The Lion of the North: A Tale of the Times of Gustavus AdolphusHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
The Lion of the North: A Tale of the Times of Gustavus Adolphus
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden, 1594-1632 -- Fiction; Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648 -- Fiction
The officers were full of hope that Duke Bernhard was going to strike
a great blow. Altringer was away on the shore of Lake Constance facing
Horn, Wallenstein was in Bohemia. Between Donauworth and Vienna were
but the four strong places of Ingolstadt, Ratisbon, Passau, and Linz.
Ingolstadt was, the duke knew, commanded by a traitor who was ready to
surrender. Ratisbon had a Protestant population who were ready to open
their gates. It seemed that the opportunity for ending the war by a
march upon Vienna, which had been snatched by Wallenstein from Gustavus
just when it appeared in his grasp, was now open to Duke Bernhard.
But the duke was ambitious, his demands for Franconia had not yet been
entirely complied with by Oxenstiern, and he saw an opportunity to
obtain his own terms. The troops under his orders were discontented,
owing to the fact that their pay was many months in arrear, and private
agents of the duke fomented this feeling by assuring the men that their
general was with them and would back their demands. Accordingly they
refused to march further until their demands were fully satisfied. The
Scotch regiments stood apart from the movement, though they too were
equally in arrear with their pay. Munro and the officers of the Brigade
chafed terribly at this untimely mutiny just when the way to Vienna
appeared open to them. Duke Bernhard forwarded the demands of the
soldiers to Oxenstiern, sending at the same time a demand on his own
account, first that the territory of the Franconian bishoprics should at
once be erected into a principality in his favour, and secondly, that
he should be nominated commander-in-chief of all the armies fighting in
Germany for the Protestant cause with the title of generalissimo.
Oxenstiern was alarmed by the receipt of the mutinous demands of the
troops on the Danube, and was disgusted when he saw those demands
virtually supported by their general. His first thought was to dismiss
Duke Bernhard from the Swedish service; but he saw that if he did so the
disaffection might spread, and that the duke might place himself at
the head of the malcontents and bring ruin upon the cause. He therefore
agreed to bestow at once the Franconian bishoprics upon him, and gave a
pledge that Sweden would defend him in that position.
He declined to make him generalissimo of all the armies, but appointed
him commander-in-chief of the forces south of the Maine. The duke
accepted this modification, and had no difficulty in restoring order in
the ranks of his army. But precious months had been wasted before this
matter was brought to a conclusion, and the month of October arrived
before the duke had completed all his preparations and was in a position
to move forward.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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