GERMANY. 
until the year although the meiuhers were feldom 
called together, and tlie rierifioiis which it from time to 
time promulgated, neither obtained the unanimous ap¬ 
probation of the Roman catholics, nor the fmalletl com¬ 
pliance on the part of the piroteftants; being in the 
higlieft degree holtile to flieir principles. In 155a, the 
protefhint interefts began to revive under the conduiSl of 
tJie fame Maurice, debtor of Saxony, wlio was a man 
of very (ujicrior abilities botli as a politician and a ge¬ 
neral, and whole confummate art of diflimulation, as it 
had formerly deceived the proteftants, notv with equal 
effect deceived the emperor, whole condubt had given 
him extreme difgult. By the alfiffance of France, 
Maurice was enabled to raife a conliderable force, with 
vviiich he marched againlt the emperor, at Infpi'uck in 
'I’yrol, the common refidence of the archdukes of Auf- 
tria. His march was fo rapid, that the emperor, then 
levcrely attacked by the gout, was jnit into a litter, 
and conveyed over the Alps, in a dark and rainy night, 
and retired to Villach in Carinthia, to avoid failing into 
his iiands ; and the council of Trent, which had then 
been convened, was hadily broken up ; Maurice having 
entered his proteff againlt its authority. At length a 
meeting was held at Pallau, A.D. 1552, conlilting of the 
whole body of Gerntan debtors, both papifls and proteft- 
ants. Ferdinand king of the Romans, and brother to the 
emperor, attended as his rcprcfentaiive ; and the empe¬ 
ror’s tyrannic fway had'rendered him fo odious even to 
the catiiolics, tliat they came with minds well "difpofed 
toward their religious-opponents; in conl'equeiice of 
lucti a dilpolition, mupnal conceflions were made, and 
terms ot compromife fettled, which the emperor very 
relubtaiuly complied with. 
At the beginning of the reign of Ferdinand I. a diet 
at Ratifnon confirmed the proteftants in their religious 
rites, and during more than half a century the empire 
was vei')’ little difturbed by religions contentions, ex¬ 
cept wiiat arofe between tlie Lutlierans and Calvinifts. 
In 1609, the proteftants entered into a new confederacy, 
which w'as ifyled “ the evangelical union,” to which 
anotlier alfociation was oppoled wliich bore the name 
of “ tlie catliolic league,” ftton after which, John Wil¬ 
liam duke ot Cleves and Juliers dying without iifue, 
the lucceflioK to thofe duchies roufed to arms the 
heads of the two parties. Several competitors arofe, 
and the emperor cited them all before him. Tlie 
princes ot the evangelical league oj'ipofed tiie emperor, 
and thofe ot the catholic league fupported him : the 
elebfor ot Saxony only, among the proteftants, and 
w’ho was a claimant, joined the emperor. He. was 
grandliQ.n ot Augnftus, who Incceedcd his brother Mau¬ 
rice in 1553, he being llaiii in a battle with Albert elec¬ 
tor Oi Biandenburg. 1 he proteftam league, conlidering 
their force as intufficient to oppofe againft their antago- 
nilis, applied to llenry IV. of b'rance, who continued 
to fupport their caute until his death. The liarnes of 
war were tluis kindling toward the end of the reign of 
the emperor Mattliias, and wlien liis coutin Ferui- 
nand II. v.'as chofen emperor, they buril fortli witli 
great fury, A. D. 161S. 
Tlie proteftants of Boliemia then difclaimed ail alle¬ 
giance to the emperor, and chol'e tlie eleblor palatine, 
who had married the princefs Mary of England, daugh¬ 
ter of James I. for their king, who was diitinguiihed as 
Frederic V. but he fiiftained ins regal charabter a very 
ftiiirt time ; for tlie battle of Prague, w liich was fouglit 
in 1620, gave I'ucli a total overthrow to ids party, that 
Frederic not only loft tiis kingdom, but was deprived 
of his palatinate, wirilft ids queen fought an afylum in 
England : the eleblor died in 1632. The armies of 
Ferdinand were now commanded by Buguoy count 
Tilly and the duke of Walftein, who for a time carried 
vibtory wherever they went, and brought all Germany 
under the ablblute will of the emperor ; wldcli lucceA 
®nly ferved to extend his ambitious views, which were 
VoL.VlII. No.522. 
now direbled to obtain influence and territory in Italy. 
In Germany, confiding in his retiftlefs ftreng'th, b.e ill'ued 
an edibl requiring the reftitution of all benefices and 
church lands which had been held by proteftants fince 
the treaty ot PatTau. . Cardinal Riclielieu, who tlien 
governed France under the reign of Louis XIII. al- 
tiiough lie perfecuted tlie Hugonots in that country, 
yet gave every poflible aftift iiice to the evangelical 
union in Germany : a ftatefman’s religion is merely, a 
convenient pretext to cover his political Ichemes. This 
miidfter was no lets abtive in oppofing the emperor’s 
de/i.gns in Italy ; to whicli, on the otlier hand, tlie con- 
ducl ot the king of Spain was favourable. 'I'he prb- 
teftants thus deprived of poft'eftions which they held by'^ 
a riglit derived from tlie treaty of Paftiiu, entered into 
a league witli Giiftavus Adolplius king of Sweden j a 
former alliance with Cliriftian IV. of Denmark, had 
proved ,ot little avail ; but to tliis league with Sweden, 
Richelieu became a very important party, for lie ftipu- 
lated to tranimit to Guftavus an annua! fubfidy of one 
million two hundred tlioufand livres (150,000!.), and 
the king agreed to maintain an army of tiiirty-ftx tliou- 
fand mbn. 
At this time tiie imperialifts, commanded by Tilly, 
carried terror and deftrubtion wlierever they came, 
d he inhuman -manner in whicli that genera! waged war 
againft tb.e proteftants, llamps indelible infamy on his 
name. In 1631 lie took tlie city of Magdeburg by 
ttorm, to whicli he fet fire, and maftacred the iniiabi- 
tants witiiout'diftinbftion of age, fex, or rank. Its po¬ 
pulation at that time was computed at forty thoufand, 
and only eFglit liundred are laid to liave et'eaped the 
fury of the foldiery, let loofe upon them by their lavage 
leader. To Itop tlie fpread of thefe barbarities, Guf¬ 
tavus, witli ills liardy and well-trained Swedes, entered 
Pomerania, took Frankfort on tlie Oder, Colburg, ivitit 
other places, and defeated Tilly near Ltiplic, on Sep¬ 
tember ytli that fame year : about feven months after, 
tliat general was killed in ditputing the patfage of the 
Lech. Guftavus, after his victory at Leiptic, was 
joined by all the members of the evangelical union, 
and marching into Bavaria, entered Munich, its ca-[>ita!, 
in triumph. He was then I'olicited by fome, to revenge 
on that city the mercilefs extermination of tlie Magde- 
biirghers, by giving it up to pillage, and deftroying tlie 
cniperoi’s fine palace ; but he rejebted the idea with 
all the magnanimity of a Chriftian hero. 
Walftein-fucceeded to the comiiKiiui of the imperial 
army on the deatli of Tilly, and in November 1632, 
tiie important battle of Lutzen was fought, in which 
the renowned Guftavus loft his life, and the proteftants 
their firmeft dependence ; yet a iiiccellioii ot able Swe- 
dilh genertils, who had fought under Guftavus, led on 
tlie Swedes to many very glorious vibtories ; whilft the 
able adminiftration of Oxenftiern, the chancellor of 
Sweden, witli the ftrong fupport of France, whofe ar¬ 
mies were commanded by marflial Turenne and tlie 
duke d’Enguien, fon of the prince of Conde, and who 
on the death of his father and his fucccellion to the ti¬ 
tle, was called “ the great Conde,” at length obliged 
the emperor to join in a treaty concluded at Prague, in 
which he revoked the requifitions wliich lie 
had made by the edict of Ratilhon. 'I'liis treaty pur 
an end to hoftilities between the imperialifts and the 
German princes of the evangelical union, and left the 
Swedes and French to coiuend with tiie emperor, who 
dying in 1637, his fon Frederic III. fucceeded him, and 
niaintained the war for eleven years ; but, having lu!-. 
fered many feveie defeats, and his beft generals having 
perilhed in the I'ervice, a mean regard to his own per- 
fonal fafety, and the prelervation of his contrabled 
power, induced iiim to alk for peace, wliich not all the 
mlTeries and defolations produced by a war fo long con¬ 
tinued, fo widely fpread, and fo rancoroufly waged, 
could have extorted from his obdurate heart. On the 
6S 24 ih 
