He was by the king's side when Gustavus received his first wound.
He was riding close behind him when the king received his second
and fatal wound in the back, and the moment the king had fallen
he rode away from the field, and it is asserted that it was he who
brought the news of the king's death to Wallenstein.
Very soon after the battle he exchanged the Swedish service for
the Saxon, and some eighteen months later he re-embraced the Roman
Catholic faith and re-entered the Imperial army.
A stronger case of circumstantial evidence could hardly be put
together, and it would certainly seem as if Lauenburg had entered
the Swedish service with the intention of murdering the king. That
he did not carry out his purpose during the attack on the Altenburg
was perhaps due to the fact that Gustavus may not have been in such
a position as to afford him an opportunity of doing so with safety
to himself.
It is certainly curious that after that fight he should have absented
himself, and only rejoined on the eve of the battle of Lutzen.
The only piece of evidence in his favour is that of Truchsess, a
chamberlain of the king, who, affirmed that he saw the fatal shot
fired at a distance of ten paces from the king by an Imperial
officer, Lieutenant General Falkenberg, who at once turned and
fled, but was pursued and cut down by Luckau, master of horse of
Franz Albert.
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