At the Parting of the Ways 117underestimated in Vienna. Wallenstein’s efforts to keep Gustavus
Adol phus bogged down in his Polish campaign had helped to contain
him, but by 1629 the Poles required further help, so he despatched
Arnim with an army.^22 The joint campaign went surprisingly well,
although not without constant friction which eventually drove the
frustrated Arnim to resign, claiming ill health. Wallenstein had reluc-
tantly to let him go, but not before the combined forces had inflicted
a heavy defeat on the Swedes at Honigfelde in late June, a defeat in
which Gustavus himself had a narrow escape, one of a number in his
adventurous career.
One other significant effect of the war in Italy was to direct French
diplomacy to creating problems for their Habsburg opponents wherever
possible, which they did nowhere more successfully than in Poland.
After Honigfelde the Swedes retreated to the fortress of Marienburg, but
the Poles too were at the limit of their resources, so that both sides were
glad of an opportunity to extricate themselves. French mediation was
instrumental in brokering an extended truce, and although Gustavus
had to make significant concessions of conquered territories he kept
important parts of his gains, as well as securing valuable rights to tolls
on shipping to Polish and Prussian ports for the duration of the truce.
This was to last six years, from September 1629 to 1635, and this is
what freed him to turn his attention to Germany, while the tolls were to
prove an important source of finance for his forthcoming invasion.
The limits of power
In 1629 Wallenstein’s standing was at its peak, and many thought
him the most powerful man in the Empire. Not only did he command
the largest army the times had yet seen, with unprecedented author-
ity over all Imperialist forces wherever they might be, but he also had
the prerogatives previously reserved to the emperor of commissioning
colonels and authorising new recruitment. Only for appointments
of officers at the highest levels of command did he need Imperial
approval. His personal status too, as hereditary duke of Mecklenburg,
Friedland and Sagan, was second only to the six electors, while the size
and value of his combined territories placed him amongst the greatest
princes of the Empire. Diplomats, echoing wider gossip, hinted that the
emperor himself took good care not to offend his general, and even that
he would like to dismiss him but was afraid to do so.
Certainly Wallenstein was a powerful man. In his own three duchies
he had the powers of a ruling prince, on a par with others in the Empire,