CHAP. III.] BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF WALLENSTEIN.

487

The new monarch

town held by the Austrians in Bohemia. attempted to conciliate his subjects in that kingdom; he proposed a truce, and offered to confirm all their rights, privileges, and, liberties; but the Bohemians could not trust a prince led by the Jesuits, which order they had driven from the country in the preceding June, and the insurgents did not even deign to answer his letter.35 At first the campaign seemed to go in favour of Ferdinand. Count Thurn had proceeded into Moravia with the main body of his army, with the intention of annexing that province and afterwards Austria; and he occupied the towns of Znaym, Brünn, Iglau, and Olmütz; but, while he was thus engaged, Bucquoi re-entered Bohemia, and took town after town. It was at this time that Albert von Wallenstein afterwards the renowned and dreaded leader of the Thirty Years' War, attracted the notice and favour of Ferdinand II., by the bravery with which, at the head of only a single regiment, he opposed the Bohemians. Born in 1583, of a family belonging to the Bohemian gentry and of the Utraquist faith, but of German extraction, Waldstein, or Wallenstein 36, having been left an orphan at the early age of ten, was sent by a Roman Catholic uncle to Olmütz, to be educated by the Jesuits, by whom he was of course converted. He had afterwards studied at Padua, then, after Bologna, the most renowned university of Europe, where he acquired a good knowledge of Italian, at that period, like French at present, the fashionable language. On a journey which he made through the principal states of Western Europe, including England, in company with a young friend, and under the superintendence of Peter Verdungus, a celebrated astrologer and mathematician, Wallenstein imbibed from the latter that fondness for astrology which marked his future life, and which was still further increased by the lessons which he received at Padua from Argoli, the Professor of Astrology, or as we should now say, of Astronomy, who also initiated him in the mysteries of the Cabbala. Wallenstein had already served the Emperor Rodolph in Hungary, and the Archduke Ferdinand in a war with Venice, where he had distinguished himself by relieving the town of Gradiska. Subsequently he had acquired a large fortune by marrying a Moravian countess, the daughter of Carl von Harrach, Imperial chamberlain and privy-councillor.

35 Theatrum Europæum, Th. i. S. 180. Se Waldstein is the true family name, and still continues to be borne by the members of it in Bohemia.

37 When the papers of the Imperial general Gronsfeldt, written in French,

Ι Ι 4

were taken at the battle of Hessisch Oldendorf in 1633, there was only one man among the officers of Duke George of Luneburg able to read them. Von der Decken, Herzog Georg von Lüneburg, ap. Geijer, Gesch. Schwedens, B. iii. S. 286.

488

FERDINAND II. ELECTED EMPEROR.

[Book IV.

After obtaining possession of Moravia, Thurn marched into Austria, and on the 5th of June 1619 he appeared in one of the suburbs of Vienna; in which city both the Catholic and Protestant States of the Duchy were assembled round the Emperor. At this moment the fate of centuries lay in Thurn's hands; but, instead of pushing his way into the city, he suffered himself to be amused for six days with parleys. In this crisis Ferdinand II. displayed considerable energy and determination, and when pressed to save himself and his children by flight, he refused to quit his capital." At the expiration of six days, as a deputy named Thonradel was pressing Ferdinand, with threats, to sanction a confederation with the Bohemians, St. Hilaire, who had been despatched by Dampierre with 500 horse, entered Vienna by the Water-Gate, which Thurn had not been able to secure. At the sound of their trumpets the deputies hurried from the palace, and Ferdinand immediately issued directions for vigorous measures. Thurn remained for some days longer before Vienna and bombarded it, till he was recalled by a message from the Directors at Prague; to the effect that Bucquoi, having defeated Count Mansfeld at Budweis, June 10th, and afterwards formed a junction with Dampierre, was now threatening the capital of Bohemia.

No sooner was this danger over, than Ferdinand hastened to Frankfort in order to his formal election as German Emperor ; which was hurried on, in order to put an end to the vicariate of the Elector of Saxony and of the Elector Palatine, the latter of whom was desirous of excluding the House of Austria from the Imperial throne. The Palatine had turned his eyes on the Duke of Bavaria; but Maximilian was not dazzled with the prospect of the empire, nor inclined to contest it with his old friend Ferdinand. All the Electors gave their votes for Ferdinand, and even the Palatine's ambassadors, though they at first raised some objections, ultimately joined the majority. As the Electors were leaving the Römer, or Imperial Chamber, tidings that the revolted Bohemians had chosen the Elector Palatine for their king occasioned a great sensation at Frankfort. The Emperor Ferdinand II. received the Imperial crown with the usual ceremonies, September 9th; but his reign was inaugurated with the prospect of that bloody struggle that was to last thirty years.

38 According to a story told by the Emperor's Jesuit confessor Lamormain, in his treatise De virtutibus Ferdinandi II., Ferdinand in his doubt threw himself before a crucifix, which uttered the

words, "Ferdinande, non te deseram." The miraculous image was afterwards preserved in the Imperial Treasury. Menzel, B. iii. S. 340.

CHAP. IV.]

THE TEMPTATION OF A CROWN.

489

CHAPTER IV.

THE acceptance or rejection of the Bohemian crown was a question of the most vital importance, not only to the Elector Palatine himself, but to the whole German Empire, and naturally occasioned the deepest anxiety to the youthful Frederick V. It could not but be foreseen that, if he should accept it, a war, of which no man could foretell the end, must inevitably ensue between the great parties already organised against each other by the confederacies of the Catholic League and the Evangelical Union. In this perplexity, Frederick summoned a meeting of the princes of the Union at Rothenburg on the Tauber, and submitted the matter to their consideration. The opinions of the assembly appeared to be equally divided. The Margraves of Baden and Anspach, and Prince Christian of Anhalt, advised Frederick to accept the proffered crown; while the Landgrave of Hesse, the Margrave of Culmbach, and the Duke of Würtemberg, dissuaded him from it. Frederick now hastened back to Heidelberg and took anxious counsel with his friends. Not only were the divided opinions of the Union itself calculated to stagger him in his course, but he had also received a written warning from the whole Electoral College not to engage in so rash an undertaking. Frederick had also privately consulted Maximilian of Bavaria, who, in a friendly and father-like letter, remarkable for its good sense and the keen view it took of the actual state of Germany, strongly dissuaded him from his ambitious views; and even politely hinted that he could not stand quietly by and see Bohemia wrested from the House of Austria. On the other hand Frederick was encouraged to persevere by Christian of Anhalt, who had been a kind of tutor to him, and to whose advice he attributed great weight; as well as by his minister Camerarius, and his wife the Princess Elizabeth.' The latter especially, whose violent and ambitious character, combined with considerable talent, has procured for her the reputation

His court-chaplain, the well-known author Scultetus, has also been charged with persuading Frederick to accept the

crown; but he denies in his Autobiography that he had anything to do with it.

490

FREDERICK BECOMES KING OF BOHEMIA.

[Book IV.

of a princess of spirit, vehemently incited him to the enterprise and is said to have asked him why, as he had had courage enogn to woo a king's daughter, he had none to stretch out his hand and seize a sceptre which seemed offered to him by Heaven? 2 From his father-in-law James I., however, he could expect but little assistance; for though that monarch would gladly have seen his daughter a queen, his pacific policy forbade him to appeal to arms for such an object; and he gave no decided opinion on the matter.3 But from two other foreign princes, Maurice of Nassau, the hereditary enemy of the House of Austria, and Bethlem Gabor, the Protestant Voyvode of Transylvania, Frederick received assurances of support.

Frederick himself, now only twenty-two years of age, was naturally ambitious; in temper grave, melancholy, and proud, so that he would eat in company with none but princes, he had commanded the tables at which the councillors and nobles dined in his father's time to be removed." It may be, too, that the doctrine of predestination, which formed part of his faith, had some influence in determining his judgment; his wife, at least, appears to have used that argument with him; and he seems to have been guided by passages in the Prophets and the Apocalypse, and by the aspect of the stars. Thus by his own weakness, the ambition of his consort, and the injudicious advice of his friends, he was lured to his destruction. Towards the end of October 1619 he proceeded to Prague, and on the 4th of November he solemnly received the Bohemian crown.

Circumstances seemed at first to favour the ambitious enterprise of Frederick. Bethlem Gabor, who was in alliance with Count Thurn, had, during the Emperor's journey to Frankfort, declared war against his representative, Leopold; had occupied in a very short time Upper Hungary, where the malcontents flocked to his standard

2 Puffendorf, De Rebus Suecicis, lib. i. $ 27.

Afterwards, however, James expressed his disapprobation of the course taken by Frederick, and instructed his ambassador not to give him the title of King. In a letter to the Chancellor of the Palatinate Camerarius writes: "Niemand schadet nostræ causæ mehr dann König in gross Brittannien, sua cunctatione et tricis philosophicis."-Londorp, Th. i. S. 987.

The Transylvanians having a custom of subjoining the Christian name to the surname, instead of prefixing it, the proper_appellation of this prince according to European custom would be Gabriel

Bethlem. Harte, Gust. Adolphus, vol.ˇi. p. 213, note.

Relatione di Germania, 1617, ap. Ranke, Popes, vol. ii. p. 461.

6" Weil Gott alles dirigirt, und sonder Zweifel dieses also geschickt habe, so stelle sie ihm anheim, ob er die Krone zu acceptiren für rathsam befinde; auf welchen Fall sie bereit sei, dem göttlichen Berufe zu folgen, und dabei zu leiden, was Gott verordnen werde; ja, auf den Nothfall alle ihre Kleinodien und was sie sonsten in der Welt habe, aufzusetzen."-Letter of Elizabeth, in Moser, ap. Menzel, B. iii. S. 359.

CHAP. IV.]

ACCOUNT OF BETHLEM GABOR.

491

in great numbers, and had thence pressed on into Lower Austria, so that Leopold even found himself hampered at Vienna, and was forced to recall Bucquoi from Bohemia (October 1619). Gabor had betrayed the native treachery of his character in the way in which he obtained possession of his dominions.

After the death of Stephen Bocskai without heirs in December 16067, who, by the peace of Sitvatorok, had been established as Voyvode of Transylvania, that dignity, after a short enjoyment of it by Sigismund Rakoczy, came to Gabriel Bathori, who was elected by the Transylvanian States, though not without some contentions between the Emperor and the Porte. But Gabriel Bathori acted so tyrannically, that, at length, even the Protestants of Transylvania rose against him and appealed to the Porte. Unluckily for himself, Bathori employed Bethlem Gabor to mediate for him with the Pasha of Temesvar. Gabor made the Pasha large presents, and still larger promises; and through his influence the Grand-Seignior ultimately invested Gabor with Transylvania, October 1613; and a few days after Bathori was murdered by some of his own officers. Although these proceedings were viewed with displeasure at Vienna, neither the Emperor nor the Hungarians were inclined to go to war with the Turks. Gabor was recognised; the Porte sent a splendid embassy to Vienna, and in July 1615 a new peace was concluded there for twenty years on the basis of that of Sitva-torok. Gabor, with the aid of the Turks, was now seeking to wrest from Ferdinand the crown of Hungary, though he had declined that of Bohemia.

The news of his proceedings in conjunction with Count Thurn reached Ferdinand II. at Munich, where, on his return from Frankfort, he was staying with Duke Maximilian; and he immediately applied to that Prince for the assistance of the League, which was readily accorded on the conditions set forth in the treaty of Munich. Of these conditions it is necessary to our purpose to mention only two. By the third article of the treaty, the Emperor and the House of Austria engaged all their possessions to indemnify the Duke against any loss of territory that he might sustain in the war, as well as all expenses in excess of his ordinary contributions to the League; while by the fifth article any portion of the Austrian territories that Maximilian might succeed in wresting from the enemy was to remain in his possession till he should have been remunerated for all the damages and extraordinary expenses that he might have incurred.

See above, p. 388.