Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 48. (2000)

LAVERY, Jason: Emperor Maximilian II. and the Danish-Swedish Struggle for Baltic Hegemony 1563–1576

Emperor Maximilian II and the Danish-Swedish Struggle for Baltic Hegemony 1563 - 1576

cond attack on Würzburg in October 1563.21 In a meeting in the spring of 1564, the chancellor of the Duke of Württemberg discussed with the Duke of Bavaria the possibility of Grumbach serving France’s or Sweden’s interests in the Empire.22 *

Another possible troublemaker was Duke Erich of Brunswick-Calenberg. This prince raised an army of 8 000 infantrymen and 1 500 cavalrymen in the spring of 1563 and was looking to place it in the service of a larger potentate.22 Frederik II offered to cover the costs of the mercenary force for a year if it served in his army. Inexplicably, Erich refused this deal. It was widely believed in northern Germany that the duke of Brunswick was in the pay of Sweden. It is not known if Duke Erich actually contacted the Swedes. The sole record that we have of Swedish interest in Erich is King Erik XIV’s letter of 9 September 1563 to Duke Heinrich of Brunswick, in which Erik asked him to allow Duke Erich to use his land to attack Holstein. Duke Heinrich did not receive the request until January of the following year.24 In the meantime, Duke Erich had decided to lead his force on a march of extortion through northern Germany. In the fall of 1563, under pressure of the princes of the Lower Saxon Circle, Erich’s army dissolved.25

The Imperial Court’s Peace Initiative

Maximilian’s appeal to his father for intervention proved successful. The Imperial court pushed forward with plans for convening a congress in Rostock scheduled to begin on 22 May 1564. As a mediator, the court’s only leverage over the combatants lay in the form of active support from princes in the Empire. On 6 March 1564, Emperor Ferdinand invited four Imperial princes to aid him at Rostock: Landgrave Philip of Hesse, Duke Heinrich II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg, and Elector August of Saxony. These four princes had tried during the previous year to bring the combatants to a peace conference in Rostock without success.26 The coalition built by Maximilian embodied the biconfessional approach to the maintenance of peace in the post-Augsburg Empire. The two electors and Landgrave Philip were Protestants. Duke Heinrich was one of

21 HHStA, Dänemark 1, Konv. 1560-1563 fols. 5-8\ Prague, 8 Nov. 1563, Prisman to Ferdinand (rec. ina. 14 Nov. 1563) (or).

22 Goetz, Walter (ed.): Beiträge zur Geschichte Herzog Albrechts V. und des Landsberger Bundes 1566-1598. Briefe und Akten zur Geschichte des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Baiems Fürstenhaus. München, 1898, vol. 5, pp. 298-300.

25 Fischer, Richard: Der preußische Nusskrieg vom Jahre 1563. In: Altpreußische Monatsschrift 28 (1891/92), pp. 38-75, cited here pp. 46-48, 51.

24 Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv, Wolfenbüttel [hereafter: NSW], 1 Alt 6, Nr. 313, fols. 160r— 161v, Linköping, 9 Sept. 1563, Erik to Heinrich (rec. Wolfenbüttel 27 Jan. 1564) (or).

25 Fischer: Nusskrieg, pp. 50, 60.

26 Lavery, Jason: The Holy Roman Empire and the Danish-Swedish Rivalry 1563-1576. Yale University (Ph D. diss.) 1997, pp. 40-92.

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