At Wolgast
Terrible news spread over Germany in November, 1632. Gustavus Adolphus,
the hero, but for whom Germany would have been a second Spain, was
killed at the battle of Lutzen on the sixth of that month. The battle
was won, but he paid for the victory with his life. They found the
hero's body after the battle, plundered and trodden under foot, covered
with blood and wounds, and lying face downward. It was taken in an
ammunition wagon to the village of Menchen. From there it was carried in
a simple casket to Weissenfels, where it was embalmed and thence was
conveyed in solemn procession through Wittenberg to Wolgast. From there
in the Spring of 1633 the Prince and his noble kinsmen accompanied the
coffin to the vessel which was to bear it home.
The Prince was the first to meet the royal widow. When she saw him, she
wrung her hands, went up to him weeping and embraced him. Gradually she
regained composure and began to speak of her husband. "You too, my
Frederick," she said, "were included in his plans. You are to be the
inheritor of his power and the champion of Protestantism. He has also
consigned to you a precious treasure, our little daughter Christine,
heiress to the Swedish crown. He has confided her to your love and care.
How often, especially since his death, have I thought of what he said at
that time! Alas! he had then a presentiment that he would never return!
I can never forget his words. 'Do not imagine,' he said to the Diet,
'that I enter upon this war impelled by common ambition. I venture all
to release the Church from the domination of the Pope, and because I
expect to accomplish it with divine assistance. I have many times fought
for the welfare of the kingdom, and God has always saved me from death.
But it cannot always be so, and at last I must give up my life.
Therefore I commend you all to God, the Almighty, and hope that after
this sorrowful life of trouble we may all meet again in the future in
heaven.'"
This and much more concerning her husband the Queen related to the
Prince. One of the captains who had accompanied her to Wolgast, a
German, had been in the battle of Lutzen. The Crown-prince requested his
royal aunt to summon the man. "As you wish to learn of the battle from
one who participated in it you shall meet the man--but not here, not
now."
That evening the Crown-prince's parents arrived, also the Dukes of
Mecklenburg, who owed the restoration of their dukedoms to the King. The
meeting between the parents and the Prince was a most affectionate one.
On the following day the escort for the King's body, which rested in a
silver casket, accompanied it on board the ship. Cavalry and artillery
bearing standards and banners captured at Lutzen marched in advance. The
banners of Sweden were draped. Then came the hearse, drawn by eight
horses with black velvet trappings. The Elector George William as the
nearest mourner, followed on foot, accompanied by the two Dukes of
Mecklenburg. The Crown-prince followed as second mourner, accompanied by
the Pomeranian embassy. A long train of mourners succeeded them and
closed the procession, all heavily burdened with anxiety as they
reflected upon the future. Solemnly it moved to the harbor. The precious
remains of the King were placed on board, and amid the booming of cannon
the vessel weighed anchor.