Ratisbon had a Protestant
population who were ready to open their gates. It seemed that the
opportunity for ending the war by a march upon Vienna, which had
been snatched by Wallenstein from Gustavus just when it appeared
in his grasp, was now open to Duke Bernhard. But the duke was
ambitious, his demands for Franconia had not yet been entirely
complied with by Oxenstiern, and he saw an opportunity to obtain
his own terms. The troops under his orders were discontented, owing
to the fact that their pay was many months in arrear, and private
agents of the duke fomented this feeling by assuring the men
that their general was with them and would back their demands.
Accordingly they refused to march further until their demands were
fully satisfied. The Scotch regiments stood apart from the movement,
though they too were equally in arrear with their pay. Munro and
the officers of the Brigade chafed terribly at this untimely mutiny
just when the way to Vienna appeared open to them. Duke Bernhard
forwarded the demands of the soldiers to Oxenstiern, sending at
the same time a demand on his own account, first that the territory
of the Franconian bishoprics should at once be erected into a
principality in his favour, and secondly, that he should be nominated
commander-in-chief of all the armies fighting in Germany for the
Protestant cause with the title of generalissimo.
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