Chapter XXV: Section IV: Defeat of Mansfeld and Christian IV

[Sidenote: § 1. Campaign of 1626.]

When the campaign opened, in the spring of 1626, the numbers at the disposal of the two belligerents were not so very unequal. Wallenstein's forces had been swelling far beyond his original reckoning. He and Tilly together, it is said could command the services of 70,000 men, whilst 60,000 were ready to march against them. On Christian's side were fighting Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick, and a nobler than either, John Ernest of Saxe-Weimar, on whom, first of German men, the idea had dawned of composing the distractions of his fatherland by proclaiming a general toleration. Bethlen Gabor was once more threatening Vienna from the side of Hungary. Even the Protestant peasants in Lower Austria had risen in defence of their religion and their homes against the Bavarian garrisons which guarded the land till their master's expenses had been paid.

[Sidenote: § 2. Christian IV. at a disadvantage.]

In other respects than numbers, however, the conditions were most unequal. Tilly and Wallenstein both quartered their troops on the enemy's country. In raising supplies they had no susceptibilities to consult, no friendly princes or cities to spare. Christian, on the other hand, was still amongst his allies, and was forced, on pain of driving them over to the Emperor, to show them every consideration. And in the midst of these difficulties one source of supply on which he had been justified in counting entirely failed him.

[Sidenote: 1625.

§ 3. Failure of the English supplies.]

Charles I. of England had engaged in the spring of 1625 to pay over to the King of Denmark 30,000_l._ a month, reckoning that Parliament would enable him to fulfil his promise. Parliament met in May, but it had no confidence either in Charles or in his favourite and adviser, the Duke of Buckingham. A war carried on in Germany with English money was most distasteful to the English feeling. The session came to an end after a vote of a bare 140,000_l._, to meet a war expenditure scarcely, if at all, short of 1,000,000_l._ a year. Still Charles persisted. In the winter Buckingham went over to Holland and negotiated the Treaty of the Hague, by which the Dutch were to pay 5,000_l._ a month, and the English renewed their obligation to pay the 30,000_l._ already promised to Christian IV. This time, it was thought, a fresh Parliament would be ready to take up the king's engagement. But the fresh Parliament proved more recalcitrant than its predecessor. The sum of 46,000_l._ which had been sent across the seas in May 1625 was the only representative of Charles' promised support.

[Sidenote: 1626.

§ 4. Danger of the Danish army.]

Christian of Denmark and his allies, therefore, were to some extent in the position in which Mansfeld had been in 1621 and 1622. If not utterly without resource, they were sadly straitened, and were obliged to govern their movements by the necessity of finding supplies rather than by military calculations.

[Sidenote: § 5. Mansfeld in the north.]

Mansfeld was the first to meet the enemy. For some time he had been quartered beyond the Elbe, making himself troublesome to the Lübeckers and the Elector of Brandenburg. But this could not go on for ever. Wallenstein was in front of him, and he must fight him, or leave him to join Tilly against the king.

[Sidenote: § 6. Battle of the bridge of Dessau.]

Wallenstein never, in his whole career, exposed his men to a battle in the open field if he could help it; and least of all was he likely to do so whilst they were yet untried. He seized upon the bridge of Dessau over the Elbe, and, having fortified it strongly, waited for Mansfeld to do his work. On April 25 Mansfeld appeared. In vain he dashed his troops against the entrenchments. Then, watching a favourable opportunity, Wallenstein ordered a charge. The enemy fled in confusion and the victory was gained.

[Sidenote: § 7. Mansfeld's march towards Hungary.]

Not long after Mansfeld's defeat at the bridge of Dessau, Christian of Brunswick died. The remaining chiefs of the Danish party had a desperate game to play. Mansfeld, reinforced by John Ernest of Weimar, was dispatched through Silesia, to hold out a hand to Bethlen Gabor. Wallenstein followed in pursuit, after sending some of his regiments to the assistance of Tilly.

[Sidenote: § 8. The battle of Lutter.]

What could Christian do in the face of the danger? The English subsidies did not come. To remain on the defensive was to court starvation, with its inevitable accompaniment, mutiny. Elated by a slight success over the enemy, he made a dash at Thuringia, hoping to slip through into Bohemia, and to combine with Bethlen Gabor and Mansfeld in raising the old Protestant flag in the heart of the Emperor's hereditary dominions. But Tilly was on the watch. On August 27 he came up with the Danish army at Lutter. The fight was fiercely contested. But before it was decided a cry arose from some of the men in the Danish ranks that they would fight no longer without pay. Christian was driven from the field. In after days he complained bitterly that if the King of England had fulfilled his promises the battle would have ended otherwise.

[Sidenote: § 9. Mansfeld's death.]

The soldiers lent by Wallenstein to Tilly had borne them well in the fight. Wallenstein himself was far away. Mansfeld had been welcomed by the Protestants of Silesia, and when Wallenstein followed he found the principal towns garrisoned by the enemy. By the time he reached Hungary Mansfeld had joined Bethlen Gabor. Once more Wallenstein pursued his old tactics. Taking up a strong position, he left his opponents to do what they could. The events showed that his calculations were well founded. Bethlen Gabor had counted on help from the Turks. But the Turks gave him no adequate assistance, and he did not venture to repeat unaided the operation of the bridge of Dessau, and to attack Wallenstein in his entrenchments. He preferred making a truce, one of the conditions of which was that Mansfeld should be expelled from Hungary. On his way to Venice the great adventurer was seized by a mortal disease. The unconquerable man, like an old northern warrior, refused to die in a bed. 'Raise me up,' he said to his friends, 'I am dying now.' Propped up in an upright position in their arms, and gazing out upon the dawn, which was lighting up the hills with the first rays of morning, he passed away. 'Be united, united,' he murmured with his last breath; 'hold out like men.' His own absence from the scene would perhaps remove one of the chief difficulties in the way of union.