The Masters of the Fur Trade in Europe, King Christian IV of Denmark & Tsar Fyodor II of RussiaThe Rivalry in Fur
Between 1618-1621, a growing rivalry brewed in the far northern hemisphere of the planet between two great and powerful monarchs, Christian IV of Denmark and Tsar Fyodor II of Russia. In the prior century, Russia and the Swedes had faced considerable rivalry over trade and power in the Baltic Sea and in the Artic Sea. In the early 17th century, with the reformation of a unity between the royal courts of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, this rivalry in the Baltic of Scandinavians and Russians intensified. In 1609, the Danes secured full control over Ingria and halted Russian advances into the Baltic, restricting the Russians to Pskov, and thereby limiting Russian connections to the wider trade of Europe. The conflict over land had sour tastes in both sides, but especially Russia, which as a result of the 'Times of Trouble' had seen their empire decline in relative size, losing the entire Baltic Coast, losing their influence in Finland, and seeing a reduction in their prestige across Europe as their armies fell to the Danes in conflict.
While problems in the matter of land bothered both sides, growing rivalry in trade also predominated the minds of both monarchs and their respective courts. In 1618-1625, perhaps the wealthiest monarch in all of Europe was Christian IV. Despite possessing a relatively small kingdom, royal control and collection of the sound toll, possessions of a vast royal domain in both Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Holstein, and a sound fiscal policy had led to the aggrandizement of wealth by the Danish crown. Beginning in the reign of the late king Frederick II and resuming in the reign of Christian IV, the funds of the royal crown grew and outsized the wealth of the noble houses, who quickly became debtors to the king. Financial strength of the king and the system of loans distributed from the king to the noble houses would reduce the intensity of division within the Danish decision making process, making the Danish monarchy more responsive, more dynamic, and decisive in dealing with issues. This advantage that the Danish monarchy held only grew with the expansion of colonies in America. American colonies of the Danes in Kvebek, Greenland, and Newfoundland, would provide wealth of fishing, whaling, and fur that would massively augment the wealth of the royal court. In 1607, the Danish king sponsored the expansion of Norwegian whaling and in 1616-1619, whaling by Norse shipping expanded further and without naval warfare, saw the reduction of Dutch, English, and Basque influence in these endeavors and enriching the kingly coffers. Fur trade had likewise expanded immensely with Kebek's addition to the Danish crown possessions. Utilizing the various territories in Europe, control of the Artic Sea, and Kebek, the Danish fur trading share in Europe soared from 23% in 1580 to 52% in 1620.
Russia by contrast, had suffered immensely in the Time of Troubles and was still dealing with problems of recovery, ever so slowly. However, Russia was a wealthy country with vast resources and enough to compete with the Danes. Traversing alternate routes to trade fur into Europe through Lithuania, Poland, Prussia, etc..., the Russian fur trade flourished once again after a time of decline in the 1590s and 1600s. As Danish fur revenues soared to 52%, Russian shares reached 41% in 1620. Russian-Danish rivalry thus became a major problem in the Northern Hemisphere as the two jostled over land, trade, and market shares of important goods, namely furs.
Prince Frederick and Queen Anne of Denmark-Norway-Sweden, 1620
As conflict erupted in the Holy Roman Empire and inflamed beyond typical bounds, the Danish king embarked on a great effort to expand his own power in Europe. As in prior years, Christian IV did so via a mixture of diplomacy and martial strongarming in Germany. In Brandenburg, the Danish king announced his intention to punish the Brandenburgers for their expansionism and affront to the 'liberty of the noble estates in Brandenburg.' However, other matters would take up the time of the king, namely the continued division in Kalmar over the union of the Church of Denmark and Sweden. Problems of the religious unification took up the Spring for the king, as well as simply the procurement of enough soldiers of sufficient quality from Denmark and Sweden, as the king Christian IV specified the need to dispatch a Danish-Swedish-Norwegian force instead of a German one, perhaps for fear that such an army would not be loyal to the king's designs. Furthermore, fears of a new Russian resurgence in military conflict ran through the population of Stockholm and in Sweden, where many predicted that the Russians or the Vasa would soon launch a new expedition against their war torn land.
Christian IV could trust in his wealth and decisiveness, the lack of division in the State Council, but, he could not rely on the stability of Sweden. Royal power was absolute in Sweden, this is true, but the country was still wracked by devastation and years of royal rule restored had improved the issue, but not solved all of its problems. Sectional conflict continued in rural areas, as nobles loyal to the king continued to form councils in rural areas to further control their local communities, reducing more of the population into a kind of neo-feudalism whereby peasants were restricted to the land. Clerics in the Lutheran Churches and Danish officials supported the movement to further control the peasants in Sweden under the guise of restoring order and suppressing remnant Catholicism. Likewise, the spread of prophecies grew with great terror in Sweden, as travelling preaches spoke of the end times and the rising King of the North, Christian IV. Though, while some suggested that Christian IV was the Lion of the Forest, the famed image of the king of the north, a force for divine wrath against the Antichrist, others would claim that the true lion was his son, the second Prince Frederick.
The prophecies emerging about the Second Prince being the Lion of the Forest and a being of immense spiritual power in Sweden connected with the appearance and periodicals of the young Prince in Germany, where he was dispatched by Christian IV to be elected as the Bishop of Verden. Prince Frederick, struck a chord among many, the scion of a great house and upon his arrival in Germany, some claimed that miracles occurred in the sky and that god had thus chosen the Prince to be the sword of vengeance on the Papists. The prophecy further tied into astrological predictions made in 1578, when Tycho Brahe informed Christian IV, that not he, but a lord from Sweden would become the Lion of the Forest, the savior of the Empire. Prince Frederick fit this perfectly, as the Prince assigned to Sweden, raised in the land since he was young, he had become associated in the royal court with the Swedish ambitions of the crown.
Saint Basil the Fool
Russia was not without its own problems too in the year 1618 and like its Danish rival, had problems in the south and the east that partook its attention away from the issues of Ingria and seeking to restore its position in the Baltic Sea. To the east, the Russian Empire supported its Oirat vassals in wars against the Nogai and in 1616-1617, this conflict seemed to be rapidly escalating into a general war between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire in the Pontic Steppe. However, the end of the reigns of first Mehmed III and then Ahmed in 1617, led to the onset of a more pacific and defensive foreign policy undertaken by the Harem and its allies, namely Nusah Pasha,, the Grand Vizier. Tensions dropped dramatically in the Pontic Steppe with the passing of Padishah Ahmed, as the new Padishah, Murad, dispatched orders from the Palace to cease efforts to both garrison the Nogai lands and to subdue them. Instead, the Crimean forces retreated south and returned to their typical raids, while Turkish garrisons focused on maintaining order on the frontier. Russian forces that had potentially been gathering to launch an expedition against the Nogai suddenly turned and returned home and the war in the Pontic Steppre fixated on the Oirat and Nogai.
Russian support for the Oirat was effective and proficient, and the Oirat in the year 1619, would capture new lands and begin settling them along the front against the Nogai. Though th eOirat certainly were holding a clear advantage in military conflicts with the Nogai, the situation was fuzzy with no clear border between the habitation of the two, as both moved back and forth and raided each other. What was clear however, was that Astrakhan was a city in collapse, as the population within the city dispersed into the steppe in either direction. Nogai were too fearful to remain in the city under threat of the Ottoman or Russian advances. The once mighty Nogai Khanate that had defeated the Russians in 1598-1599, was not disintegrating before the very eyes of their former prey.
To the southwest, the Russians also contended with a former rival, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under king Wladyslaw IV. A diplomatic solution to the Prussian crisis was rapidly consolidated with neither side moving on each other, assuaging Russian fears of the Poles enforcing royal power over their new dynastic partners, the Hohenzollern. Formerly, the Poles had been one of the primary threats to the Russians, but with the ascent of Wladyslaw IV, a more full expression of Golden Liberty appeared, with the king increasingly lacking effective power to do much of anything without more or less unanimous support from his overpowerful and haughty nobles, both high and low. Russian funds, which had finally recovered since 1597, were part of this division. Poland-Lithuanian politics came to be bathed in the foreign interests, as funding poured in froom different countries and the nobles who possessed votes in the Sejm found their homes littered in gifts from foreign interests. Turks, Russians, and Danes, formed the primary funding for factionalism in Poland that would see the king shackled beneath the Democratic Institutions of the realm. Poland-Lithuania had become and was becoming a state that could only defend and maintain, a benefit to and asset for Russia, which funded the most prolific agents of pacific foreign policy in Poland and the most exclusionary and haughty Lithuanian magnates with vast subsidies.
In 1618, the Russian Empire consolidated for a year, fearful of the situation in the Pontic Steppe, unsure of Turkish intentions. Month after month, news poured in that was increasingly good. The Turks seemingly would not and could not launch expeditions against Russia beyond the simple Crimean raids. Thus, the only matter left was to wait for news from other fronts. Information and the situation in the Holy Roman Empire, to the supposed benefit of the Russian ambitions and with Poland-Lithuania hamstrung by itself, the Russian Empire made its move in November of 1619 on the anniversary of the 1618 November Comet, which saw a ecstasy of prophecies; Russian forces crossed into Danish territory and attacked Ingria.
Unexpecting the military threat so soon, Danish forces would be hit in the winter of 1619 by Russian forces from the east and south. Russian forces led by Cossacks and Muslim Bashkirs sacked border villages, taking Protestant settlers as slaves and then setting flames to the countryside. About the border, flames raged as the Russians enacted retribution against the Protestant settlers and expanded their armies further afield. War had begun between the Russian Empire and the Danes once again and Sweden would once again be required to gather resources for a war against Russia, its most hated enemy.
John Sigismund, Duke of Prussia, 1619The War in the Imperial Northeast
The crisis in the Hohenzollern domains had continued to spiral with the war between the Wettin and Habsburg erupting in Bohemia, which in turn opened the door for further conflict in Brandenburg proper. Already devastated by former wars and divided along princely divisions of succession, the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia and its various associated fiefs found itself in a truly difficult position. In 1617, John Sigismund found himself the new Duke of Prussia at the grace of the new king of Poland, Wladyslaw IV, but the two would very nearly come to blows in the opening months of 1618 due to the war in the west. Seeking to solidify 'defense of the royal domains' Wladyslaw IV led a royal expedition to defend Prussia, which was seen by some advisors as a possible effort to subdue the Hohenzollern and annex Prussia into a direct royal fief. However, quick and hasty compromise and cooler heads prevailed as John Sigismund played the role of a submissive vassal, appearing before the splendidly magnificent king at his camp, performing ostentatious bows followed by full prostration. The submission secured the prestige of the Polish king and played into the notion that the Hohenzollern had fully repented. Thus, the king would depart back for Warsaw that still was in need of rebuilding and Duke John Sigismund freely marched west to aid his brother, Prince Albert, who served as the Regent for the ailing and senile Elector Joachim Frederick, now 72 years of age and continually baffling his family with his venerable longevity despite manifold ailments.
In 1618, the situation was looking poor as the Saxons rallied for war to march north and the Danes seemed poisoned to intervene in Altmark. Internal division among the Hohenzollern related primarily to the Princely disputes, whereby the Princes all sought to make their claims made on sectors of the Hohenzollern domain(s). Prince Christian William, Prince George Frederick, and Prince Albert all jostled for rank and position in the Hohenzollern domain that was soon to collapse. In this regard, of providing unity in the face of impending succession crisis, the longevity of Joachim Frederick was exceedingly positive in uniting the Princes in an effort to protect their particular segments and uniting them in the face of a common threat; Wettin, the noble estates, and the Danes. Internal division too was not confined to the Hohenzollern but extended too to the Wettin in Saxony.
While united resistance existed to the Hohenzollern to the north and the refusal to permit John Sigismund to unite all the domains under himself and the Hohenzollern war against Bohemia, division emerged against the impending Danish or Palatinate intervention. Electress-Consort Hedwig, sister of Christian IV of Denmark commanded a faction of pro-Danes and pro-Protestant Union nobles and courtiers in Wittenburg. Under her direction, Danish gifts and funds poured into the pockets of courtiers and the Golden Palm society doctrines spread across the court, promoting the ideal of the Lion of the North expanding south and defeating the evil Papists. In this vein, Electress Hedwig acted as the trojan horse for the Golden Palm society and Christian IV. Opposed to the Golden Palm Society and their icon, was Mathias Hoe, the Court Chaplain in Wittenberg and the theological head and brains of the Lutheran Church in Saxony. Born in Austria, Mathias Hoe was not simply a Lutheran, but a patriot of the Empire and its institutions. To Mathias Hoe, the Empire was sacrosanct and foreign invaders could not impede upon its solemn and holy law, which was imputed by divine right to the Holy Roman Emperor. Mathias Hoe furthermore despised the Golden Palm Society for its pan Protestant pretensions and support of the Protestant Union. Increasingly as war erupted and the Elector and now King Christian moved his HQ to Bohemia, power shifted into local actors in Saxony, notably, Mathias Hoe opposed to the Golden Palm Society, also known as the Exceedingly Fruitful Society or the Golden Fruit Society.
Ana von Hohenzollern, duch*ess of Prussia
The division between the Society and Mathias Hoe would factor immensely into the decision of the nominal Regent of Saxony, Prince John George. Prince John George increasingly became aware of this immense dispute and the growing influence of the Golden Palm Society near the throne and saw in it a potential danger. Therefore, as King Christian ruled in Bohemia, John George acted with relative indecision in Saxony, providing less than ample support to the armies in the field.
In the Spring of 1618, the forces of Prussia and Brandenburg successfully coordinated their defenses around Berlin. Prussian soldiers, numbering 7,000, effectively fortified the city's perimeter while Brandenburg's 9,000 troops from Altmark and the 7,000 soldiers already in Berlin stood ready to repel any Saxon advances. Saxon forces under Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg, consisting of 12,000 men, launched an aggressive attack towards Berlin. However, the combined defensive efforts of Prussia and Brandenburg proved too strong. The Saxon forces faced fierce resistance and were unable to breach the well-defended city. The Saxon advance was thwarted, resulting in significant casualties and a forced retreat. In Lusatia, Saxon forces under Wolfgang von Mansfield attempted to engage Prussian troops but faced logistical challenges and internal discontent among the ranks. Meanwhile, the reinforcement efforts by Brandenburg in Altmark were successful, ensuring a steady flow of supplies and additional troops to support the defenses in Berlin. Despite the efforts of the Saxon commanders, who led valiantly, division in the command and inefficient dispatch of supplies and funding, combined with staunch resistance by the Hohenzollern contributed to a Hohenzollern victory, halting the Saxon advance northward during the Spring of 1618.
Victory of the Hohenzollern forces in Berlin led to further division in Saxony as the Golden Palm Society blamed treacherous officials for their failure to provide aid to the stalwart armies of the Electorate. Despite these woes, the Rebellion in Aachen took center stage over those matters in Berlin. The emergence of the so-called Messianic Salvation Army, and the upsurge in Calvinism across the Empire, alongside the continued conflict in Bohemia, created a sense of profound unease in the mind of John George who began to favor Mathias Hoe and started writing to his brother Christian II to begin efforts to reconcile with the Habsburg as soon as possible.
If defeat caused unease in Saxony, victory created chaos and calamity in Brandenburg. While the Princes had collaborated to gain a victory, the victory was claimed by each of the Princes, who vied with each other for who was the true winner. Prince Albert, the Regent for the ailing Joachim Frederick, would be the first to present 'his victory' to Joachim Frederick, stating that he had presided over the victorious triumph and that the other Princes played supporting roles. The treachery of Prince Albert and his boasting led to Joachim Frederick, already partial to Albert, to give him further awards, while presenting less rewards to the other siblings. John Sigismund found much agitation at this brash action and claimed his own predominance in the military scene by presenting his case to Joachim Frederick. All the while calamity struck when the Danes arrived.
Preparation of the army in Denmark had completed by the onset of Summer of 1618 and the Princes of the Saxon Circle, fearful of Hohenzollern expansionism in Altmark and victory over the Saxons, approved an 'Imperial Circle' intervention, termed colloquially, a vertical alliance, against the Hohenzollern. Attempts by the Elector to secure peace from the Noble Estates in early 1618 had seen fruit, with a provisional peace agreement coming to Brandenburg by way of the Estates, who offered to surrender. However, the unexpected direct intervention by the Danes would change everything, as the Danish force crossed Imperial Princes who gave them supplies along the way to support the nobles and to 'end Hohenzollern advances and expansionism.' Noble estate provisional peace offers were immediately rescinded upon the arrival of the Danish host, numbering 20,000 experienced fighters with good supply and recent pay. General Adam Schwarzenberg, commanding the Hohenzollern forces in the west, would be blitzed by the Danish force, which lumbered south and attacked with ferocity and sound discipline.
General Adam Schwarzenberg, 1622
The Hohenzollern force in Altmark would fight fiercely however against the Danish intervention, but would be driven back, as major reinforcements could not be incoming due to fears of another Saxon attack or a Bohemian attack from the south. Danish forces occupied Altmark and secured the Noble Estates in a base near Rathenow where a revised treaty was hastily dispatched to Mittelmark and Neumark for approval by the Princes and ultimately the Elector Joachim Frederick. A temporary ceasefire would be signed shortly after, termed the Rathenow Ceasefire of 1618, which stipulated the end of the conflict while peace would be discussed between the estates and the Elector during the Fall of 1618, and the Spring of 1619, with a stipulation that war would resume in Summer of 1619 if peace was not found. Danish forces would retreat back to their kingdom following the intervention to the acclaim of the Saxon Circle Princes who proclaimed the visionary and peaceable action of the Danish king in not being selfish in his gains. Despite the retreat, Danish forces retained their blockade over Brandenburg and restricted trade, hammering the already collapsing Brandenburger economy.
Prince Albert received these peace offers and a heated discussion continued over what to do and whether peace should be enjoined upon the realm as a result of the change. Prince John Sigismund hoped to keep the peace for the moment and then let ambiguities carry him to a more preferable succession as his father passed, in a hopefully soon date. However, Prince Christian William and Prince John George desired ever more for the succession too be affirmed, not only by agreement of the Princes, but by the Estates in an official decree from the Electorate's entirety to ensure succession. Prince Albert on the other hand hoped for the continuation of the war, due to his fear that if the war ended, the Estates would find measure to depose him from his post as regent and likewise limit his influence in his successive part, namely the Bishopric of Magdeburg. Despite heated discussion during the Fall of 1618, neither faction would see to the enforcement of their ideas and Joachim Frederick remained alive, and refusal to permit his deposition by John Sigismund by Prince Albert impaled decision underneath the particularism of Princely initiative. As harvest began in 1619, the Ceasefire of Rathenow concluded and the Estates resumed the war with funding from Denmark against the Hohenzollern, marching east to capture nearby villages. Severe weather however would accompany the campaigns in the Summer and flooding due to prodigious rains and hails created problems for the Estates invading army, while the Electoral Army remained strained and financial problems led to a reduction in military size for a period and to attend to harvests in the Summer. Indeed, in much of Eastern Germany, drought in 1618 was followed by intense rains in 1619, leading to difficulties and in an effort to increase yields, more soldiers were demobilized to provide relief and to secure harvests in a fashion that would avert an expected famine. Thereby both armies stalled out in 1619, with only initial gains by the Estates, which were reversed quickly as the Estates force was driven back to Rathenow, which became the unofficial capitol of the Estates of Brandenburg.
The War in Bohemia
The war in Bohemia was the most important conflict in the Holy Roman Empire aside for perhaps the war to suppress the Aachen rebellion, as it pitted the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II against the new Bohemian king, Christian II. In 1617, the Bohemian Rebellion fully erupted and the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II took action to quell the Rebellion in late 1617, launching an invasion of Moravia under the support of the local nobles and elites. Christian, the King of Bohemia entered Bohemia in 1617 to attempt to oppose the Habsburg, but would spend much of his time focused on assuring his regime through travels in the heartland of Bohemia, and in focusing on religious reforms and unity. Proposals were made by the king to unite the Protestants in Bohemia under a united Bohemian Church with the king as its head and with similar ordinations as in the Lutheran Church within Saxony.
Efforts to unify the Bohemian Church by the Wettin woudk be greatly frustrated by factionalism found within the local Protestant expressions within Bohemia. Ritualism in Bohemia, resembled the methods of the Catholic Church and appeared more and more repellant to Christian who was unaware of the stark differences between his church and the Bohemians. Differences on ritualism led to some minor squabbling and waylaid efforts to unify the Church. Furthermore, radical Protestants within Bohemia, increasingly attached to Calvinism and or to the legacy of the Taborites and other Proto-Protestant movements in Bohemia outright refused the notion of the king commanding the Church of Bohemia, leading to accusations that the Bohemians would never accept a 'royal pope' and fall to 'German faux popery.' Inability to unite around the royal dogma however did not impede the war effort of the king of Bohemia and his military forces commanded by Jindrich Matyas or Ernst von Mansfield.
Christian, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, commander of the Protestant Union martial wing
Seeking to retake Brno at all costs, Jindrich Matyas struck fast in the Summer of 1618, engaging the Habsburg forces at the Battle of Lomnice. At Lomince, the Bohemians faced a force of Croats, Austrians, and Slovenes, to which the Bohemians held a clear advantage. Imperial forces woudl be defeated and driven from the field, despite having a small majority against the Bohemians. Victory at Lomince, led to the Bohemian forces setting siege to Brno. Bohemian forces were further vitalized by the rising of militias that joined the force as volunteers and attacked Habsburg light cavalry that attempted to take supplies in the rear, securing the Bohemian force's victory at Brno which ended in the month of October, 1618, securing the recapture of the city. After the recapture of Brno, the Bohemian forces marched to attack Budweis, and secured victories on the front, as a result of poor payments given to Austrian soldiers, making many of them flee before the field until they regrouped in forts near Budweis.
Jindrich Matyas excited following his victories at Brno, and after hearing of the flight of the Austrians into hiding at Budweis, felt that prophetic visions had entailed his great victory and thus he dispatched Zerontina with 10,000 fighters to take Budweis with utmost speed. Zerontina, the great slayer of Bautzen or to the Habsburgs, the ' Butcher of the Faithful' had committed atrocities at Bautzen and received condemnations from the Holy See for his murder of Catholics and destruction of Churches. The dispatch of such an unpopular figure sparked resistance in Budweis and in the same month of November of 1618, Spanish forces arrived in Vienna, numbering 5,000 and joined with a new expeditionary force led by Count Bucquoy who was dispatched to rescue Budweis at all costs. Leading 7,000 fighters, Count Bucquoy would march upon Budwies, his presence forcing Zerontina to retreat who then turned forth and engaged the Flemish commander in battle at the Battle of Sablat. Hispano-Austiran forces would inflict a fearsome victory against the Bohemian forces, defeating them and driving them from the field and securing the defense of Budweis and the town of Sablat.
Jindrich Matyas undeterred by the loss at Budweis and began suppressing Imperial supporters and military targets in Moravia. Holy Roman Imperial forces struggled under poor pay, and despite the loans handed by Paul V, the military situation was difficult. Poor harvests in the Summer of 1618, strained the ability for the Imperial forces to raise steady amounts of soldiers to launch expeditions, defend the Imperial frontiers, and defend their captured locations. The decision was made that in addition to the Holy See loan that had supported the war effort up until this point, the Emperor would collect a taxes for the 1620 campaign and begin preparing for the war effort, squeezing revenue from the population more effectively. Already, the Habsburg had deposed many of the enemy councilors and secured a unity in support of the Emperor in official channels. Now however, the extraction of the revenue would need to arrive. Therefore, due to funding issues, climatic reasons, and military issues, the Imperial forces would have limited responses to the fall of Brno, with Habsburg forces falling back and defending their current positions in Moravia and extending the line, while moderate demobilization occurred to secure finances and to alleviate the potential of famine.
In contrast, the Diet of Prague issued new taxes on the population to pay for the war and conscripted thousands of peasants for the 1618 and 1619 Spring campaigns. Bourgeoise and nobility that made up the leadership in the Diet of Prague further saw the efforts too collect taxes as part of a program to crush their rivals, both class enemies in the peasantry, and the Catholic nobility. Revenue was quickly taken from rapidly liquidated monasteries and churches that was then transferred to Prague for the war effort. These acts however were not popular with many and the combination of raised taxes, destruction of monasteries, and the attempts by King Christian to unite and or reform the Bohemian Church, would lead to local resistance in Bohemia first among Catholic nobles and then the peasantry. Near the city of Parubice, the peasants launched an uprising against new taxes and against oppression from the Diet of Prague, the so-called Pardubice Uprising.
The Battle of Sablat, 1618
Jindrich Matyas had hoped to launch more excursions south but the rebellion in his rear and near Prague forced him to dispatch soldiers to Olomuc to guard the rear and aid the king in suppressing rebels. Christian, King of Bohemia would take control of suppressing the rebels, leading 3,200 German mercenary against the rebels and received funding from the Golden Palm Society to pursue this end. Rebels at Pardubice would number some 20,000 peasant militia and would quickly take the city of Pardubice and some of the surrounding countryside, spreading to many villages and launching assaults on the gentry and 'evil nobles.' Christian would first defeat the rebels at Prelouc just west of Pardubice, where his force joined with noble led militia against the peasants, defeating them decisively. Continuing into the east, the king would secure victories over the peasant rebels and suppress them, defeating them again at Pardubice and capturing the ring leaders and executing them. Royal victory at Parudbice however did not end resistance, and localized resistance movements against royal taxation in Bohemia continued, stymying tax revenue and keeping the royal government at odds with continued military efforts. No further campaigns would be undertaken during the remainder of the months in major actions, instead, skirmishes and sieges occurred, wherein the Bohemians seemingly held a minor edge, taking forts in Moravia and slowly but surely picking away at the Imperial position. The Holy Roman Emperor would need to turn the tide with a major victory and likewise launch a new push, Jindrich Matyas had to be defeated. On the flip side, the Wettin were slowly but surely winning the war, but their internal situation was one of struggle.
The War of the Central & Southern Regions
The Rebellion in Bohemia was initially ignored or contained by the Emperor n the hopes that the war would not expand into a war across the whole Empire, but this hope was dashed with the zeal of the Wittelsbach of both sides. Despite the illegality of the Protestant Union and demands by Emperor Ferdinand II for its immediate closure, Frederick V, Elector Palatine, under the advise of Prince Christian of Anhalt-Bernburg, resisted efforts by the Imperial Court to end the Protestant Union. Instead, Frederick V, the leader of the Calvinists in the Holy Roman Empire and the nominal leader of Lutherans united in resisting the Emperor directly, doubled down on his attempts to attack the Habsburg. During 1618, Frederick V gathered large donations from his allies in Europe and paid off naysayers and sent the rest too fund his army or to support the Bohemians. Payment of naysayers was of critical importance, for in the Spring of 1618, Imperial denunciation of the Protestant Union and of all leagues, would cause disunity among certain members of the Protestant Union. The city of Heilbronn would rebel against the Protestant Union, expelling Protestant Union mercenary from their city and closing the gates, rejecting all payments to the union. Heilbronn would be joined by other cities and towns who feared the possible Imperial backlash.
Frederick V dealt with these problems by ameliorating them through money. Bribes were given widely to the councils of the cities and efforts made to secure the peace within the Union. These efforts would be successful but would give the sign of weakness that was needed for Maximilian in Munich, the arch nemesis of Frederick V. Maximilian, the Duke of Bavaria and the former leader of the Catholic League observed the weakness of his cousin and licked his lips in the expectation of a great victory. In 1617, his forces had been bested by Ernst von Mansfield, but surely this would not occur twice. Rising his armies in Straubing, and preparing for a great campaign, Maximilian received the blessings of the local Church and rallied his armies under the banner of punishing heresy. Expectations in Heidelberg was that the Bavarian target would be Bohemia, but in reality it was against Frederick V himself.
Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, 1620
Duke Maximilian received the commander Johann von Tilly, a great commander in Poland, who had led Catholic forces against the Ottomans and others and with him at the head, he placed his grand army under command of Johann von Tilly. Arguing that the Holy Roman Emperor had ordered him to crush those who aid in rebellion, which is a great sin, Maximilian declared his intent to defeat the rebels to the Imperial Order, which was led, according to him, by Frederick V. Thus in the Spring of 1619, the Bavarian army after much preparation was ready to move and it moved with intent north, avoiding Bohemia and focusing on the Protestant Union itself.
Providing a fake screen army that maintained a presence on the Bohemian border to distract Ernst von Mansfield, Bavarian forces from Straubing marched in force to Regensburg where their display of might was seen and thence they marched north to attack Amberg. The city of Amberg was an imposing city with strong walls and fearless defenders. Localities nearby further rose up to defend against the invader, creating a major issue for Tilly, who began suppressing the militias and combatting Protestant forces. His forces would however after months of fighting secure the city of Amberg by the start of the Fall of 1619. Disease had ravaged the army and the city, that once captured, was subject to expulsion as Protestants were ordered to leave the city or convert to Catholicism. Maximilian's campaign against Amberg was seen by many as not truly a successful campaign however, as it attacked a relatively ancillary region and focused on gaining territory for Bavaria itself and not in defeating the root of the problem, Heidelberg, the seat of Frederick V. Frederick V used this to the best of his ability and spent the time the Bavarians spent on Amberg to gather support from the remainder of the Union to improve his defenses on the Rhine. The Protestants remained hopeful going into 1620 that they would secure a broad victory, especially after Matyas Jindrich secured a victory at Brno.
While war erupted in the region, Duke John Frederick of Wurttemberg continued to caution peace and neutrality in the current situation. Avoiding conflict however was not wholly popular among the nobles, who with the intrusion of the Bavarians, urged the duke to take measures to defend the Duchy. In 1618, the Duke would engage in festivities and celebrations of his rule and in consolidation of his vaunted tolerance. However, eventually the duke would need to make a choice, and in 1619, that came with the Spring and Summer campaigns of Count Tilly. Catholic clergy, already repressed in Wurttemberg, dispatched letters requesting that the Duke oppose Frederick V and urge peace, while Calvinists urged that the Duke seek to create a vertical alliance against the Bavarians and seek to end expansionism on their part in the region.
Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany, 1620
Affairs of Italy & the War in Greece & Tumult in the Balkans
In the month of July, 1618, the influential and wealthiest leader in Italy, Cosimo II contracted tuberculosis and would perish in the month of March, 1619 from resultant complications. Cosimo II had led Tuscany in a direction of neutrality between various powers and the support of Crusade against the Turks. the contraction of Tuberculosis came at a horrid time when efforts to support the Maniot were most necessary, leading to a stalling in Tuscan support. In his stead, Ferdinand II ascended the throne in Florence as the new Grand Duke at the age of 9 years. Ferdinand II would be thus one of the youngest monarchs in Europe and one whose betrothal would be among the most besought.
Overshadowing the death and illness of Cosimo II in 1618 was the war in Greece whereby the Holy See under Paul V succeeded in gathering major support for Charles Gonzaga as the 'King of Greece.' Italians from across the peninsula and the French king himself gathered support for the expedition. Ships, soldiers, and supplies were prepared and after a solemn ceremony at Rome, the forces of Charles Gonzaga were dispatched, numbering 6,500 trained Italians and French to join the Maniot uprising as the vanguard. Additionally, 1,000 Genoese, and 7,000 Lombards from Parma, Mantua, Ferrara, Bologna, and from other unaligned cities gathered in Luca to be the 'rearguard' to the invasion in Morea. In total, 13,500 Italians and French had prepared for the war, the largest such offensive crusade in the Mediterranean in two centuries. The force would embark in the month of December 1618 after celebrating Christmas, the vanguard exiting first and the rearguard exiting next.
Uninterested in joining the war against the Turks was the expected naysayer, the Venetians. While the Venetians promised aid, their aid would become quite poor. Funds were sent by Venice to Rome to support the campaign out of fear of a Spanish invasion of Venice, but aside for this fund, the Venetian Republic promised naval support and a series of attacks upon the Albanian coast. None of the expected supports arrived however and only Venetian excuses appeared in Rome. Excuses included inability, lack of funding, and manifold odd theories and arguments. Paul V thoroughly displeased wrote to the Doge of Venice, referring to him as cowardly, but that the Holy See would forgive cowardice, but not lies. Doge Antonio Priuli was undeterred by the missives of the Holy See and instead busied himself with securing his position internally in Venice with the exit of the Papal Legate. Using lies and shifty shades, the Venetians avoided waging war against their lucrative trading partner and they reaped the economic benefits of trade with the Turks, as much of the other powers engaged in war with the Turks, finding afterward their connections in trade diminished or removed entirely.
Padishah Murad, 1620
The invasion in Greece, was, despite its danger, the least of the worries of the Harem led by the Handan Sultan or the Harem's chief ally, the Nusah Pasha, the Grand Vizier. Before anything else would be the suppression of the populist insurrectionists in the capitol province and the removal of insurrectionist or insubordinates in the nearby areas to the Palace. Janissary, the acting police force for Constantinople would be dispatched to crush the populist Qadizade and given warrant to crush their meeting places and to issue a reaffirmation of the rights of Sufi Lodges and of the coffee houses. Janissary fanned out about the city and launched a furious investigation into the Qadizade and would proceed to kill many of its local leaders and suppress their members, driving most of them from the city or executed after a stay in prison. The brutal repression was followed by a purge of the military forces that were not connected to the Janissary. The Palace Army, the great pride of Mehmed III was restructured, with its leaders or 'handlers' replaced and those who refused this change dismissed with pay and pension. The dismissal of soldiers with pay and pension would dissuade open rebellion, but the Palace Army would be totally neutered in its possibility of resisting Palace orders.
Most of the Palace Army would be transferred into a role of defending the city and its nearby environs and given support in this effort. Its commanders taken from the ranks of the Palace Army itself and with upward mobility within the force defined by submission to and fawning over the Harem. New customs were introduced whereby captains of the Palace Army were required to make meetings with appropriate eunuchs and give reports. A whole system of controlling the army and insurrectionist bands was made the primary goal of the Harem in 1618, to depress the enemies in the center and thereby control the exterior. Peace too was promoted as the Pacific Faction gained total control and aggressive viziers who promoted and supported the war in the Pontic Steppe rounded up and forced to drink poison from wine or take the silk chord. The armies were to not be called up unless necessary and efforts would be made to maintain the power of the Palace against insubordinate efforts from uppity officials and viziers who clouded the mind of the righteous Padishah. While this certainly saved the Ottoman Empire from what was possibly a major war on many fronts, the Harem dissuaded military consolidation and likewise began to compromise on tax collection and farming which had already been redeveloping during the reign of Ahmed.
Suppression of the Maniot took a backseat too other problems until the Italians arrived in force, but their arrival occurred when the formerly powerful Safiye Sultan finally perished at the age of 70. Her passing would cause mourning in the Palace for several days, one again reducing reaction times. However, the reaction of the Palace was not necessarily required. The Sublime Porte, operating often on autopilot had methods to defend itself without needing direct orders or commands from the Palace, after all, jihad was an obligatory feature of life in the empire. Information and notification of the routes taken by the Italians became readily known by pirates in Albania, who began preparing their actions, an ambush of the Italian fleets in concert with Ottoman state naval assets in Albania. The difficulty for the Italians would be to secure the forward bases for their crusader army to arrive, such logistics required the support of all of Italy or a larger naval power in the region, such as Spain or a fully developed France, none of which was forthcoming. Venetian support was frail or nonexistent and the Spanish did not offer a full armada, meaning Turkish military assets in the region could stand toe to toe with and surpass the partial Italian forces at sea.
On the 15th of January, 1619, Abdul Mehmed Pasha, a local sanjak in Albania, charged with waging jihad, led 2,000 levies, 1,700 Serbians, and 5,000 Albanian pirates in an ambush against the rearguard of the Italians. Reasoning rightly that the rearguard would be less experienced and made up of less skilled naval personnel and slower, the ambush proceeded with great skill. Striking the rearguard fleet at the island of Alykes, the Ottoman pirate fleet would defeat the Italian rearguard fleet, ravaging it at sea. The rearguard would be broken, with most of its ships and soldiers taking flight to Sicily. The remainder fled to the island, where they would surrender to the Ottoman forces that landed after prolonged struggles in the Spring of 1619. Charles Gonzaga would land in the Mani Peninsula and begin his war effort by marching north to oppose the Turks in Morea, but without the rearguard, his forces took on a more defensive outlook. By the late Spring of 1619, the Porte dispatched an army of 30,000 soldiers to suppress the rebellion and defeat the Italian invaders.
Charles Gonzaga would find the Mani Peninsula far from the welcoming place that he had hoped. The Maniot rebels had high zeal, but their army was supplied by raiding and by living off the land, but they did not possess much access to rich resources and did not have the comported discipline to truly succeed in their endeavors. Furthermore, dispute between the Maniot leaders and Charles of Gonzaga would limit their coordination, causing disunity and inability to create a solid campaign. Charles Gonzaga would instead march upon Kalamata alongside his Genoese naval allies. The forces at Kalamata were poor and the Italians would manage to capture the city and establish bases nearby and build a hasty fortification by the end of the Spring. The summer however would be dry, hot, and difficult. Famine overtook the land as the Ottoman force that arrived ransacked the area as retribution for the Maniot uprising and the Maniot in turn fled to their mountainous and coastal protections, offering little support to their Italians allies. By the oonset of Fall of 1619, the Italians were feeling helpless and began coordinating with the Turks for a truce and the surrender of Kalamata on good terms. Fear of the famine and designs by the Palace to restore peace with Italy led to a ceasefire and the promotion of terms that would begin to take motion into 1620.
Charles Gonzaga, 1621
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