "It is good
to dwell beneath the crosier" was no longer verified. The
people were oppressed and reduced to the most abject pov-
erty. The bishop of Munster sold his subjects to heretical
England. And yet this bishop, Francis Frederick William
von Furstenberg,9 was celebrated for his learning and
founded the Munster university, A.D. 1773, at the time
of the expulsion of the Jesuits. The Baron von Brabeck,
a member of the diet, opposed the bad government of
Francis Egon, Count von Furstenberg, of the Swabian line,
Bishop of Hildesheim, but was persecuted as a revolutionist.
The bishop of Spires, who was on bad terms with his chap-
1 A governor of Augsburg arrested all pedestrian travellers and sold them
to the Prussian recruiting sergeants. — Schlozer.
8 Of the "Westphalian baronial family. He published the Monumenta Pader-
bornensia immediately on his nomination to the bishopric of Paderborn. Schlozer
quotes a curious episcopal rescript of 1783, concerning the preservation of game
and the punishment of poachers.
THE RISE Of PRUSSIA 1353
ter, constantly resided at his chateau at Bruchsal.' The
bishop of Liege was expelled by a popular outbreak, caused
by the great revenue drawn by him from the gaming tables
established at Spa — a scandalous mode of increasing his
income, against which the Estates had vainly protested.
Philip, elector of Troves, built, A.D. 1763, the chateau of
Philippsfreude, besides the sumptuous residence at Coblentz.
Clement Augustus, the luxurious archbishop of Cologne,
built the royal residence at Bonn, the chateaux of Poppels-
dorf, Bruhl, and Falkenlust. His successor, Maximilian
Frederick, expended the confiscated wealth of the Jesuits
more usefully in the foundation of an academy. Bonn re-
mained, notwithstanding, the abode of luxury. The last
elector, Maximilian Francis, brother to Joseph II., kept one
hundred and twenty-nine chamberlains. — Joseph, bishop of
Passau, one of the Auersperg family, built a theatre and the
chateau of Freudenhayn, where he expired, A.D. 1795. The
French clergy were still more depraved. Cardinal Rohan,
bishop of Strasburg, carried an innocent girl away from her
parents and kept her, together with several others, impris-
oned in his harem at Zabern. She escaped, and, although a
regular search after her was set on foot throughout the coun-
try, did not again fall into his hands. The matter, however,
excited such general indignation that he was compelled to
take refuge in Paris, where he courted the queen, Marie
Antoinette, and was mixed up with the celebrated story of
the necklace." The whole of the upper clergy battened on
the sufferings of the people. The popular saying, "Where
you see people with their clothes worn out at the elbow, yon
are on church property ; where you see people with their
clothes worn out beneath the arm, you are in a temporal
state," truly tells the difference existing between temporal
and ecclesiastical principalities. — The statistics of the monas-
teries abolished by Joseph II. demonstrate how the monks
1 "Never was a shepherd less careful of his flock, never was there a flock
less attached to its shepherd!" — Travels of a Female Emigrant.
* Bee Biem's Journey through France,
GERMANY. VOL. HL— 19
1354 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
and nuns feasted on the sweat of the people. In the Clarisser
nunnery were found nine hundred and nineteen casks of
wine, in the Dominican nunnery at Imbach three thousand
six hundred and fifty-five, and in the establishment of can-
onesses at Himmelporten as many as six thousand eight
hundred. The people in the ecclesiastical states were totally
uneducated, stupid, and bigoted. In 1789, the populace of
Cologne attempted to assassinate all the Protestant inhabi-
tants on account of the intention of the imperial Aulic coun-
cil to grant to them liberty of conscience. — Frederick, duke
of York, the second son of George III. of England, was,
A.D. 1764, when six months old, created bishop of Osna-
bruck, which was alternately governed by a Catholic and
a Lutheran bishop. During his administration, a socman
was condemned to draw the plow for life for having ven-
tured to box a steward's ears for taking his affianced bride
from him by force and bestowing her on another. '
Alsace and Lorraine fell beneath the intolerable despot-
ism exercised by the French court in unison with the de-
generate clergy and nobility. Strasburg was, in the most
shameless manner, plundered by the pretor, Klinglin. On
the visit of Louis XV., A.D. 1744, to that city, he compelled
the citizens to paint, ornament, and illuminate their houses,
to wear curious uniforms, according to their rank and trades,
arranged the women and children in fantastical troops of
shepherdesses and Swiss, caused the fountains to flow with
wine, and strictly prohibited the presence of sick, diseased,
or poor persons, for the purpose of impressing the monarch
with the wealth and prosperity of the people. Schopflin, the
author of Alsatia illustrata, had on this occasion the mean-
ness to address the cowardly, dull-witted, luxurious king,
who, to the scandal of his subjects, was openly accompanied
by his mistress, the Marquise de Pompadour, and whose un-
principled government mainly brought about the French
Revolution, as "the father of the country, the patron of the
1 See Schlozer's State Archives.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1355
muses, the liberator of Alsace, and a great hero." Friese,
in his excellent history of Strasburg, exclaims, "The fine,
honest character of the people of Strasburg had within the
last sixty-three years (the period of their submission to the
French yoke) indeed deeply degenerated!" The whole of
the festivities on the occasion of this royal visit were at the
expense of the impoverished city, which, moreover, paid an
annual tax of one million livres to the royal exchequer.
Klinglin and Paul Bek, the administrators of the public rev-
enues, also filled their own purses, sold the town property,
the forests, appointments, and justice to the highest bidder,
and were at length only dismissed from office by the skill
with which Gail, the mayor, Faber, the chief magistrate,
and other patriotic citizens, took advantage of a dispute be-
tween the minister, d'Argenson, with Sillery, the intendant
of Alsace. Klinglin died in prison, A.D. 1753; Bek was
branded and sent to the galleys.
Lorraine, Alsace, Switzerland, and Holland were not only
excluded from the rest of Germany, but the states still ap-
pertaining to the empire were also closed one against the
other. Bad roads,1 a wretched postal system," senseless pro-
hibitions' in regard to emigration or to marrying out of the
country, as, for instance, in the bishopric of Spires, and,
more than all, the incredible number of inland duties,
checked the natural intercourse of the Germans. From
Germersheim to Rotterdam there were no fewer than twenty-
nine custom-houses, at all of which vessels were stopped for
dues ; between Bingen and Coblentz alone there were seven.
1 From Stuttgard to Tubingen, now half a day's post, two days were formerly
requisite. People prepared with the greatest anxiety for a journey to the near-
est towns. Bad roads and overturned carriages play a prominent part in the
romances of the time.
* Vide the complaints concerning it in Schlozer's state-papers.
3 For instance, in Bavaria. Whoever attempted to induce others to emigrate
was hanged, 1764. — History of Nuremberg.
2356 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
CCXLII. The Last Days of the Empire
THE dissolution of the German empire approached. The
princes, powerful or weak, great or petty, had each assumed
sovereign sway. The bond of union between them and the
empire became daily more and more fragile. Ratisbon, al-
though still the seat of the diet, was no longer visited by the
emperor or by the princes. All affairs of moment were
transacted by the courts of Vienna, Berlin, Munich, etc.;
the members of the diet occupied themselves with empty
formalities, such as precedence at table, the color, form, and
position of their seats in the diet, concerning which no fewer
than ten official documents, in settlement of a dispute, ap-
peared in 1748. At a congress held at Offenbach, A.D. 1740,
the petty princes made an unsuccessful attempt to place
themselves on an equality with the electors and to interfere
with the election of the emperor. The collegium of the im-
perial free towns, whenever it ventured upon opposition, was
generally outvoted at the diet by those of the princes and
electors, and had lost all its influence. Wetzlar was still the
seat of the imperial chamber, which was also far from guar-
anteeing the slightest legal protection to the German people,
and which became gradually more completely absorbed with
formalities, in proof of which a single example suffices, the
lawsuit brought before it, A.D. 1549, by the city of Geln-
hausen, which was not terminated until 1734. Cramer has
filled one hundred and twenty-eight volumes (Wetzlar Leis-
ure-hours) with the most important lawsuits of the empire,
which are only striking on account of their extreme un-
importance. The same may be said of the imperial Aulic
council at Vienna. Prince Colloredo, the imperial vice-
chancellor, when complaints against the unjust imprisonment
of Moser, the councillor of the diet of Wurtemberg, were
brought before the imperial chamber, sent directions to
Wetzlar for their suppression.1 The imperial Aulic council
1 Moser, Political Truths.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1357
was equally suborned; in 1765, one of the members declared
at Prince Colloredo's table, "that no proceedings could be
taken against Louis IX., Landgrave of Hesse, for the sake
of a couple of Frankfort merchants." All the complaints
made against this luxurious despot by his creditors were, in
fact, unheeded, nor was it until 1779 that his creditors were
half satisfied by a composition. When, in 1729, the youth-
ful son and heir of one of the lords of Auf sess in Franconia
was carried by force to Bamberg and by threats and ill-
treatment compelled to embrace Catholicism, his mother,
who had narrowly escaped sharing his fate, filled the empire
with her cries for justice and vengeance, the imperial Aulic
council passed a verdict in her favor — which was never car-
ried into effect. Joseph II., moved by the petitions of his
people, was the first who attempted to restore power and
dignity to the general courts of judicature throughout the
empire, but his intended visitation fell to the ground, and
all remained as before. The imperial army, an assemblage
of small, and extremely small, contingents, had, more espe-
cially since the seven years' war, naturally become an object
of ridicule. A petty prince or count furnished the lieuten-
ant, another the captain, a monastery furnished the horse-
soldier, a nunnery the horse ; a most remarkable diversity in
weapons and uniforms naturally resulted from the subdivis-
ion of the empire into petty states.
The power no longer lay in the organization of the em-
pire and with the Estates, but solely in the new principalities
and their bureaucratic governments. All the great states of
Germany were first formed on a French, afterward on a
Prussian model. From Louis XIV. the princes learned des-
potism, the art of rendering the Estates, the nobility, the
church, and the cities subservient to their will ; from Freder-
ick II. they acquired a regulated form of government, the
art of concentrating the power of the state in the finances
and in the army, in which the French system was far sur-
passed by that of Prussia. In France, the convenient sys-
tem of farming the state prevailed; all the offices of state
i358 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
were either sold or fanned, which consequently gave rise to*
a competition, that raised the prices of the offices, between
the government and the officers, who sought to reimburse
themselves by increasing the burdens of the people. In Ger-
many, the more honest, but at the same time more trouble-
some, system of control prevailed. The systematic love for
detail characteristic of the German gave rise to that artifi-
cial bureaucracy or supremacy of the clerk's office, which,
under the name of the strictest justice, has perhaps proved
the most oppressive of tyrannies. The ministry, actuated
by a pure love of justice or by paternal solicitude, ere long
sought to know and to guide everything from the palace
down to the lowest peasant's hut ; the want of money also
obliged them to make themselves acquainted with, to watch,
and to tax the smallest source of private revenue; these sys-
tematic heads were ere long merely occupied with regulating
and filling in their registers, as if the state solely existed in
their tables, and finally, increasing political agitation height-
ened the power of the police, by whom the system of espion-
age was carried to the greatest extreme.
Besides the new and Argus-eyed governments, shadows
of diets still existed in Wurtemberg, Saxony, Mecklenburg,
Anhalt, Lippe, and Reuss. The nobility were everywhere
still extremely powerful, but solely by means of the posts
held by them at court, in the government and army. Their
personal privileges had increased at the expense of their
political and corporate rights. The cities had also lost all
political power, but the citizens had begun by their talents
to gain an influence in the service of the state. The peas-
antry were almost more oppressed by the new system of tax-
ation than they had formerly been by the nobility, and were
universally poor and harassed; the government, neverthe-
less, gradually released them from then* feudal bonds, pro-
moted the progress of enlightenment, and by so doing pre-
pared them for a complete emancipation from their yoke.
The church played a most lamentable part. While in the
Catholic, more particularly in the petty states, the influence
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1359
of the Jesuits was preserved by the childlike piety and su-
perstitious belief of the people, by fetes and processions,
mummeries, etc.,1 the ecclesiastical princes, as has been
already shown, gave way to the most open profligacy, and
Rome was deprived of her ancient support in the German
empire by the abolition of the order of Jesus, by the reforms
of Joseph II., and by the congress of Ems. The church had
never been so powerless. — The princes exercised increased
jurisdiction over the Lutheran and Reformed churches with-
in their demesnes. The sovereign possessed the jus majes-
taticum circa liturgiam, that is, the triple right; first, of
granting the free exercise of religion according to a certain
confession of faith, the jus concedendi; second, of internal
inspection (inspectio); third, of external protection (advo-
catio).
In Lutheran Saxony, where the sovereign belonged to
the Catholic, in Lutheran Prussia, to the Reformed, church,
these princes for some time granted, from a political motive,
full liberty to the Lutheran clergy, and, in order to avoid
raising any unnecessary excitement among the people, but
little interfered with ecclesiastical affairs. The new system
1 The largest collection of these religious mummeries is to be met with in the
numerous works of the Illuminati and in Weber's "Germany. " Religion had
degenerated to childish ceremonies. The Mother of God was dressed up like a
doll in order to appear in gala on festive occasions. Pretty girls appeared on
asses in processions as living Madonnas, and doves were let loose in the churches
as living representatives of the Holy Ghost. On the great pilgrimages of the
people of Mayence, Fulda, and Eichsfeld, to "Waldthuren, the priest bearing the
pyx was received with due solemnity by a well-dressed angel, who delivered an
oration. — Schlozer's State Archives. In 1790, the procession of blood, an an-
cient ceremony performed by all the authorities and inhabitants of fhe neighbor-
hood, was solemnized at Constance; seven thousand horsemen, bearing naked
swords and rosaries, accompanied a drop of the Saviour's blood around the fields
for the purpose of preserving them against injury from the weather. Vide Swa
Wan Mercury, 1838. Religious comedies with allegorical representations, pil-
grimages, processions of brotherhoods in honor of particular saints, were all cal-
culated upon as means of working upon the senses of the multitude, who, on
these occasions, usually gave way to unbounded license. The pilgrimages were
especially notorious for immoral results. The numerous, well-fed, and idle clergy
contrived by means of ceremonies of this nature to creep into houses and to se-
duce the innocent and unwary. No domestic affair could be arranged without
the interference of a priest. They blessed the stable, the table and the bed, the
field and the cattle, even the daily food, etc., etc.
1360 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
had, however, scarcely come into play, than Frederick "Wil-
liam I. made a powerful attack "upon the church, convoked
a synod of the whole of the Prussian clergy, A.D. 1737, at
Koslin, regulated the Lutheran service by cabinet orders,
abolished the use of tapers, white dresses for the choristers,
etc., the collection of money within the church; placed re-
strictions on the administration of the holy sacrament, as,
for instance, to the impenitent, and even prescribed rules for
preaching. The whole of his decrees were calculated for the
promotion of religion and morality. His son, Frederick II.,
acted with equal despotism but with a contrary purpose.
His object was to relax, not to heighten, religious austerity.
"With this intent, he neutralized one confession of faith by
the other by tolerating them all and by encouraging modern
French infidelity by his known principles and by his writ-
ings. With this intent, he abolished his father's ordinances,
permitted all who chose to carry tapers and to wear white
robes, while all confessions were equally the objects of his
ridicule. On the introduction of a new psalm-book, against
which several of the communes protested, by the consistory
in 1780, he wrote, "Everybody may do as he chooses hi this
matter; every one is at liberty to sing, 'Now may all the for-
ests rest,' or any other silly thing that may suit his taste."
"With this intent, he abolished public penance in churches,
and essentially restricted the power of the church in award-
mg punishment hi cases of immorality. "With this intent, he
diminished the number of church festivals, notwithstanding
the few that still remained, and, in order to prevent the
clergy from ever again becoming an obstacle in his way,
gave them a new constitution, by which their collegiate ties
were dissolved, which isolated and placed them under the
control of a supreme consistory entirely dependent upon the
crown. The lower clergy were also utterly demoralized by
the system of patronage. The candidate served for years as
a tutor, bore every species of humiliation, and was finally
rewarded by the gift of a living on the property of his noble
patron. The new pastor was often compelled to bind himself
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1361
to make a transfer of the property and privileges attached
to the living. As early as 1558, consequently in the earliest
period of the Reformation, one of the church ordinances in
Brandenburg ran as follows: "Some of the noble patrons not
being in the habit of keeping a pastor, a portion of the reve-
nue of the living must, in consideration thereof, be kept back
for them," etc. This briefly explains the poverty of the ma-
jority of the livings. ' The custom was also introduced by
the licentious nobility of disposing of their cast-off mistresses
together with a living or of attaching the gift to the hand of
the widow or daughter of the deceased pastor, in order to
spare themselves the inconvenience of providing for her
maintenance. In 1746, the following oath was, at Hild-
burghausen, imposed upon the clergy on their installation
into a living, "I swear that, as a means of gaining this ap-
pointment, a certain woman has not been offered to me in
marriage." The lower clergy, notwithstanding their op-
pressed state and their poverty, have, however, generally
maintained their reputation, and by their piety and morality
frustrated the attempts made to reduce them to the lowest
depths of degradation, in the same manner that the people
have never been wholly perverted by the pernicious example
of their rulers. — Among the Lutheran states, Wurtemberg
was chiefly distinguished for the comparative independence
of her clergy, who, reared from early youth in monastic
academies, and, lastly, in the college at Tubingen, formed a
class, at once influential on account of its learning and cor-
porative spirit, and on account of the church property it still
possessed. It was represented in the diet by fourteen prelates.
The dead-letter spirit, which had become prevalent among
the Protestants, which had again degraded theology to mere
scholasticism and had not only maintained but strengthened
the ancient superstition of the crowd, as, for instance, in
respect to witchcraft, had gradually vanished as knowledge
was increased by the study of the classics and of natural
1 Concerning the State of Religion in the Prussian States. Leipzig, 1779.
1362 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
philosophy. Halle became for this second period of the
Reformation what Wittenberg had been for the first. As
Luther formerly struggled against the monks and monkish
superstition, Thomasius, A.D. 1728, combated Lutheran or-
thodoxy, overthrew the belief in witchcraft, and reintroduced
the use of the German language into the cathedral service,
whence it had long been expunged. He was succeeded,
A.D. 1754, by the philosopher, Wolf, the scholar of the great
Leibnitz, who beneficially enlightened the ideas of the theo-
logical students. Before long, neology or the critical study
of the Bible, and a positive divinity, which sought to unite
the Bible with philosophy, prevailed. The founders of this
school were Michaelis at Gottingen, Semler at Halle, and
Ernesti at Leipzig. Mosheim at Berlin and Gellert at Leip-
zig greatly elevated the tone of morality. Spalding ' already
attempted to check the erratic progress of enlightenment.
Voltaire's lampoons against Christianity had at that period
spread over Germany, and Berlin had become the elysium
of free-thinkers. Besides Frederick, Lessing exercised great
influence on this party. Nicolai, the noted Berlin book-
seller, in his Universal German Library, began a criticism
upon all the works published in Germany.8 Shortly before
this, Thummel had, also at Berlin, brought forward the
degraded state of the Protestant clergy in his excellent poem
" Wilhelmina" ; Nicolai continued the subject in a romance,
"Sebaldus Nothanker," in which he gave a masterly descrip-
tion of the state of the Protestant church at that time and
excited a feeling of hatred and contempt against the reign-
ing consistories, with which the wearing of perukes was,
among other things, a point of high importance. The Cath-
olic clergy had disdained their adoption; their Protestant
brethren, however, opposed them in this as in all other mat-
1 John Joachim Spalding, a celebrated Swedish divine and author, born 1714.
He wrote several able works: the "Destination of Man"; "Religion the Most
Important Affair of Mankind," etc. Died 1804. — Maunder1 s Biographical
Treasury.
s This work was continued forty years, though Nicolai ceased to edit it at
the end of the hundred and seventh volume, in 1792. — Trans.
THE RISE OP PRUSSIA 1363
iers, and no Lutheran preacher consequently durst make his
appearance in public unperuked. Heaps of controversial
works were published on this subject. — Mauvillon, Wunsch,
and, more especially, Paalzow, wrote with great fanaticism
against the Christian religion. Schummel, at Breslau,
warned against free-thinking in a romance, entitled "The
Little Voltaire," which affords a deep insight into the wild
confusion of ideas at that time prevalent, and describes the
writings, secret societies, and intrigues of the free-thinkers.
Earth, at Halle, by means of his popular works, attempted
to spread among the people the ideas at that time convulsing
the learned world, but was with his Rationalism, which he
sought to set up in opposition to Christianity, too shallow
and coarse to be attractive.
Liberty of thought had degenerated to free-thinking, and,
like every abuse, speedily produced a reaction. John Arndt,
a native of Anhalt, published his popular treatise "On true
Christianity," in the beginning of the seventeenth century.
The learned divines were, notwithstanding, first led to teach
a religion of the heart, instead of inculcating a mere dead-
letter belief, by Spener, who, A.D. 1670, founded a collegium
pietatis at Frankfort on the Maine, and, A.D. 1705, was
appointed chaplain to the court at Dresden and provost at
Berlin. He replaced Christian love on her rightful throne,
and to him is the Protestant church far more deeply indebted
than to the philosophers of the day, although his fine and
comprehensive ideas were carried but little into practice.
He demanded toleration of every confession of faith and their
union by Christian love; he rejected the sovereignty assumed
by the state over the church as well as the authority of the
consistories and faculties, and aimed at the emancipation of
the Christian commonwealth.1 His followers, the Pietists,
who have been greatly calumniated, were grievously perse-
cuted on account of their extravagant tendencies. One of
their number, Gichtel, the proctor of the imperial chamber,
founded the sect of the Engelsbruder. Hoburg, the Ana-
1 Vide Hossbach, Spener.
1364 THE HISTORY OF GERMAN?
baptist, Petersen, the polygrapher, the ill-fated Kuhlmann,
who attempted to blend all religions into one and was burned
alive at Moscow, A.D. 1689, and several female seers drew
general attention. Franke, the worthy founder of the or-
phan school at Halle, followed in Spener's steps. Pietism
took a peculiar form at Herrnhut, where Count Zinzendorf
founded a new church of love and fraternity, the members
of which obeyed particular laws and wore a particular dress.
The gentleness and simplicity of this community strongly
contrasted with the wild license prevalent in Saxony during
the reign of Augustus, the reaction to which had given them
birth. They termed themselves the Moravian Brethren,
some remnants of the ancient Hussites having passed over
to them. The accession of numbers of Bohemians belonging
to the Lichtenstein estates drew a reclamation from the
Saxon government. A number of the Bohemians took ref-
uge in Prussia, and Zinzendorf, who was banished from
Saxony for ten years, established himself in the ancient Ronne-
burg in the Wetterau. By his conference with Frederick
William I., who learned to esteem him highly, by his con-
nection with several other religiously inclined persons of high
rank, the Counts Reuss and Dohna, the lords of Seidlitz in
Silesia, etc. , by his frequent travels and his extreme prudence,
he, nevertheless, speedily succeeded in regaining his former
footing. As early as 1733, he sent numbers of pilgrims into
distant countries for the purpose of propagating religion and
of converting the heathen. He twice visited the savages of
North America as a missionary. The resolute piety, which
induced so many homely artificers to quit all for the sake of
propagating the gospel amid the snows of Greenland and
Lapland, or in the burning climes of the East, where they
succeeded in converting great numbers, affords at once a
touching and instructive lesson. By means of their colonies,
they formed important commercial connections, created a
market for home produce, and, by the credit they acquired
by their reputation for the strict uprightness of their deal-
ings, gained immense riches. Their prosperity put their
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1365
opponents to the blush; they were ridiculed and esteemed.
Spangenberg succeeded Zinzendorf as head of the society,
whose members are said to have amounted, at the com-
mencement of the present century, to half a million. Their
principal towns are Herrnhut, Barby, Neuwied, and Ziest
near Utrecht ; most of those of lesser note are distinguished
by religious or biblical names, such as Gnadenberg (Gnade,
gracs), Gnadenfeld, Gnadenfrei, Gnadenhutte, Gnadenau,
Friedenthal (valley of peace), Friedenberg, etc., Bethlehem,
Nazareth, Salem, Bethany, etc. The childlike simplicity
and gentleness of the Herrnhuters highly recommended them
as instructors of the female sex, and, even at the present
day, families, not belonging to their society, send their
daughters to be educated in these asylums of innocence and
piety. — Pietism spread simultaneously into the Bergland,
where it still flourishes in the Wupperthal.
CCXLIII. The Liberal Tendency of the Universities
IN proportion as the universities shook off the yoke im-
posed by theological and juridical ignorance (vide the trials
for witchcraft), the study of philosophy, languages, history,
and the natural sciences gained ground. A wide range was
thus opened to learning, and a spirit of liberality began to
prevail, which, as the first effect of its cosmopolitan ten-
dency, completely blunted the patriotic feelings of the Ger-
man, by rendering his country a mere secondary object of
interest and inquiry.
The struggle between modern ideas and ancient usage
began also in the lower academies. Rousseau proposed the
fundamental transformation of the human race and the crea-
tion of an ideal people by means of education. John Bernard
Basedow attempted to put his novel plans of education into
practice by means of the seminary, known as "the Philan-
thropinum," established by him at Dessau, in which many ex-
cellent teachers were formed, and by which great good was
effected. Basedow, nevertheless, speedily became bankrupt,
1366 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
to the great delight of the pedants. Salzmann, in his acade-
my of Schnepfenthal near Gotha, stands almost alone in his
plan for uniting physical exercise with mental improvement
for the attainment of practical ends, for rendering the stu-
dent a useful citizen, not a mere bookworm. Rochow pub-
lished his celebrated "Children's Friend," which, together
with Gellert's Fables, became a favorite book for the instruc-
tion of youth, and involuntarily compelled teachers not
merely to inculcate blind belief and to enforce the study of
the dead languages, but also to form their pupils' minds
by awakening the imagination and strengthening their moral
feelings by good examples. This literary attempt, however,
speedily degenerated; "Weisse published at Leipzig a large
"Children's Friend" in twenty -four volumes, for children
of good families, full of unchildlike absurdities. Campe,
by his "New Robinson Crusoe," ' estranged the rising gen-
eration in their early childhood from their country, and
inspired them, perfectly in accordance with the spirit of the
times, with a love of enterprise and a desire to transfer their
energies to some foreign or far-distant land. Funke taught
everything by rote, and smothered originality by assiduously
teaching everything, even how to play. In the popular
schools, the catechism, and in the learned academies, gram-
matical pedantry, were, nevertheless, still retained. The
best description of the state of the schools in Germany,
during the latter part of the past century, is to be found in
Schummel's "Pointed Beard." The new plans of education
adopted by a few private establishments and recommended
in the numerous new publications on the subject more par-
ticularly owed their gradual adoption to the tutors, who, in
their freer sphere of action, bestowed their attention upon
the arts most useful hi practical life, and, out of respect for
the parents, introduced a more humane treatment of the
children. The biography of "Felix Kaskorbi," a tutor aged
forty, graphically depictures the torments to which he and
1 Which was founded on the popular work of Defoe. — Trans.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1367
his colleagues were often exposed in their arduous and useful
calling.
Private and individual efforts would, however, have but
little availed without the beneficial reformation that took
place in the public academies. In England, the study of
the ancient classics, so well suited to the stern character and
liberal spirit of the people, had produced men noted for depth
of learning, by whom the humanities and the spirit of an-
tiquity were revived. Their influence extended to Hanover.
At Gottingen, Heyne created a school, which opposed the
spirit to the dead letter, and, in the study of the classics,
sought not merely an acquaintance with the language but
also with the ideas of ancient times, and "Winckelmann
visited Italy in order to furnish Germany with an account
of the relics of antiquity and to inspire his countrymen with
a notion of their sublimity and beauty. The attention of
the student was drawn to mythology, to ancient history,
and an acquaintance with the lives of the ancients led to the
knowledge of modern history and geography.
The study of history became universal. The history of
the world succeeded to the records of monasteries, cities, and
states. The first manuals of universal history were, it must
be confessed, extremely dry and uninteresting, while the great
historical dictionaries of Iselin,1 etc., and the collections of
histories of all the nations of the earth, either translated or
continued from the English, in which Schlozer* already dis-
covered excessive sceptical severity, were, on the other hand,
abundantly copious. Ecclesiastical history was also briefly
and clearly reviewed by Spittler, and elaborately continued
by Mosheim, Schrokh, Plank, etc. Arnold* published an
excellent history of the heretics and of different sects. The
first geographical antiquities are collected in the Chronicon
Gottwicense; the best maps were given by Homann. The
systematic books of instruction in geography by Hubner,
1 Professor of history and antiquities at Marburg. Born at Basel, 1681. — Tram*
9 Professor of philosophy and politics at Gdttingen. Born 1737. — Ibid.
1 Professor of poetry, history, and rhetoric at Altorf. Born 1627. — Ilrid.
1368 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Busching (to whom the science of statistics is greatly in-
debted), Hassel, Mannert, etc., were afterward continued on
a more extensive scale. The newspapers also increased in
importance. The Frankfort Journal was commenced, A.D.
1615, by Emel, and was followed by the Postavise and the
Fulda Postreuter. The Hamburg Correspondent was first
published in 1710. The history of the day was continued
from 1617 to 1717, in the Theatrum Europeum, commenced
by Gottfried; in the Diarium Europseum of Elisius (Meyer),
from 1657 to 1681; Valckenier het verwaerd Europa, from
1664 to 1676, continued by A. Muller; Cramer's History,
from 1694 to 1698; Lamberty's Memoirs, from 1700 to 1718;
the Mercure Historique, Bousset, recueils des actes, from
1713 to 1748. The Frankfort Reports and the new His-
torical Gallery opened at Nuremberg between the thirty
and seven years' wars. The great collection of treaties
of Du Mont, from 1731 to the year 1800; the lesser one of
Schmauss; that of Wenk up to 1772; the European Fama,
up to the seven years' war. Schulz of Ascherode, from 1750
to 1763 ; Count Herzberg, from 1756 to 1778. Dohm's Memo-
rabilia, from 1778 to 1806 ; Gebhard, recueil des traites de 1792
to 1795. Koch and Scholl, histoire des traites, up to 1815.
For German history in particular much was done first of
all by the great collections of the ancient unprinted chroni-
cles, the Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, made by Ec-
card, Hahn, Leibnitz, Ludwig, Lunig, Lundorp, Meichelbek,
Menken, Rauch, Schannat, Schilter, Schottgen and Kreusig,
Senkenberg, Sommersberg, etc. ; by the glossaries of Scherz
and Haltaus, by the collection of old German laws by Georg-
isch, etc. ; by the histories of the empire by Struve, Haber-
lin, Putter, etc. The first voluminous history of Germany
was written by Schmidt, an enlightened Catholic. Maskou
produced an excellent work on the ancient histories of Ger-
many. The best provincial histories were that of Croatia by
Valvasor, of Carinthia by Megiser, of Styria by Casar, of
Bohemia by Pelzel, of Transylvania by Schlozer, of Silesia
by Klober, of Prussia by Petri and Baczko, of Saxony by
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1369
Weisse, of Anhalt by Bekmann, of Thuringia by Falken-
stein, of Brunswick by Rehtmeyer, Spittler, of Westphalia
by Justus Moser, of Holstein by Christiaiii, of Ditmarsch, by
Dankwerth, Bolten, of Friesland by Wiarda, of the circle of
the Saal by Dreihaupt, of Alsace by Schopflin, of Wurtem-
berg by Sattler, of Switzerland by Tscharner, John Muller,
etc. ; John Muller attempted a style in imitation of Tacitus
and introduced a bombastical affected manner, which cre-
ated more astonishment than admiration. He, moreover,
solely aimed at representing the Swiss as totally distinct
from the rest of the great German nation, as a petty nation
fallen as it were from the skies, and by so doing gave rise to
a number of other provincial histories, which rendered every
petty principality in Germany unconnected with the history
of the empire, and described them as having been eternally
independent and isolated. Provincial feuds and neighborly
hatred were by this means fed. — Pollnitz, Wackerbarth,
Frederick the Great, his sister, the Margravine of Baireuth,
Dohm, Gortz, Schmettau, and Schulenburg wrote their
memoirs. — There were also numerous histories of towns, as,
for instance, that of Spires by Lehmann, of Dantzig by Cu-
riken, of Augsburg by Stetten, of Ratisbon by Gemeiner, of
Magdeburg by Rathmann, of Strasburg by Friese, of Berlin
by an anonymous author, published 1792, of Breslau by Klose.
The Dutch took the lead in political science. As early as
1638, Althausen laid the majestas populi down as a princi-
ple, and Hugo Grotius laid the first foundation to the law of
nations. In Lutheran and Catholic Germany, on the other
hand, merely "works on the Art of Government," "Mirrors
of Honor,'" etc., were published, in which the adulation
prevalent in France was zealously emulated, and the whole
of ancient Olympus was plundered for the purpose of adorn-
ing each sacred allonge-peruke with emblems and divine at-
tributes. The jealousy between the houses of Hohenzollern
and Habsburg, nevertheless, permitted Pufendorf, a Bran-
denburg privy-councillor, to commence a tolerably liberal
criticism on the German constitution, in which he was speed-
1370 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
ily imitated by the Prussians, Cocceji and Gundling. J. J.
Moser took a still more independent view of the reigning
political evils in Germany and Schlozer was, shortly anterior
to the French Revolution, equally liberal in his state-papers.
The learned Putter at Gottingen was more a historical than
a political writer, and, generally speaking, the literature of
the day rarely touched upon the political misfortunes of Ger-
many. In proportion as the empire lost one province after
another were the people gradually deprived of their ancient
privileges, still no one spoke, and the additional burdens on
the peasantry, the increased taxation, the sale of men for
service in the Indies, the inactivity of the provincial Estates,
etc., excited as little discussion as the impudent seizure of
Strasburg. — Heineccius and Bohmer, in Austria, Sonnenfels,
who aided Joseph II. in his reforms, were distinguished pro-
fessors of jurisprudence.
The study of mathematics was greatly promoted by Leib-
nitz, the inventor of differential calculus, and was carried to
higher perfection by Lambert of Alsace, by the family of
Bernouilli of Basel, Euler, etc. The Germans made great
discoveries in astronomy. Scheiner, A.D. 1650, discovered
the spots in the sun; Hevel, A.D. 1687, and Dorfel found out
the paths of the comets; Eimmart of Nuremberg measured
several of the fixed stars. Herschel, born A.D. 1740, ob. A.D.
1822, discovered, with his giant telescope in England, A.D.
1781, the planet Uranus, nebulous stars, planetary neb-
ula, etc. Huygens improved the telescope, Lowenhoek and
Hontsoecker the microscope (in Holland). Lieberkuhn of
Breslau invented the solar microscope; Tschirnhausen, burn-
ing-glasses; Snell discovered the laws of refraction. The
study of physics was greatly promoted by Otto von Gue-
ricke, burgomaster of Magdeburg, A.D. 1686, the inventor
of the air-pump and of the electrifying machine; by Sturm,
A.D. 1703, the founder of experimental physics; by Fahren-
heit, who, A.D. 1714, invented the thermometer; by Kircher,
the inventor of the speaking trumpet ; by Hausen, Wilke,
Cunaus, Muschenbroek, who improved the electrifying ma-
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1371
shine. Among the chemists, before whose science alchemy
fled, Glauber, who gave his name to a celebrated salt, Becher,
Stahl, Brand, the discoverer of phosphorus, and Gmelin,
merit particular mention. Werner acquired great note as
a mineralogist in Saxon Freiburg at the close of the eigh-
teenth century. Botany was industriously studied by Haller
of Switzerland, Volckamer of Nuremberg, etc. ; Rumpf 's
"Herbarium Amboinense" contains the most valuable bo-
tanical collection of this period. Klein, the noted travellers
Pallas, Blumenbach, and Bechstein, were celebrated as zo-
ologists. The first great physiological periodical works were
the curious Medic. Phys. Ephemeridse, written in Latin, in
which Christian Mentzel, the celebrated linguist and nat-
uralist, private physician to the great elector, diligently re-
corded his observations; and the "Breslau Collections."
Geography and natural history were greatly promoted by
travels undertaken for scientific purposes. Reinhold and
George Forster accompanied Cook round the world, A.D.
1772. The noted traveller, Kampfer, went with the Dutch
to Japan, A.D. 1716. Montanus, Neuhof, etc., wrote ac-
counts of the Dutch embassies to China, whence much infor-
mation was also sent by the Jesuits,1 among whom, Tieff en-
thaler, the Tyrolese, gained great fame at the commence-
ment of the eighteenth century by being the first, and, up
to the present period, the only European who travelled over-
land from China to India, and who first saw the Dawalagiri,
the highest mountain in the world. Carsten Niebuhr was
the most celebrated among the travellers in Persia and
Arabia. Pallas and Gmelin explored Siberia. Samuel The-
ophilus Gmelin, the noted naturalist, nephew to the above-
mentioned botanist and geographer, travelled for the empress
Catherine II. of Russia. While travelling, A.D. 1774, in
Tartary, he was thrown into prison by one of the chiefs,
who demanded thirty thousand rubles for his ransom, which
1 Jesuits have continually distinguished themselves at Peking as Mandarins,
guardians of the observatory and presidents of an academy of sciences, as, foi
instance, Goggeisl, 1771, and again, in 1780, Father Hallerstein of Swabia.
1373 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
Catherine refused and he died in prison. Egede and Kranz,
Herrnhut missionaries, have given an account of icy Green-
land, Dobrizhof er, the Jesuit, another of torrid Paraguay, etc.
In pharmacology the Germans have done more than any
other nation; after them, the Dutch. Helmont, although
not free from the alchemical prejudices of his age, did much
good by his dietary method, all diseases, according to him,
proceeding from the stomach. Hermann Boerhaave, the
most eminent physician of his time, encouraged by the an-
atomical discoveries of Lowenhoek and Ruysch, carefully
investigated the internal formation of the human body in
search of the primary causes of diseases, but was led astray
by the mechanical notion that all diseases originated in the
improper circulation or diminution of the humors of the
body.1 In Germany proper, medicine was not brought to
any degree of perfection until a later period. Frederick
Hoffman, in pursuance of the system of Leibnitz, ascribed
all diseases to motion and treated them simply as cramps.
His suggestions greatly advanced the science of pathology.
Stahl, the Pietist, opposed this mechanical theory and
founded a mystical system, which recognized the soul as
forming the strength of the body, the blood as the eternal
foe of the divine power inherent in man, and therefore rec-
ommended its constant restriction and purification by means
of bleeding. Albert von Haller, the poet and naturalist,
brought forward the system of nervous pathology, which
was carried still further by Christopher Louis Hoffman}
who ascribed all diseases to the dissolution of the solids by
the corruption of the humors. Stoll, the empiric, opposed
the whole of these theories, and was the first who noted the
impossibility of accounting for the diseases by which nations
were visited in various climes and at various periods; he,
nevertheless, chiefly considered the gall bladder as the seat
of infection, which he sought to palliate by the use of emet-
1 Boerhaave's numerous works are, nevertheless, still regarded as text-books
by the profession ; his knowledge as an anatomist, chemist, and botanist, as well
as of the causes, nature, and treatment of diseases, was unrivalled. — Trans.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1373
ics. Reil practiced a more refined empiricism. — The discov-
ery of animal magnetism by Mesmer, A.D. 1775, was an im-
portant one, not only in medicine, but more particularly in
psychology. It was first studied as a science by John Fred-
erick Gmelin, professor of chemistry and natural history at
Gottingen, and has since engaged the attention of numerous
physicians and psychologists. A miraculous property has
been attributed to this discovery, which is certainly one of
the most extraordinary ever made in inventive Germany.
Sommering was the most eminent of the German anato-
mists. Gall gained a transient fame by his novel phrenolog-
ical ideas, and Lavater of Zurich by his science of physiog-
nomy. The belief in apparitions was again spread through-
out the Protestant world by this pious enthusiast and by
Jung Stilling, while Father Gassner, at the same time,
about 1770, inspired the Catholic population of Upper Swa-
bia with terror by his exorcism.
Philosophy gave, however, at that period, the tone to
learning. The eighteenth century was termed the age of
philosophy, being that in which the French began in their
Encyclopedia to regard all human knowledge in an inde-
pendent point of view, neither ecclesiastical nor Christian.
The Germans, although borrowing their frivolous mock-
enlightenment from France, imitated the English in the
serious study of philosophy and philology. Under the pro-
tection of the king of England, the Baron von Leibnitz, the
celebrated mathematician and philosopher, shone at Han-
over, like Albertus Magnus, in every branch of learning.
His system was a union of the Christian mysticism of former
tunes and of the scholastic scientific modern philosophy, the
result of the study of mathematics and of the classics. Ac-
cording to him, an infinite number of worlds are possible in
the Divine comprehension ; but, of all possible ones, God has
chosen and formed the best. Each being is intended to at-
tain the highest degree of happiness of which it is capable,
and is to contribute, as a part, to the perfection of the whole.
The gradual deviation of philosophy from Christianity and
1374 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY
the increasing similarity between it and heathenism were in
accordance with the spirit of the age. In 1677, Spinosa, the
Dutch Jew, reproduced, with subtle wit, the old doctrine of
the mystic, Valentine Weigel, concerning the original con-
tradictions apparent in the world, which he explained, not
by a Christian idea of love, but by a mathematical solution.1
Leibnitz had numerous followers, among whom, Bilfinger
attempted by pure mathematical reasoning, unaided by rev-
elation, to explain its most inexplicable secret, the origin of
evil, and Wolf converted his master's theories into a con-
venient scholastic system, completely devoid of mysticism
and merely retaining the ideas consonant with the doctrine
of common Rationalism. He gained immense fame by his
opposition to the orthodox theologians. Mathematical rea-
soning was certainly useful for the proper arrangement of
ideas, but was essentially devoid of purport. In England,
it led to mere scepticism, to a system of doubt and negation,
whence, instead of returning to the study of theology, the
English philosopher : turned to a zealous research in psychol-
ogy, in which they were imitated by the Germans, Platner,
Reimarus, Mendelssohn, the physician Zimmermann, etc. ; all
of whom were surpassed by Kant in 1804, at Konigsberg,
in his "Critical Inquiry into the Nature of Pure Reason,"
which contains a critical analysis of every mental faculty.
His influence over his fellow countrymen was unlimited,
owing to his placing reason above all else, while he, at the
same time, strongly marked the moral necessities and duties
of man, and paid homage to the enlightenment, then in gen-
eral vogue, and to moral sobriety, the permanent national
characteristic of the German.
1 Spinosa renounced the Jewish religion for that of Calvin. He afterward
became a Mennonist, and at last fell into the most dangerous scepticism, if not
downright atheism. — Trans.
END OP VOLUME THREE
000 361 924 4