Decline and Fall 209but in the end all appending their signatures. Schiller makes much of
a trick in which the original document contained a proviso that the
officers’ loyalty to Wallenstein was subject to their duty to the emperor,
but after the wine had done its work another without this clause was
substituted for signature. This story was in circulation soon after the
event but is most unlikely, not least because this was not the final
version. An oath which some appeared to have signed reluctantly, while
others could claim to have been drunk at the time, was not sufficient
for the principals. The following afternoon Wallenstein himself received
the full assembly of officers, and the result was that a new document,
known as the Pilsen oath, was signed in all sobriety by each of them,
with copies made for retention by the senior generals of the three sec-
tions of the army, and two more to be sent to Gallas and Aldringer for
their signatures.^19
The text emphasised that the officers’ only prospect of honourable
recognition for their loyal service was Wallenstein, upon whose word
and in hope of future recompense they had hazarded their fortunes and
their lives. The general, in response to their entreaties, had consented to
remain with them to see what funds could be procured for the support
of the army, and had agreed not to leave without their explicit prior
knowledge and consent. They in turn swore to stand by him honoura-
bly and faithfully, and neither to part from him nor to allow themselves
to be parted from him, but to offer their all with and for him, down to
the last drop of blood. Stripped of the grand phrases, however, this oath
was essentially a symbolic gesture, a warning shot to Vienna rather than
an actual threat, and it was neither kept secret nor formally transmitted
to the court. As such it had little practical significance, but it did allow
Wallenstein’s enemies to resurrect and exploit the old fear, dating back
to 1630, that he would not go quietly if dismissed, but would turn the
army against the emperor and the court. Hence more drastic measures
would have to be considered in order to get rid of him.
Hope springs eternal
While Ferdinand was preparing the ground for Wallenstein’s dismissal,
and Ilow and Trcˇka were trying clumsily to prevent it, other contacts,
negotiations, and attempts to make peace or to make mischief were also
taking place. As before there were two separate strands, Wallenstein’s
own efforts to find some basis for a settlement with Saxony and
Brandenburg through Arnim, and Trcˇka’s intrigues with Kinsky, both
still pursuing their old aim of involving the generalissimo in a liaison