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326
Want of co-o|ier.ition obliges
him to retreat. HISTORY OF THE SWEDES.
Effect of his successes.
Congress of Osnabur^’.
[1644—
shal-lieutenant, count Brouay, also died of his
wounds shortly after the battle. On the Swedish
side pruice Charles Gustavus was in great danger ;
his hat, coat, and shirt were shot through. Tors-
tenson’s own wife’ was for a moment in the hands
of the enemy, who fell upon the Swedish baggage
with three squadrons. In the hostile accounts of
this battle ’
it is stated :
" From three to four
o’clock in the afternoon the main action first began,
which continued till night ;
it went exceedingly
hard, more so than in any battles of this war. No
quarter was given. At first it appeared as if we
were to conciuei’, but the right and left wings
having been beaten, and obliged to leave the field ;
field-marshal Hatzfeld, with the rest of the in-
fantry and some cavalry, was inclosed by the
enemy in a half-moon, and compelled to yield him-
self prisoner, munitions and baggage falling into
the enemy’s hands." The victory is ascribed to
the superiority of Torstenson’s artillery, which he
caused to play
" after the old Swedish wont." The
emperor fled from Prague ’’,
and hastened past
Ratisbon to the defence of Vienna.
It was now for the third time that Torstenson
penetrated into the heart of Austria ;
the victory
at Jankowitz opened to him the road to Vienna *.
After he had taken Znaym, Krembs, and Korn-
Neuburg, his outposts stood by the bridge over the
Danube at Vienna, and the redoubt which de-
fended it fell on the 30th March into his hands.
Howbeit, this attempt had the same issue as all
the former from want of co-operation, which this
time had been counted upon. Ragotzi, the prince
of Transylvania, had promised Sweden and France
to join Torstenson with an army from Hungary ;
and the French, who otherwise carried on war for
themselves on tlie Rhine, advanced in April 1G45,
under Turenne, against Bavaria. But Turenne
was defeated on the 25th April at Mergentlieim by
Mercy, who afterwards himself fell in battle
against Condd and Turenne at Allersheim, where
both sides claimed the victory ; Ragotzi’s men,
who, in conjunction with those of Douglas and
Charles Gustavus, took Tyrnau in Hungary, were
from their utter want of discipline more a burden
than an assistance, till their master shortly made
his peace with the emperor. From the imperial
hereditary dominions new masses of troops were
raised. In Austria every fifth man, in Bohemia
and Moravia every tenth man was levied. Tors-
tenson had meanwhile, to obtain firm footing in
Moravia, undertaken the siege of Brunn; but was
obliged, after his army had been infected with the
plague by the wild bands of Ragotzi, and the im-
moderate use of fruits and grapes had bred other
maladies, to raise the siege at the end of four
months, and to commence his retreat. His cavalry,
* Beata de la Gardie, daughter of the councillor of state,
John Pontusson de la Gardie, married, after Torstenson’s
death, to the high-steward, count Peter Brahe.
•
Letter from Prague, in the Weekly Journal (Wochent-
liche Zeituny), anno 1CI.5, of which single sheets are pre-
served in the correspondence of C. G. Wrangel.
2 His baggage was taken by major-general Douglas.
3 The fir.st effect of the victory was to set free Olmutz,
which was besieged by the Austrians ; Glogau and OInuitz
were the only fortresses in Silesia and Moravia, which Tors-
tenson, at his return from Holstein, foimd still in the hands
of the Swedes.
"
Puffendorf, xvii. § 24.
eight thousand men, were without horses; the in-
fantry had dwindled down to two thousand five
hundred men ;
he himself was bedridden, so that
he had to be carried in a litter. Thus he passed
through Bohemia, parted there from Charles Gus-
tavus returning to Sweden, to whom he prophe-
sied a crown*, formed a junction with Konigs-
mark, who had come to meet him in Silesia, and
closed liis career of generalship with the capture of
Leutmeritz in Bohemia. There the gout seized on
his head and breast, so that he was obliged to lay
down the command, although Wrangel, whom he
had long prayed to obtain for his successor ^, and
who was now on his way from Sweden with rein-
forcements, had not yet come up. They met in
Saxony, after Torstenson had quitted the army.
As long as the latter remained in Germany,
Wrangel, conformably to his instructions, under-
took nothing of importance without consulting
him.
In one respect Torstenson’s campaigns had a
decisive influence upon the German war. They
led at length to negotiations for peace seriously
meant ^. Seven years had elapsed in consideration
before, towards the end of 1641, an understanding
could be come to upon the preliminaries of a gene-
ral congress of pacification, at which, in order to
avoid quarrels as to rank, Sweden was to negotiate
in Osnaburg, France in Munster. Nearly four
years elapsed ere the congress assembled ; first in
1645, after Torstenson’s victories, they advanced
from formalities to substance. And as in the
following year the Swedish government delivered
its ultimatum respecting its own demands, to which
it adhered at the peace, it appears to have de-
served the reproach of protracting the war less
than any of the other powers. John Oxenstierna,
eldest son of the high-chancellor, and Salvius,
were the plenipotentiaries of Sweden at the paci-
ficatory congress.
November 10, 1645, the chancellor writes in the
name of the ministry to the Swedish commissaries
at Osnaburg :
" Four questions are of importance.
Shall we insist on the restitution of the German
states? What shall be our satisfaction ? Shall all
states be admitted to the negotiation for peace?
Can the neutrality of Bavaria be allowed? We see
that the emperor seeks to draw all those aff’airs
which concern the restitution of the states, from
the pacificatory congress to imperial and collegia]
diets. Thence would incontrovertibly follow the
oppression and slavery of the estates; and if we let
ourselves be persuaded to the laying down our arms
on such conditions, we find at the same moment
the net over our own head. Seek to have France
and the estates at one in this matter; declare that,
although we require with the greatest reason our
5 Oct. 26, 1644, the ministry write to Torstenson: "We
approve of your wish thus gradually to draw C. G. Wrangel
to be your successor in command, as well because he is of
our nation, as also because his qualities are such, that we
hope he will, after some time, if God grant him life and
health, he a good stay, and no hiconsiderable furtherance to
the cause." Keg.
6 "I see that the victory, granted by God to her majesty
in Bohemia, has stretched its rays to the peace-congress in
Germany, so that the enemy begins to be courteous, and to
speak more humanely." The high-chancellor to his son
John, April 25, 1645. Letters from Axel Oxenstierna to
John Oxenstierna, in the years 1642—1649, i. 168.
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