On the first news of the Swedish irruption, the Bishop of Wuertzburg, without regarding the treaty which he had entered into with the King of Sweden, had earnestly pressed the general of the League to hasten to the assistance of the bishopric.  That defeated commander had, in the meantime, collected on the Weser the shattered remnant of his army, reinforced himself from the garrisons of Lower Saxony, and effected a junction in Hesse with Altringer and Fugger, who commanded under him.  Again at the head of a considerable force, Tilly burned with impatience to wipe out the stain of his first defeat by a splendid victory.  From his camp at Fulda, whither he had marched with his army, he earnestly requested permission from the Duke of Bavaria to give battle to Gustavus Adolphus.  But, in the event of Tilly’s defeat, the League had no second army to fall back upon, and Maximilian was too cautious to risk again the fate of his party on a single battle.  With tears in his eyes, Tilly read the commands of his superior, which compelled him to inactivity.  Thus his march to Franconia was delayed, and Gustavus Adolphus gained time to overrun the whole bishopric.  It was in vain that Tilly, reinforced at Aschaffenburg by a body of 12,000 men from Lorraine, marched with an overwhelming force to the relief of Wuertzburg.  The town and citadel were already in the hands of the Swedes, and Maximilian of Bavaria was generally blamed (and not without cause, perhaps) for having, by his scruples, occasioned the loss of the bishopric.  Commanded to avoid a battle, Tilly contented himself with checking the farther advance of the enemy; but he could save only a few of the towns from the impetuosity of the Swedes.  Baffled in an attempt to reinforce the weak garrison of Hanau, which it was highly important to the Swedes to gain, he crossed the Main, near Seligenstadt, and took the direction of the Bergstrasse, to protect the Palatinate from the conqueror.

Tilly, however, was not the sole enemy whom Gustavus Adolphus met in Franconia and drove before him.  Charles, Duke of Lorraine, celebrated in the annals of the time for his unsteadiness of character, his vain projects, and his misfortunes, ventured to raise a weak arm against the Swedish hero, in the hope of obtaining from the Emperor the electoral dignity.  Deaf to the suggestions of a rational policy, he listened only to the dictates of heated ambition; by supporting the Emperor he exasperated France, his formidable neighbor; and in the pursuit of a visionary phantom in another country, left undefended his own dominions, which were instantly overrun by a French army.  Austria willingly conceded to him, as well as to the other princes of the League, the honor of being ruined in her cause.  Intoxicated with vain hopes, this prince collected a force of 17,000 men, which he proposed to lead in person against the Swedes.  If these troops were deficient in discipline and courage, they were at least attractive by the splendor of their