1634: The Bavarian Crisis: Chapter Forty Four

The Fall of Ingolstadt. August 1634

    [NOTE TO ERIC: THIS SHOULD COME TOWARD THE END OF AUGUST; EARLY SEPTEMBER AT THE VERY LATEST; AT ANY RATE, WHILE CAVRIANI, MA/M/V ARE IN ULM, BETWEEN THE START OF CHAPTER 42 AND CHAPTER 45; ALSO BETWEEN CHAPTER 43 AND 45. THE FOLLOWING ARE THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN IT.]

    A.MAXIMILIAN RECALLS HOERWARTH FOR EXECUTION, SOLELY BECAUSE THE LANDGRAVE OF LEUCHTENBERG HAD BEEN AT HIS ESTATE AT PLANEGG WHEN HE DIED AND ALBRECHT AND MECHTHILDE HAD USED IT AS THE STAGING POINT FOR THEIR FLIGHT WHEN THEY WENT THEIR FOR THE FUNERAL;

    NOTE TO ERIC: DO WE WANT TO USE HOERWARTH AS IN PART ENGINEERING THE FALL OF THE FORTRESS WITH FARENSBACH AND SCHARFFENSTEIN BECAUSE OF WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON IN MUNICH? OR WOULD IT BE MORE EFFECTIVE TO HAVE HIM AS ONE MORE OF MAXMILIAN’S INNOCENT VICTIMS? YOUR CALL ON THE DRAMATIC IMPACT.

    B.REACTION OF FRANZ VON MERCY (WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE).

    [NOTE TO ERIC: WE’LL NEED TO INSERT MERCY AS THE OVERALL COMMANDER OF THE BAVARIAN TROOPS ON THE GROUND SOUTH OF INGOLSTADT INTO ONE OF THE PRECEDING CHAPTERS. I’VE TRANSLATED THE BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL ON HIM AND SENT IT TO YOU].

    C.REACTION OF JOHANN VON WERTH (WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE).

    [NOTE TO ERIC: I’VE INCORPORATED A BUNCH OF THE STUFF ON VON WERTH IN RAUDEGEN’S REFLECTIONS IN REGARD TO HIS BOSS IN ONE OF THE CHAPTERS IN PART VI. HOWEVER, IF YOU WANT TO HAVE HIM INVOLVED IN THE FINAL TREACHERY, MOVING HIS 1647 DEFECTION FROM MAXIMILIAN BACK TO 1634 FOR SOME REASON, I THINK IT WOULD FIT RATHER NICELY INTO THE GENERAL LEVEL OF TREACHERY AND SKULDUGGERY, HAVING HIM, VIA RAUDEGEN, TAKE HIMSELF AND HIS CAVALRY OFF TO JOIN BERNHARD (WHICH WOULD MAKE BERNHARD’S LITTLE MINI-BOHEMIA A CONSIDERABLY MORE VIABLE PROPOSITION FROM A MILITARY STANDPOINT, THOUGH THE POPULATION WOULD BE HARD-PUT TO SUPPORT AN ARMY THE SIZE OF BERNHARD’S COMBINED WITH WERTH’S. WHICH WOULD BE A PROBLEM FOR ANOTHER VOLUME, I PRESUME. I’VE TRANSLATED THE BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES AND SENT THEM ALONG TO YOU IN TWO INSTALLMENTS.]

    D.[NOTE TO ERIC: YOU MAY WANT TO USE SOME OF THE FARENSBACH MATERIAL IN MUCH EARLIER INGOLSTADT CHAPTERS, WHICH IS FINE. I’VE SENT IT TO YOU; WE SHOULD GET ONE OF THE SWEDISH BARFLIES TO TRANSLATE THE PIECE THAT I CAN’T DO.]

    E.[NOTE TO ERIC: JOHANN KRATZ VON SCHARFFENSTEIN TO BE INVOLVED IN THE INGOLSTADT EPISODES SOMEHOW. MY OWN INCLINATION WOULD BE TO HAVE HIM AS COMMANDER OF THE GARRISON AT THE START OF THE SIEGE, WITH FARENSBACH COMING IN AT SOME POINT DURING THE SUMMER OF 1634 AND STARTING HIS MACHINATIONS.]

    F.After Ingolstadt falls, Duke Ernst sends Erik Haakonsson Hand (who will thereby make the acquaintance of Nicole, Grantville’s hapless French teacher, who is in need of a prince charming [or, at least, an illegitimate cousin charming] if ever a woman was) off to Grantville and thence to Magdeburg for consultations with Stearns et al.

    [NOTE TO ERIC: THIS IS JUST A SET-UP FOR A LATER STORY]

    G.NOTE TO ERIC: THE FALL OF INGOLSTADT will mean that although it’s late in the campaigning season, [IT IS NOT THE END OF THE CAMPAIGNING SEASON, THOUGH] at the very least, the Austrian Habsburgs [AND THE MEMBERS OF THE LEAGUE OF OSTEND AND JOHN GEORGE OF SAXONY] are going to be thinking that the bulk of Banér’s army is now free to be tossed into some other part of the general European melee. Even if the plots don’t call for Banér to rush right off and assist Wallenstein [OR GA OR ARRIVE IN THE NICK OF TIME TO FOIL A SALLY BY JOHN GEORGE INTO THE UPPER PALATINATE], this will still have the effect of distracting THEM ALL UNTIL SOMETHING DEFINITE HAPPENS TO SHOW WHICH WAY Banér IS GOING NEXT.

    AND THE BAVARIANS, WHO WILL ALSO BE THINKING THAT SINCE HE HAS A LOT OF HIS FORCES SOUTH OF THE DANUBE ALREADY, IF HE IS NOT CALLED AWAY, HE MAY START MARCHING THROUGH BAVARIA [NOT TO MENTION THE REST OF THEM. PROBABLY TO THE GREAT GLEE OF STEARNS IN A MAGDEBURG BRIEFING].

    H.Impact [OF THE FALL OF INGOLSTADT] within Bavaria

    On Maximilian [WHO IS ALREADY RUNNING AMOK]

    Within the privy council [WITH THE HARD-LINERS IN CHARGE AND THE COMPROMISERS BEHEADED OR FLED INTO EXILE]

    Within the Estates [WHO’S PAYING FOR THIS, ANYWAY? THE ETERNAL CONCERN OF THE BAVARIAN ESTATES. HOW STRONGLY THEY ASK IT CAN BE A FUNCTION OF HOW FAR MAXIMILIAN HAS INTIMIDATED THEM.

    AND, OF COURSE, OTL, MAXIMILIAN FACED A MAJOR PEASANT REVOLT AT THIS POINT, LARGELY BROUGHT ON BY THE BURDENS OF QUARTERING AND CONTRIBUTIONS.

    http://www.rickard.karoo.net/articles/people_maximilian_bavaria.html

    He started 1632 by proclaiming himself neutral, but did not act on his proclamation, and as Gustavus Adolphus advanced towards him, he rejoined Tilly's army (1 April 1632), and renounced his neutrality, inadvertently giving Gustavus the reason he wanted to invade Bavaria. Maximilian was present at the battle of the Lech (15 April 1632), and after both Tilly and his second in command were wounded, Maximilian saved his army through a quick retreat, although he lost his guns and baggage, while Tilly died of his wounds soon after. On 3 May, Gustavus started towards Bavaria. Maximilian was forced to chose between the Imperial cause or the good of Bavaria, and for once he chose the Imperial good, and abandoned Munich in order to defend Regensburg and his lines of communication with the Imperial armies. After the repeated defeats, Ferdinand was forced to recall Wallenstein, and on 11 July Maximilian and Wallenstein joined forces. Their alliance was initially successful, and they held the Swedes at bay until September, when Gustavus marched towards Austria. Maximilian urged attack, but Wallenstein refused, and Maximilian retired with the remains of his army to defend Bavaria, where he spent the winter and spring of 1633. In March 1633, he was faced by a large Swedish army under Marshal Horn and another equally large German force under Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, and did not have the forces to resist them, but was saved by distrust between the two allies, and by a lack of supply in the enemy armies. Now Maximilian started to lose his grip of Bavaria, and by December between 20 and 30,000 peasants were in revolt, complaining about the quartering of troops in devastated areas. Maximilian was forced to pacify the rebels by agreeing to limit the areas his troops were quartered in. 1634 saw Maximilian at a low point. He had been forced out of his own Bavaria, forcing him to welcome the appointment of Ferdinand's son Ferdinand of Hungary as commander of the Imperial troops, and in 1635 to sign the Peace of Prague, forcing him to dissolve the Catholic league, and place his armies under direct Imperial command. For the first time, Maximilian found himself as a junior ally of the Emperor, commanding troops over whom he no longer had any support. Once again his seizure of the Palatinate had forced his hand - the only alternative to wholehearted support of Ferdinand was to join with Richelieu and France, but he was insisting on the restoration of the deposed children of Frederick in the Palatinate.

    AFTER ALL, IT HE PUSHES IT TOO FAR, THERE’S NOTHING TO SAY THAT HE WON’T CREATE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF DOMESTIC UNREST A COUPLE OF YEARS DOWN THE ROAD].

    I.ON DUKE ALBRECHT WHO IS TALKING TO WALLENSTEIN OVER IN BOHEMIA ON TOPICS SUCH AS WHAT HE SHOULD BE DOING NEXT.