"Although I still continued to entreat of his Princely Grace not to do this, as he would bring the whole country upon him, and I therefore wished to dissuade him from it, yet I could not prevail with him, but he went forth, and commanded me meanwhile not to move from the house at Hainau till he called me away. But if his Princely Grace should capture the fortress in the night, he would immediately send back a mounted messenger, and if I heard a shot I should at once admit him, and obey the commands that he brought. Thus my lord marched from Hainau the 18th of August, about two o'clock, to Gröditzberg. When his Princely Grace came into the wood under the hill, he sent up two horsemen as if to examine the place; these were to bring information who were there, and if they found that my lord could advance, they were to fire a shot. As they found only two men there, they fired the shot. His Princely Grace speedily rode up, took the castle, and about three o'clock in the night, according to agreement, sent a mounted messenger to me. Now when I heard the shot before the door at Hainau, I was greatly terrified, and said to those who were with me in the room: 'This shot will rouse all the country against my lord.' They did not understand this, but suspected that my lord had carried off Duke Friedrich. I forthwith ordered the gates of the castle to be opened. His Princely Grace had sent me notice through Ulrich Rausch, that he had taken possession of Gröditzberg and did not think of returning; but to send forthwith up to that place, his remaining horses, servants, and other things.
"Two days afterwards, two Polish lords, Johann and Georg Rasserschafsky, announced themselves as visitors to his Princely Grace at Hainau, of which I speedily informed the Duke, and inquired what I should do. Thereupon his Princely Grace replied, that I should receive and entertain them a few days at Hainau; and he sent me six dollars for the charges. As the Polish lords had sixteen horsemen with them, the whole six dollars went for wine at the first sitting; so I had to consider how with care and by borrowing I might provide for those lords who were to abide there for a fortnight. Thereupon my lord wrote to me to bring them to Gröditzberg, and to accompany them myself. There the Duke had already established a guard of twenty men, armed with long carabines, having become a warrior; and at the reception of the two lords, caused six trumpets and kettledrums to be sounded. As soon as I came up to the castle, his Princely Grace charged me with the care of the household.
"His Princely Grace wished to have the house supplied with provisions, and commanded me to get in a store of four-and-twenty malters of flour, which I did; and I also bought at his desire, eight malters of salt. The enormous piles of preserved mushrooms and bilberries is not to be told; great vats full, whereby much money was wasted. Twelve pigs also were fattened at the castle upon corn alone, and the Duke himself was wont to feed them. Everything was prepared for the siege of the castle. Now there were carriers at Modelsdorf who had to convey lead from Breslau to Leipzig; when therefore his Princely Grace learnt this, he commanded that two carriers should bring this lead up to the castle, the value of which amounted to more than two hundred and fifty thalers. It was conveyed into the house and remained lying there. The merchants hearing this, complained to the Bishop, who called upon my lord to deliver up the lead forthwith; this, however, his Princely Grace would not do, but offered some day to pay for the lead from his allowance. In the end it remained unpaid; and the carriers got into great trouble on this account. Then Bishop Martin[[65]] sent commissaries to Gröditzberg; and his Princely Grace kept them two days with him and gave them good entertainment, but allowed them to depart again with the affair unsettled.
"Meanwhile Frau von Herrnsdorf invited me to a wedding; without doubt to please her daughter, to whom I was not averse, and whom I was courting. I therefore asked his Princely Grace for leave of absence, and also to lend me three horses, which he did most willingly; and as his servants were just then being newly dressed in gray cloth, I requested that those who were to accompany me might be clothed first. I then had my sword and dagger sharpened, and adorned myself as I best could. Thus I rode with three horsemen to Herrnsdorf, where the young lady received me with great pleasure. I helped to fetch the bride to Herrnsdorf, making my appearance with my trumpeter. We continued together after the wedding till the Saturday, full of jollity; and although I was in the mean time recalled by the Duke, I remained late, that it might not be perceived that I had the Duke's horsemen. On Saturday, however, I rode forth again, and when I arrived at Gröditzberg, I desired the trumpeter to blow; but when I dismounted at the castle, a good friend of mine came and informed me that his Princely Grace was very angry with me, and had sworn that he would put me in arrest in one of the rooms in the courtyard: I did not, however, trouble myself about it, but entered the castle so that my lord might see me from the corridor. Now his Princely Grace had some Polish guests with him; but there was no provision either in kitchen or cellar; so for more than an hour after the trumpeter had summoned to table, there was nothing served up. His Princely Grace sent to me to desire that I would cause dinner to be served up, and would be in attendance. In answer, I let the Duke know that I had learned his Princely Grace was angry with me; I had therefore hesitated to appear before him, but when his Princely Grace should hear the cause of my prolonged absence he would be well content. But the Duke returned for answer, that I must be in attendance; that he already knew the cause of my prolonged absence, that I loved the maiden better than him. When therefore, at table, I presented the water to his Princely Grace, he looked very sour, but I pretended not to perceive it. His Princely Grace began a carouse, but when it was at its highest, the wine failed. Thereupon his Princely Grace sent to inform me that there was no more wine, and that I had brought him to shame by not returning at the right time. I returned for answer to the Duke that it was no fault of mine; and why had not his Princely Grace sent for wine in proper time? Then his Princely Grace informed me he had no money, but that I was to send quickly for some wine.
"I desired then to be informed what I was to do, adding that if he was angry with me, he should tell me so himself. I had meanwhile a little cask of wine, containing about six firkins, lying concealed in the cellar. When a glass of this wine was poured out for the Duke, he cried out, 'My steward, I drink to you on your return!' called me to him, and said, 'I have been very angry with you, but it is now past; see to it that you get me provisions, and above all, wine.' I answered, 'Your Princely Grace may now be merry; there will be no lack of wine; other things also shall not be wanting; but your Princely Grace had no cause to look so askance at me, for I had been with a fair lady whom you would gladly have seen.' Whereupon the Duke said, 'I like you, and am well pleased with you; I was sure that you would have something in store.' So we became again master and servant, and all ungraciousness was at an end; and thus after my gaieties I was obliged to return to my cares, and consider how I could provide for the kitchen and cellar, which, after my pleasuring, was very distasteful to me. I learnt from various sources that endeavours had been made to blacken my character with the Duke, by representing me as a traitor, and as having dealings with Duke Friedrich, with whom I had made so long a stay; which was not the case, as I was too honourable to do the like. But it is usual to find many backbiters at princes' courts. I was desirous to learn from the Duke who my detractor was; but his Princely Grace would not tell me, and answered that he had not believed it.
"As the supply of corn and other things were nearly at an end, and there was nothing more in store, I was obliged to seek after provisions. Now Heinrich Schweinichen von Thomaswaldau had a number of old sheep which no one else would buy, and I could not buy any other cattle for want of money, as we had none; so his Grace bade me to traffic with my cousin for the old sheep, and I made a bargain with him to pay twenty silver groschen apiece for the sheep, and there were three hundred and twenty-five of them. But when we had agreed upon the bargain, he would not deliver them to me without receiving either money or security, and he would not take me as surety; so I had to return to my lord to inform him of this, and he was sore displeased that no one would trust him. He wrote a letter, therefore, with his own hands to Schweinichen, desiring that he would deliver the sheep according to the agreement. But it could not be arranged, and Schweinichen excused himself. This irritated the Duke still more; and as we had nothing but mushrooms and bilberries to eat, his Princely Grace desired me to think of some means of giving security. As I had before asked for a loan of three hundred thalers for his Princely Grace from the council at Löwenberg, and had received fair promises, I went again to the councillors, and begged of them to settle the affair; but they refused. I persevered, and at last they consented to be security for the sheep, provided I were responsible for any damage or loss. This, however, I objected to, but begged that they would trust his Princely Grace, for they should not be the worse for it. So I persuaded the council to become security with their seal to the old higgler for half a year, and we obtained provision again from the old sheep. These were frequently dressed in eight different ways, also the mushrooms in three different ways, and the bilberries in two ways. With this his Princely Grace and we all were obliged to be content, and to drink bad Goldberger beer. Meanwhile autumn drew on, and we were able to obtain birds. But when I went to set gins in the wood, I had great difficulty with the retinue, who all wished to scour the wood and get birds for themselves. Although his Princely Grace himself forbad it, no one would desist therefrom, so that I was obliged to put the Junkers under arrest in the room in the courtyard, and the common people in the tower. I became thereby very unpopular, yet it could not be helped. His Princely Grace went every morning himself to catch birds, and that was also my pastime. Otherwise the time passed very tediously; although I had not much rest, as I had to procure provisions, which was a source of great trouble to me.
"Now his Princely Grace perceiving that it was difficult for him to maintain himself at the Gröditzberg, and that no allowance could be obtained from Duke Friedrich, hearing likewise that the Arnsdorf pond had been fished at an earlier period than heretofore, and that when drawn, a certain quantity of carp had been caught and placed in reservoirs, he ordered me to provide some waggons, and rode himself with fifteen horsemen to Arnsdorf. As it was almost evening, and there was no one near the reservoir but the pond watchman, his Princely Grace had a large number of the fish taken out, as many as the five waggons could carry, and returned therewith to Gröditzberg.
"Whilst the Duke was having the waggons loaded with fish, the alarm was given at Liegnitz; thereupon the Burgrave Kessel and Hans Tschammer, the master of the horse, galloped off with five horsemen, to prevent any fish from being carried away; but they were too late, for the greater part of the waggons laden with fish were gone, besides which, they perceived that his Princely Grace was there in person, and stronger than themselves. His Princely Grace did not give them a kind greeting, but gave Kessel a blow on the back, saying, that if he allowed a word to pass his lips that was not seemly, he should be his prisoner, and would find that the Duke would treat him as a rebel. So these five were obliged to let the matter pass, and thank God that they had got so well out of it.
"On the following day the pond was again to be drawn for fish, and Duke Friedrich expected that Duke Heinrich would return and seize more of them; so he proceeded thither himself, taking with him five-and-twenty horsemen, and likewise fifty arquebusiers, who were concealed among the bushes under the bank. His Princely Grace however remained at home, but sent me and a foreigner, Hans Fuchs, a captain of Landsknechts, together with six horsemen to Arnsdorf, with directions to greet Duke Friedrich kindly, and say that my lord had been compelled by necessity to carry off the fish on the preceding day, and he begged he would not take it amiss; that Duke Friedrich was to consider it as the provision due to him, and his Princely Grace entreated him in a friendly way to send him yet another supply of fish for provision.
"But Duke Friedrich looked black, knit his brows, and answered thus: 'As for this greeting of his Princely Grace, if he sent it with a true brother's heart, he thanked him for it; but two days ago the fish had been carried off from the reservoir, which greatly annoyed him, and if he had come there in person no good would have arisen from it.' He was quite unfriendly, and said that no more fish should be sent, and if an attempt should be made to take them away by force, he would guard them. Thus I departed from Duke Friedrich, and asked Kessel for a dish of fish, as we wished to breakfast at Perschdorf, whereupon Duke Friedrich ordered them to give me what I wanted.