238 Wallenstein
The most credible explanation for Piccolomini’s reticence is that he
knew much of the information he had provided to be untrue. He was
also worried that the emperor was avoiding an open commitment to
those behind the killings, and in particular that the ‘dead or alive’
order was still being kept secret. No evidence to support the charges
against Wallenstein had so far been found, and Piccolomini probably
had good cause to fear that if contrary evidence later came to light he
might be made a scapegoat, particularly if he had given a hostage to
fortune by admitting and publicising his own part in the accusations.
A curious postscript is provided by a story, the original source of which
is unknown, that on his deathbed Gallas asked for an audience with
the then Emperor Ferdinand III, as he had to inform him of something
in order to save his own soul. Schlick and Khevenhüller were sent to
him but Gallas declined to confide in them, instead having a bundle of
papers brought to his room and burned.^31
Leaving no stone unturned in the effort to find some evidence of
Wallenstein’s guilt, members of his household and headquarters staff,
as well as many of his army commanders, were examined by a tribunal
in an attempt to identify accomplices in the alleged treason. Nothing
emerged. No senior officer would admit the slightest knowledge of
any conspiracy or treasonable contact with the enemy, only the well-
known and officially sanctioned negotiations with the Saxons. Seven
were eventually brought to trial before military courts in May 1634,
but on charges which amounted to little more than going on obeying
Wallenstein’s orders longer than they should have done.^32 Although all
were convicted two were promptly released after princely intercessions
on their behalf, while four of those condemned to death had their
sentences commuted to life imprisonment, but they were quietly freed
within a year. Only one was actually executed, the only senior officer
outside Pilsen who had sought to assist Wallenstein after the Imperial
action against him became known. Conveniently he was also by far the
richest, with properties well worth confiscating, as well as providing a
token justification for the whole procedure. Ferdinand was so embar-
rassed that he ordered the verdicts and sentences to be kept secret.^33
Requiem
As soon as Piccolomini arrived in Eger after the murders he arranged
to send the bodies of the victims to be put on public display in Prague,
which he reported to Gallas. The latter responded that nothing was to
be done until instructions arrived from the emperor, but the corpses