and Hesdin, besieged with much pomp by Richelieu’s nephew, La Meilleraye, surrendered on the 29th of June. On the side of the Pyrenees Condé as usual showed himself both unlucky and incapable. In Italy Cardinal de La Valette died, after allowing Prince Thomas to win over Savoy to the emperor’s side and seeing every French post except Casale, Chivasso and the citadel of Turin taken by Thomas and Leganez.
His successor was the duc d’Harcourt, called by his men “Cadet-la-Perle” on account of his earrings, but a bold and exceedingly competent soldier. Under him served Turenne, hitherto known only as a younger brother of the duke of Bouillon. Harcourt reviewed his army for the first time late in October. The day after the review he advanced from Carignano to revictual Casale, detaching Turenne as flank-guard to hold off Prince Thomas on the side of Turin. The enterprise was entirely successful, but Thomas and Leganez determined to cut off the French on the return march. Leganez beset a defile on the Chieri-Carignano road (whence the action is called the Route de Quiers) while Thomas lay in wait to the north. But Turenne and the flank-guard sharply repulsed the prince, and by hard fighting the French returned safe and victorious (November 29th).
In Alsace Bernhard was carried off by a fever just as he was preparing to fight his way to a junction with Banér. Nevertheless he was fortunate in the opportunity of his death, for his dream of a duchy of Alsace had already brought him into conflict with Richelieu, and their conflict could Death of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar and its effects. only have ended in one way. Marshal Guébriant at once took steps to secure his army[1] for the service of France, and Richelieu’s officers were placed in charge of the fortresses he had conquered. At the same time the long negotiations between the landgravine of Hesse-Cassel and the various powers ended in her allying herself with France and raising an army in return for a subsidy. Another event of importance in this year was the episode of the Spanish fleet in the Downs. Now that the land route was imperilled the sea communications of Spain and Belgium were brought into use. A squadron sailed from Spain for the Netherlands, and, though it evaded the now powerful French navy, it was driven into English territorial waters by the Dutch. Charles I. of England offered France free access to the victim if France would restore the elector palatine, and Fate of the Spanish fleet. offered Spain protection if she would furnish him with funds for his army. Richelieu in reply encouraged the growing opposition to Charles at home, and the Dutch, contemptuous of his neutrality, sailed in and destroyed the fleet at anchor.
In 1640 the French still kept up their four wars in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain. But the Belgian and Spanish frontiers were no longer directly attacked. On the side of Languedoc there was no further danger, for the foolish imposition of strict military forms, and equally foolish threats to punish those who did not appear at the rendezvous, caused the Catalans, who were already defending themselves against the French both efficiently and vigorously, to turn their arms against the old enemy Castile. In December 1640 Portugal declared herself independent under a king of the house of Braganza. In the Low Countries Louis XIII. himself presided over the siege of the important fortress of Arras, which surrendered on the 8th of August.
In Italy, however, Cadet-la-Perle kept the moral ascendancy he had won in the brave action of the Route de Quiers. In April with 10,000 men he advanced from Carignan against the 20,000 Spaniards who were besieging Casale and attacked their line of Casale and Turin. circumvallation boldly and openly on the 29th of April. He himself on horseback led his stormers over the parapet. Turenne spread out his cavalry in one thin line and, thus overlapping Leganez’s cavalry on both flanks and aiding his charges with the fire of his dismounted dragoons, drove it away. The Spanish infantry rearguard was cut off and destroyed, and at the end of the day half of Leganez’s army was killed or captive. After this, Harcourt promptly turned upon Prince Thomas, and then followed one of the most remarkable episodes in military history. Thomas, himself defending Turin, was besieging the French who still held the citadel, while Harcourt, at once besieging the town and attempting to relieve the citadel, had, externally, to protect himself against Leganez’s army which was reorganized and reinforced from Naples and the Papal States. For long it seemed as though the latter, master of the open country, would starve the small army of Harcourt into submission. But Harcourt’s courage and the disunion of his opponents neutralized this advantage. Their general attack of the 11th of July on the French lines was made not simultaneously but successively, and Harcourt repulsed each in turn with heavy losses. Soon afterwards the French received fresh troops and a large convoy. The citadel was relieved and the town surrendered soon afterwards. Leganez retired to Milan, Prince Thomas was allowed to take his few remaining troops to Ivrea, and recognized the duchess’s regency.
In Germany Banér’s course was temporarily checked. The archduke dislodged him from his few remaining posts in Bohemia, and when at last Bernhard’s old army, under the duc de Longueville, crossed the Rhine at Bacharach and joined Banér in Thuringia, the Austrians held them in check in the The Swedes checked. broken country about Saalfeld until the country would no longer support the combined army. The Weimar army then retired to the Rhine valley and Banér to Waldeck, and, in the hope of detaching both George of Lüneburg and the landgravine of Hesse-Cassel from the Swedish alliance, the imperial general wasted their territories, ignoring Banér. After the departure of the Lüneburgers and Hessians, recalled for home defence, the Swedish general could only watch for his opportunity.
This came in the winter months of 1640-41. Negotiations for peace were constantly in progress, but no result seemed to come out of them. The Diet was assembled at Regensburg, the imperial army scattered over north-western Germany. Banér suddenly moved south heading for Ratisbon, for the defence of which the archduke’s and all available troops—even Piccolomini’s from the upper Rhine—were hurried up by the emperor. The Weimar Army under Guébriant joined the Swedes en route, and the combined army reached the objective. But a thaw hindered them and gave the emperor time to concentrate his forces, and after a variety of minor operations Banér’s army found itself again in possession of Hesse, Lüneburg, Brunswick, &c. Guébriant’s army, however, had again separated from him in order to live, and in May was Banér’s last successes. at Bamberg—even an army of 18,000 could hardly keep the field at this stage of the war. On the 20th of May Banér, worn out by fatigue, died, and after some intrigues and partial mutinies, Torstensson succeeded to the command. The last fortified place held by the Austrians in Lower Saxony, Wolfenbüttel, was now besieged by Torstensson’s Swedes and Germans and Guébriant’s French and Weimarians, and the archduke and Piccolomini advancing to its relief were defeated outside the walls on the 29th of June. The war had now receded far from Alsace, which was firmly held by France, and no longer threatened even by Charles of Lorraine, who had made his peace with Louis XIII. in the spring, and whose army had followed Guébriant into Germany. The losses of the Germans at Wolfenbüttel caused some of their princes to accept the peace of Prague, but, on the other hand, the new elector of Brandenburg (Frederick William, the Great Elector) gave up the Austrian alliance and neutralized his dominions.
In 1641 Harcourt thoroughly established his position, without much fighting, in Piedmont. In Spain the Catalan and Portuguese insurrections continued and the French occupied Barcelona, but underwent a serious reverse at Tarragona. In the north La Meilleraye captured and held some of the Artois towns, but was driven out of the open country by the superior army of the Cardinal Infante. A formidable conspiracy against Richelieu Civil war in France. brought about a civil war in which the king’s troops were defeated at La Marfée, near Sedan (the fortress of Turenne’s discontented brother, the semi-independent duke of Bouillon), by a mixed army of rebels, Spaniards and Imperialists (July 6th). This, however, led to nothing further and the conspiracy collapsed. Charles of Lorraine having joined the rebels, his newly regained fortresses were reoccupied by the French.
In December 1641 there began at Münster and Osnabrück in Westphalia the peace negotiations which, after eight more years of spasmodic fighting, were to close this ruinous war.
In 1642 Torstensson, having cleared up the war for a moment in the north-west, turned upon Silesia, defeated an imperialist corps at Schweidnitz and took some fortresses, but drew back when the archduke and Piccolomini came up with the main Austrian army. In October, however, he was joined by fresh troops from the north-east, crossed the Elbe and besieged Leipzig. The Torstensson’s victory of Breitenfeld. imperialist army, which was joined by the Saxons when their country was again the theatre of war, marched to the rescue. But Torstensson defeated them with enormous loss in the second battle of Breitenfeld[2] (November 2, 1642). But, although the Austrians feared an advance on Vienna itself, the victors waited for the fall of Leipzig and then took up winter quarters. Guébriant had throughout the year operated independently of the Swedes. The Bavarians had advanced into the lower Rhine region in order to support, in concert with the Belgian army of Spain, a fresh outbreak in France (Cinq-Mars' conspiracy). But Lamboy, the Spanish general, was attacked and defeated before Hatzfeldt’s Bavarians came up, at Hulst between Kempen and Crefeld (January 17th), whereupon the Bavarians took shelter under the guns of the fortress of Jülich.
On the northern frontier of France Harcourt, the brilliant commander of the Italian army, failed to prevent the Spaniards from capturing Lens and La Bassée, and Guiche, with another army farther east at Le Câtelet, was defeated and routed at Honnecourt (May 26th), saving only 2000 of his 9000 men. But Francisco de
- ↑ Forestalling others who desired its services, notably the Winter King’s son, who intended to ally himself with Spain and so to force the retrocession of the Palatinate. The war had indeed progressed far since the days of the Protestant Union!
- ↑ The emperor executed all the officers and every tenth man of the regiment in which the panic began.
