The Winter King by Brennan C. Pursell

Author:Brennan C. Pursell [Pursell, Brennan C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9781351880428
Google: BAokDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-05-15T04:55:07+00:00

Chapter 6

Frederick at War, 1622

In 1622 Frederick V would leave The Hague and make a daring journey incognito across France to join his forces in battle against the enemy in the Palatinate. Arriving at his general’s headquarters in Germersheim, he would proclaim in a loud voice, ‘I will have nothing to do with a suspension of arms, for that will be my ruin. I must have either a good peace or a good war’.1 Unfortunately he would have neither. Though he would taste the thrill of victory, in the end he would have to swallow the shame of defeat. Too few princes would rally to his common cause, while King James I continued to negotiate with the Habsburgs for a suspension of arms and tried to coerce Frederick into changing his tactics. Yet despite international pressure in favor of a cease-fire, neither he nor Emperor Ferdinand II would relinquish their arms. Though James would manage to score a partial victory in his fight to gain control over his son-in-law’s actions, Frederick’s conscience rendered his convictions unalterable. At the year’s end he would lose all of his lands apart from a single town, but a solution to the Palatine crisis would still be no closer at hand. The war could not be stopped because the main contenders’ perceptions of the situation were essentially incommensurable and their mutual demands impracticable.

For Frederick, defending his patrimonial estates by force of arms was his lawful obligation, and he was convinced that the opposing party would never agree to a just settlement unless it were soundly defeated in battle. He was certain that his enemy was bent on suppressing all of his rights and on removing him from the community of princes and estates under the Imperial constitution. The Emperor’s correspondence, actions, and secret promises were proof of his utter lack of trustworthiness. From Frederick’s standpoint, Ferdinand had stated his intention to extirpate Calvinism, had savagely crushed the Bohemian rebellion, and had perverted Imperial law by authorizing the Spanish and Bavarian invasions of the Palatinate, by declaring the ban against Frederick, and, above all, by promising the Palatine electorate to Duke Maximilian. Frederick believed that he had no reasonable choice but to demand his full, unrestricted restitution before he agreed to peace with the Emperor, and that the only way to procure this arrangement was to defeat him in battle.

Ferdinand faced a similar situation. It had been his lawful obligation to relieve his lands of the burden of sedition, and as Emperor it was his duty to restore peace to the Empire. The enemy had usurped his territories and his royal crown, had ignored his Imperial commands to end the fighting, and had even denied his constitutional authority to referee the conflict. Frederick seemed dedicated to the downfall of the Habsburg dynasty in the Empire. He had accepted no defeat, admitted no error in his ways, and continued to support all rebels against Habsburg rule. Foreign potentates negotiating on his behalf had been unable to make him abide by any of their terms for peace.

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