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Title: History of the Life of Gustavus Adolphus II., the Hero-General of the Reformation

Author: Harriet Earhart Monroe

Release Date: April 6, 2016 [EBook #51680]

Language: English

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GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS II.

In giving this sketch of the life of Gustavus Adolphus, no attempt has been made to present a complete life of the great king.

It is a history difficult for young people to understand, and for that reason only the leading events of a most eventful life have been presented.

It was first written for a lecture and entertainment, after the manner of my other entertainments on Church epochs, to be illustrated by stereopticon views, with three dramatic interludes—the first representing the joy of the Swedish people on Gustavus coming to the throne; the second showing Gustavus taking leave of his Parliament and friends as he is about to embark on the Thirty Years' War; the third, an act called "The Women who Loved Him." The evening was to open and close with church processionals in the native peasant costumes of Sweden and other Protestant countries of Europe.

It has been deemed best to present the story in book form, which will differ somewhat from the original lecture and dramatic representations, for the reason that pictures do away with the necessity for many words.

With the earnest prayer that this history may stir other heroic souls to stand for God in life's difficult places this sketch is submitted.

Gustavus Adolphus, the hero general of the Reformation, was born at the royal palace at Stockholm, Sweden, December 9th, 1594, a little more than one hundred years after the birth of Luther, nearly fifty years after his death, and five years before the birth of Cromwell.

Washington and Lincoln, as to date of birth, were only seventy-seven years apart; had Washington lived but nine years more, they would have been contemporary.

Washington may, in a sense, be said to have made this country, and Lincoln to have preserved it a united people. Just so Luther brought about the movement known as Protestantism, but it was given to this great king of Sweden, known as the Lion of the North, to preserve Protestantism from extinction on the continent of Europe, even as a little later it was given Cromwell to stop that curious movement toward Romanism which is even yet the puzzle of the historian.

Gustavus II. was the son of Charles, Duke of Sudermania, youngest son of Gustavus Vasa, who may be considered the founder of the Vasa family.

8During the entire sixteenth century Sweden was torn by external wars and internal dissensions. Sweden, by the contract of Calmar, in 1397, had become a dependency of Denmark. A trade among rulers had made a brave people the reluctant subjects of an alien power. Gustavus Vasa conceived the project of freeing his country from Denmark. He made one ineffectual attempt, and after severe defeat, pursued by the oppressors, he fled to Delecarlia, whose citizens rallied about him, and, with the help of these sturdy and valiant mountaineers, the Danes were expelled from Sweden and his country was restored to liberty.

His grateful countrymen elected him king. Gustavus Vasa saw the moral degradation of his land, and brought disciples of Luther to the country to instruct in both religious and secular learning. Among the most distinguished of these was Olaüs Petri. Of course, the hierarchy of Rome and priests of Sweden made great opposition to any change.

Gustavus Vasa reduced the gospel to this simple message, which a child could understand, viz.: "To serve God according to His law; to love God above all; to believe in Jesus Christ as our only Saviour; to study and to teach earnestly the word of God; to love our neighbor as ourselves; to observe the ten commandments." He distinctly said that the Scriptures speak neither of tapers, nor palms, nor of masses for the dead, nor of the worship of saints, but that the Word of God, in many places, prohibited these things. He added, "The sacrament of the Lord's Supper has been given to us as a token of the forgiveness of sin, 9and not to be carried around in a gold or silver frame to cemeteries and other places."

Now, was not that a clear statement for a youth brought up a Catholic, whose thought heretofore had seemed only of war?

As in England, politics had a hand in expelling the old form of religion and bringing in the new, so it had an influence in Sweden.

Geijer, the great church historian of Sweden, says that the Roman Church at that time possessed two-thirds of the soil, and that the wickedness of the church was as great as its possessions. Like Henry VIII. of England, Gustavus Vasa needed the lands to enrich the crown and to secure the friendship of the nobles. He deeply hated priests because they were unionists, that is, they desired to keep the three Scandinavian countries under one crown, which would have left Gustavus crownless.

When dying, this great king wrote as his last message: "Rather die a hundred times than abandon the gospel." He pointed the way to glory for Sweden for generations yet unborn.

Eric, the son and successor of Gustavus I., seems to have inherited the barbarous nature of some far-back ancestor. He indulged in dangerous and murderous folly. He proposed at the same time for the hand of Elizabeth, Queen of England, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, Princess Renee, of Loraine, and Christina, of Hessen, and after all that, married a peasant woman.

At last he was declared incapable and was imprisoned. This shortened his life. His children were excluded by law from the succession, and his brother John ascended the throne.

10John had married Catherine Jagellon, daughter of Sigismund, king of Poland. She influenced her husband to admit the Jesuits to Sweden, and he made an effort to restore the Romish Church.

When the Swedes were converted to the Protestant faith it seems to have been a deep work of grace. They did not fluctuate in their faith. So now they withdrew their love and friendship from their king, whom they considered false to the faith he had promised to sustain.

At the death of John the states determined that their rights should not be invaded, so they forced from his son, Sigismund, a decree prohibiting any religion in Sweden except the Lutheran. Sigismund (who had become a Catholic to secure the throne of Poland) signed this decree with great bitterness of heart.

In spite of this decree, which he had evidently signed with mental reservations, he ordered a Catholic church to be built in each town in his kingdom. He further enraged his subjects by refusing to be crowned by a Protestant prelate, and accepted coronation at the hands of the Pope's nuncio. He surrounded himself by the nobles of Poland and the priests of Rome. These foreigners could scarcely appear on the streets without causing quarrels and bloody encounters.

In the midst of these disturbances he was recalled to Poland, of which he was also king, his father having secured his election by bribery, and he left Sweden never to return as a welcome king.

Duke Charles, youngest son of Gustavus Vasa, and uncle to Sigismund, was the only son of Gustavus Vasa who showed himself worthy of the 11noble inheritance to which he had been born. The troubles of the time, the dangers to Protestantism, caused him to listen to the loud call of the Estates to act as regent, or ruling king to this much distressed land.

The Augsburg Confession was again proclaimed, and all the Swedes present cried: "Our persons and our property, and all that we have in this world will be sacrificed, if it is necessary, rather than abandon the gospel." Diet after Diet approved of the administration of Duke Charles.

Four years after the departure of Sigismund he returned with five thousand troops of Poland to reclaim his crown. He was defeated, but the Swedes agreed to take him (because by heredity he had a just claim to the crown) as king if he would send away his foreign troops and properly administer the Lutheran form of religion.

But in a year he proved so unfaithful that he was deposed and sent back to Poland. His claim to the throne led to long-continued hostility between Poland and Sweden. On account of the claim of the Swedish Vasas and the Polish Vasas, brave men were to die, homes were to be desolated, and both lands were to have weeping widows and fatherless children for half a century.

In 1604 Charles was crowned king, the crown entailed to the eldest son, being Protestant, under a law that declared that any ruler who deviated from the Augsburg Confession should by that act lose his crown.

The heirs of Sigismund were by law forever excluded from the throne, and it was decreed that the king should forever make his home in Sweden.

During the stormy scenes described in the preceding chapter, Gustavus Adolphus was born. He was baptized on the 1st of January, 1595.

The child was brought up in an atmosphere of war. His father told him the story of Sweden's wars and of his own campaigns, to which the boy listened with enrapt attention.

In 1595 the Diet had closed the throne to every Catholic candidate. Charles IX., as the king was now called, was generous enough to assure the Estates that if any son of Sigismund should become a Protestant he should inherit the throne. He also made this reservation in his will, showing that he had the conscience of a Christian who desires to do justice, while Sigismund, as king of Poland, never failed to act on the principle that the end justifies the means.

The Finns, urged to rebellion by the king of Poland, proved to be troublesome subjects to King Charles. They submitted to his rule only after a bloody contest. The king took Gustavus, who was barely seven years old, with him on an expedition against the Finns. The ship became icebound and had to be abandoned. The child and his father continued their way on foot in the 13midst of the severities of a Russian winter. The exposure seems to have done them no harm.

On one occasion his father took him to visit the fleet at Calmar, and on being asked by an officer which vessel he preferred, he answered, "The 'Black Knight,' because it has the most guns."

The generosity for which he was so noted in later years began to show itself in his childhood. A peasant had brought him a handsome little pony from the island of Oeland. The good man said, "I want you to accept the pony as a gift; as a sign of my love and devotion to you." The young prince replied, "I am glad to have the horse, but I will pay you for it, as the gift would exceed your resources." The child gave the man all the money in his purse. The peasant was amazed at the amount of the money and at the child's great liberality.

His father, foreseeing that Gustavus would need to command people of different nationalities, saw that he had instruction in many languages, so that at the age of seventeen he spoke fluently the Swedish, Latin, German, Dutch, French and Italian languages, and could make himself understood in Russian and Polish. He afterward became proficient in Greek.

Special attention was given to the development of a symmetrical character, and everything possible was done to make him love the Lutheran faith.

The tendencies of both father and son are well illustrated by a letter, still extant, from King Charles to his son, as his farewell advice: "Above all fear God, honor thy father and mother, show for thy brothers and sisters a deep attachment; 14love the faithful servants of thy father and reward each one according to his merits. Be humane towards thy subjects, punish the wicked, love the good; trust everybody, though not unreservedly; observe the law without respect to person; injure no one's well-acquired privileges, if they are consistent with the law."

Character molded on such principles as these would certainly touch the sublimities.

The mother of Gustavus Adolphus was a German princess of superior education for the times. A haughty queen, a strict disciplinarian, thereby developing in her son a quick and ready obedience to the laws of the family. Who would command must first learn to obey.

She much preferred her second son, Charles Philip, and, had Gustavus been less generous, or less noble, an unnatural jealousy might have divided the brothers, but the young Duke of Finland, as Gustavus was called, acted as though he thought his mother could do no wrong.

Gustavus had three teachers, each of whom left a strong impression upon his character—John Skytte, a man who had spent ten years in travel, Von Mörner, an accomplished, traveled man, and Count de la Gardie, a Swedish noble of a French family, who instructed Gustavus in fencing and in military tactics.

Gustavus had an attractive personality and won the abiding affection of his cousin, Duke John, the only one of Sigismund's sons who took the Swedish side of the religious and family quarrel. Duke John married the only sister of Gustavus, Mary Elizabeth, and proved a brother, indeed, after the death 15of King Charles. For the choice was left to the people and to the Estates as to whether they preferred John or Gustavus. At the sincere urgency of Duke John the young Duke of Finland, Gustavus, was chosen.

King Charles IX. began early to train his son in public affairs. When Gustavus was only ten years old his father kept him at his side at all cabinet meetings and in great public assemblies. He encouraged him to talk to officers from foreign countries in their own language. The king permitted him to ask questions on war, special battles and methods of governing, and the father was proud of the eager, precocious child, in whom he recognized a mental and spiritual power far beyond his own.

At the age of fourteen he was sent, with his mother, through northern Sweden, in order that he might become acquainted with the people of his own country. The king said, "You are only a boy, but listen to everyone who solicits your protection, help everyone according to your means, and dismiss no one without a word of comfort."

The gracious boy made many friends in this early journey, men who afterwards gladly gave life itself to forward his interests.

At the age of fifteen he was greatly disappointed because he was not permitted to lead an army against the Russians, but for once his father required him to remain at home to learn affairs concerning the internal and external policy of the Swedish government. But in 1611, at the age of seventeen, when Denmark had declared war against Sweden, he was permitted to command a 16body of troops. He was sent to deliver the town of Calmar which was besieged by the Danes. He was afterward joined by troops under Duke John and the king himself. On August 16th, 1611, the town and castle were surrendered by a commander who proved to be a renegade Swede whom King Charles had offended.

The king left the war in order to return to Stockholm to preside at the Diet. On his journey he was taken violently ill. When it was plain he could not recover Gustavus was sent for. The king gave the sorrowing boy his parting blessing, then laying his hand on the bowed young head, he said, in a voice full of conviction, "Ille faciet"—"This one will do it."

Gustavus, the Grand Duke of Finland and Duke of Estland, as he was now called, did not at once assume the throne. The kingdom was for two months without a ruler.

The Diet was convened at Nyköping by the queen and by Duke John, who, with six lords of the Council, had administered the affairs of the government. On December 17th, 1611, the queen and Duke John, who was five years the elder, renounced before each of the assembled Estates all right and title to the throne of Sweden, and, although the age of twenty-four was considered the legal majority, Gustavus, though only eighteen, was declared of legal age, and the reigns of government were placed in his young hands.

He took the title of his father: "Elected king and hereditary Prince of the Swedes, Goths and Vandals." He chose for his chancellor, or Secretary of State, the wisest man of his realm, Axel Oxenstiern, only ten years older than himself.

Sweden had seen little of peace for fifty years. From the days of Gustavus I. endless war had prevailed. In the civil strife between rival branches of the same house, two kings had been overthrown. Gustavus inherited a blood-sprinkled throne, and, could he have foreseen it, was to 18be in almost perpetual warfare during his entire life.

To him came early the great passion which has made bad people good, and quite as often made good people bad. From early boyhood he had loved a girl, who became a handsome court lady, called Ebba Brahe. Her family were of the nobility, though not royal. It was from early youth his purpose to share his throne with the woman of his choice.

At Skokloster, Sweden, is preserved a fragment of their correspondence, including some most ardent letters from the young king. When he could not write to her, he sent the "forget-me-not" flower, which the girlish heart interpreted aright. He exhibited the symptoms of other lovers in writing sonnets to her, and at all times in seeking her society.

But his mother, Queen Christina, was a politician, and steadily set before him that it was his duty to strengthen his kingdom by marrying into a royal family which would become his friend in peace and his ally in war. On one occasion, when he was about leaving on a military campaign, the queen mother forced from him the promise that he would not write to Lady Ebba for two years. To this he agreed on the condition that, at the end of two years, all objection to their marriage would be withdrawn.

He had scarcely reached the seat of war until the old queen forced Ebba Brahe into a marriage with James de la Gardia, a polished noble gentleman, but not the choice of her young heart.

All through his life the heart of Gustavus 19turned with unutterable longing to the love of his youth. This is shown in several letters to his friend, Chancellor Oxenstiern.

We would like to believe that, at least up to his marriage, he remained the ideal lover, but truth compels us to say that he had a natural son, Gustav Gustavson, born in 1616, to a Dutch lady.

That was an age in which morality along sexual lines was unusual among royal men, but this one instance of immorality is the single instance that even the worst enemy of Gustavus can bring against his good name.

On November 28th, 1620, in the great palace of Stockholm, Gustavus was married to Eleanor Marie of Brandenburg. The marriage was one of great pomp, and Gustavus recognized his duty to the state by marrying into a strong Protestant royal family, and he also recognized his duty as a Christian to be a true husband and a good man.

The young queen brought a large dower which greatly assisted the war fund, but the marriage precipitated another war with Poland.

The marriage was a fairly happy one, as royal marriages go, but the happiness of the family was clouded by a dead child being the first born of the union. This great affliction Gustavus seems to have borne with a truly Christian spirit. The following year a similar event occurred, so that the royal family feared for the succession. At last, in 1632, after being married twelve years, he was permitted to hold a living child in his arms.

As he lavished upon her his paternal caresses, he said, "God be praised! I hope this daughter 20may be as good to me as a son. May God who has given her preserve her to me."

The life of this princess, whose history will be given later, proved that what we pray too earnestly for, almost as it were forcing the hand of God, may be given in answer to persistent requests, but the gift is to our undoing. Like Hezekiah's prolonged life, the boon was given in answer to prayer. Hezekiah's continued life proved to be full of anguish, and Manasseh, one of the curses of Judah, was born to him. If only we could pray: "O Lord, withhold, if not for my permanent good and Thy ultimate glory."

No woman ever dishonored her parentage more than this daughter, known in history as Queen Christina of Sweden.

This short history is to deal so much with the history of Gustavus Adolphus, the hero general of the Reformation, that we have condensed, for the most part, the history of his loves and domestic life into this one chapter. Before leaving the subject, we would remind you that Queen Eleanor Marie always acted as regent when Gustavus was absent on his campaigns. She seems to have ruled wisely. After the death of Gustavus she generously sent a portrait of the man they both loved so much to Lady de la Gardia.

CHRISTINA,

Daughter of Gustavus Adolphus II.

We have now these two young men, Gustavus Adolphus and Axel Oxenstiern, his chancellor, sitting down to play the game of war against all the powers of northern Europe. The stake was the national existence of Sweden.

Buckle thinks that, given the time, the man may be predicated. But the times did not produce Jesus Christ. Nero was the natural product of that period. Gustavus Adolphus, like Luther, was a special soul sent of God to be the incarnation of spiritual force against the evil and awful indifference of a corrupt age.

First, he enlarged the place of his generous cousin, Duke John, who doubtless had foreseen the great period of war before them, and gladly had placed the responsibility in the abler hands of Gustavus.

Then the young king pursued the war with Denmark until the King of Denmark renounced his claim to the Swedish crown. It took him two years to secure this concession. During these two years he enlarged the rights of his people, stirred the patriotism of the peasantry, won the affections of the nobility of Sweden, and unified his people into a strong nationality. When Gustavus Vasa introduced the doctrines of the Reformation into 22Sweden the inhabitants were a rude people, but fifty years of instruction on the part of the clergy and independent thinking on the part of the people had greatly changed this state of affairs.

The revival of learning and the Reformation which caused an active study of theology and literature, had greatly pushed forward the intellectual standing of Germany. Lutheranism has always been a scholarly faith; it was born in universities, and never took on the severities or iconoclasms of Calvinism.

Sweden now kept all that was brilliant, attractive and energizing in the ideas of the Reformation, and gave to the Lutheran faith a new impetus, so that in the time of Gustavus Adolphus the aristocracy of Sweden were among the most cultivated people of all Europe.

As in Scotland the Reformation changed the very nature of the entire nation, so now it did the same for Sweden, with this difference, that the Scots followed the doctrines of Calvin, which stripped religion of its æstheticism and made it severe and to some degree forbidding, while the Lutheranism of the Swedes beautified their lives, stirred their æsthetic taste and improved their intellects, so that from that day to this Sweden has been regarded as a scholarly country, and has produced its fair share of literary and scientific men and women, beside many great inventors, and artists of world-wide renown.

The personality of Gustavus had much to do with his success. He had a fine physique. In his youth he was of slender figure, pale, fair complexioned, long-shaped face, fair hair, with a 23touch of red in it, and a tawny, pointed beard. Every inch of his fine, tall body was trained by the judicious use of athletics and out-door exercise. He radiated health, which of itself made him magnetic.

His tinge of red showed the impetuosity of his nature, which often had to be restrained by the great Chancellor Oxenstiern. "If my heat did not put a little life into your coldness we should all freeze up," said the king on one occasion. The chancellor replied, "If my coldness did not assuage your majesty's heat, we should all burn up," whereat the king laughed and acknowledged that his temper was rather quick and his patience less than he would like.

No sketch of the great king and of his success would be complete without understanding his two chief advisers. Queen Elizabeth once heard that a courtier had said, "It is not the queen who is great, but her counsellors." The queen replied, "Well, who made them counsellors?" Gustavus had the quality of appreciating greatness in others, of supplementing his own talents with theirs, and of not being jealous.

Axel Oxenstiern was born at Fano, in Upland, June 16th, 1583. His family traced their lineage back to the thirteenth century, and had intermarried with both the Danish and Swedish royal families. His father died in 1597, and he was sent by his judicious mother to a German university. This gave him Swedish and German as colloquial tongues, and he became so proficient in Latin that he could use it equally well with either.

Latin had for many centuries been the language 24of the learned, in which people of different lands could converse intelligibly. The people of Europe needed no Esperanto while they were proficient in Latin.

Oxenstiern studied theology as thoroughly as if he expected to enter the ministry. Religion was the absorbing thought of good people during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He was recalled to Sweden by Charles IX., who recognized his great ability, and sent him on several diplomatic missions. At the age of twenty-six he was made house guardian of the royal children, and the head of the regency, which, in case of the king's death, might cause him to be called to govern the realm during the minority of the heir-apparent.

Among the first acts of the young king was to appoint Oxenstiern chancellor. From this time during the entire life of the king, this great man became one of the chief factors in ruling Sweden. He was a true friend, never failing to restrain or reprove the impetuous, strong-minded, strong-natured boy-king. Oxenstiern was a man of action, and was as little given to "lying around among the shavings" as Gustavus himself.

But the king had another counsellor of a totally different type, and that was John Skytte, a fine scholar and a great traveler, who had acted first as the tutor of Gustavus; and later became a counsellor. The king made him a senator, and in 1629 made him governor-general of Livonia.

It is very amusing to read some of the letters which passed between the governor and his king at this time. The governor apologizes for certain 25things not being accomplished, Gustavus calls him a man of theories, and declares, "I expect results and not explanations."

Returning now to the direct history of Gustavus Adolphus, in July, 1621, Sigismund having denied even the title of king to Gustavus, and having sent strenuous threats of punishment to the Elector of Brandenburg for permitting his sister to marry him, Gustavus sailed from Elfsnabb Harbor with one hundred and fifty sail, manned by fourteen thousand soldiers, for the purpose of conquering Livonia. At Pernau he was joined by General de la Gardia with five thousand Finns.

In August, Riga was surrounded, and on September 15th, it surrendered to the Swedish forces. In October, Mittau, the capital of Courtland, was entered, and the season being too far advanced, the army went into winter quarters. After an eight years' bloody campaign Gustavus, with his brave army and his experienced generals, conquered Sigismund, the unrelenting enemy of the Swedish Vasas.

The war between the two branches of the house of Vasa extends from 1600 to 1660. Gustavus felt that in his war with Poland, from 1621 to 1629, he was not fighting for his crown alone, but that he was facing the great struggle of Protestantism against the Catholic reaction. This war really should be regarded as part of the Thirty Years' War.

Queen Eleanor, as the wife of Gustavus was now called, suffered much during this war, for she felt that Sigismund's attitude to the Elector of Brandenburg for permitting her marriage to her 26greatly-beloved husband had much to do with the awful sorrows of the time. The queen went several times to see the king while he was absent, always carrying with her money, food and reinforcements. On one occasion she came suddenly upon him, clasping him in her arms, exclaiming: "Now, Gustavus the Great, thou art my prisoner."

Gustavus took pains to assure her that the war was now far beyond the question of their marriage, or even his title to the throne. He made plain to her that Sigismund, a Roman Catholic prince, who had the Pope for master, the Hapsburgs for allies, the Jesuits for advisers, should not and could not be permitted, even though it cost much in blood and money, to set up any claim to the throne of a Lutheran country.

In our own land it was the small Indian wars which trained our ancestors to be the nation of warriors who successfully fought England in the Revolution. So Gustavus Adolphus, his great generals and his brave troops, had training in small wars for that part of the Thirty Years' War which was to make him the most prominent figure of his century.

Besides the wars with Denmark and with Poland, he also had a short campaign (in which he took several Prussian towns) with Brandenburg, the vassal and ally of Poland, although, like Sweden, a Lutheran country, so he had really the practical experience of three wars before entering that which gives him and his country their place in history.

The life of Gustavus was now even more precious to his subjects than at his coronation, because 27his brother, Duke Charles Philip, had died childless, January 25th, 1622.

He was a youth of great promise and of lovely spirit. On one occasion, when he was ill, he wrote home: "My brother is so attentive and takes so much pains to entertain me that I almost forget my 'illness.'" The death of this prince was a severe stroke to the Dowager Queen Christina, who had always loved him more than she had loved her gifted elder son.

Under the stress of war, trial and great exposure of his life, the piety of Gustavus Adolphus became more marked. On his long campaigns he read and studied the Bible. He said: "I seek to fortify myself by meditations upon the Holy Scriptures." No one ever studied God's word, that is able to make us wise unto salvation, without also gaining worldly wisdom, and perceptibly increasing in moral beauty of character.

He regarded his high position as a great trust, given to him by his God. He was not actuated by a love of conquest, but felt that the defence of his throne and of his country also meant the protection of the Protestant faith. He waged war to bring about peace.

He repressed all acts of vengeance among his soldiers, he tolerated no licentiousness, and upheld religion and good morals in the camps of his army. Divine service was held morning and evening, at which time the king and the whole army knelt before God, asking His blessing and guidance.

He was a strict disciplinarian, but banished the bastinado, which not only punished but degraded men. He took counsel with his generals, and made no important move without consulting the Estates of his kingdom.

29His physical strength was very great. Once when ordered to bed for fever by his physician, in the Russian campaign, he went to fencing with one of his officers. This caused such profuse perspiration that his disease was cured.

God seemed to visibly protect his life, even as we think He did the life of General Washington. During the campaign against Poland, a bullet struck the place that he had just left. At another time his garments were spattered with blood from men who fell at his side. Again, a bullet went through his tent just above his head.

At Dantzig seven boats were to take a redoubt. Gustavus commanded one of them and was shot in the abdomen. He wrote the Estates: "The engagement was a warm one, and I was wounded, but not unto death. I hope in a few days to resume my command."

His recklessness in danger greatly distressed his friends, and they sent Oxenstiern to ask him not to expose his life again in battle. Gustavus answered: "As yet no king has lost his life by a bullet, moreover, the soldier follows the example of his leader, and a general who shrinks from danger will never cover himself with glory. Cæsar was always to be found in the front rank, and Alexander moistened each battlefield with his blood."

He was wounded three months later in a battle in Prussia against his brother-in-law, the Duke of Brandenburg. On this occasion he wrote home: "We met the enemy on foot and horseback, and our artillery made such execution that we thought we had put him to flight, but God would not have 30it. When we were about to dislodge him, a musket ball struck me at the shoulder near the neck, and was the chief cause of our losing the battle. I thank God in my misfortune for the hope of speedy restoration to health."

Now the officers of his army remonstrated, through Oxenstiern, and entreated him not to expose his person, calling his attention to the importance of his life to his country. He replied: "My friends, I cannot believe my life is so essential as you seem to think, for should the worst befall me, I am fully convinced that God would watch over Sweden as He has done hitherto. As God has made me king, I dare not permit myself to be frightened or to be actuated to my own advantage. Should, in the vicissitudes of war, death be my lot, how can a king fall more honorably than in the contest for God and His people?"

Even the surgeon rated him soundly for exposing his life. He replied: "Ne sutor crepidam!" "Everyone to his trade."

During the war with Poland, Austria sent against the Swedish an army of eight thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, under the famous Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland. Gustavus asked him what motive actuated Austria to meddle between two foreign countries. Wallenstein insolently answered, "The emperor, my master, has more soldiers than he wants for himself, he must help his friends."

Gustavus meant to take Spelter, in Marienburg, which he had conquered from the Prussians. One of his generals was prematurely attacked by the Imperial forces, and his division seemed near destruction, 31when Gustavus hastened to his assistance. In the midst of rout and loss, he was in danger of being made a prisoner by one of the enemy's cavalry. His hat was knocked off and a sword grazed his head. On the other side he was seized by the arm, when a Swedish dragoon killed his assailants, and led the king's horse to another part of the field.

Gustavus was deeply grateful to God for sparing his life, and more than once said in substance: "God has given me a crown, not to dread or rest, but to devote my life to His glory and to the happiness of my subjects."

Wherever he went he expelled the Jesuits, and required the governors of the conquered countries to restore to the Protestants the places of worship which the Catholics had taken from them. He admonished the Protestant clergy to preach the plain gospel, to administer the communion, using both bread and wine, and he insisted that the clergy should see that the people led honest, godly lives, consistent with the faith they professed.

He provided that a synod should meet each year to consult as to church affairs, in order to provide common schools for the people, and also for the higher education of the youth of the country.

The following great principles, showing that Sweden was in advance of other nations in securing the rights of the citizen, and limiting the rights of the crown, were incorporated in the king's oath, and placed on the statute books. No one should be apprehended or condemned upon a 32mere assertion, or without knowing his accuser and being brought face to face with him in a fair trial.

No man was to be degraded from office without a fair trial. The land's law provided that, without the consent of the people, neither a law should be made, nor a tax imposed, without the consent of the council and of the Estates. It took the combined authority of Duke John (during his life), of the council and of the Estates, to endorse the wish of the king to make war, peace, a truce or an alliance with a foreign nation. Think how this law safeguarded the rights of the people in a century when great absolutism prevailed.

Under Gustavus the council was reinstated in its position as mediator between king and people, as the Estates deprecated their being burdened with too frequent Diets or Congresses.

The oath taken by Gustavus had eliminated that part which forbade the king to alienate or diminish the property of the crown. One of the first things Gustavus did was to sell the gold and silver plate and all the jewels of the royal family he could obtain. Many of the nobility did the same to provide money for his wars.

The winters of Sweden are long, and the roads at that time were bad, and, of course, no railroads existed, so that it was no wonder the people of the realm disliked being frequently convened, aside from the great expense of such convocations. Among the demands of the nobility at the accession of Gustavus was that, before each Diet, they should be made acquainted, with the great matters to be discussed, in order that they might consider 33them at leisure and without influence from others, also that they might hold neighborhood conclaves and come to decisions, so that all need not attend the Diet.

Afterward the presence of military officers at the Diet was ascribed to Gustavus Adolphus.

In 1664 the knights and nobles, long after the death of the king, say, "Among other benefits of his reign, he gave us the deputies of the army for our assistance, who, without votes of their own, have stood so that, in conjunction with the councillors of state, we have been able to balance the other orders."

Axel Oxenstiern remarks: "The presence of the military, though having no votes, strengthened the nobility at the Diets where every nobleman, come to lawful years, was bound to give attendance."

The spirit of militarism pervaded all Sweden at that time. The writers of the period speak disparagingly of "old lords reared away from war in easy lives, who are no soldiers, and have in their councils only a heap of economists and literates." With such a spirit among the people, and with a king who felt called of God to stop the extermination of Protestants, was it any wonder, with the deck cleared for action, and the wars for his crown ended, that both he and his people should feel called to study, not local, but European conditions, and to inquire, "What is our duty in the premises?"

While the thoughts and plans of Gustavus were ripening for action in Germany, for a few short months he devoted himself to the business of his kingdom.

34In 1627 the king organized a company for work in America.^[1] He sent a small fleet to the West Indies. He encouraged emigration to a New Sweden, which extended from the mouth of the Delaware to Trenton, New Jersey.

In 1624 the Swedish West India Company had been formed, with the hope of enriching Sweden and lessening local taxation.

In 1638 two Swedish vessels entered Delaware Bay and founded New Sweden. They built a fort at what is now Wilmington, Delaware. The most interesting relics yet remaining of that company are the Old Swedes Church, in Wilmington, Delaware, and the Gloria Dei Church, in Philadelphia, in the southern section of the city. They constitute lasting memorials of the great Swedish king. Unfortunately these two famous historical buildings have passed out of the possession of the Lutheran Church. The Swedes had small colonies and strong churches from the mouth of the Delaware to Trenton, New Jersey. New Sweden existed under that name for seventeen years, when it was incorporated in the William Penn possessions.

The Swedes lost their language in America, but kept their sturdy Christianity. Their fair dealings with the Indians prepared the way for William Penn to have the name of founding a colony in peace, for which the Swedes should receive much of the credit.

Gustavus also devoted himself to the improvement of Stockholm, now one of the most beautiful 35cities of the world. It is often called the Venice of the North, being situated on a group of nine islands, connected by picturesque bridges. Its streets are wider than those of Venice, and the canals have none of the vile odors of the southern city.

Sweden has been called Sweden ever since people inhabited its territory. At different periods it has been united to Norway and Denmark, under the same ruler. It has never been invaded or conquered, or had its boundaries changed by a foreign power.

From the time of the abdication of Charles V. of Germany the country had, for about sixty years, enjoyed comparative peace. Luther's translation of the complete Bible had appeared in 1634. Nearly one hundred years had been given the plain people to study the word of God, to see what Christ said and what Paul preached, and to compare them with the doctrines of the Church as set forth by the priests of Rome.

The work of Luther was destructive as well as constructive. He tore down what was false in the worship of God. The greater part of the constructive work of his life was formulated in the Augsburg Confession.

The Diet of Augsburg met in the city of Augsburg in 1530. It consisted of leading divines of both Protestant and Catholic faith, and of the princes who upheld the Reformation.

The Protestants set before the emperor, Charles V., on June 25th, 1530, their doctrines in a remarkable document known as the Augsburg Confession, or the Augustana. It is the plain statement of the doctrines of the Lutheran Church the world over, and is the basis from which all other Protestant confessions are largely taken.

Then followed twenty-five years of the successful 37propagation of the doctrines of the Reformation, and the purified faith was accepted not only in Germany, but in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and in England and Scotland.

The Council of Trent, the eighteenth Ecumenical Council of Rome, met near the time of Luther's death. If it had been called in 1520, when Luther entreated for the calling of an Ecumenical Council to correct the abuses existing in the Church, it is quite possible that Luther would not have come out of the Church of Rome. If King George III. of England had yielded, even in part, to the prayer of the colonists, what is now the United States would probably have remained a colony of Great Britain.

The Council of Trent remained in somewhat interrupted session for over eighteen years. It was called with some idea of coming to some understanding with the Protestants, and of bringing them back into the Catholic Church. The Protestants paid little or no attention to the call, and the Council contented itself with reforming some of the abuses within the Church, and reformulating the doctrines of Rome.

The reform party at the Council of Trent demanded "wine as well as bread in the sacrament for the laity, schools for the poor, church hymns, preaching and Communion in the language of the people, a better catechism, reform in convents (some of which were mere houses of immorality), and the right to marry for the priests." The papal power called this rank heresy, and the entire council from beginning to end was a disgraceful 38spectacle. A few subordinate improvements on church discipline were granted, but no important reformation of church affairs, and the farce ended by an exultant proclamation calling down curses on the heretics.

From that day to this it has been Trent versus Augsburg. These two great councils were the most important events of the mediæval period. It is quite possible that the common people did not understand the bearing of the new religious thought, but the great statesmen of Europe saw that what is now called the Dark Ages had passed forever.

"The Protestants," says Ranke, "guided by the Scriptures, retraced their steps with ever-increasing firmness toward the primitive forms of faith and life. The Catholics, on the contrary, confronted with unflinching opposition and repelled with determined hostility whatever could recall the idea of Evangelical doctrines."

At the beginning the Thirty Years' War may be called a religious quarrel, but it soon became for the house of Hapsburg a scramble for personal aggrandizement. Ferdinand II. fought for territory, power and money, and he hoped, by recovering all the property which had belonged to the Catholic Church before the Reformation, he would attain these three objects. He followed this idea, although the formal edict was not announced for several years. It was his intention to break down all princes, both Catholic and Protestant, of the smaller German States, to incorporate Denmark, Holland and Italy (the old dream of Charles V.) into one great empire, and thus restore the old German-Roman Empire. It was a fine opportunity 39for self-aggrandizement under the guise of fighting for his church.

It was not to the interest of France to have the house of Hapsburg further aggrandized. God used this jealousy and ambition to further the work of the Reformation, so that France, through Cardinal Richelieu, became the ally of Gustavus Adolphus, and furnished a monthly stipend for paying Protestant soldiers, but even more valuable to the cause was the information and advice of this great Catholic ally. It was now believed that Richelieu^[2] even hoped for a confederacy of the smaller German States and free cities under the protectorate of France.

Reviewing for a moment the past, we shall remember that Charles V. was succeeded by his brother, Ferdinand I., who reigned from 1556 to 1564. Maximilian II., his son, was lenient to the Protestants, and ruled from 1564 to 1576. It was during his reign, in 1572, the St. Bartholomew massacre occurred in Paris, in which Catherine de Medicis and her son, Charles IX., caused the murder of over fifty thousand Huguenots, as the Protestants were called in France. The massacre continued three days and nights.

Pope Gregory XIII., on hearing the news, openly expressed his joy at "the glorious event," caused public thanksgiving to be made, and had a coin struck in commemoration of this vile sin. This event gave warning to the Protestants that Rome would take advantage of whatever opportunity offered to destroy Protestantism.

40During the great war Rudolph II. ruled Germany from 1576 to 1612, Mathias from 1612 to 1619, followed now by Ferdinand II. Louis XIII., the creature of his minister, Cardinal Richelieu, who, though a churchman, always put the State before the Church, was the ruler of France. He was followed by Louis XIV., whose mother, Queen Anne of Austria, and Cardinal Mazarin ruled till the majority of Louis XIV. The kings of England were James I., from 1603 to 1625, and Charles I., from 1625 to 1649. The Popes were Paul V., Gregory XV., Urban VIII. and Innocent X.

The Catholics now formed a strong league. The Protestants already had a weak union.

Mathias, during a reign of seven years, had favored the Catholics, and caused Ferdinand, one of the most cruel Catholics who ever lived, to be elected king of Hungary and Bohemia.

The election of Ferdinand was a great blow to Bohemia, and the new king lost no time in trying to destroy all the Protestants in his kingdom. Protestants were persecuted as criminals, and when they appealed to the law of the land, the Jesuits replied that Ferdinand's election as king of Bohemia canceled all laws in favor of Protestants.

"Novus rex, nova lex." This they declared was what was meant by the Reservatum Ecclesiasticum in the Augsburg Treaty of Peace. The clause stipulated that the people of each State should follow the religion of the ruler of the State. It is true the clause was there, but modified by two things:

1st. Cities were excepted.

2d. The Evangelical princes had not agreed to the clause and had protested against it.

41Ferdinand's action as king, of course, made an insurrection. How could it fail to do so?

The Emperor Mathias became frightened and fled to Vienna, after appointing a regency of four Catholics and three Protestants. The Protestant regents sent a petition to the Emperor, and the Catholic regents at the same time sent a report. Mathias ordered the implicit and instant obedience of the Protestants.

While the seven regents were assembled in an upper room in the palace at Prague to announce the Emperor's decision, Count Thurn, chief of the Protestant party, entered the room with a company of armed men. He demanded of each Catholic regent, "Did you advise the Emperor's arbitrary reply?" Two of them answered evasively, the other two said, "Yes, we did." At this point the four Catholic regents were seized and pitched out of the windows from the third story. They fell on a great heap of barnyard manure and were not killed. But by this the Protestants took the responsibility of saying, "By this act we pitch out of our lives the Pope of Rome, the King of Bohemia and the Emperor of Germany."

The Emperor was in feeble health and desired to make peace, but Ferdinand dissuaded him, and sent an army against these Protestants. The army was driven by Count Thurn and his men to the very gates of Vienna, and were only there turned back by the regular army of Austria.

The winter was coming, and no provision having been made for the Protestant army, the force returned to Prague.

This was to the Thirty Years' War what the 42firing on Fort Sumter was in the Civil War, or the skirmish at Lexington to the Revolutionary War.

Just after this Mathias died and Ferdinand, king of Bohemia, became Ferdinand II., Emperor of Germany. He, with his Jesuits, determined to retake all property which before the Reformation belonged to the Catholic Church.

In many places all the people had become Protestants, and the church having been built by the money of either themselves or their ancestors, the churches had been used for nearly one hundred years for Protestant services. Americans can understand the situation by thinking how it would be and what would happen if England should now demand that all property owned by the Crown before the Revolutionary War should be restored.

Ferdinand II. was now to force a war upon his subjects which left Europe a great cemetery. During the Thirty Years' War the population of Europe was reduced from sixteen millions to less than six million people. Thirty-five thousand towns and villages were destroyed.

Three-fourths of the population perished in Bohemia, partly by the sword, but also by pestilence and famine, and many emigrated. The question had resolved itself into this, "Shall we permit Protestantism to be forever exterminated?" It took all this sorrow of destruction of property and of human life to bring about political toleration between Protestant and Catholic States.

For thirty-three years Germany seems to have been blind to what was going on around her. The intellectual impetus given by the Reformation 43made the theological strife between Lutherans and Calvinists bitter and absorbing.

Large districts both south and west of them had been forced back under the dominion of the Church of Rome, and the Germans did not interfere. They had done but little for the Dutch in their desperate fight against the Spanish Hapsburgs and Romanism, so that William of Orange, in bitterness of heart, had said, "If Germany remains an idle spectator of our tragedy, a war will presently be kindled on German soil which will swallow up all the wars which have gone before it." That war was now on.

This war is usually divided into five periods: 1. War in Bohemia; 2. War in the Palatinate; 3. Danish war; 4. Swedish war; 5. Franco-Swedish war.

After their king had been made Emperor of Germany, the Bohemians, in an effort to make sure of their deliverance from the rule of Ferdinand, chose for their king Frederick V., Elector Palatine, who being the head of the Evangelical Union, was considered the chief of the Reformation party in Germany.

He was elected August 26th, 1619. He was not fortunate in securing the friendship and support of his own subjects. His conduct was so unbecoming his profession that it was no wonder God did not prosper him as a public leader. Frederick V. was son-in-law of James I. of England, and it was hoped by his election to secure the favor of the Protestants of England and Scotland.

The Emperor Ferdinand II. now placed Maximilian of Germany and the ferocious General Tilly at the head of the army of the Catholic League, to attack the city of Prague.

GERMAN EMPIRE, NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM.

45On November 8th, 1620, the armies met at White Mountain, near the city, and the Protestant army, composed of Germans, Hungarians and Bohemians, lacking first of all a good leader, but also lacking unity in action, courage and goodwill, were defeated in less than an hour by the superior numbers of the Imperial army.

Frederick, their king, was dining at leisure at Prague, while his army was being sacrificed. He availed himself of the short armistice of eight hours granted him by the Duke of Bavaria, to make a flight by night, in such haste that even his crown was left behind him.

The battle of White Mountain settled the matter so far as Bohemia was concerned, and Prague surrendered the next day. The Estates did the same homage as had been done by Silesia and Moravia, but the Emperor had another matter to settle with Prague. Tilly, with seven thousand men, principally Spaniards, entered the city. Twenty-seven Protestant chiefs were instantly executed, others were less publicly killed, and many more imprisoned or punished.

All the Protestant churches were confiscated and handed over to the Jesuits, who now came back in full force. The soldiers drove the country people into the mass, so that a baron of Oppersheim gloried in having converted, without a sermon, more people than the Apostle Peter, who through his Pentecostal sermon, had seen three thousand souls converted.

The Emperor, with his own hands, tore up the Letter of Majesty by which the Emperor Rudolph had granted religious liberty to the Bohemians.

Thirty thousand families left Bohemia during the next two years, and Maximilian was made Elector Palatine, in place of Frederick V.

46This is a very abbreviated history of the first division of that great war which laid low the country of John Huss.

The second period may be said to extend from 1621 to 1624, and is usually spoken of as the war in the Palatinate. The war was now carried into that portion of Germany. It was in vain that each Protestant prince determined to defend his possessions against the oppressor. Tilly vanquished them one after another till Ferdinand's scepter was over every State. The Imperial soldiers ranged over the country, taking everything of value, also appropriating to Rome every Protestant church and school, so that the Protestants could readily see that their extermination had been determined. Ferdinand had taken a vow to the Virgin, both at Loretto and at Rome, to enforce her worship at the peril of his life, declaring that he preferred to rule over a wilderness rather than a nation of heretics. Now, strengthened by his many successes, it was plain to all Germany that he meant to soon fulfill that wicked vow. The executions and massacres of that time were without parallel since the Christian era.

Ferdinand not only revenged himself on all Protestants, but he deeply humbled the Catholic princes by the exercise of despotic power over their people. All European statesmen became alarmed at the aggrandizement, as they called it, of the Hapsburgs. Richelieu, the great cardinal of France, was glad enough to see Protestantism punished, as he had no idea of letting Austria overshadow France. Holland was afraid for Protestantism within her own borders, the slow 47nature of James I. of England began to arouse itself, and he planned to reinstate his son-in-law, Frederick, in the Palatinate, when broken and oppressed Germany turned to the princes of Scandinavia for succor.

Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, was busy with his wars in Poland. He would gladly have sent part of his well-disciplined army to the assistance of the German princes, but they preferred the king of Denmark, Christian IV., brother-in-law to the Elector Palatine.

He began the third period of the war by entering into an alliance with England and Holland, and declaring war against the empire, marched to the help of the Protestant princes, Dukes of Brunswick, Mansfield and others.

Christian IV. took the field in March, 1625, with sixty thousand troops, and entered Germany, determined to cover himself with glory and to reestablish Protestantism.

Tilly had been bad enough in ravaging conquered territory, but now Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, appears on the scene. He had distinguished himself in the battle of White Mountain, and in the war against the Turks had received most valuable grants of land, and large revenues from the Emperor. Wallenstein was now put in command of the Imperial forces. He was a pervert from Protestantism to Rome, and such are always the most bigoted and intolerant. He had expelled the Hungarian troops from Moravia, and had accepted as pay the confiscated estates of his unfortunate countrymen.

He agreed to raise and support his own army 48for the Emperor at his own expense. The banditti of all Europe came to him for the promised loot, and, with an army of over one hundred thousand men, he took the field against Protestantism, already a divided, cowed, broken body of people. Not since the Crusades had there been such a war of devastation.

In five years Wallenstein and Tilly, who hated each other, but both under command of the Emperor, had routed the troops of Mansfield, the strongest of the auxiliaries of the king of Denmark, and had subdued Silesia, Lower Saxony and Holstein. As early as August, 1626, Christian IV. was defeated in the battle of Lutter, and was forced back to his own country for its defence. He was obliged to abandon his allies to the vengeance of their enemies. By the end of the five years Mansfield and Brunswick, the leading Protestant princes, were dead, and their troops destroyed or scattered. Everywhere the Imperialists laid the country waste.

Wallenstein took possession of Pomerania, and the Imperial forces, without opposition, marched into Holstein, Schleswig and Jutland, occupying all Denmark, except the islands. The neutral Protestant princes had their territories destroyed. This they fully deserved.

The Danish king sued for peace, and his possessions were returned to him on condition that he would take no further part in the war. This concession was not from mercy, but because France and Sweden were now preparing to take arms against the House of Austria.

In the conference at Lubeck, on May 22d, 1629, 49Wallenstein, with marked contempt, excluded the Swedish ambassadors while arranging terms with Denmark.

Wallenstein had been so successful that he had visions of making himself Emperor, of converting the Baltic Sea into an Austrian lake, and there having a great fleet to increase his wealth and power. For these reasons he now set out to take the cities on the Baltic coast. He besieged Stralsund, a Hanse town. The Hanse towns were the commercial towns of Germany, associated together for the protection of commercial interests. Wallenstein now had the title of "Admiral of the Baltic" conferred on him by the Emperor. The new admiral said, "There are twenty-eight ports in Pomerania; we must fortify them to keep Sweden from attacking them."

Stralsund represented not alone the Hanseatic League, but the Protestant faith and liberty of conscience. Wallenstein swore, "I will capture Stralsund though it were chained to the gates of heaven." He did not take into the count God and the king of Sweden.

The inhabitants of Stralsund were a deeply religious people. With Wallenstein besieging their city, and well knowing the destruction of the country over which they had passed, they took the oath to abide by the true religion of the Augsburg Confession, to fight for it as well as for the rights and liberties of the city, and to stand by the Empire as long as the line of conduct would be justifiable before God, posterity, and in accordance with their oath to defend the city. This shows their faith in God; to Him they appealed, 50and after ten weeks siege, Wallenstein, at the order of the Emperor, after losing twelve thousand of his best troops, was forced to abandon the siege.

Wallenstein had threatened to destroy every creature within its walls, so the women and children had been sent to Sweden, and that country provided the food from the side of Stralsund opening on the sea.

But the Emperor now considered that his troops were so successful that he might put into the form of an edict that which they had been practicing ever since his coronation. He issued what is called the Edict of Restitution (1629 A. D.), confiscating all Protestant property obtained from Catholics since the Treaty of Passau. This violated the Treaty of Augsburg, which had guaranteed that property. This would have made war in time of peace, now it prolonged a war begun eleven years before. He further decided "that by the religious peace Catholic princes were under no further obligations to their Protestant subjects than to allow them to quit their territories."

Under this edict the Protestant States were ordered to surrender all church property and all secularized religious foundations to the Imperial commissioner. The Protestants again quite understood that the extermination of their religion had been determined. The commissioners were appointed, and Wallenstein was charged to enforce the edict.

The enforcement began at Augsburg. The bishop was reinstated. He prohibited all worship of the Protestant form, and erected a gallows in 51front of the town hall to show what would happen to those who disobeyed.

Lorenz Forer, one of Wallenstein's captains, said, "Be active, my friends, if some withstand you, kill and burn them in a fire that shall make the stars melt, and force the angels of heaven to withdraw their feet."

A cry of agony and terror ran through all Germany. The Emperor's own brother wrote: "Your Majesty cannot form any idea of the conduct of the troops. I have myself waged war for a few years, and I know that it can seldom be carried on without leaving traces of violence. But to break windows, to overthrow walls, to commit arson, to cut off noses and ears, to torment, to commit rape, to murder for amusement's sake, are disorders which field officers can and ought to oppose. I know there are people who endeavor to persuade your Majesty that these accusations are unfounded, but I hope that your Majesty will place at least as much reliance on me as on such gentlemen who fill their purses with the blood and toil of poor people. I could name you many officers who, a short time ago, had scarcely the means to clothe themselves, who to-day possess three or four hundred thousand florins in specie. Discontent increases threateningly, and my conscience does not allow me to conceal from your Majesty the true state of affairs."

The Catholic princes and Duke Maximilian of Bavaria entreated that Wallenstein should be dismissed. This was done, and he went back to his duchy in Bohemia. Some few of his worst officers were sent away. But Tilly and Pappenheim, 52whose names have ever since been the synonym of pillage and devastation, were now placed in command.

The princes of Germany began to look with one accord toward Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden. The truce between Poland and Gustavus was concluded August 26th, 1629, the very year of the Edict of Restitution, and the Swedish king began to shape affairs in his own kingdom to help his brethren of the Protestant faith in Germany.

His own door to the sea, the Baltic, even the security of his own State was threatened, but above all, he saw Protestantism in danger of being as much extinguished as it had been in Spain and Portugal. It is possible that he had some hopes of securing territory from Germany, while the war was on between Poland and Russia on one side and Gustavus on the other, the Emperor Ferdinand II. had declared Gustavus under the ban, and, no doubt, he was glad, as a man, to measure swords with the tyrant of Germany.

When Gustavus was only twenty-six years of age, in the midst of wars and struggles, he was laying the foundations for a greater Sweden. In 1620 he inquired of the bishops how knowledge could be disseminated among the people. He claimed that he had a greater want than that of money, namely, competent persons for civil and military positions.

He inquired what schools for the common people, what seminaries, what colleges were necessary to educate the people. He inquired where good teachers could be obtained from foreign countries, and required that they should be brought to Sweden. He said, "The instruction in religion may be passable, but as the clergy do not understand matters of government and of civic life, they cannot be expected to prepare men for the State." So men of affairs were now secured to assist in teaching.

In 1625 he granted to the Upsala Academy, as he called what is now the great University, from his own hereditary estates, three hundred and fifty manors, besides the crown tithes in several parishes, a stipend for many professors, and $3,250.00 yearly for the community or student house, with $2,500.00 yearly for maintenance, besides setting apart money for prizes.

54He transferred to the Library at Upsala his printing plant, and began the library by presenting his own books. He erected a library building, and arranged for its endowment. He established four gymnasiums, or, as we would call them, colleges, and laid the foundation for that general course of schools, colleges and universities which has made Sweden one of the best educated nations on earth.

From 1627 Sweden had by letters patent opened the doors to Protestant exiles. The Dukes of Mecklenburg had there found asylum and honorable occupation for their sons.

The women and children of wealthy Germans had been sent to Sweden, and the common people were well informed as to the devastating wars in Germany.

Oxenstiern was not favorable to Gustavus going to the relief of Germany. He feared for the life of his friend, and for the succession of the Vasas. The same view was taken by Skytte, his old tutor. The daughter of Gustavus was not yet quite four years of age.

Before the Estates the king did not urge the defence of Protestantism so much as patriotism. He said, "Denmark is used up. The Imperial army of Papists have Rostock, Wismar, Stettin, Wolgast, Greifswald and nearly all the other ports. Rugen is theirs, and they continue to threaten Stralsund. They aim to destroy Swedish commerce and to plant a foot on the southern shores of our Fatherland. The fight is for house, home and faith."

The Estates voted at once for regular and heavy 55taxes for three years. The nobles renounced their privilege of freeing tenants from service and taxation. The mercantile companies gave up their subsidies to provide for the fleet. Many had spoken against the war, but when the vote was taken all voted to sustain their king.

Gustavus said: "I did not call you together because of any doubt in my mind, but that you might oppose me if you wished. That freedom you no longer enjoy. You have spoken. My view is this, that for our safety, honor and final peace, I see nothing but to make a bold attack on the enemy. I hope it will be for the advantage of Sweden, but I also hope, if the day go hard with us, no blame will be laid upon me, for I have no other end in view but that advantage. I do not underrate the difficulties, such as the want of means, or the doubtful issue of battle. It is no idle glory I am seeking, the king of Denmark is sufficient warning to me against that, besides the judgment of posterity leaves a man very little glory. I am satisfied with glory and want no more. Your duty is clear, to exhort all my subjects to continue in their present devoted attitude. For myself, I see that I have no more rest to expect but the rest of eternity."

From this time Gustavus Adolphus met no further opposition among his own people. All Sweden at that time had only about one and a half million people, not so many as now live in New York City.

Richelieu sent a wily ambassador to Gustavus, but the king was careful to enter into no hampering alliance with a Catholic power. Charnace, the 56emissary of Richelieu, twice visited Sweden, in the winter and spring of 1629 and 1630. He assured the king that the Protestant States would receive him with open arms. The king replied that such was not the case. Gustavus well knew that the Elector of Saxony, although a Protestant, was an ally of the Emperor simply to save his country from devastation, and that his brother-in-law of Brandenburg was a slothful glutton, wanting only to be let alone.

As long as Denmark might "bite Sweden in the heel," Gustavus felt loth to leave his kingdom. He now had a personal interview with Christian IV. of Denmark and assured himself of goodwill on that side, he renewed the guards along the side next Russia and Poland, and quietly made ready his army, both by land and sea, for going to the relief of Germany.

The Emperor said: "We shall now have another little enemy to fight." Wallenstein said that he could expel Gustavus, with the judicious use of a rod, as he might have spoken of a recalcitrant boy. At the same time Wallenstein offered thirty thousand dollars to anyone who would assassinate the king of Sweden, and thus save him using the rod.

Falkenberg, a Swedish ambassador, visited the courts of Holland and of different Protestant German States, receiving fine verbal promises of assistance, but they utterly refused to enter into a written alliance with Sweden. Lubeck and Hamburg advanced him money and agreed to accept Swedish copper in return.

Every Swedish regiment was now made up to 57its full complement. Thirty men-of-war, two hundred transports and fifteen thousand men were now ready to take their share in one of the most dangerous campaigns of the great war. It was a small army, but it was composed of veterans. Every individual had been seasoned in previous wars, and was perfect in discipline, courage and in devotion to his commander and king. The army was composed mostly of Swedes, but had several regiments of Scots and several more regiments of Germans. The king had a small but well-equipped corps of artillery. He was also well provided with shovels, spades and picks, with which to construct earthworks.

Oxenstiern, at the time of the king's embarkation, was also sent, with ten thousand more men, to guard the frontier of Poland, and almost as many as Gustavus took with him were left to guard against sudden and unexpected invasion at home.

He set every part of his kingdom in order, as one who goes forth to meet the doubtful issues of a great war. The law-making power of Sweden was vested in the four Estates: Nobility, Clergy, Burghers and Peasants. The consent of at least three of these was necessary to the king for every forward movement.

So now, on May 19th, 1630, he called the Estates together, to rehearse before them the causes and conditions which forced the Swedish nation into the war. He was accompanied by the queen, also by the Council of State, in whose hands he was to leave the government. He carried in his arms his little daughter, Christina, then only four 58years of age. He presented her to the Estates as his successor in case of his death, and secured their renewed allegiance to her should he not return. He read the ordinances for the government in his absence, or during the minority of his daughter.

The assembly was in tears, and the king had to wait a few moments to overcome his own emotion before giving his farewell address:

"Not lightly nor wantonly," said he, "am I about to involve myself and you in this new and dangerous war. God is my witness that I do not fight to gratify my own ambition, but the Emperor has wronged me most grievously in the persons of my ambassadors; he has supported my enemies, persecuted my friends and brethren; he has trampled my religion in the dust, and even stretches his arm against my crown. The oppressed States of Germany call loudly for aid, which by God's help we will give them.

"I am fully sensible of the dangers to which my life will be exposed. I have never shrunk from dangers, nor is it likely I shall escape them all. Hitherto Providence has wonderfully protected me, but I shall at last fall in defence of my country. I commend you and all my absent subjects to the protection of heaven, and hope that we shall meet in eternity.

"To you, my Councillors of State, I first address myself. May God enlighten you, and fill you with wisdom to promote the welfare of my people. You, too, my brave Noblemen, I commend to the divine protection. Continue to prove yourselves the worthy successors of those brave 59Goths whose bravery humbled to the dust the pride of ancient Rome. To you, Ministers of Religion, I recommend peaceableness and piety; be yourselves examples of the virtues which you preach, and abuse not your influence over the minds of my people. On you, the Burghers and Peasants, I entreat the blessing of heaven; may your industry be rewarded by a prosperous harvest, your stores be plenteously filled, and may you be crowned abundantly with all the blessings of this life. For the prosperity of all my subjects, absent and present, I offer my warmest prayers to heaven. I bid you all a sincere—it may be an eternal farewell."

The whole assembly was in tears, the king himself was weeping, but after a few moments he said, in a natural voice, the words of the Psalm which he was accustomed to say aloud before entering on any new undertaking. We give only the closing part, upon which he seemed to lay most emphasis:

"Oh, satisfy us early with Thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children, and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it."

He set apart the first Friday of July, August and September as days of fasting and for prayer for the nation and for the army.

In about ten days after this, at the beginning of 60June, he embarked at Elfsnabbe, surrounded and cheered by a concourse of weeping relatives and friends, but sent forward with their blessing and best wishes.

A continued southwest wind kept the fleet from making progress, and the ships were obliged to return to port. Their provisions ran out and had to be renewed from seaport towns. On account of contrary winds, it took five weeks to make that short distance. The landing took place on June 24th, 1630, the one hundredth anniversary of the day on which the Augsburg Confession had been presented to Charles V., Emperor of Germany, in the presence of the leading ecclesiastics and ruling princes and dukes of all Germany. Gustavus looked upon this as a good omen, for his coming was at a time when all those principles set forth in that Confession were endangered.

He landed his troops on the islands of Wollin and Usedom. Stepping on shore he fell on his knees, and in the presence of his staff thanked God in these words: "O Thou who rulest over the heavens and the earth, over the wind and the sea, Lord, how can I worthily thank Thee for Thy miraculous protection which Thou hast graciously vouchsafed to me during this dangerous passage? My heart is full of gratitude for all Thy benefits. Oh, deign to bless this enterprise undertaken for the defence of Thy distressed Church, and the consolation of Thy faithful servants. Let it redound, not to my glory, but to Thine. O God, 62who triest the hearts and the reins, Thou knowest the purity of my intentions. Grant me favorable weather and a good wind, which will cheer my brave army, and allow me to continue Thy sacred work. Amen."

A man may talk with reservations to his fellowmen, but who would presume to be false in prayer before his God? That prayer reveals beyond all possibility of doubt the real reason of his undertaking this great war.

Joshua himself did not more implicitly rely upon his God than did this brave king. He so trusted on God's assistance that he marched with scant supply of food and money, and with what now seems like a mere handful of soldiers, against the trained troops of a great empire which for twelve years had met and conquered every foe on its triumphant march from the south of Germany to the Baltic Sea.

He asked his officers and soldiers to pray much. He said: "The more you pray the more victories will be ours. Incessant prayer is half a victory."

When Gustavus had finished his prayer, he took a spade and began to work at the intrenchments. Colonel Munro, commander of the Scots, says: "Gustavus was ever impatient till his soldiers were guarded from their enemies, and when he had the fewest soldiers he took more pains with intrenchments." He well understood the duties of a civil engineer, and when no other was at hand, directed in person the intrenchment of his army. When the intrenchments were done he addressed his troops:

"Do not believe I undertake this war for myself 63or for my kingdom. We march to the relief of our oppressed brethren. You will by brilliant victories accomplish this generous project and acquire immortal glory. Be not afraid of the enemies whom we are going to meet, they are the same whom you have already defeated in Prussia. Your gallantry has just forced Poland to conclude a truce of six years. If you show the same courage, the same perseverance, you will procure for the Evangelical Church and for our German brethren the peace which they need."

He then had the military laws and regulations proclaimed in which any outrage on person or property was to be punished with death. But Gustavus felt that his soldiers must be governed from within and not from without. To that end he urged the chaplains to preach the gospel faithfully in camp, and he ordered that prayer meetings should be held twice each day.

Men fresh from their homes, often homesick and heartsick for the home folks, were open to the message which their mothers and fathers had so often laid on their young hearts, so it is not surprising that the behavior of the Swedish army on a foreign soil is memorable to this day in Europe, in strong contrast to the Imperial army which embittered even friendly provinces in its devastating journeys.

Gustavus immediately subdued the country on which he had made his descent, and having taken possession of Rugen, he expelled the Imperial troops from all neighboring islands, and made secure his communications with Sweden.

He then advanced on Stettin, the capital of 64Pomerania, and forced the old Duke Bogislaus XIV. to make a quick decision between an alliance with Sweden or with the Empire. The people of the city hastened privately to pay their respects to the Swedish king as the true Defender of the Faith, to which they also subscribed. He talked over with them the condition of Germany, the affairs of the Church, and of their faith and love, and completely won their hearts.

His personality at this time was most pleasing, his fair hair, his handsome beard, his tall, strong, lithe, athletic body predisposed everyone in his favor.

The gates of Stettin were thrown open to him, but he quartered his soldiers in their tents and not in the city. The king entered into a close alliance with Sweden, thus making Pomerania a protecting State for Sweden, and also for the rearguard of the Swedish army and for its line of communication with the home country. The army covered the greater part of Pomerania, in spite of the efforts of General Torquato-Conti, who had charge of all the Imperial troops stationed in this duchy. As he retreated he wreaked an awful vengeance upon the innocent people, capturing women, and even killing children, and leaving desolation in his wake. The people came out to meet the Swedes, and hailed them as saviours of the country.

As Gustavus continued his journey through Pomerania his army was greatly increased. Troops who had fought under Mansfield, under Duke Christian of Brunswick, and under the king of Denmark, and all those disaffected because of 65Wallenstein now enrolled under his victorious banner, so that by the end of 1630, only a few months after leaving Sweden he ruled in Pomerania as sovereign. The Estates of the Duchy voted and paid him one hundred thousand florins.

He was anxious to push on to Mecklenburg, but a severe northern winter was at hand and it was deemed best to wait and go into winter quarters.

Whatever trepidation of heart the Emperor may have felt at these advances, he put on a bold front at Vienna and scoffed at the name of Gustavus Adolphus, declaring that the "Snow King of the North" would soon melt away with his army as he moved southward, but it is a curious fact that people of northern climates can accustom themselves to any latitude, while people born under a hot sun cannot always endure cold, and the Swedes proved that they could fight in any land.

The Emperor's confidence was by no means shared by the Catholic League. They now placed General Tilly, who, it was claimed, had never lost a battle, at the head of the Imperial forces.

Since Wallenstein had been retired great companies of mercenary soldiers could be had by any commander who could pay them. If Gustavus had possessed money many of these would much have preferred to fight for him. But God was to show, as in the case of Gideon, what could be done with the few. In spite of his faith, however, Gustavus sometimes feared the future. The winter used up most of the food and the money. In a letter to Oxenstiern dated December, 1630, he says: "May God, into whose hands I commit all, 66help us to live through the winter. Then, thanks to your care and foresight, the summer will be more prosperous. I would like to describe our condition to you, but a sabre cut having rendered my hand stiff, I am prevented from doing so." Let it suffice you to know that the enemy enjoys every advantage for establishing his winter quarters, since all Germany has become his prey. If I had more soldiers with me on the bank of the Oder I would march forward. Although our cause is good and just the issue is uncertain—uncertain are also man's days.

"Therefore, I pray you for Christ's sake, be not discouraged if all does not succeed to our wishes. I most earnestly recommend my family to your care if misfortune befall me. It is in many respects worthy of interest. The mother needs advice, she is none too wise. The daughter, a tender child, will be exposed to many difficulties if she should reign, and to many dangers if others should reign over her. I commit both of them, their future, my life and all that I possess in this world, to God's holy and powerful keeping. I am persuaded that whatever may befall me on this earth will always be for my good, and after this life I hope to enjoy eternal peace and joy."

Gustavus Adolphus did not remain inactive, but after conquering Pomerania he advanced into the Duchy of Brandenburg, for the purpose of reaching Mecklenburg. He pushed the Imperial troops from Pomerania, so that Tilly fell back to the Elbe, without venturing to defend Frankfort-on-the-Oder, which the Swedes successfully assaulted 67in a three-days siege about the middle of the winter.

William of Hesse-Cassel in October, 1630, gladdened the heart of the king by entering into an alliance with him. Aside from this one prince, not one evangelical prince would come to his assistance.

The Edict of Restitution set hard on the Lutheran churches of Saxony and Brandenburg, yet these rulers looked upon Gustavus more as a rival than as a friend, so that they may be said to have forced Gustavus into an alliance with France. The treaty with France was signed at Baerwalde, in the Duchy of Brandenburg, January 13th, 1631. The contracting parties entered into an alliance offensive and defensive to protect their common friends, to restore the deposed Prince to the Empire, and as nearly as possible to restore Church and State possessions to the conditions existing before the disturbance began in Bohemia, and before the Edict of Restitution.

France now agreed to furnish Gustavus for the payment of his troops four hundred thousand dollars annually, and paid one hundred thousand dollars cash for the year past, the object of France being to check the House of Austria and to retain what is called in Europe "the balance of power."

Gustavus agreed to keep an armed force of not less than thirty-six thousand in Germany till peace should be agreed upon, and to leave Catholics alone where he found that religion prevailing. Gustavus had not the slightest reverence nor patience with the worn out idea of the Holy Roman Empire. With him religion was an intense incentive 68to action, and sloth, indifference, laziness were qualities which made him angry to intolerance.

But there was a curious allegiance of the smaller German States to that name—the Holy Roman Empire. It was only after two centuries of having their territory sacrificed again and again to uphold a crumbling dynasty that they began to center their eyes on North Germany for a union. Had Ferdinand turned Lutheran a truly united Germany would have been made in the seventeenth instead of the nineteenth century, for he came to an empire in which the majority of his subjects were Protestants. He had said that he preferred to rule in an uninhabited wilderness rather than to have a prosperous nation of heretics. When he left it the wilderness was over what had been a prosperous State.

John George, the Elector of Saxony, was the leader and most powerful Protestant ruler in North Germany. He was a Protestant, but he announced that he preferred an alliance with the Emperor. Then George William, Elector of Brandenburg, was slothful, and although a brother-in-law of Gustavus, was jealous of the hard-won laurels of the Swedish king.

The jealousy of those Protestant princes show that whatever religion they may have professed they had very little of the grace of God in their hearts. The King of Denmark may be ranked with these. He was anxious to have Gustavus wrecked even as he had been, in order to curtail the power of the Swedish kingdom.

John George, Elector of Saxony, convened the 69rulers of the Protestant States of the Empire at Leipzig, February, 1631, to enter a remonstrance against the oppressions of the Empire. Gustavus made known to them his alliance with France and entreated them to join him in protecting the Protestant faith.^[3]

Richelieu sent his own gifted diplomat, Charnace, to lay before them the dangers which threatened their religion. Gustavus was even willing to accept a secret support, if the princes were afraid of the wrath of the Emperor. But the Elector of Saxony was so filled with the spirit of envy and jealousy that he not only refused alliance himself but persuaded the others to at least defer entering into any agreement with the Swedish king. The Duke of Weimar and his brother urged that Protestantism needed just such a leader to unite them, and failing to convince the assembly, they withdrew in anger from the convention.

There were sixty-two princes of the two reformed creeds. There were no end of committees. All possible grievances were presented to the Emperor in the form of petition. There was an implied threat that unless their cry was heard at some future time they would arm for the defence of the Augsburg Confession, John George agreeing to give eleven thousand men, and George William five thousand for the cause. The name of Gustavus Adolphus was carefully kept out of every public document. The Emperor answered their appeal by ordering them to adjourn at once, or Leipzig should be blown about their ears.

In the meantime Gustavus learned that Tilly 70had gone to besiege Magdeburg, and the king of Sweden made immediate preparation to go to the relief of that devoted city.

Tilly had taken a town guarded by two thousand Swedes. A surrender was forced, and the Swedes agreed to lay down their arms on condition of an oath not to serve again during the war. The poor fellows had failed to receive a dispatch from their king to retreat and leave the town to its fate. They were butchered to the last man. The only cruel thing recorded in the history of Gustavus was his revenge for this crime. When he captured Frankfort-on-the-Oder two thousand prisoners of war were slain. Such is war. We shall see how Tilly retaliated on Gustavus for this. Cruelty, even in war, is always bad policy, aside from being a sin against God.

He asked at the hand of Brandenburg that he be permitted to hold the fortresses of Kustrin and Spandau till the siege of Magdeburg could be raised. But his brother-in-law, afraid of the wrath of the Emperor, utterly refused. The anger of his Emperor concerned him much more than the anger of his Lord. King Gustavus wrote him: "My road is to Magdeburg, not for my own advantage, but for that of the Protestant religion. If no one will stand by me I shall immediately retreat, conclude a peace with the Emperor and return to Stockholm. I am convinced that Ferdinand will readily grant me whatever conditions I may require. But if Magdeburg is once lost, and the Emperor relieved of all fear of me, then it is for you to look for yourselves and the consequences. He who makes 71a sheep of himself will be eaten by the wolf. For I tell you plainly, I will not hear a word of neutrality. Your serenity must be either friend or foe. As soon as I get to your frontier you will have to declare yourself. Here strive God and the devil. If you will hold with God, come over to me. If you prefer the devil, you will have to fight me first. There shall be no neutral party in this war."

It was just what Duke George William wanted, to be the third party. He hoped he could hold off and eventually be the balance of power between the Empire and Gustavus, King of Sweden. The Elector of Brandenburg actually gave orders to the commanders of these fortresses, Kustrin and Spandau, to let the Imperial troops "pass and repass," but if the Swedes come "pray them to turn back," but if prayers failed, they were to be allowed to pass, for their conduct would show their power. Such an order must have been given while the duke was on one of his after-dinner too free libations.

As the Swedish army approached Spandau was granted to Gustavus, for the Elector saw that even without his consent, Gustavus would take it. Then John George, Elector of Saxony, controlled by his own envy and jealousy, utterly refused to let Gustavus have free passage through his State, even forbidding him to cross the Elbe.

Gustavus did not desire to go to war with the prince who was the very head and front of the Protestant Union, which in the February meeting had demanded the revocation of the Edict of Restitution.

72He had to force his way into Mecklenburg, whose ruling princes were his kinsmen. He had given them shelter and kindness when they had been pressed by the Imperial forces. Indeed, his entering the Thirty Years' War was partly on their behalf, but the Emperor had his Jesuits everywhere, and when Gustavus landed in Pomerania he found the Dukes of Mecklenburg more friendly to the Imperialists than to him. He needed that State to secure his rear and to keep open communications with Sweden.

In the meantime, while Gustavus was conquering small towns and restoring order to Pomerania (to which the frightened inhabitants were returning), and was being harassed, worried and annoyed beyond human words to express by these two Protestant electors, let us recall what was happening to Magdeburg.

Gustavus had despatched General Falkenberg, an experienced officer, to Magdeburg. He had entered the city disguised as a boatman. He found the people discouraged and disheartened, but this intrepid soldier so revived them that, with three thousand militia, two thousand of the regular infantry and one hundred and fifty horsemen, they determined to resist the Imperialists, consisting of thirty-three thousand infantry and nine thousand cavalry.

There are pages of pathos in every history, but nothing exceeds the pathetic picture of that heroic, devoted soldier refusing quarter because the condition of surrender was that they should become Papists. There were traitors within the walls. Three hundred of them rushed with great joy to 73the invaders as they entered the city, but were mostly cut down.

Magdeburg was taken May 10th by storm. Their first vengeance was on the Protestant clergy. They killed them in their homes, and burned them and their books together. They bound the wives and daughters of the clergy to the tails of their horses. They dragged them into camp, where they were outraged and murdered. St. John's Lutheran Church was filled with women, the Imperialists nailed the doors, shut and burned the church. They tied the most beautiful women of the city to the stirrups of their horses and raced each other, with their victims, out of town. They carried screaming children aloft on their bloody pikes; of the entire city only the cathedral, the cloister and four or five houses were left. General Falkenberg perished with his men. When called to surrender, he replied, "I hold out while I live."

The Imperialists were in momentary fear that Gustavus would arrive, so that they filled every hour of three days and nights in robbery, rape and murder, unequaled in all the annals of history. Babes were speared at their mothers' breasts. One miscreant boasted that he had burned twenty infants. Fifty-three women were beheaded at one time, while at prayers. Probably forty thousand perished in this holocaust. In this manner the ban of the Holy Roman Empire was executed on a German city for defending the gospel.

Tilly wrote his Emperor: "Not since Troy and Jerusalem has there been such a victory." On 74Falkenberg's house a tablet was placed, "Remember May 10th, 1631," and all Protestants who know history from that day to this do, with bitterness of heart, remember that dreadful day.

Tilly was born in Brabant in 1559. He had been educated in a college of Jesuits and well represented their principles. He had distinguished himself in the Turkish war, and in the war of the Netherlands, under the Duke of Alva, whom he took for his model. In his private life he was moral, and like Paul before his conversion, he really thought to kill heretics was doing God's service. But Magdeburg ruined his reputation, he became tormented with remorse; the hatred later shown to him and his retreating forces embittered his later years, and, possibly, may have caused that remorse.

But where was Gustavus Adolphus during this woeful time? He was held back by Duke John George of Saxony, and by his own brother-in-law, Duke George William of Brandenburg. The latter was a weak creature, perfectly under the influence of his minister, Schwarzenberg, an employé of the Emperor of Austria.

Neither of these princes dreamed that Magdeburg would be destroyed, they only expected it to change hands. There was something of hatred among the princes against the Hanseatic towns, which was a factor in their detention of Gustavus Adolphus.

The Jesuits circulated the report that the king of Sweden had voluntarily left Magdeburg to perish. They hoped by that means to alienate the other Protestants from Gustavus. It was not 75difficult for him to clear himself of this charge, and most histories now agree that the destruction of Magdeburg was due to the prejudices, envies, jealousies and mistrust of the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg. Gustavus had written the Elector of Saxony, when Magdeburg was threatened: "I see myself obliged to lower my pretensions and not to advance further. To post myself between two wavering powers, or to abandon the rivers by which all my convoys arrive, would be contrary to all rules of military science. However, I wish to show Magdeburg how much solicitude I feel for her, and should I sacrifice my life, I shall do all I can to deliver her. May God sustain me by His grace, and make my perseverance triumphant. Before God and before men I declare that I am innocent of all the blood that will be shed, and of all the misfortunes that will happen."

The terror and agony caused by the destruction of Magdeburg soon changed to hot indignation, and the German people raised such a hue and cry against their princes that they were, for the most part, glad to throw themselves into the arms of the king of Sweden. But that hopeful brother-in-law refused even to permit Gustavus to hold the fortress of Spandau.

Gustavus well knew that if he left Brandenburg, Berlin would follow Magdeburg, so, as he retreated from Spandau, either as a huge joke or in earnest, he planted his artillery to command the city of Berlin. The ladies of the Elector's family came in person to entreat Gustavus not to move north and leave them to the mercy of the Imperialists, 76and to beg him not to shell the city. They assured him that the Elector would treat with him, make any treaty—only Gustavus must not leave the Duchy to the fate of Magdeburg. Munro says: "And the king answered, merrily, that if the Duke did not conclude a treaty with him before night he would send the Duchess and all the ladies prisoners to Sweden, and that the Duke should follow." The alliance was concluded June 11th, Gustavus to hold Spandau during the war, and to have free passage through Kustrin and to use any other fortresses he might need. A payment of thirty thousand dollars a month and liberal contributions for the support of the army were also granted.

About this time Gustavus learned that Greifswald, the only fortress which the Imperialists yet held in Pomerania, had surrendered to the Swedish General Ake Tott. The Czar of Moscow sent messengers to congratulate him, also to renew his alliance and to offer him troops. Gustavus was much gratified at this attitude of Russia, as it was most desirable to keep Sweden undisturbed by any foreign foe while its king was absent from his country.

The latter part of June Gustavus employed in reinstating the Dukes of Mecklenburg, who were now put into full possession of all their duchy, except Rostock and Wismar. They proved very ungrateful, and General Ake Tott had great difficulty in making them furnish their share of contributions for the war which gave back to them their possessions.

General Tilly now marched direct from Magdeburg 77to Thuringia, in order to force the Landgrave of Hesse to disband the troops he had gathered for the assistance of the king of Sweden, also to force him to receive Imperial garrisons in his fortresses, and to pay a large war indemnity. Of course, he refused to comply with these demands. As Tilly passed over the country everything was laid waste. His army had been almost as demoralized by the victory at Magdeburg as if it had been a defeat. The men of the army seem never to have desisted even for a single day from robbery, arson and all forms of nameless crimes.

Meanwhile, General Bauer, of Gustavus' army, had stormed Havelberg, so that now the Swedes held nearly all the country north of the Elbe, and were ready to take the aggressive. But think of it, he had been obliged to conquer the duchies of Mecklenburg and Brandenburg, whose princes were Protestants and should have been more interested in bringing the army supplies, furnishing troops and driving back the Imperialists, than Gustavus himself. It was not their religion, but their lack of religion that was at fault.

The Landgrave of Hesse gave Tilly's troops such a severe rebuff that the Imperial army was ordered immediately into Thuringia, but Tilly, hearing where Gustavus and his army were located, made his way to that portion of the country and encamped on the same side of the Elbe River as Gustavus.

The Swedes routed three of Tilly's regiments, carried off most of their baggage and burned the remainder. But Gustavus' army had been weakened by much sickness during the winter and he 78carefully avoided a general engagement, while Tilly considered the entrenchments of the Swedes far too formidable for assault. Tilly wasted considerable time before the Swedish camp, then bent his course toward Saxony. Up to this time this country had been spared, because of the loyalty of its ruling house to Austria, and because Emperor Ferdinand II. earnestly desired to keep Duke John George with his party, but it was a rich country, and now Tilly and his hordes pounced upon it like birds of prey on a carcass. A line of two hundred burning villages marked Tilly's march to the neighborhood of Leipzig.

Now the Elector, when the beak of the enemy was at his own vitals, turned quickly to Gustavus. He sent Field Marshal Arnheim to request the immediate help of the king of Sweden. The king must have been gratified, though no word of history shows any exultation on his part. He replied to the Field Marshal: "I am sorry for the Elector; had he heeded my repeated remonstrances his country would never have seen the face of an enemy, and Magdeburg would not have been destroyed. Now, when necessity leaves no other alternative, he seeks my assistance. But tell him that I cannot, for his sake, ruin my own cause and that of my confederates. What pledge have I for the sincerity of a prince whose minister is in the pay of Austria and who will abandon me as soon as the Emperor flatters him and withdraws his troops from Saxony?"

In spite of the coldness of the king, Arnheim persisted, for he had been ordered to secure the assistance of the king of Sweden at any price. 79Arnheim pressed him to name any conditions, saying: "I shall see they are accepted." At last Gustavus said: "I require that the Elector shall cede to me the fortress of Wittenberg, deliver to me his eldest son as hostage, furnish my troops with three months' pay, and deliver up to me the traitors among his ministry."

"Not Wittenberg alone," said the Elector, when he had read the message, "but Torgau and all Saxony shall be open to him, my whole family shall be hostages, and if that is not enough, I will place myself in his hands. Return and inform him I am ready to deliver to him any traitors he shall name, to furnish his army with any money he requires, and to venture my life and fortune in the good cause."

The king had only been testing him, and now, believing in the sincerity of the Elector's intentions, he very much modified his demands. "The distrust," said the king, "which he had shown me when advancing to the relief of Magdeburg, had made me distrustful; his present confidence demands a return. I shall be satisfied if he grants my army one month's pay, and even for this advance I hope to indemnify him."

On September 1st, 1631, the princes signed an alliance, and on September 5th the Saxon army joined that of Sweden. Tilly had encamped near Leipzig and had fired on the city. He said to his army, jubilant with the hope of plunder, "Hitherto heretics have never gained a victory in a pitched battle." Gustavus took the opposite course. He assembled all his field officers about him the evening before the battle, and said: "I 80neither despise our enemies, nor represent the affair as more easy than it is. I do not conceal it; we have before us an experienced, powerful, victorious enemy, who has hitherto, during his long wars, been always triumphant. But the more celebrated this enemy is the greater will be the renown which we shall obtain by conquering him. All honor, praise and glory which our adversaries have acquired during so many years can, with the help of God, be our own within twenty-four hours. On our side is the right. We do not contend for temporal goods, but for the glory and for the word of God; for the true religion, which alone is able to save, hitherto grievously oppressed by the Catholics and which they now intend to entirely destroy. We must not doubt that Almighty God, who, in spite of all resistance, has led us safely through all kinds of dangers, will now grant us His efficient assistance." Then he rode through his camp, cheering with kind words his soldiers, and making each feel that he was indeed an important factor for his king, for his country and for his religion.

Munro says the Elector of Saxony and his troops looked as if they were there to have pictures or portraits taken, while the Swedes, who had been on a long march and had slept in a dusty field, looked like servants, and they both looked tame beside the besilvered, begilded and beplumed Imperialists. The Swedish horses looked like ponies beside the gigantic German chargers. The king had on a plain buff-colored suit, a gray hat, with a green plume.

In the meantime, Tilly pushed close to Leipzig 81and promised to leave it like Magdeburg if it did not yield. But conditions were not the same. On September 4th the bombardment began. On the 6th the city sent to offer Tilly a large sum of money in ransom, then capitulated on condition that the Protestant religion should not be suppressed and the garrison be permitted to march out with honors of war. Tilly put three thousand soldiers in the city and determined to await the Swedes and Saxons, with his back protected by the city.

On September 9th, 1631, the hostile armies were in sight of each other, between Breitenfield and Leipzig, and here the great battle of the war was to be fought. It was not Tilly and Gustavus Adolphus, but the two systems of religion which that day stood face to face. The Swedish and Saxon army amounted to about thirty-five thousand men, and the Emperor and the Catholic League had about the same number. But if all the millions which each side represented had all been present, the battle would not have been more representative, more decisive, nor more important.

Tilly's usual confidence had deserted him, and he said afterward that he was forced into battle by his own subordinate, General Pappenheim.

The battle began with two hours of cannonading, the wind, being from the west, blew the smoke, the dust from the plains and from a plowed field, into the faces of the Swedes. The king quickly moved his forces to the north, and Tilly left his position and attacked the Swedes, but their fire was so galling that he moved to the 82right and attacked the Saxons with such tremendous impetuosity that their line was broken and the whole army thrown into confusion. The Elector himself retired to Eilenberg, but in spite of his defection, a few of his best regiments held their ground and saved the good name of Saxony.

Pappenheim, the Phil Sheridan of the Imperial army, threw his best cavalry regiments against the Swedes, where the king of Sweden himself commanded. Seven times did Pappenheim make his swift charge, seven times repulsed. He left most of his men on the field, which he abandoned to his conquerors. In the meantime, Tilly, having routed the remainder of the Saxons, attacked with his triumphant troops the left wing of the Swedes, commanded by General Gustavus Horn. The Swedes made a gallant resistance, until the king, with the troops who had driven Pappenheim from the field, came to terminate the battle. After driving Tilly and his troops out of the way, Gustavus reached the eminence on which the Imperial artillery had been placed, and he turned on the Imperialists the full destructive play of their own artillery. Tilly forced a retreat through the midst of his conquerors, and left only four veteran regiments to meet Gustavus and his victors.

These veterans of Tilly's had never known defeat. By night their numbers were reduced to only six hundred men. As soon as the darkness came they fled from the field, leaving the Swedes in undisputed possession. The king of Sweden threw himself on his knees and gave public thanks to God in earnest prayer for this wonderful victory. He then rode through the ranks, shaking hands 83with his officers and thanking his brave men in warm words of praise for their heroic actions.

The same day he wrote Chancellor Oxenstiern: "Although we mourn the loss of many brave men, we must, nevertheless, above all, thank God for this victory and protection which He has given us, for we have never incurred greater dangers."

On that battlefield now stands a great monument with this inscription:

The battle of Breitenfield marks an important epoch in history. Ferdinand had a dream of annexing all northern Europe to the Holy Roman Empire. When he failed at Stralsund he saw the limit of his northern stretch; at Breitenfield he knew the limitations of his army. This battle really restored to freedom and to Protestantism all northern Europe.

It marks an era in military affairs. Gustavus had practiced his army in great flexibility, or mobility, and this quality had triumphed over weight and numbers. Colonel Munro says: "Oh! would to God I had once again such a leader to fight such another day in this old quarrel, and though I died standing, I should be persuaded I died well."

The united forces of the Emperor and the Catholic League were broken. Gustavus now reaped the benefit of all his smaller conquests. Of the great Imperial army but two thousand remained, with Tilly old, discouraged and discredited. The peasantry fell upon Tilly's retreating army and almost annihilated it. On every side rang the words of a rude song of the period, "Fly, Tilly, fly!" It was howled and hissed and yelled by the peasantry till he had fled far southward. Tilly was heartbroken as much by the hate shown 85his men in retreat as by the disasters of the battlefield.

Gustavus now had full liberty to go wherever he desired. Richelieu expected the King of Sweden to march at once to Vienna. The Elector of Saxony urged the same course. When Oxenstiern came, soon after this, on a short visit and met his king at Mainz he said plainly: "I would rather have proffered my congratulations at Vienna." But the king thought differently; he knew the wily electors who might at any time stab him in the back, and he doubtless understood Ferdinand's hereditary position, that, though driven from Vienna he would have the heart loyalty of all Catholics and many Protestants as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and Gustavus believed such a course would greatly protract the war.

Gustavus said, "First pure, then peaceable;" so as he passed through the country having churches rebuilt, property restored, and above all, restoring hope and courage to the desolated provinces, he was everywhere hailed as a friend and deliverer, and just for a short time in the lull after the battle, it looked as if his work were really done.

Even after this great battle he continued to preserve perfect discipline; every morning public prayer was offered to God, and Gustavus, with bared head stood before his victorious army leading them in a hymn of thanksgiving. What an object-lesson in godliness it was alike to the pious and the impious, not alone for that age, but for all time to come.

The defeat of the Imperialists at Breitenfield 86settled the fate of the Edict of Restitution. At Vienna pious Catholics wondered "if God had indeed turned Lutheran."

At Halle, Gustavus divided his army. He sent the Elector of Saxony into Bohemia, which was most anxious to shake off the Imperial yoke. The King of Sweden may have remembered that Bohemia was Ferdinand's crown lands and the Elector of Saxony would by that act forever exclude himself from Ferdinand's favor and be most fully committed to the perpetual alliance with Sweden. Gustavus himself undertook to march over all western Germany and to crush out the Catholic League in its different centers.

Even the Catholics who had been so badly treated by Tilly's army, seeing the good conduct of the Swedish troops, came out to meet Gustavus and greeted him as the liberator of the country. His march through Thuringia and Franconia to the Main and the Rhine reads like a triumphal procession.

The Duke of Saxe-Weimar now joined forces with Gustavus. He proved to be a skillful general and was useful in many ways, especially because of his familiarity with the country.

As Gustavus approached Wurzburg the Catholic bishop of that city, so noted for his persecution of Protestants, fled and left his people to the mercy of the invaders. The city surrendered without any resistance. The king considered that as the country had been abandoned by its rulers the sovereignty became his, so he appointed a cabinet, one-half of whose members were Protestants. He restored to the Protestants their churches and encouraged 87the Catholics to attend their own churches, and to put them in repair. Only those who refused to submit were severely dealt with. He was really the first prince who understood religious toleration. In every place he claimed that as God's dealing is personal to each individual, each person should have liberty of conscience.

On one occasion when a Catholic town had been captured, his officers suggested that here he could revenge Magdeburg. The king answered, "I have come to break the chains of slavery and not to forge new ones. Let them live as they have done hitherto."

Gustavus now made a triumphal march, loved and respected by both Catholics and Protestants, through the garden spot of Germany. After resting his weary troops in the rich district of Wurzburg, he continued his march to Frankfort-on-the-Main, which opened her gates at the first summons. Gustavus crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim and on December 20th he entered Mainz, having cleared the Palatinate of its Spanish garrison. The Elector of Saxony and General Armin invaded Bohemia and occupied Prague. Gustavus now commanded from the Arctic Ocean to the Alps, and from the Rhine to the Moldau. He encamped at Main with an army of twenty thousand men. All the Protestant princes here paid him court. It was his plan to form a Corpus Evangelicum, or Union, under the protection of Sweden, which would include what is now called Germany and all Scandinavia.

France was much disconcerted by these Swedish 88victories. It was all right to curtail the pretensions of the House of Hapsburg, but to the eyes of Richelieu it would be a much worse fate for a new Emperor of Germany to bear the name of Gustavus than to let the Hapsburgs have undue sway.

Richelieu now insisted that Gustavus must come to an understanding with the Catholic League of southern Germany. Gustavus refused to surrender his conquests till the League saw that Maximilian of Bavaria, who was the head of the League, was disarmed. Richelieu at that broke his alliance with Gustavus and renewed his alliance with the Emperor. This was quite equivalent to a declaration of war. Richelieu declared himself the protector of the Catholic princes. They again took heart and brought together their armies in behalf of Austria.

The Jesuits who were at the Protestant courts succeeded in again stirring up the envy and jealousy of those weak northern Protestant German Electors. The Elector of Saxony now went back in heart, if not in force, to Austria.

Gustavus had felt that this would occur, and this was the main reason he had not pushed his triumph to Vienna. He now quickly conquered Franconia. Frankfort-on-the-Main, instead of opening her gates in welcome at his approach, wanted a parley. This city had received special commercial advantages from the Empire, and now they feared if Gustavus were well received they would lose their celebrated fairs. When summoned to surrender they sent a deputation to the King of Sweden explaining these conditions and 89hoping he would not urge compliance with his demands.

Gustavus was justly indignant. He said: "I am very much astonished that when the liberties of Germany and the Protestant religion are at stake the citizens of Frankfort talk of annual fairs, and postpone for temporal interests the great cause of their country and their conscience." He continued: "I have managed to find the keys of every town and fortress from the Island of Rugen to the Main, and I know where to find the key of Frankfort. The safety of Germany and the freedom of the Protestant faith are the sole objects of my invasion. Conscious of the justice of the cause, I am determined not to allow any object to impede my progress. I am well aware that the inhabitants of Frankfort wish to stretch out only a finger to me, but I must have the whole hand to grasp."

With his army he escorted the deputies back to the city, and in full battle array awaited the decision of the city. The gates were immediately opened and the entire army marched through the old imperial city, making a magnificent procession conducted in wonderful order. Here again the Protestant princes came to offer congratulations, to secure favors, or to appease his indignation at their heavy apathy. It was in Frankfort that the crown was yet voted upon, and placed on the one selected as head of the Holy Roman Empire.

Queen Eleanor Marie here visited him in company with Chancellor Oxenstiern. Neither of them approved of the brilliant court surrounding Gustavus, and the queen, with the swift intuitive knowledge which God gives to good women, 90felt that underneath all these protestations these Protestant princes had envy and jealousy in their hearts. Oxenstiern, that keen judge of men, came to the same conclusions. The king felt these things himself, and felt, also, that these princes, so divided among themselves, had little religion worth defending. He occasionally broke out in public, showing his surprise and pain at the attitude of their minds. On one occasion he said: "I wish to make peace if I am offered honorable conditions, such as will secure the welfare of the Protestant princes and their oppressed subjects, for whose sake I have undertaken this war and shed my blood. But I shall never conclude a peace by which the honor of Protestant princes would be sacrificed, their unhappy subjects bear an iron yoke, and our religion compromised."

George, Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, professed great friendship for the king, but secretly kept up a continued intercourse with the Emperor. On one occasion, when an unusual number of traitors happened to be among his guests, Gustavus said to George of Hesse Darmstadt: "If the Emperor does not care for me I shall not care for him. You may inform him of this, for I know you are well disposed towards his majesty." The landgrave was greatly confused by this unexpected thrust and stammered some excuse, but Gustavus continued: "He who receives $30,000.00 a year has indeed a reason to be the Emperor's friend. Were I to make such a present to anyone he must have well deserved it. It would be easy for me to enter into negotiations did I not consider the danger to those who have assisted me 91in this war for the restoration of the true religion."

That which the friends of Gustavus most feared was assassination. He suddenly awoke one night and found an armed man who proved to be a Catholic priest of Antwerp in his room. Jesuits were sent through the country to circulate calumnies against him. In Menz public prayer was offered for him, and at the same time an assassin was paid to take his life.

At Vienna on two successive days all Catholics were urged to pray for the successful execution of a project which God and one man knew, and on which the welfare of the Roman Church depended.

Gustavus well knew of all these things, but he declared that he could not live shut up in a box, and he urged that when he should be called to his account God would raise up another leader, that it was the cause and not the individual that God was leading to victory.

The entire Catholic world was now clamoring that Richelieu was misrepresenting France by being the friend of Gustavus, an enemy of the Catholic Church. Richelieu tried to persuade the Catholic League to complete neutrality, and leave Ferdinand and Gustavus to fight it out, Richelieu's sole object being to limit the ruling house of Austria.

Gustavus now plainly saw that no reconciliation was possible between the Catholic League and the Protestant Union, if the latter could be said to exist. He saw that German princes desired to settle with him on a money basis like a hireling, to give him no representation for Pomerania in the Diet, that their envy and jealousy at his success 92was greater than their love for Protestantism, and that they really preferred the House of Austria Catholic than him as a Protestant ruler, and that they were too jealous of each other to secure a Protestant Union if it were to be under the protection of Sweden. So in order to arrange with Richelieu for neutrality towards Bavaria he required that the League cease from all hostilities, that they call in all troops belonging to the League from the Emperor's army, from all conquered towns and from the Protestant territory. He also insisted on the reduction of their army, the exclusion of the Imperial troops from their territory, the restoration of all property taken from Protestants, the concession of religious liberty, and the expulsion of the Jesuits.

In order to arrange for the treaty to be fully considered, Gustavus had agreed for a cessation of hostilities for two weeks, so that Richelieu might induce the Elector of Bavaria to accept the conditions. But while the French commissioner was assuring Gustavus of the favorable progress of these negotiations an intercepted letter between the Elector and Pappenheim, the commanding general of the Austrian army, showed that the Elector had no other object in causing the delay than the better preparation for continued war. Thereupon Gustavus notified Richelieu of his treachery, with word that he would now invade Bavaria.

When the Pope, Urban VIII., heard of this he said: "The King of Sweden would commit a great imprudence if he advanced anywhere before crushing Maximilian." The Catholic League was 93never able to induce this Pope to make any public anathemas against Gustavus, for the Pope knew that the Hapsburgs were striving for personal and family aggrandizement under the pretence of fighting for the Church. He also knew that religious liberty prevailed wherever Gustavus conquered.

Gustavus' rest was interrupted by hearing that Tilly was ravaging Franconia, and was marching on Nuremberg. He hastened to meet Tilly, who retreated towards the Danube.

Gustavus entered Nuremberg March 21st, 1632, supported by his staff and a company of cavalry. He left his army at Fürth, a short distance from the city. His generals and the Protestant princes whose country he had delivered rode with him through the streets of that ancient city. The magistrates offered him the keys of the city, and the people made a great demonstration of rejoicing. The ringing of the bells, the firing of many cannon and the welcoming shouts of the grateful people stirred the heart of Gustavus Adolphus so that he showed great emotion. His fine appearance, his pleasing personality, his cordial manners completely won the hearts of the people of Nuremberg.

At his hotel he received the presents sent by the town. These consisted of money and two cannon with ammunition for his army, also two silver globes of the famous Nuremberg workmanship. The king addressed the waiting people. His words were put into a circular and sent throughout the country. He said: "I thank you and the city for these valuable presents. In return I can wish you nothing better than perseverance 94in the evangelical faith. May nothing turn you from it, neither threats nor promises nor any passion to which human nature is liable. You have given me the emblems of heaven and earth. May the riches of earth not make you forgetful of the still more precious treasures of heaven. I ask for you this grace of God. We have cunning, wicked and powerful enemies. All their thoughts are bent on the destruction of Protestantism. Apparently they seek peace, but peace would indeed prove fatal to you, to all Protestants, and ruinous to many millions of souls.

"God has entrusted you with the administration of a rich and powerful city. I do not doubt of your governing it so that you need not fear the account which will one day be required of you before God's tribunal. Your city, encompassed with dangers and persecutions, has as yet been miraculously preserved. I have myself been not less miraculously preserved since arriving in these countries. I had expected to see the end of the world rather than your city. In the misfortunes which have befallen your brethren, and in your own sufferings, God intended to make you feel and acknowledge what great sinners we all are.

"It is for your sake, for the defence of the gospel, that I have left my peaceful native land and have come to these disturbed countries. It is for this cause I have sacrificed the resources of my poor subjects, their blood, exposed my life and renounced domestic happiness. I shall do all that the grace of God will give me strength to do. On your side, learn to suffer for a short time if it is necessary for our holy cause. Remain faithful 95to it. God will bless you. He will increase your city and make it prosperous, and your renown will spread everywhere. Let us together praise, magnify and glorify God here on earth, and in heaven forever."

After dinner the king left the city amid the enthusiastic admiration of the people. His pictures were scattered throughout the country, poems were written wherein he was likened to Moses, to Joshua, to Gideon, to David, and even to Judas Maccabeus, the deliverer of his nation, showing, at least, that the people knew well their Bible history.

The signal for Gustavus to leave that part of the country was the sudden advance of Tilly against Gustavus Horn, one of the Swedish generals. Tilly compelled General Horn to evacuate the bishopric of Bamberg. Gustavus pursued the Imperialists into Bavaria, forced the passage of the Danube at Donauwörth, where Tilly's forces retreated under a galling artillery fire from the Swedish batteries. The conquest of Donauwörth made the king controller of the Danube, and only the small River Lech kept him from the States of Maximilian, who seems to have been about all that was left of the Catholic League.

The Lech is usually a small stream, but the melting snow in the Tyrol mountains had made it a raging torrent. Tilly's forces were in a strongly fortified camp protected by this roaring current, so that the position was impregnable. The armies were within speaking distance of each other. As the king rode along the bank he called to the sentinel on the opposite side, "Good morning, 96sir. Where is old Tilly?" "Praise God, he is in his quarters at Main," said the man, then added, "Where is the king, comrade?" "He is in his quarters, too," said Gustavus. "What! you don't mean to say he has got any quarters, do you?" "Oh, yes. Come over here yourself and you shall have excellent quarters."

It was just that spirit of humor which endeared Gustavus to his polyglot army. Gustavus rode up and down the bank reconnoitering. He soon observed that the side on which his army was located was considerably higher than the other side, so he arranged three batteries with seventy-two field pieces, keeping up a ruinous cross fire on the Bavarians. While this was going on the king's army built a bridge across the Lech. They kept the Bavarians very busy on account of the destructive fire of the artillery, and they made a great smoke with wet straw and wet wood so that their work was concealed for some time from General Tilly. Gustavus fired over sixty guns with his own hands and seemed to be everywhere among his men cheering and directing them. General Tilly, though a much older man, would not leave the opposite bank of the river; no danger from that cross fire could drive him from his post, and there he was mortally wounded and carried from the field. The Bavarians gave way and the dying Tilly advised Maximilian to retreat. So before a single one of Gustavus' army had crossed the river Maximilian broke camp and retreated to Neuburg and to Ingolstadt.

When Gustavus arrived in their vacated camp he said, "Had I been a Bavarian, though a cannon 97ball had carried away my beard and chin, never would I have abandoned a position like this and laid open my territory to my enemies." Gustavus could now have gone through Bavaria, but he greatly desired to relieve Augsburg, whose very name is dear to the Protestant world. He entered Augsburg on April 14th, 1632, and found every Protestant church closed. He found that the Edict of Restitution had here been enforced with great severity, its administration had been entrusted to a most bigoted Catholic, and the Protestants had been outraged in their feelings in the birthplace of their confession of faith. The King expelled the Bavarian soldiers and put Protestant magistrates in command of the city.

Then Gustavus, his staff and leading officers, went to Saint Ann's Church, which with many others he restored to the Protestant faith. His chaplain, Dr. Fabricus, preached from Ps. 12:5—"For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him." The citizens were filled with emotion as they sang again the songs of Zion. Dr. Fabricus gave thanks for their great deliverance, and the whole congregation chanted the words of the psalms—"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits." "The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed."

The citizens spent several days in rejoicing, but Gustavus felt that he must follow up the pursuit of the Bavarian army, and did not stay longer to assist in celebrating their deliverance.

Gustavus seemed to have had all Catholic Europe to fight. While on the Rhine he wrote home: "We have unexpectedly fallen into collision with the arms of the Spaniards," who were in the pay of Maximilian of Bavaria and not that of Spain. He wonders if he shall be obliged to declare war against Spain. He fervently hoped not, as he has just heard that Richelieu is sending a large force of soldiers to help Austria, but he urges them at home to look to the sea coast, particularly Gottenburg. At the Council of State held at Menz, December 31st, 1631, the king had said: "The king of Denmark has publicly spoken of the Spanish designs, and that Farensbach had come to Dunkirk and offered, if he could get ships, to take Gottenburg." The Swedish cabinet sent a military force for the protection of that city.

With all these forces of Rome assailing them one would think the hearts of Protestants would beat as the heart of one man, but selfish interests still divided them. The Elector of Saxony could not endure taking his orders from a Swedish king as the September treaty forced him to do. He could only be true to the faith when his particular State was in danger of being ravaged, and he now began again to work for a reconciliation with Ferdinand.

99The German States of the second and third rank fully acknowledged Gustavus as their deliverer. They assisted with both men and money to the full measure of their ability, and after the death of the king of Sweden they did not desert the cause. The Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, the two chief States, had been forced into the war and did only such service as Gustavus, and danger to their own possessions, obliged them to perform.

As one considers that last winter, a survey reveals how very much had been accomplished. Bernard of Weimar, Christian, Palgrave of Birkenfield, and the Rhinegrave, Otto Lewis, kept the States of the Rhine. Horn carried victorious arms from Franconia to the Neckar. Tott completed the conquest of Mecklenburg, Baner was master at Magdeburg—what was left of it. Yet with all this to encourage Gustavus the real sorrow of the invasion was yet before them.

Of all the curious pages of history the relations between Gustavus and Wallenstein is one of the most curious. It would seem that very soon after the Emperor had sent Wallenstein home, or retired him, Gustavus had been in correspondence with Wallenstein, hoping to obtain his services in the Protestant army. Oxenstiern claimed that the king had written Wallenstein from Stralsund as early as October 30th, 1630. It is quite possible that the king hoped that the great general's anger at the Emperor could be used for the Protestants' benefit.

In February, 1631, Tilly wrote the Emperor that he felt sure that Wallenstein had been 100tampered with by the kings of England and Sweden, that these kings had tried to have Wallenstein take up arms against the Emperor in Bohemia. "But," said Tilly, "he thanks their majesties for the great honor they have done him, and when he sees the armies of England in the Palatinate he will not lose the opportunity."

Count Thurn, the leader of the Protestant party in Bohemia, seems to have been the friend of both Gustavus and Wallenstein, and acted as the go-between. In June, 1631, just after the fall of Magdeburg, when Gustavus was surrounded with great difficulties, Wallenstein made this demand as necessary to secure his services. Gustavus must victoriously complete a trip to the sea coast, ally himself with Saxony (which he did September 1st, 1631), attack Tilly (which he did at Breitenfield), then send twelve thousand men under Count Thurn, and with this nucleus Wallenstein was to raise an army of fifty thousand men. To these terms Gustavus agreed, and promised to make Wallenstein Viceroy of Bohemia.

At the same time Wallenstein was in secret correspondence with the Emperor of Austria. Never was there a creature of more duplicity than Wallenstein. He met Gustavus soon after the battle of Breitenfield, offered what seemed genuine congratulations, told Gustavus the Emperor thought of reinstating him, possibly to impress the king with the importance of closing negotiations with him. He said, "You will soon chase the Emperor out of his empire."

Gustavus seems to have had in mind that Wallenstein 101(both he and the Emperor were from Bohemia), would clear Bohemia of Imperialists, while John George of Saxony would clear Silesia, and that after Gustavus himself should master western Germany, they would all meet with their triumphant armies before the walls of Vienna.

It was a beautiful dream, but its fulfillment rested on a man false to every tie which binds man to God or to his fellow-man. But as Gustavus made his successful trip through western Germany he began to fear more and more that such an alliance would not be pleasing to God.

Wallenstein asked for the twelve thousand troops. Gustavus asked delay, saying he was not in a position to spare that number of men. That Wallenstein was a traitor to his Emperor who had really made him all that he was, was a fact well known to the king of Sweden and made him hesitate to employ Wallenstein. A traitor to one is not likely to be true to another.

When Gustavus was at Nuremberg he again opened correspondence with this Bohemian general, but Wallenstein by that time had come to the conclusion that Gustavus was so far from his base of supplies, was so poorly sustained by Saxony and Brandenburg, that with an army of fifty thousand he could drive Gustavus home, and possibly he had the dream (as he is charged with) that he could make himself Emperor, so that while Gustavus was at Nuremberg the correspondence closed finally, and it began to be whispered that Wallenstein would soon be again at the head of the Imperial army.

General Tilly died of his wounds April 30th, 1021632. Gustavus had barely escaped death on the day that Tilly was wounded. His horse was shot under him, and his friend, the Margrave of Baden, had his head carried away by a cannon ball almost at the same moment. As Gustavus sprang from the wounded horse his followers screamed, for they thought him killed, but, while covered with blood and dust, he arose from the mêlée, saying, "The apple is not yet ripe." After his return to camp, his officers attempted to offer congratulations. He replied: "The Margrave's death and the ball which came so close to me, recall to my mind my mortality. Man, thou must die, that is the old law from which neither my high descent, not my royal crown, nor my arms, nor my numerous victories can save me. I submit to God's will and guidance. If He removes me from this world, He will not forsake the holy cause which I now defend."

From this time on he talked to his officers of what should be done in case of his death. He was not entranced with the glories of earth; he cared nothing for fame, but he cared very much that he should accomplish the great work he believed himself called upon to perform. He expected soon to be called home to God; therefore, he was careful to show mercy wherever it was possible.

Gustavus now had an army of about one hundred thousand men, this he expected to greatly enlarge during the coming year. He had eighteen thousand in his own command. Horn had twenty thousand on the Main; William of Hesse had eight thousand kept in his own country; Baner, 103at Magdeburg, had thirteen thousand. Tott, who had been called from Mecklenburg to Lower Saxony, had thirteen thousand, and the Dukes of Mecklenburg had been ordered to send four thousand more. The Saxons in Bohemia had twenty thousand, besides the twelve thousand engaged in garrison duty. The army had many languages, the soldiers were not homogeneous, and were, therefore, hard to manage.

Wherever there was an attack, Gustavus, no difference how much needed where he happened to be, seems to have dropped everything and rushed to the weak point. He was the needed man everywhere, and with that small royal army he seems to have really been blown from one point of attack to another. In each place, in the midst of victory, he had to turn away to help, once Nuremberg, then General Horn, then Saxony. All this shows that, although he had now a large army, he did not regard any part of it strong enough to sustain itself against the Imperial army without his presence. It shows how small a foundation he had for his hopes of delivering Germany, which was so unready, so divided into selfish factions, that unless God's hand had been as markedly with him as it was with Moses, Germany would have been forced back into the mental and spiritual darkness of the age preceding the Reformation.

The occupation of Ratisbon by the Bavarians caused Gustavus Adolphus to decide that he would attack Ingolstadt, and penetrate into the center of Bavaria. He hoped to draw the Elector Maximilian from the Danube and strip it of its protectors. As he was planning for this, France again 104sent a diplomat to negotiate a peace for Bavaria. To all the talk now concerning Maximilian's neutrality, the king only laughed. He knew that Maximilian was all that was left of the Catholic League, and he replied: "I clearly see that you have only come to impose upon me. I cannot believe that the Duke of Bavaria seriously intends to come to a settlement of our differences. I know him and his priesthood too well. He wears a double cassock, and according to circumstances he turns it, to-day the red, to-morrow the blue. This time I shall not be deceived." The Ambassador ceased to cajole and began to threaten, saying that France was quite able to throw forty thousand troops into Bavaria for the help of the Elector.

Gustavus replied: "If France withdraws her alliance, I shall secure that of the Turks, who are no worse allies than the papists, with their idolatry. At all events I know that I can rely on the help of Almighty God, who has sent me into Germany." The plan was to keep him inactive till Maximilian had brought together his army.

When Tilly died, the Emperor, Ferdinand II., was at his wits' end, and had appealed to the disgraced Wallenstein to save him. Wallenstein made the most severe demands, to which the Emperor was obliged to agree. Immediately Wallenstein stamped his foot, and the robber bands of all Europe appeared again from Italy, from England and Scotland and from Poland. From every German State men flocked to the banner of the arch robber of the middle ages.

The articles of Znaim, in which Wallenstein agrees to take command, are unique on the page of 105history. They were completed in April, 1632. In this writing the Emperor agreed that no army, except that under Wallenstein, could be introduced into Germany. He alone possessed the power of confiscation and pardon. He could create a new class of princes to rule over States, princes who received and held power only under him. His power was purely military, but by these papers the Emperor practically put the power out of his own hands.

Wallenstein immediately drove the Saxons from Bohemia, offered to revoke the Edict of Restitution for John George of Saxony, that weak prince who was now wavering between his sworn allegiance to Gustavus and Wallenstein. At his side now appeared an army of sixty thousand skilled troops, the mercenaries who were promised large pay and all the loot they could gather.

Wallenstein offered John George of Saxony such terms of peace that Gustavus feared his adherence to the Protestant cause. Gustavus knew that, had Tilly offered the same to the Elector of Saxony, the latter would never have united his fortunes to those of the Protestant States. Such an alliance was a heart-breaking care to the king of Sweden.

In spite of Richelieu's messenger, the king pressed on into Bavaria, a country so hostilely Catholic that to kill a Protestant was considered by the Bavarians to be doing God a service. Gustavus had, up to this time, been welcomed even in the most Catholic State, because he treated the citizens better by far than their own army had done, but in Bavaria he met a different spirit. 106The priests had stirred them to great bitterness. He was called by them the Antichrist, and in their public prayers they asked God to deliver them from "the Swedish devil." If a Swedish soldier fell into the hands of the peasants he was tortured and mutilated, which greatly exasperated the army and made it difficult for the king to keep his men from retaliating in kind, and, indeed, to keep them from laying waste the entire country.

The king, by his kindness to the towns and to the prisoners of war, showed that his Christianity was superior to theirs. He never kept better discipline in his own army than at this trying time, and he never failed to repay their bitterest hate by added kindness. At Landshut the angry passions were assuaged by the uniform kindness of the king, leading citizens came from their hiding places, and, throwing themselves at the king's feet, they begged for their own lives and for the protection of their towns. Gustavus answered: "When I think of the cruelties which you have practiced on my soldiers, I ask myself the question whether you are men or ferocious animals, and I know not how I can have compassion on you."

He made no promises. Profound silence fell on the town as Gustavus and his staff rode out. He was soon overtaken by a great storm of thunder, lightning and rain. He took that as a personal message from God that he was not to be harsh in his dealings toward this conquered town, so he only assessed them to pay one hundred thousand dollars war expenses, which they considered a complete reprieve, as they had expected the burning of the town.

107From Landshut Gustavus went to Munich. The capital city was greatly excited, yet knowing his kindness to other places, they hoped for clemency. Great fear prevailed, but they hoped by an unconditional surrender to disarm vengeance. For that reason they sent messengers to meet him at Freysingen, and placed the keys of the city at his feet.

The king replied to the deputation: "You have done well. With justice I might have avenged Magdeburg on your city. But be not afraid about your property, your families and your religion. Go in peace."

His army had suffered so much they really desired revenge and plunder in this Catholic city, but Gustavus kept the strictest discipline. He conducted the king of Bohemia, the Palatine Frederick, with great pomp and ceremony, into the very palace of the prince who had driven him out. At the same time he showed such forbearance toward the citizens that they paid him marked respect. Even the Jesuits, who had done so much against him, wrote to Rome praising his magnanimity.

Gustavus at Munich visited the Jesuit college. There the Superior addressed him in Latin, praising his eminent qualities. The king replied in the same language, and began an argument concerning the Lord's Supper. He stated clearly the evangelical position, and showed how fully he understood the position of Rome. His staff officers felt annoyed, and told him that he would serve his cause better by driving out the Jesuits than by holding learned arguments with them. Gustavus 108replied "Do you not see they injure the cause they defend, and how useful they are to that which they oppose?"

The king found the palace at Munich had been robbed of its chief treasures. It was a very handsome building. As he was being escorted through it, the king inquired, "Who was the architect of this building?" The guide replied, "No other than the Elector himself." "I wish," said the king, "I had this architect to send to Sweden." "That," said the guide, "the architect will take care to prevent."

When the arsenal was examined they found the gun-carriages with no cannon in sight. Gustavus was like Cromwell, a shrewd detective himself, and he had the cellars and adjoining ground examined. He found the cannon concealed under the floor. The floor was partly raised up, and the king said: "Rise up from the dead and come to judgment." One hundred and forty pieces obeyed the summons.

In one of the cannon was found thirty thousand gold ducats, which was a great help in paying off his soldiers.

Gustavus greatly admired the magnificent city, which he called "a gold saddle on a bad horse," but felt that he must now push on, for he feared Wallenstein would throw a large part of his army between himself and his base of supplies.

As soon as Wallenstein comprehended that, Bavaria being conquered, Gustavus would march to Vienna, he stirred himself. Gustavus learned that Wallenstein proposed to attack Nuremberg, 109which had shown the Swedish king such great favor and kindness.

Maximilian entreated Wallenstein to come to his help, and signed papers of allegiance to this upstart general and would-be emperor. Concerning this Wallenstein said: "At last I forced my mortal enemy to implore my pardon and support. I am avenged of all the evil he has done me." Wallenstein now had sixty thousand troops with which to attack Nuremberg, while Gustavus had about twenty thousand with which to oppose him. Gustavus could easily have avoided an engagement and left Nuremberg to the fate of Magdeburg. He preferred to perish with the city rather than expose this Protestant stronghold to the severities of the Imperial army. He threw up entrenchments outside the wall, and placed his soldiers outside the city, so as not to inconvenience the inhabitants.

The citizens came out with shovels and picks and assisted the soldiers, the women came with good food, so that in two weeks they had an entrenchment which would protect almost as well as a wall. In the meantime the authorities were out buying all the provisions possible to put the city in condition to stand a siege. Then the king had his officers organize and train the militia as to best methods of maintaining order, and fitting them to assist in protecting the city. Gustavus said: "Nuremberg is the apple of my eye, and I shall defend it to the best of my ability." The soldiers and citizens were in perfect harmony, and together made preparations to receive the rapidly approaching enemy.

110Wallenstein's army did not at once attack the city, but went into an almost impregnable camp on a hill three miles away. Wallenstein said: "Hitherto enough battles have been fought, I shall try another method." He fully expected famine and pestilence to do his work for him in that crowded, besieged city. He did not understand that they were in a degree prepared for siege. On his approach the country people had sold all farm animals to the city, or had used them to transport themselves and families far away.

Gustavus sent out for provisions for his army as long as provender for man or beast could be had; when these supplies could no longer be obtained, the city opened its magazines to the king, while Wallenstein's troops had to travel long distances to obtain subsistence.

Once a long train of wagons was bringing supplies for Wallenstein from Bavaria, and the king, learning of its approach, sent a regiment of cavalry and intercepted the entire cavalcade. The escort was destroyed, twelve thousand cattle and a thousand wagon-loads of bread were brought to camp, and what could not be brought in was destroyed by fire. Wallenstein began to declare that a battle would have cost him less.

The entrenchments of the Swedes now made an attack almost impossible, but the crowded city caused diseases common to the army, the inactivity of soldiers and men began to play havoc with army discipline.

The German troops robbed their countrymen, and Swedish soldiers soon followed their example. 111Gustavus remonstrated again and again with the German officers; at last, on June 29th, he gave them a berating which they never forgot. He brought them together and said: "Complaint reaches me on all sides about the conduct of our troops in regard to our allies. People complain that the Swedes wage war like the Croats. These reproaches break my heart, especially since I know they are too true. I am innocent of all these disorders; I have always forbidden and punished them severely. It is you yourselves, Germans, who lay waste your native country, ransack your fellow-citizens and drive your co-religionists, whom you have sworn to protect, to despair. As God is my judge, I abhor you; my heart sinks within me, even when I look upon you. You break my orders, you are the cause that the world curses me, that the tears of poverty follow me, that complaints ring in my ears. They say, 'The king, our friend, does us more harm than even Wallenstein, our worst enemy.' If you were true Christians, you would fulfill your duties to your country, to your brethren, and you would remember what I have done for you. It is for you that I have ventured my life and sacrificed my peace. It is for you I have depopulated Sweden, stripped my kingdom of its treasures, and spent upon you four million dollars in gold, while from your German empire I have not received the least aid, not even so much as would buy a miserable doublet. I ask nothing of you, and would prefer to return home poor and naked rather than to clothe and enrich myself at your expense. I gave you a share of all that God had given me, and had you 112regarded my orders I would gladly have shared with you all my future acquisitions.

"Your want of discipline convinces me of your evil intentions, whatever cause I might otherwise have to applaud your bravery. If you murmur, if you forget God and honor so that you forsake me, I shall surround myself with my Swedes and Finns; we shall defend ourselves to the last man, and the whole world shall see that being a Christian king, I have preferred to give up my life rather than to defile by a crime the holy work which God has entrusted to me.

"I request you, for God's sake, to commune with yourselves, and ask your consciences. Remember, you must give an account to God of your conduct, and that you will appear before the judgment seat of the all-seeing heavenly Judge."

Many were moved to tears, and promised to heed his words. Afterward, as the king passed through camp, he saw a cow before one of the tents. He took the young corporal before the court, saying: "Son, it is better I should punish you for this than that God should punish me and my army and all of us together." He punished several officers for stealing, so that while the Nurembergers paid the severe price of war, yet the king did his best for their protection.

But hunger continually pinched in the city and the camp. The one hundred and thirty-eight bakeries in the city could not supply the demand. Men fought for the bread as it came from the ovens. The horses died and infected the air, pestilence in the form of dysentery attacked both city and 113camp, so that twenty-nine thousand died, and graves could scarcely be found for them.

By August 12th Oxenstiern, Baner and Duke Bernard, also William of Weimar, brought in enough men to give the king an army of seventy thousand men, with an addition of sixty cannon, and four thousand wagons of supplies, clothing and ammunition, but not much food.

Wallenstein also received reinforcements. The lack of food for both camps was fast rendering the men unfit for service, so that the king now determined to attack Wallenstein in his stronghold. On August 21st, 1632, Gustavus thought he saw signs of Wallenstein's retiring, and on the 22d he attacked Wallenstein in his trenches. For twelve long hours the Swedish army stormed that hill with unbroken courage, but with dreadful losses. Bernard on the right held his ground. Gustavus commanded the left, and at his direction the cannon were dragged from place to place, the king pointing many of them with his own hands. In the morning of August 23d rain began to fall. The Swedes had lost four thousand men. Torstenston was prisoner, Baner wounded, the king had the sole of his boot shot away. They had fought all day and all night with insufficient food, and the Swedes were forced to retreat.

Nuremberg had lost over ten thousand inhabitants, and Gustavus, during the siege and battle, had lost twenty thousand of his faithful soldiers. The air was putrid from the decaying flesh of men and animals dead under an August sun.

On September 8th the king withdrew from Nuremberg, leaving a sufficient garrison under 114Oxenstiern, and four days after Wallenstein broke camp and left a trail of burning towns which for years marked the line of his retreat. He had lost fifty thousand men, and now moved northward to prey upon Saxony. Gustavus still had the desire to finish his work in Bavaria, but when he heard that Protestant Saxony was again under the enemy's heel, he prepared at once to move northward.

Wallenstein's letters would not do to use as historic authority, yet his report of the Nuremberg affair to his emperor probably was a fair statement from his point of view. He said: "The king lay fourteen days at Furth, and now having lost nearly one-third of his army from hunger and discomfort, has to-day departed, whither I cannot learn. For military reasons I should imagine that he would betake himself to the Main. I mean, at all events, to follow him and again fix my camp close to him. I hear that Pappenheim is coming this way too, so that we shall probably enclose the king from both sides." ... Later, he says: "I did not follow him first, because my cavalry was too scattered to do so; secondly, because he is sure to guard all passes in his rear; thirdly, because I did not wish to risk the fruits I have won. For I believe the king's course is already downward, that he has completely lost credit, and that he will be utterly done for as soon as Pappenheim arrives."

As soon as Gustavus got away from the vitiated air around Nuremberg out into the good atmosphere of the country on horseback he regained all lost enthusiasm, and was ready for the initiative, and he decided that only a division under Bernard should go to the assistance of John George of Saxony, 116and he would again try for the hereditary lands of both the emperor and Wallenstein. That would keep the Elector Maximilian with his little army of ten thousand from being with Wallenstein. Oxenstiern, who seems to have left Nuremberg soon after the enemy had broken camp and moved northward, strongly advised a division, one reason being subsistence. The king then left Bernard with eight thousand men in Franconia, with orders to move northward in a line nearly parallel with Wallenstein. One division of ten thousand he sent to garrisons, and with not more then ten thousand of his choice men he again crossed the Danube and Lech for the purpose of attacking Ingolstadt. Maximilian made a great cry to Wallenstein to come to his assistance, but the general laughed at him, saying, "Protect yourself."

Wallenstein was making for Saxony because it was the richest portion of the country, and he really hoped Maximilian would be humiliated by a defeat.

General Arnin commanded the army of Saxony, which numbered about twenty thousand men. Much of the fluctuating conduct of the Elector must be placed to the discredit of this Catholic adviser whose heart was always with the emperor and not with his king and country.

Oxenstiern came up on the west bank of the river, and in Alsace had possessed himself of Strasburg, then a free imperial city. He also drove the Spaniards and Lorainers before him, and they were this time, for the most part, driven from German soil. Pappenheim and Tott were 117keeping each other occupied on the Weser, so that neither could help the main army to which he belonged, but the Swedes had the Archbishopric of Bremen, and Gustavus felt that it was necessary to win one great battle on account of all that floating element which shouts only with the winner. They must be again brought to shout for the Protestant side.

Wallenstein attacked Schweinfurt after losing Maximilian's division. Bernard rushed to the defence of the city, and Wallenstein, having double the number of soldiers, retired.

Then Bernard protected the passes through the Thuringian forests, and kept the way open for Gustavus and the main body of the Protestant army to make its way to Erfurth.

Pappenheim was almost if not altogether as ruthless as Wallenstein, but morally a better man. The latter kept ordering the former to join him, but Pappenheim had so long been in independent command that he hated to do this. For one thing, the stealings would have to be reported, and, for another, General Tott would harass the rear of his army, but at length a junction of the two armies was made a few days before Gustavus entered Saxony, which was October 21st.

Wallenstein, as a sort of warning of the coming scourge, sent Colonel Hölch with the most savage of the Croats into Saxony, and while he wrote hypocritical letters to the effect that the peasantry should not be molested, yet the robbers knew they were to leave nothing behind them.

Gustavus was again all ready for his attack on Ingolstadt October 8th, when a courier from Oxenstiern 118informed him that not only Hölch's regiment, but Wallenstein's main army, twenty thousand strong, had crossed into Saxony on October 5th. He decided at once to call in all divisions of his army and to concentrate at Erfurth. On the 12th he was joined by Oxenstiern and Knipenhausen. As they marched through those great forests he kept his friend and chancellor much by his side. He talked over with Oxenstiern what should be the terms of peace, when it could be made, and distinctly told him that in the case of the death of his king he, as chancellor, must bring the war sooner or later to a successful close. Also he talked of the government at home, of his wife, but most of all of the little maid upon whom the sorrow of ruling an impoverished kingdom would fall, should he lose his life.

On October 28th the army was at Erfurth, having marched from Bavaria in eighteen days. Wallenstein declared, "To do that they must have flown."

As Gustavus came through the country he received the most enthusiastic welcome. His soldiers were generously fed and lodged, they held prayers night and morning with their hosts, and while the people thanked them for coming, the soldiers thanked the people for their kindness and hospitality. It was John George who was vacillating, not his people, they were always true to the evangelical faith.

Gustavus rode at the head of his army on a large white horse, he wore a plain gray suit, a gray hat on which was a large white feather. 119This was the only distinguishing mark of rank in his costume. All soldiers and sailors are more or less superstitious. An incident which the army took as a good omen occurred as they passed the Thuringian forest. The king saw a hawk pursuing a lark, which flew into the bosom of the king, who took the trembling bird in his hands, holding it till the hawk was out of sight, then he said, "Go, poor little bird, may God protect you." The army took this to mean that Austria was the bird of prey, and that Protestantism had thrown itself into the arms of the king of Sweden for protection, and the privilege would be given him of God to set it free.

On October 23d the different divisions of his army met in Arnstadt. Here he and his best loved friend, Chancellor Oxenstiern, parted to meet no more on this earth. At Erfurth he met his queen, who was waiting for him. He had but little time to talk with her of the home land, or of the little maid upon whom their love was lavished. Wallenstein was not far away, so, on the 28th, he called the town council of Erfurth together, and addressing them in their own language, he said:

"I intrust you with my most precious jewel, the queen, my well beloved wife. You know, gentlemen, that all things are subject to vicissitudes, and above all war, a scourge which God uses to chastise men for their sins. Like another, I may meet with misfortune, perhaps death. If that is the will of God, show to my beloved wife the loyalty, the devotion, of which you have always given me proof."

120The queen broke out into weeping. He clasped her in his arms, saying, "Cheer up! We shall see each other again, if not in this life, it will be sooner or later in the celestial abodes of eternal bliss."

Then, holding her in his arms a moment in silence (doubtless in prayer), he sprang on his horse, rode to the head of his moving army, and kept that place till he reached Naumburg, November 1st, 1632, before the division which Wallenstein had hastened toward that town could arrive.

The king strongly entrenched himself here, and placed three hundred cannon to overlook the approaches. The inhabitants fell on their knees before him. He cried out: "Oh, think not of me; think only of the cause! God will punish me if I accept such homage from you. Yet, I hope that He who knows that I take no delight in such honor will not suffer my work to fail, whatever becomes of me, seeing it is for the glory of His Holy Name."

Wallenstein was preparing to march on Dresden when he learned that Gustavus was ready to leave Erfurth, so he determined to throw one corps into Naumburg, and to entrench himself at Weisenfels, about ten miles from Naumburg. Wallenstein expected the Swedes would now go into winter quarters, and make no further advance or attack until the warmer weather of Spring should come.

The first days of November were exceedingly cold, and Gustavus had his men on the outside of Naumburg brought in for shelter, comfort and food. All this made Wallenstein think that the 121king was really hibernating. So Wallenstein permitted Pappenheim to march away again to the Weser and Towerkline, where General Baudissin, with a regiment of Swedes, kept guard for the king. Pappenheim took with him eight thousand men in order to take Halle on the way. Wallenstein had twenty-five thousand men left, and he silently made his way toward Lutzen.

The king called his two generals to him to consult. "Fight," said Bernard. "Wait," said Knipenhausen, "till the Saxon army can join us." The king knew Saxony too well for that, but he wrote to John George to bring in his forces at once. The duke replied: "I am deeply sensible of the importance of the occasion, and I will at once send two regiments to join you; the rest I need for the maintenance of my own fortresses."

Fifteen hundred men to help the man who was imperiling his life, his army, his country, to save Saxony! But before the elector had sent that letter, before the fifteen hundred men had left the Saxon camp, the fatal battle had been fought at Lutzen, and the sun had seen the noblest life of that century go out on the field of battle.

On the evening after the council the king heard that Pappenheim had been sent away; this seems to have decided him. He said: "I believe, indeed, that God has delivered the enemy into my hand," and, suddenly breaking camp at Naumburg, he hastened to meet Wallenstein, whose army was weakened by the loss of Pappenheim. For Gustavus to wait for the Saxons would also be waiting for the return of Pappenheim.

The spies soon told Wallenstein that the king's 122army was on the move, and Wallenstein wrote a frantic letter to Pappenheim. He said: "The enemy is advancing. Sir, let everything else be, and hurry with all your forces and artillery back to me. You must be here by to-morrow morning—he is already over the pass." This letter, all stained with blood, is yet to be seen at the museum in Vienna. Pappenheim carried it into the battle in which he lost his life.

Lutzen is located on a plain over which ran great ditches or canals (which could be waded) for irrigating purposes. Gustavus came up to the enemy on the evening of November 5th, too late, on account of the rugged ground, to make the attack. Most writers affirm that could the battle have taken place on the 5th, before the return of Pappenheim, Gustavus would, no doubt, have secured a great victory. It was late that night before Wallenstein could bring his regiments together. They fell into line of battle just as they came in.

Gustavus had eighteen thousand men, Wallenstein twenty-five thousand, and was momentarily expecting Pappenheim with troops variously estimated at from eight to ten thousand men. The king, with Bernard and Knipenhausen, slept from time to time through the night in the king's day coach. The two armies, that bitter cold night, faced each other, lying down to sleep in the order they had marched, with their arms and equipment within easy reach.

Then the fateful morning of November 6th arrived. It proved to be foggy and very dark. The king sent for his chaplain and they spent an 123hour in prayer. Divine services were held, as usual, in camp. The whole army, each in his own language, sang Luther's battle hymn, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," "A mighty fortress is our God." The words in the second stanza, "'Tis Jesus Christ," which are the words answering the question, "Askest thou His name?" were usually accompanied with a salute of artillery, that was omitted on this occasion. Then the king himself sang:

A hymn composed by himself, a hymn which had been sung by his loving people on the last convocation in the palace at Stockholm for his encouragement; now he sang it for theirs.^[4]

Since his wound at Dirschau he had not used armor. When his page brought his accoutrements that morning, he said, "God is my harness." He mounted his horse without taking any refreshments. He rode along the entire army, saluting and cheering his officers. When he came to the Swedes and Finns, he said: "Dear friends and countrymen, this day the moment is come to show what you have learned in so many combats. There is the foe, not on a mountain, not behind walls, but on a clear field. How this enemy hath heretofore shunned the open field ye well know, and that he lets it now come to battle proceeds not from his free will, nor from hope of victory, 124but because he can no longer escape your arms. Therefore, make yourselves ready, and hold you well as becomes brave soldiers; stand fast by one another, and fight like true knights, for your God, for your Fatherland, and for your king. I will then so reward you all that you may have cause to thank me for it; but if you fight not, not a bone of you shall ever come to Sweden. God preserve you all."

To the Germans he said: "You, my sincere brothers and comrades, I pray and exhort by your Christian conscience and your own honor, now do your duty, as you have done the same with me often before, and especially a year ago not far from this place. Then you beat old Tilly and his army, and I hope that this enemy shall not slip for a better bargain. Go freshly to it. Ye shall not merely fight under me, but with me and beside me. I myself will go before you, and here venture life and blood. If you will follow me, I trust in God that you will win a victory which shall come to good for you and for your descendants. If not, there is an end of your religion, your freedom, your temporal and eternal welfare."

Wallenstein was carried to the army in a litter, as he could not stand on his feet from the gout. He made no remarks to his troops; none were needed. They knew he would reward them in case of victory, and cruelly punish if they failed.

The fog lay heavy on the field, and did not begin to lift until nearly noon. The watchword of the Swedes was, "God with us," while the Imperial forces had the words, "Jesus, Mary." After Gustavus' stirring speeches, all the army 125answered with a clash of arms and joyous cheers. The king looked up to heaven, "Now will we in God's name onward! Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, may we fight to-day for the honor of Thy Holy Name!" He waved his sword over his head, gave the command, "Forward!"

The Swedes could see that the town of Lutzen was burning, having been set on fire by the Imperial troops at the duke's command, to prevent his troops from being flanked on that side, also to take the heart out of all local troops in the Protestant army. The Swedes sustained the onerous attack, facing a battery with undaunted courage. They passed those terrible trenches with their ice-cold water and carried and turned a battery against their adversaries. The first five Imperial brigades were immediately routed, the second soon after, and the third put to flight. Just then Wallenstein came in person with fresh troops upon the broken ranks of the Swedes, the fighting was hand to hand, leaving no room to reload, the guns were clubbed, or used as pikes, the Swedes were driven back, the battery recaptured and turned upon them, then in retreat they had again to wade those awful irrigating canals. A thousand of the Protestant army lay dead, and not a foot gained. In the meantime the king commanded the right wing, which fell upon the enemy's left.

The Finnish cuirassiers dispersed the Poles and Croats, who fled, throwing the cavalry into panic and causing death and confusion to the enemy. At this moment word was brought to the king of the disaster to his left wing, which was even then retreating across those terrible ditches.

126He called General Horn to take his command and repaired with a splendid regiment to the support of the left wing. His good horse sprang over every ditch just as he came to it, his regiment could not keep up with him, and only a few of his staff kept at his side, among them Francis Albert, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg. He rode to where his infantry were most pressed, and while he was reconnoitering for the point of attack his nearsightedness led him too close to the enemy's line. An Imperial corporal noticing that in every place people gave way for him, called to a sharpshooter, "That is a man of consequence, fire at him!" The soldier fired and the left arm of the king was shattered. At that moment his regiment arrived and a cry of anguish went up, "Our king is shot! The king bleeds!" "Oh, it is nothing," shouted the king, "follow me." He led a short way, then realizing that he would fall, he said in French to the Duke of Lauenburg, "Lead my horse, take me out of the battle. I faint." The duke tried to do this by retiring by the right wing in order to keep this discouraging sight from the infantry. The king was wounded again, this time through the back. He said, "Brother, I have enough! Look now to your own life." At this moment he fell from his horse, which dragged him some distance, literally riddled with shots, and, in some unexplainable way, he was separated from all his attendants except his faithful young page, Lenbelfingen, who was run through the body by a sword thrust.

The king's last audible words were: "I am the king of Sweden. I seal this day with my blood 127the liberty and religion of the German nation." And that heroic soul ascended to God.

The page, a boy of eighteen, lived long enough to tell the particulars of that sad story. His father took down his words at his dying bedside. It is the only authentic testimony of the crucial half hour of that awful battle.

The field chaplain of Duke Bernard says in a letter to a friend: "By a first pistol shot Gustavus was wounded in the arm so that the bone stuck out through the coat. By another ball, which he received in the back below the right shoulder, he was thrown from his horse and fell dying. We should not even know the circumstances if we had not them from a young page who served the monarch."

Word of this awful disaster reached Bernard, Duke of Weimar, who immediately sent the word to General Knipenhausen, who prepared in some measure for orders to retreat. But Bernard shouted, "Now for revenge! Victory or death!" and Knipenhausen's division took new heart and sprang into the fight.

The death of the commander usually means defeat, but these gallant Swedes and Germans made it mean splendid victory. They were so enraged by the king's death that the Imperial army was literally stampeded, beaten, routed, driven from the field.

Pappenheim had received Wallenstein's letter at Halle, and without waiting to get his infantry together, he took eight regiments of cavalry and literally galloped to Lutzen, stopping only under necessity.

128Pappenheim hoped for a personal encounter with Gustavus and pressed far into the midst of the fight, where he was struck by two musket balls and carried from the field. He was a great cavalry leader, and with his death success deserted the Imperial arms. The army of Wallenstein, what was left of it, retreated toward Leipzig, leaving the Swedish army in possession of the battlefield. More than nine thousand men lay dead on the field, and historians say of the Imperial army scarcely a man escaped from that field uninjured. The entire plain of Lutzen was strewn with men dead, dying, starving, freezing, wounded unto death.

Pappenheim died at Leipzig the day after the battle. When he fell his troops gave up the fight. He sent a message to Wallenstein: "I die with joy, because Gustavus, the enemy of my faith, dies with me."

Wallenstein's rage was something fearful. All his officers who had fled from the field were beheaded the next day at his command. He concluded Saxony's wealth would not justify the risk of remaining on its soil, and the victors took possession of all strongholds which had been occupied by Austrians. Wallenstein's defeat was complete, and the Emperor Ferdinand, and all the world, knew that chains could never again shackle northern Europe. It was a victory, but the Protestant army had paid a fearful price.

As the men returned to camp after the great battle, the loved king came not to welcome and thank them. After a long search the body of the king was found with the common crowd of dead 129on the battle field. The body had been stripped not only of its ornaments but of clothing by the plunderers, who at that time were in the wake of every battle. That beautiful body was covered with blood and wounds and had been trampled down by horses, so that it was scarcely recognizable.

A funeral service was conducted in the little local church over the body (which had been placed in a plain coffin) by a schoolmaster, and a Swedish officer made a short oration, in which he set forth the Christian character, the high aims, of this divinely-led king, whom Weber calls "the purest character of that deeply agitated time," that great king of a brave people, whom history rightly names Gustavus the Great.

The next day the mortal body was taken to Weissenfels, where a druggist named Kasparins embalmed it. He found nine wounds. After this the remains were given to his queen and his soldiers. The sorrow seemed overwhelming, and the generals were simply stupefied by grief and by the magnitude of their loss.

The body was sacredly kept in a church till the following summer, when it was sent from Saxony to Sweden. As the procession passed through the country with the hero's body, accompanied by his queen and a committee from the Estates of Sweden, every possible honor was paid to the dead king. After a fairly prosperous voyage the fleet arrived, August 8th, at Nykjoeping amid the clash of a great rain and thunder-storm. The last, a salute from heaven's artillery, and the rain an emblem of the tears of a nation.

130The queen insisted on keeping the heart with her in a golden case, but after the clergy had reasoned with her, not till June 21st, 1634, was his body laid in the old Ridderholm church, which Gustavus had himself chosen for his last earthly resting place. A beautiful mausoleum covers his grave. On the different sides of this monument short sentences concerning his character and his achievements are engraved. Beneath the cross at the top a pelican feeding its young with its own blood fitly represents this life with its bloody self-devotion to its religion and country. It is constantly covered with the flag of Sweden, and few travelers enter the church without placing a funeral wreath over Sweden's immortal dead.

Now, what good came of all this sorrow, in which a great country was laid waste, and more than twelve million people perished? Protestantism was rescued from extinction on the continent of Europe. A limit was put to the aggressions of Austria. Since the Thirty Years' War religious toleration has been the boast of Protestant Germany. The awful loss of life would seem to show the value God places on the rights of the common people, in contrast with material prosperity. The spiritual assets of individuals and nations seem to abide, while their material assets are perishable.

But for this war no such State as modern Germany would now exist, and northern Europe, not only Saxony, Brandenburg and Hanover, but Denmark, Sweden and Norway would have been swept into the Holy Roman Empire, and their intellects paralyzed by Romanism, as in Italy, Spain and Portugal.

131It was not alone the weeping Swedes who bewailed Gustavus' early death at the age of thirty-eight years, but his prowess made Greece long for liberty, prayers were offered for him at the Holy Sepulchre. The Pope said: "Gustavus was the greatest king in the world." Wallenstein paid him homage in saying: "It is well for him and me that he is gone. The German Empire does not require two such leaders."

He was a man of sincere faith, which God graciously honored. He was a just man, always kind, even to tenderness, and withal he was a military genius. He transformed the science of war, making the man behind the gun mean more than the gun. He caused flexibility of movement to take the place of large massing of men. He was a severe disciplinarian, but he tried to have the obedience of the soldier to come from within, obeying the outward voice as the voice of God, country and king. He often said: "One can be a bold combatant but not a good soldier without being a Christian."

In our age, so materialistic, so mercenary, that sees all too little of the heroic along religious lines, it comes like a breath from heaven to contemplate such a life, such a service, such a death as that of Gustavus the Great.

He possessed that peculiar faculty of greatness, the distinct perception of a distant goal, and an unfaltering determination to reach it. In generalship he was superior to Wallenstein, the greatest Imperial commander of that century. In diplomacy and statesmanship he excelled Richelieu. He dared to follow the vision.

After the death of Gustavus the Great, Chancellor Oxenstiern became commander-in-chief; he was also chosen chief of the League of the Protestant Princes against Austria. Oxenstiern was as earnest as Gustavus, but the great genius and experience of the Christian soldier, the large wisdom and sincere honesty of the great king were all missing, and made the remainder of the war only a bloody record, with little of the heroic, except the heroism of a steadfast standing to an unpleasant delegated duty.

Wallenstein soon recruited a new army, but he now began to be distrusted by both sides.^[5] He failed to carry out the Edict of Restitution. He appointed Protestants to good positions in the army.

Proofs yet exist that he was negotiating with Oxenstiern. Count Schlick openly said: "Wallenstein is playing a double game." He received a messenger from Richelieu. He was aiming first for the crown of Bohemia, and it is believed that his astrologers had told him that the stars proclaimed he would yet be Emperor of Germany. Ferdinand had long watched him through spies, but Wallenstein, surrounded by his great generals, was not easy to take in case he should not choose 133to submit to arrest. Wallenstein had entered into a bond of friendship with about thirty of his officers, who promised to be faithful unto death to him, but even while the astrologer was telling him of coming triumph, an Imperial proclamation declared that Wallenstein had been found guilty of treasonable conspiracy, dismissed from the service and his officers forbidden to take any orders whatever from him.

Wallenstein went to the strong fortress of Eyer in Bohemia, followed by a good-sized army. Here he hoped to maintain himself till he could close negotiations with the Duke of Weimar, with the Swedes and with Richelieu, and carry his army to the other side. But the Emperor was prepared before he made the proclamation.

Only four of the thirty officers remained true to him; in spite of their written oaths of allegiance that they would sacrifice their estates and shed their heart's blood for him. The Emperor offered a reward for him dead or alive. These false friends proposed a great banquet in his honor. The banquet lasted late into the night, while they drank to the general's health and toasted him in fair speech. Suddenly a company of ruffians burst into the hall, and, with the assistance of the traitors, the four friends of Wallenstein were assassinated. The general had retired to rest, not being well. Hearing the confusion he rose, dressed and prepared for the worst. Suddenly the tramp of many feet were heard, the door was burst open, and Devereau, at the head of thirty men, cried: "Are you the villain who would betray our Emperor?" Wallenstein, like a brave man, opened 134his arms wide, receiving in the breast his mortal wound.

His vast property was confiscated and divided among his betrayers, all of whom received offices, honors and wealth. Twenty-four lower officers who were his friends fled, but were captured and beheaded at Pilsen. He had a strong personal following. His soldiers laughed at being known as Protestant, Catholic, German or foreigners; they declared they were Wallensteiners. He cared for neither friend nor foe, but led his robber band from State to State till it was laid waste, then moved on to the next, leaving devastation in his wake.

The fifth and last period of the war was now entered upon, known as the French-Swedish War. Richelieu made the Rhine the frontier of France, and concluded an open alliance with Sweden.

Ferdinand II. now died, after having made his son Roman king. This greatly angered Duke Maximilian, Richelieu and Pope Urban VIII., who had other plans for that throne. Ferdinand died unmourned, after causing as great sorrow as any human being who ever lived. During the remaining eleven years before the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Ferdinand III. would gladly have made peace, but Germany was so defenceless that she was simply in the hands of France and Sweden, one contending for, the other against the Edict of Restitution, but the awful story of rapine, murder, pestilence and death of those eleven years need not be told here. (See Schiller's "Thirty Years' War.")

What was Christian Germany doing all this 135time? It kept the faith; it sought consolation in God's word; it wrote the deep spiritual hymns of the Church, hymns which have comforted the sorrowing from that day to this.

The negotiations for peace extended over four years. While diplomats in comfortable rooms were bickering over terms, armies were fighting, soldiers dying, people starving, and utter misery prevailing. The parties who had to subscribe to the peace were France, Sweden, the Emperor, the various German States and princes, Frederick William, who afterward became known as the great Elector of Brandenburg, Denmark, Venice, Spain, Switzerland, England and the Netherlands. Sweden did not receive Pomerania, which she demanded, but secured Western Pomerania, with Rugen, Stettin and a few other places, and an indemnity of five million thalers. But what was that to her loss?

The Treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, declared that the treaties of Passau and Augsburg were confirmed. The Edict of Restitution was canceled. The great Supreme Court of the Empire was to be half Protestant and half Catholic. It legalized the break which had been made by Luther and the other reformers. It gave liberty of conscience to the Protestant part of Europe.

Against the Treaty of Westphalia the Pope of Rome made an earnest protest that does not at this distance of time and place seem important. This protest, however, was the pontifical declaration that in spite of the treaty of Augsburg, Rome had never abandoned and never intends to abandon the claim made by Gregory VIII., Innocent 136III., Bonifacius VIII. and their successors, that the Pope of Rome is the supreme and exclusive source of all ecclesiastical and political authority in all the world.

All the wars, murders, intrigues, massacres and apparent victories of Charles V., Ferdinand II., of Philip II. of Spain, of Alva in the Netherlands, the half Roman policy of Charles I. of England, came to dire judgment in the Peace of Westphalia, and Catholic and Protestant learned the deep lesson of religious toleration.

It took Luther, Calvin, Knox, Latimer, Ridley, Cranmer, Gustavus Adolphus and Cromwell, the Huguenots of France, and all God's faithful plain people of many nations to bring about the religious toleration we now enjoy.

Sweden practically saved religious liberty to the world. So far this has been her greatest contribution to history. Protestantism everywhere means liberty of conscience, Romanism everywhere means absolutism.

Chancellor Oxenstiern, next to Gustavus, deserves the honors of that war. By his great statesmanship and unfaltering dignity he secured religious toleration, which was the chief thing fought for, and secured a fair share of land and money for his impoverished country.

When the Thirty Years' War ended, not one of the great men who began it was alive. Emperor Ferdinand II., King Christian II., Gustavus the Great, Wallenstein, Tilly, Pappenheim, James I. of England, and Richelieu, had all gone to give an account of the deeds done in the body. For a whole century the remains of burned and ruined 137towns, villages and desolated homes and farms marked the sorrows of the cruelest long war of history.

In the Peace of Westphalia, 1648, ecclesiastical property was determined by possession in 1624 (six years after the war began), and liberty of conscience granted to the Protestants. This treaty was decided by France and Sweden, and in many respects it bore hard on Germany. It was from rights granted in this treaty that Louis XIV. treated Germany as a vassal province, and that Napoleon I. brought the Empire to a close.^[6] The House of Hapsburg began to see the necessity of changing the title of Emperor of Austria, though it kept the shell without the soul for one hundred and forty years after the Peace of Westphalia. There was a growing expectation that the young Elector of Brandenburg might become the real ruler of northern Germany.

Oxenstiern, supported by a cabinet, ruled over Sweden till Christina, the daughter of Gustavus, in her eighteenth year, became Queen of Sweden. This mannish queen was jealous of the fame of the old Chancellor, and dishonored herself by dishonoring him. It is quite possible that she was slightly insane. She scattered the crown property, gave costly gifts to unworthy people, and at last she was in a measure forced to abdicate in favor of her cousin, one of the Vasa family. Having lost the love and respect of her subjects, she soon left Sweden in masculine attire under the name of Count Dohna. She first went to Brussels, and later to Italy. It had been known 138for some time that she was greatly influenced by the Spanish minister at her court, and at Innsbruck she openly joined the Roman Church, and was rechristened Alexandria.

She made her way to Rome, was well received at the Vatican by the Pope. In time she began to regret her course, and in 1666 and again in 1667 she returned to Sweden in the vain hope of regaining her crown. In 1668 she laid claim to the crown of Poland. Returning to Rome, she died in 1689, old, poor, neglected, at the age of sixty-three, and was buried in St. Peter's Cathedral.

Christina was succeeded by Charles X. of Sweden.^[7] He proved to be a good ruler. The family of Vasa remained on the Swedish throne till 1810, when, the Vasa family having no suitable heirs, the throne was offered to Field Marshal Bernadotte, a famous general under Napoleon I., whose favor was supposed to be secured by this act. Bernadotte became a Lutheran under the title of Charles John, sometimes spoken of as Charles XIV. In 1814 Norway entered into a union with Sweden which continued until 1905.

Charles XI. was succeeded by his son (in 1844), known as Oscar I., who lived until 1859, when the Crown Prince Charles, who, on account of the bad health of the king, had been acting as regent, now became king of the two countries under the name of Charles XV.; he was succeeded by his brother, the honored Oscar II., September 18th, 1872, and ruled till December 8th, 1907.

139It is not too much to say that Oscar II. was the best loved monarch of his generation. It fell to his fate to assent to the loss of his Norwegian crown, but the magnanimous manner in which he did this gained more world-wide admiration than most rulers acquire by conquering an empire.

It is interesting to know that the only scion of royalty of the Napoleon dynasty now on a throne is the King of Sweden, through the family of poor, deeply wounded Josephine. Eugene de Beauharnaise, son of Josephine, married Augusta of Bavaria, their daughter became the wife of Oscar I., whose grandson, Gustavus V., who came to the throne December 8th, 1907, now most ably rules over the Swedish people.

Scandinavia has produced great men in every walk of life, but the proudest name that portion of the world has yet inscribed among the Imperishables is that of

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