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272
Plan for a defensive war
abaiuloned. HISTORY OF THE SWEDES. llapid successes on
the Maine. [1628-
most heavily, and were most gladdened by the
coming of their rescuer. It was their joy, which
made the march of Gustavus Adulphus, after the
battle of Leipsic, a triumphant jirocession ;
it was
their thankfulness which knitted the league over
his bleeding bodj’; and never would the compact
have been struck if his banners liad not waived
among them ^."
The king’s first plan for the war after the victory
at Leipsic was defensive, and shows that he did
not intend to follow his up advantage so quickly as
afterwards came to pass. The same day he broke
up from Halle, he writes to the chancellor,
" For
some time we have desired your presence, after
the late glorious victoi’y over the enemy, to deli-
berate with you how we might best set matters in
train for the restitution of our oppressed fellow-
believers. Come, therefore, hither for some while,
and be not restrained thereby, that ye bring no
money along ! Charles Baner may in the mean
time be vice-governor in Prussia. Else we liave
purposed so to order the state of the war, that we
repair in our own person to Thuringia, to avail our-
selves of what may be left there, taking our steps
so that we might have our winter quarters there.
Thence, with Hesse, Saxony, and Meissen around
u.s, we will (by God’s grace) busy ourselves with
infesting some bishoprics in Francony, and putting
them under contributions; so strengthening our-
selves in the winter, that by spring-time we may
be a sufficient match for the enemy, especially as
Saxony is now with us. The defence of the Oder
hath the elector taken upon himself, wherefore we
have ordered the lord John Baner to Frankfort, to
draw off our garrison as soon as the elector’s folk
come ;
and when he liath occupied Landsberg, to
push on with the rest of his men to Calbe, between
the streams of the Saal and Mulde, and with other
troops, appointed thereto, form a leaguer in that
district, in order to get firm footing on the Elbe,
and the possession of Magdeburg. We have given
command to Salvius to bring up to us a body of
men who have remained near Hamburg, and who,
in conjunction with those of the duke of Mecklen-
burg, will probably amount to 15,000 men; so that
these two armies, the one above here against Mag-
deburg under Baner, the other below, may be able
to keep the Elbe clear. Furthermore, we have
thought of employing the Pomeranian garrisons in
securing Mecklenburg, but would then need troops
from Prussia, that Pomerania might not be en-
tirely bare^." But the king did not confine him-
self within the limits which he had first marked
out for himself. The wings of victory, once imped
for her soaring flight, bore him swiftly onwards.
After Erfurt had fallen by terror and surprise into
his hands, he marched across the Thuringian forest
(partly by night and torchlight), and entered
Upper Germany. The strong place of Konigshofen
surrendered; Wurtzburg, considered impregnable,
2
Oration at tlie Jubilee (Tal vid Jubelfesten, &c.) in
memory of tlie great Gustavus Adolpluis, Nov. 6, 1832, in
Upsala, p. 42.
3 To the Cliancellor, Halle, Sept. 17, 1C3I. Heg.
* To the lord John Baner, Hoclist, Nov. IS), 1031. Reg.
•i
Franchevillc (Gualdo Pricrato), p. 102.
"
Khevenhiiller, i. 18SJ.
7 Salvius to Peter Baner, Hamburg, Nov 20, 1631.
Palmsk. MSS.
8 "The pleasant march alongst the pleasant and fruitfull
was taken by Storm ; Hanau was surprised; Frank-
fort on the Maine opened its gates; the king march-
ed through the town, and went the same evening
to Hoclist, which he took. Thence he wrote to
Baner :
" We now expect, through the happy suc-
cess by God vouchsafed to us, to join the two rivers
Maine and Rhine, as also to cut off the enemy
from the circle of Westphalia, and all other pro-
vinces on this side of the Rhine, if ye are only in
a position to keep our rear secure *." The march
through Franconia had been a triumjihal proces-
sion. Great stores of necessary articles had been
acquired ;
after the capture of Wurtzburg there
was hardly a soldier in the army who had not new
clothes ^
;
in the camp a cow was sold for a rix-
doUar, and a sheep for a few styvers ^. The
northern strangers had come into the land of
abundance. " The king’s majesty," writes Salvius,
"possesses now all Frankenland, and the states there
have done homage to his majesty as duke of the
said country, as may be seen by the annexed man-
date of his majesty. Our Finnish lads, who dwell
up there in the wine-land, will not so soon go back
to Savolax. In the Livonian wars they must often
be fain to take up with water and coarse bi-ead
worsened for their aleberry ;
now the Finn makes
himself his cold cup (kallskal) in his helmet of
wine and loaves ’." The gruff Scot Monro speaks
with rapture of the march along the beautiful banks
of the Maine *.
Such progress, with a force comparatively incon-
siderable, was however not unattended with danger.
Tilly, who after his defeat had taken his way to
Hesse, and was reinforced by Fugger and Altringer,
and further by the duke of Lorraine, threatened the
king’s rear with a force far superior, and had even,
although too late, advanced to the relief of Wurtz-
burg. The king, having detached Horn against
Bamberg, had upon his march from Wurtzbm-g
to Hanau not more than seven thousand five hun-
dred foot, and four thousand horse ^. Gustavus
Adolphus was never observed to be so much dis-
quieted as at this approach of Tilly >. For the first
time he was remarked to be undecided, and to re-
call orders he had given. At this period he writes
to Baner: —" The enemy hath so strengthened him-
self in this quarter, that we cannot proportion our
army against him for an engagement. He extends
his line to Schweinfurt, appears to wish to inter-
pose between us and the Thuringian forest,and to cut
off our communication with Saxony and you.
—Look
well to yourself !
—Correspond with duke William
of Weimar at Erfurt, and reinforce him if he can-
not sustain a siege. Strain every effort on your
side to acquire Magdeburg, and that ye may be
strong enough to maintain yourself on the Elbe and
Havel, issue writs of recruitment, and appoint the
trysting-places. Take no note therein either of
friends or utifriends, so that you are only rein-
river of the Maine, that runs through faire Franconia."
Monro, ii. 88.
9 Swedish Intelligencer, i. 28. The infantry consisted of
five brigades, by rule one thousand eight hundred men to
each, but now incomplete. They had their names from the
colours of the oldest colonel in tlie brigade. In the same
way the names of the regiments were derived from tlieir
standards, although usually supposed to be taken from their
uniforms. Five are mentioned : the body regimeiit, the
green, the blue, the white, the r^d regiments.
’
Monro, ii. 86.
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