Joachim II., Sixth Elector, no doubt after painful study, and intricate
silent consideration ever since his twelfth year when Luther was first
heard of over the world, came gradually, and before his Father's death
had already come, to the conclusion of adopting the Confession of
Augsburg, as the true Interpretation of this Universe, so far as we had
yet got; and did so, publicly, in the year 1539. [Rentsch, p. 452.] To
the great joy of Berlin and the Brandenburg populations generally, who
had been of a Protestant humor, hardly restrainable by Law, for some
years past. By this decision Joachim held fast, with a stout, weighty
grasp; nothing spasmodic in his way of handling the matter, and yet
a heartiness which is agreeable to see. He could not join in the
Schmalkaldic War; seeing, it is probable, small chance for such a War,
of many chiefs and little counsel; nor was he willing yet to part from
the Kaiser Karl V., who was otherwise very good to him.
He had fought personally for this Kaiser, twice over, against the
Turks; first as Brandenburg Captain, learning his art; and afterwards as
Kaiser's Generalissimo, in 1542. He did no good upon the Turks, on that
latter occasion; as indeed what good was to be done, in such a quagmire
of futilities as Joachim's element there was? "Too sumptuous in his
dinners, too much wine withal!" hint some calumniously. [Paulus Jovius,
&c. See Pauli, iii. 70-73.] "Hector of Germany!" say others. He tried
some small prefatory Siege or scalade of Pesth; could not do it; and
came his ways home again, as the best course. Pedant Chroniclers give
him the name HECTOR, "Joachim Hector,"--to match that of CICERO and
that of ACHILLES. A man of solid structure, this our Hector, in body and
mind: extensive cheeks, very large heavy-laden face; capable of terrible
bursts of anger, as his kind generally were.
The Schmalkaldic War went to water, as the Germans phrase it:
Kur-Sachsen,--that is, Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous, Son of
Johann "V. D. M. I. AE.," and Nephew of Friedrich the Wise,--had his
sorrowfully valid reasons for the War; large force too, plenty of
zealous copartners, Philip of Hessen and others; but no generalship, or
not enough, for such a business. Big Army, as is apt enough to
happen, fell short of food; Kaiser Karl hung on the outskirts, waiting
confidently till it came to famine. Johann Friedrich would attempt
nothing decisive while provender lasted;--and having in the end,
strangely enough, and somewhat deaf to advice, divided his big Army into
three separate parts;--Johann Friedrich was himself, with one of those
parts, surprised at Muhlberg, on a Sunday when at church (24th April,
1547); and was there beaten to sudden ruin, and even taken captive,
like to have his head cut off, by the triumphant angry Kaiser. Philip of
Hessen, somewhat wiser, was home to Marburg, safe with HIS part, in the
interim.--Elector Joachim II. of Brandenburg had good reason to rejoice
in his own cautious reluctances on this occasion. However, he did now
come valiantly up, hearing what severities were in the wind.
He pleaded earnestly, passionately, he and Cousin or already "Elector"
Moritz, [Pauli, iii. 102.]--who was just getting Johann Friedrich's
Electorship fished away from him out of these troubles, [Kurfurst, 4th
June, 1547.]--for Johann Friedrich of Saxony's life, first of all. For
Johann's life FIRST; this is a thing not to be dispensed with,
your Majesty, on any terms whatever; a _sine qua non,_ this life to
Protestant Germany at large. To which the Kaiser indicated, "He would
see; not immediate death at any rate; we will see." A life that could
not and must not be taken in this manner: this was the FIRST point.
Then, SECONDLY, that Philip of Hessen, now home again at Marburg,--not a
bad or disloyal man, though headlong, and with two wives,--might not be
forfeited; but that peace and pardon might be granted him, on his entire
submission. To which second point the Kaiser answered, "Yes, then, on
his submission." These were the two points. These pleadings went on at
Halle, where the Kaiser now lies, in triumphantly victorious humor, in
the early days of June, Year 1547. Johann Friedrich of Saxony had
been, by some Imperial Court-Council or other,--Spanish merely, I
suppose,--doomed to die. Sentence was signified to him while he sat at
chess: "Can wait till we end the game," thought Johann;--"PERGAMUS,"
said he to his comrade, "Let us go on, then!" Sentence not to be
executed till one see.
With Philip of Hessen things had a more conclusive aspect. Philip
had accepted the terms procured for him; which had been laboriously
negotiated, brought to paper, and now wanted only the sign-manual to
them: _"Ohne einigen Gefangniss_(without any imprisonment)," one of
the chief clauses. And so Philip now came over to Halle; was met and
welcomed by his two friends, Joachim and Moritz, at Naumburg, a stage
before Halle;--clear now to make his submission, and beg pardon of the
Kaiser, according to bargain. On the morrow, 19th June, 1547, the Papers
were got signed. And next day, 20th June, Philip did, according to
bargain, openly beg pardon of the Kaiser, in his Majesty's Hall of
Audience (Town House of Halle, I suppose); "knelt at the Kaiser's
feet publicly on both knees, while his Kanzler read the submission and
entreaty, as agreed upon;" and, alas, then the Kaiser said nothing
at all to him! Kaiser looked haughtily, with impenetrable eyes and
shelf-lip, over the head of him; gave him no hand to kiss; and left poor
Philip kneeling there. An awkward position indeed;--which any German
Painter that there were, might make a Picture of, I have sometimes
thought. Picture of some real meaning, more or less,--if for symbolic.
Towers of Babel, medieval mythologies, and extensive smearings of that
kind, he could find leisure!--Philip having knelt a reasonable time, and
finding there was no help for it, rose in the dread silence (some say,
with too sturdy an expression of countenance); and retired from the
affair, having at least done his part of it.
The next practical thing was now supper, or as we of this age should
call it, dinner. Uncommonly select and high supper: host the Duke of
Alba; where Joachim, Elector Moritz, and another high Official, the
Bishop of Arras, were to welcome poor Philip after his troubles. How
the grand supper went, I do not hear: possibly a little constrained; the
Kaiser's strange silence sitting on all men's thoughts; not to be
spoken of in the present company. At length the guests rose to go away.
Philip's lodging is with Moritz (who is his son-in-law, as learned
readers know): "You Philip, your lodging is mine; my lodging is
yours,--I should say! Cannot we ride together?"--"Philip is not
permitted to go," said Imperial Officiality; "Philip is to continue
here, and we fear go to prison."--"Prison?" cried they all: "OHNE
EINIGEN GEFANGNISS (without ANY imprisonment)!"--"As we read the words,
it is 'OHNE EWIGEN GEFANGNISS (without ETERNAL imprisonment),'" answer
the others. And so, according to popular tradition, which has little or
no credibility, though printed in many Books, their false Secretary had
actually modified it.
"No intention of imprisoning his DURCHLAUCHT of Hessen FOREVER;
not forever!" answered they. And Kurfurst Joachim, in astonished
indignation, after some remonstrating and arguing, louder and louder,
which profited nothing, blazed out into a very whirlwind of rage; drew
his sword, it is whispered with a shudder,--drew his sword, or was for
drawing it, upon the Duke of Alba; and would have done, God knows what,
had not friends flung themselves between, and got the Duke away, or
him away. [Pauli, iii. 103.] Other accounts bear, that it was upon the
Bishop of Arras he drew his sword; which is a somewhat different matter.
Perhaps he drew it on both; or on men and things in general;--for his
indignation knew no bounds. The heavy solid man; yet with a human heart
in him after all, and a Hohenzollern abhorrence of chicanery, capable
of rising to the transcendent pitch! His wars against the Turks, and
his other Hectorships, I will forget; but this, of a face so extensive
kindled all into divine fire for poor Philip's sake, shall be memorable
to me.
Philip got out by and by, though with difficulty; the Kaiser proving
very stiff in the matter; and only yielding to obstinate pressures,
and the force of time and events. Philip got away; and then how Johann
Friedrich of Sachsen, after being led about for five years, in the
Kaiser's train, a condemned man, liable to be executed any day, did
likewise at last get away, with his head safe and Electorate gone: these
are known Historical events, which we glanced at already, on another
score.
For, by and by, the Kaiser found tougher solicitation than this of
Joachim's. The Kaiser, by his high carriage in this and other such
matters, had at length kindled a new War round him; and he then
soon found himself reduced to extremities again; chased to the Tyrol
Mountains, and obliged to comply with many things. New War, of quite
other emphasis and management than the Schmalkaldic one; managed by
Elector Moritz and our poor friend Albert Alcibiades as principals. A
Kaiser chased into the mountains, capable of being seized by a little
spurring;--"Capture him?" said Albert. "I have no cage big enough for
such a bird!" answered Moritz; and the Kaiser was let run. How he ran
then towards Treaty of Passau (1552), towards Siege of Metz and other
sad conclusions, "Abdication" the finale of them: these also are known
phases in the Reformation History, as hinted at above.
Here at Halle, in the year 1547, the great Kaiser, with Protestantism
manacled at his feet, and many things going prosperous, was at his
culminating point. He published his INTERIM (1548, What you troublesome
Protestants are to do, in the mean time, while the Council of Trent
is sitting, and till it and I decide for you); and in short, drove and
reined-in the Reich with a high hand and a sharp whip, for the time
being. Troublesome Protestants mostly rejected the Interim; Moritz and
Alcibiades, with France in the rear of them, took to arms in that way;
took to ransoming fat Bishoprics ("_Verbum Diaboli Manet_," we know
where!);--took to chasing Kaisers into the mountains;--and times came
soon round again. In all these latter broils Kurfurst Joachim II.,
deeply interested, as we may fancy, strove to keep quiet; and to
prevail, by weight of influence and wise counsel, rather than by
fighting with his Kaiser.
One sad little anecdote I recollect of Joachim: an Accident, which
happened in those Passau-Interim days, a year or two after that drawing
of the sword on Alba. Kurfurst Joachim unfortunately once fell through
a staircase, in that time; being, as I guess, a heavy man. It was in
the Castle of Grimnitz, one of his many Castles, a spacious enough old
Hunting-seat, the repairs of which had not been well attended to. The
good Herr, weighty of foot, was leading down his Electress to dinner one
day in this Schloss of Grimnitz; broad stair climbs round a grand Hall,
hung with stag-trophies, groups of weapons, and the like hall-furniture.
An unlucky timber yielded; yawning chasm in the staircase; Joachim and
his good Princess sank by gravitation; Joachim to the floor with little
hurt; his poor Princess (horrible to think of), being next the wall,
came upon the stag-horns and boar-spears down below! [Pauli, iii. 112.]
The poor Lady's hurt was indescribable: she walked lame all the rest
of her clays; and Joachim, I hope (hope, but not with confidence), [Ib.
iii. 194.] loved her all the better for it. This unfortunate old Schloss
of Grimnitz, some thirty miles northward of Berlin, was--by the Eighth
Kurfurst, Joachim Friedrich, Grandson of this one, with great renown to
himself and to it--converted into an Endowed High School: the famed
_Joachimsthal Gymnasium,_ still famed, though now under some change of
circumstances, and removed to Berlin itself. [Nicolai, p. 725.]
Joachim's first Wife, from whom descend the following Kurfursts, was a
daughter of that Duke George of Saxony, Luther's celebrated friend, "If
it rained Duke-Georges nine days running."
JOACHIM GETS CO-INFEFTMENT IN PREUSSEN.
This second Wife, she of the accident at Grimnitz, was Hedwig, King
Sigismund of Poland's daughter; which connection, it is thought, helped
Joachim well in getting what they call the MITBELEHNUNG of Preussen (for
it was he that achieved this point) from King Sigismund.
MITBELEHNUNG (Co-infeftment) in Preussen;--whereby is solemnly
acknowledged the right of Joachim and his Posterity to the reversion of
Preussen, should the Culmbach Line of Duke Albert happen to fail. It was
a thing Joachim long strove for; till at length his Father-in-law did,
some twenty years hence, concede it him. [Date, Lublin, 19th July, 1568:
Pauli, iii. 177-179, 193; Rentsch, p. 457; Stenzel, i. 341, 342.] Should
Albert's Line fail, then, the other Culmbachers get Preussen; should the
Culmbachers all fail, the Berlin Brandenburgers get it. The Culmbachers
are at this time rather scarce of heirs: poor Alcibiades died childless,
as we know, and Casimir's Line is extinct; Duke Albert himself has left
only one Son, who now succeeds in Preussen; still young, and not of the
best omens. Margraf George the Pious, he left only George Friedrich;
an excellent man, who is now prosperous in the world, and wedded long
since, but has no children. So that, between Joachim's Line and Preussen
there are only two intermediate heirs;--and it was a thing eminently
worth looking after. Nor has it wanted that. And so Kurfurst Joachim,
almost at the end of his course, has now made sure of it.
JOACHIM MAKES "HERITAGE-BROTHERHOOD" WITH THE DUKE OF LIEGNITZ.
Another feat of like nature Joachim II. had long ago achieved; which
likewise in the long-run proved important in his Family, and in the
History of the world: an "ERBVERBRUDERUNG," so they term it, with the
Duke of Liegnitz,--date 1537. ERBVERBRUDERUNG ("Heritage-brotherhood,"
meaning Covenant to succeed reciprocally on Failure of Heirs to either)
had in all times been a common paction among German Princes well
affected to each other. Friedrich II., the then Duke of Liegnitz, we
have transiently seen, was related to the Family; he had been extremely
helpful in bringing his young friend Albert of Preussen's affairs to
a good issue,--whose Niece, withal, he had wedded:--in fact, he was a
close friend of this our Joachim's; and there had long been a growing
connection between the two Houses, by intermarriages and good offices.
The Dukes of Liegnitz were Sovereign-Princes, come of the old Piasts
of Poland; and had perfect right to enter into this transaction of an
ERBVERBRUDERUNG with whom they liked. True, they had, above two
hundred years before, in the days of King Johann ICH-DIEN (A.D. 1329),
voluntarily constituted themselves Vassals of the Crown of Bohemia:
[Pauli, iii. 22.] but the right to dispose of their Lands as they
pleased had, all along, been carefully acknowledged, and saved entire.
And, so late as 1521, just sixteen years ago, the Bohemian King
Vladislaus the Last, our good Margraf George's friend, had expressly,
in a Deed still extant, confirmed to them, with all the emphasis and
amplitude that Law-Phraseology could bring to bear upon it, the right to
dispose of said Lands in any manner of way: "by written testament, or
by verbal on their death-bed, they can, as they see wisest, give away,
sell, pawn, dispose of, and exchange _(vergeben, verkaufen, versetzen,
verschaffen, verwechseln)_ these said lands," to all lengths, and with
all manner of freedom. Which privilege had likewise been confirmed,
twice over (1522, 1524), by Ludwig the next King, Ludwig OHNE-HAUT,
who perished in the bogs of Mohacz, and ended the native Line of
Bohemian-Hungarian Kings. Nay, Ferdinand, King of the Romans, Karl V.'s
Brother, afterwards Kaiser, who absorbed that Bohemian Crown among
the others, had himself, by implication, sanctioned or admitted the
privilege, in 1529, only eight years ago. [Stenzel, i. 323.] The right
to make the ERBVERBRUDERUNG could not seem doubtful to anybody.
And made accordingly it was: signed, sealed, drawn out on the proper
parchments, 18th October, 1537; to the following clear effect: "That
if Duke Friedrich's Line should die out, all his Liegnitz countries,
Liegnitz, Brieg, Wohlau, should fall to the Hohenzollern Brandenburgers:
and that, if the Line of Hohenzollern Brandenburg should first fail,
then all and singular the Bohemian Fiefs of Brandenburg (as Crossen,
Zullichau and seven others there enumerated) should fall to the House of
Liegnitz." [Stenzel, i. 320.] It seemed a clear Paction, questionable by
no mortal. Double-marriage between the two Houses (eldest Son, on each
side, to suitable Princess on the other) was to follow: and did follow,
after some delays, 17th February, 1545. So that the matter seemed now
complete: secure on all points, and a matter of quiet satisfaction to
both the Houses and to their friends.
But Ferdinand, King of the Romans, King of Bohemia and Hungary, and
coming to be Emperor one day, was not of that sentiment. Ferdinand had
once implicitly recognized the privilege, but Ferdinand, now when he saw
the privilege turned to use, and such a territory as Liegnitz exposed
to the possibility of falling into inconvenient hands, explicitly
took other thoughts: and gradually determined to prohibit this
ERBVERBRUDERUNG. The States of Bohemia, accordingly, in 1544 (it is not
doubtful, by Ferdinand's suggestion), were moved to make inquiries as to
this Heritage-Fraternity of Liegnitz. [Ib. i. 322.] On which hint King
Ferdinand straightway informed the Duke of Liegnitz that the act was not
justifiable, and must be revoked. The Duke of Liegnitz, grieved to the
heart, had no means of resisting. Ferdinand, King of the Romans, backed
by Kaiser Karl, with the States of Bohemia barking at his wink, were too
strong for poor Duke Friedrich of Liegnitz. Great corresponding between
Berlin, Liegnitz, Prag ensued on this matter: but the end was a summons
to Duke Friedrich,--summons from King Ferdinand in March, 1546, "To
appear in the Imperial Hall (KAISERHOF) at Breslau," and to submit
that Deed of EBVERBRUDERUNG to the examination of the States there. The
States, already up to the affair, soon finished their examination of it
(8th May, 1546). The deed was annihilated: and Friedrich was ordered,
furthermore, to produce proofs within six months that his subjects too
were absolved of all oaths or the like regarding it, and that in fact
the Transaction was entirely abolished and reduced to zero. Friedrich
complied, had to comply: very much chagrined, he returned home: and died
next year,--it is supposed, of heartbreak from this business. He had
yielded outwardly: but to force only. In a Codicil appended to his last
Will, some months afterwards (which Will, written years ago, had treated
the ERBVERBRUDERUNG as a Fact settled), he indicates, as with his last
breath, that he considered the thing still valid, though overruled
by the hand of power. Let the reader mark this matter; for it will
assuredly become memorable, one day.
The hand of power, namely, Ferdinand, King of the Romans, had applied
in like manner to Joachim of Brandenburg to surrender his portion of the
Deed, and annihilate on his side too this ERBVERBRUDERUNG. But Joachim
refused steadily, and all his successors steadily, to give up this Bit
of Written Parchment: kept the same, among their precious documents,
against some day that might come (and I suppose it lies in the Archives
of Berlin even now): silently, or in words, asserting that the Deed of
Heritage-Brothership was good, and that though some hands might have the
power, no hand could have the right to abolish it on those terms.
How King Ferdinand permitted himself such a procedure? Ferdinand, says
one of his latest apologists in this matter, "considered the privileges
granted by his Predecessors, in respect to rights of Sovereignty, as
fallen extinct on their death." [Stenzel, i. 323.] Which--if Reality
and Fact would but likewise be so kind as "consider" it so--was no doubt
convenient for Ferdinand!
Joachim was not so great with Ferdinand as he had been with Charles the
Imperial Brother. Joachim and Ferdinand had many debates of this
kind, some of them rather stiff. Jagerndorf, for instance, and the
Baireuth-Anspach confiscations, in George Friedrich's minority.
Ferdinand, now Kaiser, had snatched Jagerndorf from poor young George
Friedrich, son of excellent Margraf George whom we knew: "Part of
the spoils of Albert Alcibiades," thought Ferdinand, "and a good
windfall,"--though young George Friedrich had merely been the Ward
of Cousin Alcibiades, and totally without concern in those political
explosions. "Excellent windfall," thought Ferdinand: and held his grip.
But Joachim, in his weighty steady way, intervened: Joachim, emphatic
in the Diets and elsewhere, made Ferdinand quit grip, and produce
Jagerndorf again. Jagerndorf and the rest had all to be restored: and,
except some filchings in the Jagerndorf Appendages (Ratibor and Oppeln,
"restored" only in semblance, and at length juggled away altogether),
[Rentsch, pp. 129, 130.] everything came to its right owner again. Nor
would Joachim rest till Alcibiades's Territories too were all punctually
given back, to this same George Friedrich: to whom, by law and justice,
they belonged, In these points Joachim prevailed against a strong-handed
Kaiser, apt to "consider one's rights fallen extinct" now and then. In
this of Liegnitz all he could do was to keep the Deed, in steady protest
silent or vocal.
But enough now of Joachim Hector, Sixth Kurfurst, and of his workings
and his strugglings. He walked through this world, treading as softly
as might be, yet with a strong weighty step: rending the jungle steadily
asunder; well seeing whither he was bound. Rather an expensive Herr:
built a good deal, completion of the Schloss at Berlin one example:
[Nicolai, p. 82.] and was not otherwise afraid of outlay, in the Reich's
Politics, or in what seemed needful: If there is a harvest ahead, even a
distant one, it is poor thrift to be stingy of your seed-corn!
Joachim was always a conspicuous Public Man, a busy Politician in the
Reich: stanch to his kindred, and by no means blind to himself or his
own interests. Stanch also, we must grant, and ever active, though
generally in a cautious, weighty, never in a rash swift way, to the
great Cause of Protestantism, and to all good causes. He was himself a
solemnly devout man; deep awe-stricken reverence dwelling in his view
of this Universe. Most serious, though with a jocose dialect commonly,
having a cheerful wit in speaking to men. Luther's Books he called his
SEELENSCHATZ (Soul's-treasure): Luther and the Bible were his chief
reading. Fond of profane learning too, and of the useful or ornamental
Arts; given to music, and "would himself sing aloud" when he had
a melodious leisure-hour. Excellent old gentleman: he died, rather
suddenly, but with much nobleness, 3d January, 1571; age sixty-six. Old
Rentsch's account of this event is still worth reading: [Rentsch, p.
458.] Joachim's death-scene has a mild pious beauty which does not
depend on creed.
He had a Brother too, not a little occupied with Politics, and always
on the good side: a wise pious man, whose fame was in all the churches:
"Johann of Custrin," called also "Johann THE WISE," who busied himself
zealously in Protestant matters, second only in piety and zeal to his
Cousin, Margraf George the Pious; and was not so held back by official
considerations as his Brother the Elector now and then. Johann of
Custrin is a very famous man in the old Books: Johann was the first that
fortified Custrin: built himself an illustrious Schloss, and "roofed it
with copper," in Custrin (which is a place we shall be well acquainted
with by and by); and lived there, with the Neumark for apanage, a true
man's life;--mostly with a good deal of business, warlike and other,
on his hands; with good Books, good Deeds, and occasionally good Men,
coming to enliven it,--according to the terms then given.