Decline and Fall 203both of whom were in Pilsen at this time, show Wallenstein himself in
two minds, alternately talking about resignation and about the pros-
pects for the next year’s campaign.^8 To Trauttmansdorff’s chiding that
putting the emperor’s orders up for debate by his officers was bad for
discipline he responded that ‘the authority he exercised over the army
was, thank God, so great that he could at any time pull on the reins’. On
the other hand he complained that he was treated dishonourably by the
court, where all kinds of dangerous things were being said about him.
He hoped that the intention was not to drive him to resignation out of
disgust, as there were other means should it be deemed in the emperor’s
interest, but he did not himself intend to do anything precipitate.
Nevertheless he kept coming back to the subject. Trauttmansdorff
had brought a proposal for Wallenstein to meet Eggenberg, which he
declined. He anticipated that the latter would suggest to him that
he should share the command of the army with the emperor’s son, the
ambitious king of Hungary, but, he said, the king was his master and
much too good to be his fellow. He would rather give up his command,
provided that this could be done with honour and a modest payment.
He would be glad to be relieved of the burden, and he would hand
everything over to His Majesty in good order, advising him to the best
of his ability on what was to be done, but he would not remain with
the army himself. He cautioned, however, that the matter would have
to be handled carefully or a mutiny might follow, as the majority of the
colonels had been recruited on the strength of his personal credit, and
were he to depart without their debts having been satisfied, for which
the means were not to hand, considerable difficulties could arise. He
ended with his usual refrain: ‘Peace must be made, otherwise everything
will be lost for our side.’^9
Some historians have suggested that Wallenstein made a practice of
offering his resignation, but that this was merely a stratagem intended
to apply pressure to the court in Vienna. As discussed in Chapter 7, he
certainly referred repeatedly to the possibility of giving up his com-
mand in his letters to Harrach during 1626, but this changed after the
Bruck conference in November of that year, and the issue did not fea-
ture again until late 1633. There are important differences between the
two periods. In 1626 Wallenstein was clearly feeling the strain of his
first year in command, and he used his frequent letters to Harrach as a
kind of safety valve. There was some ambiguity because of Harrach’s
position as an Imperial councillor, but nevertheless these were private
letters from Wallenstein to his father-in-law, and although he talked
of resignation this is quite different from actually offering it, which he