Now the Emperor Charles had attained the height of his power; the battle of Mühlberg was won; the Smalkaldic league had fallen to pieces ingloriously. The Protestant princes and cities hastened to make their peace with that lord of half Europe, to whom in an evil hour they had been so eager to offer the dominion over them. Carrying away with him the captive Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse, he marched from the Saale in triumphant procession to Augsburg, accompanied by his army of Spaniards, and Flemings, and German Landsknechte. There all the most powerful of Germany were gathered together at the Diet to obtain pardon or reward, to pay court to the most mighty sovereign that for centuries had ruled over Germany, to decide their own future and that of their Fatherland, and to seek pleasure and adventures. Amidst this crowd of sovereigns and dynasties, courtiers, swindlers, soldiers, and deputations of citizens, was one Bartholomew Sastrow, the son of a citizen of Greifswald. He was actively employed as agent of the Dukes of Pomerania, who were strongly compromised by their Protestant alliances, and preferred not to appear in person before the Emperor. In his biography (edited 1823) Sastrow has left some, lively descriptions of what he experienced after the battle of Mühlberg, during the triumphal march of the Emperor to Augsburg and the Diet. The historical value of his narrative is not insignificant. He made good observations in his subordinate position, and had connections enough to be enabled to form a true conception of the character of the great lords; and however insignificant some of his anecdotes may be, they help, on the whole, to show men and great events in a new light. The following is a faithful quotation from his words, but from the lengthiness of his narrative parts, only have been given.
"The Pomeranian councillors desired me to remain in the Imperial camp, and to put myself under the protection of George von Wedell. This Pomeranian nobleman had stabbed his own cousin, and was in disgrace with Duke Barnim, but was now serving the Emperor with nine-and-twenty horse. Under my guidance he made himself so useful to the Pomeranian dukes, that Duke Barnim, at my earnest petition, restored him to favour, and reinstated him in his own property. Thus I remained with my steed at the Imperial court at Augsburg; how it fared with me on this march, and what I saw and heard, is here correctly recorded.
"It is customary in war for comrades to steal each other's horses, and they remain unpunished; the process is as follows. If any one likes another's horse, he pays a cunning stable-boy six or seven thalers to procure it for him; then it is sent away for five or six weeks that it may be forgotten; the tail, mane, and other marks are changed, and it is brought back to the camp. This was done in the Imperial camp at Halle by a German nobleman, who commissioned a boy to steal a Spanish steed for him, and having kept him for a few weeks at his home, thinking the rumour of it had died away, he had him brought back to the camp. Now it happened that about eight or more squadrons of German horse, were stationed in a beautiful meadow delightfully situated on the Saale; but the Spaniards were encamped on the heights round the castle. The stolen steed towards evening was taken to the river to drink; a Spanish boy recognizing it said, 'This belongs to my master, I will be off with it.' The German boy would not let him go; three or four German horsemen came to his assistance, ten or twelve to the Spaniard, then twenty or thirty to the German; thus both sides continued increasing, and at last they began to fire. The Spaniards being on the heights, had greatly the advantage over the Germans who were encamped below them; and shooting through their tents, they killed some of the noblemen who were sitting at table: the Germans on their side did not spare the Spaniards. The Emperor sent out a Spanish lord who was riding a splendid charger, and was adorned with glittering golden chains, to pacify the German knights, and to quiet the uproar; upon which the Germans screamed out, 'Shoot down the Spanish miscreant!' When therefore he came on to the bridge to cross the Saale, his horse was killed under him, and he of the golden chains falling into the river, was drowned. Then the Emperor sent out to them King Ferdinand's son, the Archduke Maximilian, afterwards Roman Emperor, thinking that they would undoubtedly listen to him and be appeased; but they screamed all the same, 'Beat the Spanish miscreant!' whereupon one struck him on the right arm, and I saw how for some weeks after he carried his arm in a black sling. At last, the Emperor himself came out, and said, 'Dear Germans, I know you are not guilty; be satisfied; I will repair the damage you have suffered; and by my Imperial honour, tomorrow at daybreak I will have the Spaniards hung before your eyes.' Thus the uproar was quieted. The following day the Emperor caused an examination and valuation to be made of the damage done in both the German and Spanish camps; and as it appeared that only eighteen German squires and servants, together with seventeen horses, had been killed, whilst the Spaniards had lost seventy men, the Emperor sent word to the German knights that His Majesty would replace the value of their horses, and would not be disinclined to fulfil his promise of the day before, of hanging the Spaniards; but the Germans would themselves see now that the Spaniards had suffered fourfold, and that thus they had been sufficiently revenged; the Emperor therefore hoped, and had graciously decided, that the Germans should be satisfied and contented.
"On the evening of the 18th of June, the two Electors, Maurice of Saxony, and Brandenburg, took the Landgrave Philip of Hesse between them to Halle. On the following day, about six o'clock in the evening, he, together with his chancellor who was kneeling beside him, prostrated himself in the great hall before the Emperor, in the presence of many lords, electors, princes, foreign potentates, ambassadors, counts, colonels, generals, and a large number of spectators, as many as the room could hold, and as many as could see through the window from without. But when the chancellor most humbly craved pardon, the Landgrave, who was a satirical gentleman, knelt, but laughed deridingly. Then the Emperor pointed his finger at him and said with an angry look, 'Truly I will teach you to laugh;' which indeed was afterwards done.
"The Emperor proceeded from Halle to Naumburg, and remained there three days. When the Imperial army was assembled before Naumburg, and his Imperial Majesty was waiting before the gate, he wore a black velvet hat and a black mantle bordered with velvet two inches wide, but a shower of rain coming on, he sent into the city for a gray felt hat and cloak; meanwhile he turned his cloak, and holding his hat under it, exposed his bare head to the rain. Poor man! he who had tons of gold to spend, would rather expose his bare head to the wet than allow his cloak to be spoilt by the rain. The Spaniards always took the Landgrave a day's march before the Emperor; they were very disorderly and ill conducted, for they left their dead lying on the road which the Emperor had to pass, and behaved shamefully to men, women, and children.
"On the 1st of July he arrived at Bamberg. The Emperor made his entrance with a great concourse of people about midday; he was mounted on a little horse. In the suburb there was a street turning off to the right, and in the corner house was lodged the imprisoned Elector of Saxony, so that on one side he could look out into the fields, and on the other into the city. He was standing above at the window, to watch the Imperial procession; and when the Emperor approached the corner, he bowed lowly before him: the Emperor kept his eyes fixed on him as long as he could see him, and laughed deridingly.
"On the 3rd of July the Emperor fixed the 1st of September for the Diet to be held at Augsburg. The Spaniards carried away from the bishopric of Bamberg upwards of four hundred women, maidens, and maidservants to Nuremberg. From thence they sent them home again; the parents, husbands, and brothers had followed them to Nuremberg; fathers seeking their daughters, husbands their wives, and brothers their sisters, and there each one found his own again. Was not that a wicked nation? thus to act when war was over, in a friend's country, and in the presence of the Imperial Majesty, who nevertheless keeps very strict rule. Every evening where his tent was erected, he caused a gallows to be raised, and had them hung unsparingly; yet even that was of no avail.
"When he left Nuremberg, the Duke of Leignitz, who usually passed his nights in drunken revelry, for once rose early and rode to the Emperor's lodging, where he arrived at six o'clock, but found that the Emperor had already been gone two hours. The duke was too much ashamed to follow; but sent two of his councillors to Augsburg, and returned to his own country, where he continued his disorderly life. Once when he was very tipsy he commanded the councillors, at the peril of their lives, to put him into a tower and feed him with bread and water; and if they disobeyed him, he would have their heads off. They took him to a tower wherein there were already prisoners; he was let down into the hole where they were, and the keeper received orders not to let him out, and to feed him with nothing but bread and water. When he had outslept his drunkenness he roused himself, and began to talk with the prisoners, and called to the gaoler to set him free. The man told him it was strictly forbidden; but he made it known to the councillors, who temporized till the third day. The duke meanwhile did not desist from ordering the gaoler to beg the councillors to give in and release him. Then they went to him in the prison, and heard him begging and entreating; but they told him what he had commanded them, on pain of having their heads cut off, and they knew that he would not trifle with them, and therefore dared not let him out. But as he promised by everything that was high and holy not to injure them, they released him.
"He continued his mad wild life until he ruined his people and country and his own health. He died, leaving his wife, who was a Duchess of Mecklenburg, and their children in the greatest poverty. His widow complained to the city councils that she was in great need, and knew not what to do, nor how to bring up her sons according to their position; and begged that they would assist her. So the council of Stralsund sent her some thalers by a special messenger.
"At the end of July, his Imperial Majesty arrived with the whole army at Augsburg; he had left the Landgrave with a troop of Spaniards at Donauwörth, but had brought the captive Elector along with him to Augsburg, and had quartered him in the house of Welser, in the wine market; it was separated from the Emperor's palace by two houses and a little street, and was close to our inn. The Emperor had a way made through the two houses, and a bridge made over the little street, so that he could pass from his rooms into those of the Elector. The latter kept house himself, and had his chancellor Minkwitz and his own attendants with him, so that no Spaniards need enter either his sitting, or his sleeping rooms. The Duke of Alva and other great lords of the Imperial court had free access to and held friendly intercourse with him, and enlivened him by their society. In the courtyard of the Elector's dwelling, which was built and furnished in princely style, there was a circus, where they threw the spear; he was also allowed to ride to any of the places of amusement and ornamental gardens, of which there were many at Augsburg; and because from his youth he had always taken delight in fencing, and had been an adept at it when younger and more active, fencing-schools were erected for his pleasure; but the Spanish soldiers guarded him. Besides this, he was allowed to read books and so forth up to the end of the Diet, when he refused to accept the interim. But with the Landgrave at Donauwörth it did not fare so well; the Spaniards were all day long in his rooms. When he was at his window looking into the square, one or two Spaniards were always beside him, stretching out their necks as far as his. Armed Spaniards lay all night in his room, and when the watch was changed, and the new one came in with drums and fifes, those who had kept guard half the night uncovered the bed and said, 'See there, we deliver him to you; henceforth you must guard him.'