From Bohemia to the Thirty Years War 247Tilly, while the Baden army was virtually destroyed, and little more than
a quarter of the men eventually rejoined Mansfeld.
Meanwhile Christian of Brunswick had been making his way south
slowly, experiencing some difficulty in crossing hostile territory. Tilly
took the opportunity to concentrate all his available forces into one of
the largest armies which had so far been involved, so that even though
Mansfeld despatched a sizeable part of his own force to join Christian
the latter was outnumbered by around two to one. Tilly caught up
with him at Höchst, just west of Frankfurt am Main, attacking him at
another river crossing on 20 June and putting his army to flight with
heavy losses. Christian managed to join up with Mansfeld’s main force,
and together they escaped Tilly’s pursuit, although with further losses,
and after re-grouping they headed north east, aiming to reach Dutch
territory. Córdoba intercepted them near Namur in late August, lead-
ing to another battle at Fleurus, but eventually Mansfeld and Christian
succeeded in breaking away, claiming victory despite yet further losses
of men and equipment, so that it was with a very much reduced and
battle-scarred force that they eventually reached their destination.
Both generals had in fact already been dismissed by Friedrich, a move
intended as a conciliatory gesture towards his opponents and a response
to the urgings of his father-in-law James I, as the defeats of the summer
had undermined his resolution and he was for the first time prepared to
consider negotiation. Georg of Baden-Durlach, even more disillusioned,
had discharged the remains of his army in late June and petitioned the
emperor for a pardon. The conquest of the Palatinate was completed in
the following months, when Tilly finally captured Heidelberg in Septem-
ber and Mannheim surrendered at the beginning of November. The
fortress of Frankenthal held out over the winter, but it too was surren-
dered by its mainly English defenders in March 1623, on the orders of
James I, who hoped that this would assist peace negotiations.
In the event little progress was made in agreeing peace terms, and
in the meantime Friedrich recovered his determination to continue the
struggle. Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick entered Dutch service
briefly in the autumn of 1622, and they were able to rebuild and re-
equip their forces over the winter. Hence they intended to take part
in the joint campaign with Bethlen Gabor in 1623 mentioned above,
but once again the two generals failed to unite their armies, and Tilly
intercepted Christian in north Germany before the march eastwards
began. Christian attempted to retreat back towards Holland, but even-
tually Tilly forced him to battle at Stadtlohn, on the border west of
Münster, effectively destroying his army on 6 August although Christian