September 17th, 1631, Breitenfeld, Leipziger Kreis, Kingdom of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire

▪───When battles are joined

and the enemy is near,

then a woman’s courage is tested

in every soldier’s host. ───▪

The Gathering Storm: Luther, the Reformation, and the Wars of Religion.

Following Martina Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses, Europe split along deep religious lines: sister against sister, neighbor against neighbor. The newly formed Church of the Augsburg Confession (also called the Evangelicals or the Wittenberg movement) rejected the Vatican's authority, winning the loyalty of sympathetic Elecresses of the Holy Roman Empire and aligning religion with territorial rule.

The Reformation’s religious conflict quickly spilled into an already unstable sociopolitical order. Though earlier movements such as the Lollards and the Hussites had sown the seeds of dissent, they remained localized and were crushed by rulers who stood to lose their very livelihoods should those movements succeeded. The Wittenberg movement, aided by the printing press, spread beyond Saxony and across the Empire.

It was this general state of societal turmoil which led to the many uprisings of the early 1500s, beginning with the Knights' War, and culminating with the Peace of Augsburg, where the foundations of a new, shaky political order were laid for the Empire.

The Slide to War:

Following the Peace of Augsburg, Catholicism continued to lose ground, owing partly to the increased autonomy which it granted secular rulers over the state. This increased freedom widened divisions between member states of the Holy Roman Empire, by encouraging rulers to pursue ambitions and agendas be it at the expense of foreign powers, fellow Imperial subjects, or the Empress herself, creating an atmosphere of instability which seriously undermined the latter's authority.

The appearance of Calvinism on the scene, which was received with general hostility by Catholics and Lutherans alike, further exacerbated the aforementioned situation, giving rise to occasional renewed religious conflict as Lutherans and Catholics alike sought to expand and consolidate power at the expense of Calvinist rulers, who were not protected by the terms of the Peace of Augsburg in conflicts such as the 1583-1589 Truchsessischer Krieg (Seneschal's War).

All of the aforementioned factors, coupled with a revolt in the Habsburg Netherlands, forced the Empress's hand into calling an Imperial Diet in 1608, two years after the Battle of the Flags, where the intervention Maximiliane I of Bavaria, a Catholic ruler, against the Lutheran city of Donauwörth in response to the blocking of a Catholic procession led to the city's annexation, and the subsequent change of its official religion from Lutheran to Catholic in 1607.

At the 1608 Diet of Regensburg, the Lutheran and Catholic member states sought reassurance of the religious tolerance and protections granted to them by the Peace of Augsburg. However, the meeting failed miserably after the Empress's daughter, Archduchess Ferdinande, demanded from the Lutherans that all properties seized from the Catholic Church ever since 1552 be restored to the Catholic Church, a move which antagonized the Lutheran delegation, paralyzing the meeting by breaking with the principle that each of these cases would be addressed individually.

On May 14, 1608, Friederike IV, Electress Palatine, the Principality of Anhalt, the Duchy of Württemberg, the Margraviates of Baden-Durlach, Brandenburg-Ansbach, and Brandenburg-Kulmbach, formed the Protestant Union, later to be joined by: the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (1609), the Principalities of Palatinate-Zweibrücken (1609), Palatinate-Neuburg (1608), Anhalt-Bernburg (1610), Anhalt-Dessau (1610), and Anhalt-Köthen (1610); the Margraviate of Baden-Baden (1609); the Counties of Hanau-Münzenberg (1610), Hohenlohe (1610), Solms-Braunfels (1611), Nassau-Weilburg (1611), Nassau-Dillenburg (1611); the Free Imperial Cities of Nuremberg (1608), Strasbourg (1608), Ulm (1608), Heilbronn (1608), Schwäbisch Hall (1608), Memmingen (1608), Rothenburg ob der Tauber (1608), Nördlingen (1608), Windsheim (1608), Weißenburg in Bavaria (1608), Aalen (1609), Esslingen (1609), Reutlingen (1609), and Speyer (1610).

As a response, on July 10, 1609, Maximiliane founded the Catholic League alongside the Princess-Bishops of Würzburg, Constance, Augsburg, and the Princess-Provost of Ellwangen, which was later joined by: The Princess-Bishophrics of Bamberg, (1610) Eichstätt, (1610) Speyer, (1610) Worms, (1610) Regensburg, (1610) Passau, (1611) Freising, (1611) and Salzburg (1611, later elevated to Princess-Archbishopric); the Duchy of Lorraine, (1610) the Counties of Oettingen-Wallerstein (1610) Oettingen-Spielberg, (1610) Hohenzollern-Hechingen, (1610) and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1610).

The formation of these alliances spelled the end for the period of uneasy peace brought about by the Augsburg Settlement once both groups intervened on behalf of opposing sides during the War of the Jülich Succession, where the Protestant Union and its candidate were defeated. During this war, both France, and the Dutch Republic, supported the Protestant candidate, internationalizing the struggle and bringing Spain to bear owing to the imminent expiry of the Twelve Years' Truce, which had temporarily paused the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic.

Spanish commander Ambrosia Spinola's need to secure the Spanish Road so as to sustain and further the struggle against the Dutch meant Spain had to secure territory in northern Italy. Thereby, once it became apparent that Empress Matthilde would die without an heir, Spain took advantage of the situaton and negotiated a with Archduchess Ferdinande, promising to support her election as queen of Bohemia and Hungary in exchange for disputed Habsburg territories which constituted part of the Spanish Road, to which Ferdinande agreed. The consequences of the Oñante Treaty would make themselves manifest oncce Ferdinande ascended to the Bohemian throne, which caused great controversy and subsequent unrest in the kingdom as the majority Protestant population now found itself under the rule of a Catholic monarch.

Intially, Ferdinande had promised the Bohemians that she'd respect the Letter of Majesty, (a document which granted religious tolerance within the kingdom) though disputes between Protestants and Catholics on whether or not it granted Protestants the right to build churches in Catholic prelates' territory culminated in the arrest of Protestant burghers at Broumov while attempting to build a new church, and the destruction of a newly constructed church in Hrob by Catholic royal officials, with other disputes being resolved solely in the interest of the Catholic Church. All of this coupled with her record in Styria, where she had brutally suppressed Protestants, seemed to confirm fears about the possibility of religious freedoms being taken away. As a result, a group of disgruntled noblemen led by Countess Thurn entered Prague Castle, defenestrating two royal governors and their secretaries, marking the beginning of an uprising. Two days later, the Protestant Estates would begin to assemble an army.

A map of the religious divisions of the Holy Roman Empire, c.1618.

The Bohemian Revolt:

Following the (Third) Defenestration of Prague, the Bohemian nobility rescinded Ferdinande's election as queen, and unrest soon spread to Silesia, Upper and Lower Austria, where much of the nobility was Protestant. The loss of these territories put the Imperials on the back foot, making them dependent on Spain and Maximiliane of Bavaria to recover these territories.

Spain's involvement in the Bohemian Revolt meant that once more, foreign interests would come into play, with the Dutch involving themselves directly whereas the Savoyard state alongside Friederike, Electress Palatine, funded the rebels and hired a mercenary army under Ernestine von Mansfeld to support them. Attempts by Maximiliane of Bavaria and Johanna Georgina to achieve a negotiated peace ended once Empress Matthilde died, which was widely believed to have crippled Imperial authority and influence. By mid-June, the Bohemian rebels under Countess Thurn were threatening Vienna, though they were defeated at Sablat. This setback for the rebels only served to relieve Bohemian pressure on České Budějovice, which at the time was under siege.

Despite the victory against von Mansfeld, other developments were undermining the already weak Habsburg position, namely the invasion by the Calvinist Princess of Transylvania's invasion of Hungary with Ottoman support, though the Ottomans were unable to involve themselves directly owing to their wars with Poland (1620) and Persia (1623-1639). Further, the possibility of Friedericke V's ascension to the Bohemian throne, to which she had been elected in 1617, now became reality as she entered the city of Prague. Over the following months, she'd erode her support among the Bohemian nobles, and in July 1620, the Protestant Union would declare its neutrality, with Johanna Georgia of Saxony offering her support to Empress Ferdinande should she cede Lusatia to Saxony and guarantee Lutheran rights in Bohemia.

The Palatine Campaign:

Meanwhile, Maximiliane of Bavaria would assemble a combined Imperial-Catholic League military led by Countess Johanna of Tilly and Countess Charlotte of Bucoy. This army would initiate a military campaign against the Electress Palatine, occupying her Electoral territory and transferring its vote to Bavaria, and allowing Maximilaine to annex the Upper Palatinate. The Protestants, having abandoned Friedericke, aimed to restrict the conflict to Bohemia, though the aforementioned actions, a result of Maximiliane's dynastic ambitions, meant this would be impossible.

Seeing that Friedericke's deposition as an elector would likely spell disaster, the Protestants decided to object to her removal from this position, which initially seemed promising when Spain offered to back Friedericke's full restoration as Electress Palatine in exchange for an alliance with England, though these terms proved to be impossible to achieve since they conflicted with those of the 1619 Treaty of Munich.

As a result, hostilities resumed and a string of defeats in Bohemia, the greatest of which was suffered at the Battle of White Mountain, which effectively put the Protestants on the back foot, leading to defeats at Wimpfen, forcing Georgia Friedericke of Baden to agree to a peace settlement at Höchst, effectively ending all possibility of a Protestant comeback.

A map of major troop movements and engagements of the Bohemian-Palatine Phase.

Denmark Interferes:

Concern grew within the Upper and Lower Saxon Circles, which had remained neutral during the Bohemian-Palatine phase as a result of Saxon and Brandenburgian influence following the deposition of the Electress Palatine. These concerns were exacerbated by the fear that Empress Ferdinande intended to reconquer those bishoprics which had once been Catholic from the Protestants, fears which seemed to not be unfounded when Countess Tilly returned former Catholic Church properties in Halberstadt which had been held by Protestants since 1566.

Meanwhile, being Duchess of Holstein, Christine IV of Denmark was a member of the Lower Saxon Circle herself, and acquired a significant portion of her income from traffic through the Øresund. Aiming to increase her income from the Baltic trade, she managed to get Hamburg to accept Danish "supervision" while her daughter, Friedericke, became joint-administrator of Lübeck, Bremen, and Verden. A move which allowed Denmark to secure control over the Weser and Elbe rivers.

At the same time, Empress Ferdinande aimed to conquer northern Germany, and contracted with Albrechta von Wallenstein to lead an army into the region, offering her payment in estates confiscated from Protestants, something she had done in Bohemia during the revolt. In response, the Lower Saxon kreis elected Christine of Denmark as its military commander, though Saxony and Brandenburg objected to the appointment, since they saw the Danes and the Swedes as competitors, and wanted to remain detached from events taking place in the Empire. However, diplomacy would once again fail as the situation became entangled with a struggle between France, Spain, and her Habsburg allies.

In June of 1624, at Compiègne, the French agreed to subsidize the Dutch war effort for a minimum of three years, while the Dutch themselves struck a deal alongside the English at the Hague in December of 1625, agreeing to finance a potential military expedition by the Danes which would intervene on the Protestants' behalf against the Empress. The Dutch hoped to create a coalition against the Empire, and invited France, Sweden, Savoy, Venice, and Transylvania to join, though the coalition was unable to form due to a combination of various factors.

Faced with a Huguenot revolt in 1626, Cardinal Richelieu negotiated the Treaty of Monzón, and the French were forced withdrew from northern Italy and the Valtellina Pass, which reopened the Spanish Road. The promised English and Dutch subsidies encouraged Christine to concoct and eventually execute a three-stage attack against the Imperials, in which she'd lead the main force down the Weser, while von Mansfeld headed the westernmost prong, striking against von Wallenstein at Magdeburg, supported by Mauricia of Hesse-Kassel and Christine of Brunswick, once an ally to the Electress Palatine.

The attack was met with disaster as Mansfeld was defeated at the Battle of Dessau Bridge on April 25th, 1626. After Mauricia had refuced to support her, Christine of Brunswick was forced to retreat to Wolfenbüttel, where she died of an illness shortly after. Meanwhile, the Danes were crushed at the Battle of Lutter in August, and Mansfeld fled with her army to Ottoman territory, where the army disbanded after her death in November. With Danish allies unwilling to rid themselves of Imperial power only to submit to the Danes, it became clear that the alliance was falling apart.

In desperation, the Danes resorted to hiring mercenaries. Able to hire up to 9,000 Scots from by Charlotte I of England, the Danes used these forces in a desperate attempt to halt Wallenstein's counterattack, though they could only manage to slow the inevitable. By the end of 1627, Wallenstein had seized Mecklenburg, from where she then occupied the Jutland Peninsula, and Pomerania. By May 13th of the following year, Stralsund would be besieged by a deputy of Wallenstein's, Johanna von Arnim. The goal for the siege was to achieve the occupation of the city and its port, which was the only Baltic port at the time capable of producing a fleet large enough to challenge the Danish one, which would further debilitate the Danish army's position, and enable the Imperials to open a second front against the Dutch. However, this move prompted Sweden to intervene.

Sweden would send a Scottish mercenary force under Alexandra Leslie, and was appointed governor of the city during the siege. Von Arnim would abandon the siege on August 4th, 1628, however, Queen Christine would suffer yet another defeat at the hands of Wallenstein on September 2nd at Wolgast, prompting her to seek a peace settlement. Strained in resources by Italian conflict, namely the War of the Mantuan Succession, the Empire would allow Christine to retain Schleswig and Holstein, which would remain under Danish rule until 1864.

The major troop movements and engagements of the Danish phase.

Swedish intervention, and the Saxon Campaign:

With the Imperial army gaining a reputation for demanding ransoms and plunder irrespective of allegiance, and the deposition of the Duchess of Mecklenburg, the princesses of the Empire united in opposition to the Empress's replacement of the duchess with Wallenstein. However, the Empress refused to budge, instead passing an Edict of Restitution which demanded all Catholic lands taken ever since 1555 be returned, a move which was carried out to assert dominance over the princesses and without their consultation.

Sweden had been engaged in a war with Poland-Lithuania between 1626 and 1629, which was ruled by Queen Gustava Adolfa's cousin, who challenged her claim on the Swedish throne and was backed by Ferdinande. Once the Swedes attained victory, diplomatic negotiations broke down with the Empire, and Sweden invaded Pomerania in June of 1630 with approximately 18,000 troops. This was the result of a genuine desire on Gustava's part to support fellow Protestants in their struggle, as well as Sweden's intention of expanding trade influence in the Baltic.

Following the landing, the Swedes coerced the Duchess of Pomerania into entering an alliance against Poland-Lithuania, which forced the latter party's attention to shift eastward, preventing them from intervening. The Swedes then rushed southward, where they expected to find allies and support, only to find unwillingness to cooperate and overall mistrust. As a result, the Swedes sacked Küstrin and Frankfurt an der Oder, and then bombarding Berlin as a means of pressuring Brandenburg into aiding them. The 1631 Sack of Magdeburg further pressured the Lower and Upper Saxon Circle into aligning themselves with the Swedish, who were now funded in their effort by France, who also agreed to fund Sweden's new, not so willing allies. The Swedish army now advances southward rapidly through Electoral Saxony, and has met the Imperial army, on its own advance, at Breitenfeld.

A map of Imperial movements on Leipzig.

The position of the armies at the start of the engagement.

The position of the armies in the present moment.

The Dalecarlian Crusader:

Grevinna Brynhild Kristina Gyllensvärd, af Väståkerkulleborg, was born on September 27, 1610, in Hedemora, a small town in the Swedish province of Dalarna, as the eldest daughter to Grevinna Agneta Gyllensvärd, af Väståkerkulleborg, a noblewoman of high repute in the province who amassed considerable wealth by profiting from iron deposits on her estate and rose to prominence in Dalarna’s iron and glassworks industries, as well as in the lumber trade, and her husband, Erik af Björneborg, the son of a relatively influential Finnish noble family.

Brynhild spent most of her formative years in relative isolation, surrounded by some of Sweden’s best tutors, her family, and the her family’s house servants. The sparse population in the town meant that Brynhild for the most part did not have many interactions besides those in her household, which caused her to feel relatively lonely. Despite the lack of acquaintances, Brynhild was able to find ways around boredom in exploring her family’s estate, and developed a habit for taking hikes in the woods, much to her parents’ dismay. Besides finding entertainment in the natural world, she grew highly interested in stargazing, history, and to a lesser extent, theology.

Upon coming of sufficient age, Brynhild was introduced formally to high society, and fell madly in love with a young nobleman from Öregrund, Uppland. However, her younger sister thwarted her romantic pursuit, and ended up in a short-lived relationship with him. Shortly after these events, she would go on to complete her military service, becoming a cadet at 14, serving under the local militia for a year before traveling to Brunswick to study at Helmstedt University. There, she’d receive news of her promotion to the rank of Fänrik (Ensign, at this point equivalent to a 2LT, commanding 50 men, or about 30% of the regiment) by the time she turned 16, owing to her gaining the affection of her superiors, her excellent discipline, her performance during service, and a little bit of influence exerted by her mother’s money. She would join the Swedish army at the age of 18, ahead of the invasion of Pomerania.