Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/124

 Estates designed an armed defence against the Emperor, and laid great weight upon an alliance with the Union. The deputation stated the result of this interview to the rest of the Directors, all of whom, without exception, were moved with joy; and courage sprang up in the hearts even of those inclined to peace, as they compared their own resources with those of the Emperor.

The hopes which Bohemia placed in the Palsgrave’s aid were to be realized at the same time that the imperial troops should advance into the country. At the end of August the news reached Prague that the Palsgrave had dispatched 4,000 men under the command of Count Mansfeld, who accordingly entered the Bohemian territory in the beginning of September. The real facts, however, in regard to himself and his troops will appear in the following statement:

Ernest Von Mansfeld, natural son of Peter Ernest von Mansfeld, devoted himself in youth to the service of arms, and won his first spurs in Hungary, where he was intrusted, in 1603, by the Archduke Matthias, with the command of a company of the body-guard. This honorable position he had to relinquish on account of a disgraceful affair of the gaming-table and a duel. He was charged with having denied a debt because he supposed his creditor to have lost his promissory note. On his return to Flanders, his father was still living, and recommended him earnestly to the Archduke Albert, who immediately gave him the command of a regiment of cavalry. The conclusion of an armistice with Holland soon ended his new service, though he remained not long idle, but entered the service of the Archduke Leopold, who was making enlistments for the war of Jülich. He was given the command of a band of 200 cavalry, and had opportunity to improve