Sweden, though these negotiations were soon broken off. It is equally certain that through Count Kinský, one of the principal Bohemian exiles, Waldstein promised Feuquières, the French minister at Dresden, that he would abandon the Imperial cause if the French Government recognized him as King of Bohemia. It must be admitted, in justice, that Waldstein was confronted by treachery as deep as his own. If Father Lamormain and the other Jesuits who, far more than his official councillors, were the real advisers of Ferdinand, approved of his conferring such extensive powers on the Duke of Friedland, they undoubtedly did so with the mental reservation that the duke could, when the danger of a Swedish invasion had passed, again be deprived of his command, or be "removed," should he offer any resistance. There was nothing in the Spanish policy then pursued by the court of Vienna which was in contradiction to such a plan.[1]
Immediately after Waldstein had resumed his command, the Imperial armies obtained brilliant successes. Entering Bohemia in April 1632, Waldstein attacked Prague on May 22, and recaptured the town after a very slight resistance. The enemies evacuated the whole of Bohemia except part of the mountainous district close to the Saxon frontier. From Prague Waldstein marched to Cheb, and his army was here joined by the forces of the Elector Maximilian of Bavaria. The united Catholic armies now attempted to stem the advance of Gustavus Adolphus. The King of Sweden, after his victory at Breitenfeld, had victoriously overrun almost all the south German lands. Numerous German princes, among them Frederick of the Palatinate, had joined him. Through the influence of the former King of Bohemia numerous English volunteers had taken service in the Swedish army. Waldstein unsuccessfully attempted to storm the Swedish fortifications at Nürnberg, and he was also defeated at the battle of Lützen (Nov. 6, 1633) when Gustavus Adolphus fell. The great confusion in the Swedish army, which was a natural consequence of the death of the king, enabled Waldstein to retire with his army in good order into
- ↑ The correspondence of Father Quiroga, confessor to the empress—a Spanish Infanta—with the Spanish Government, relating to the plan of bribing assassins to murder King Gustavus Adolphus, has been published. The correspondence only ceased after the death of the King of Sweden at Lützen.
