210 Wallenstein
with France and Sweden. It is difficult to establish what knowledge, if
any, Wallenstein had of these latter manoeuvres prior to the last week of
his life, as the reports are scanty and often second or third hand. A good
example is Franz Albrecht’s note to Arnim in mid-January, based on
information from the Saxon colonel Anton Schlieff, recently returned
from Pilsen, that ‘the general is greatly offended because he has been
censured by the court on account of Regensburg, and because they are
planning to take the army out of his hands. He wants to revenge him-
self on the emperor, that is certain.’^20 There is no mention of this in the
record of Schlieff’s own account to the Saxon court of his conversation
with Wallenstein, but it is safe to assume that he, like Kinsky, also had
discussions with Trcˇka and Ilow.
This illustrates the biggest problem, that people usually assumed
that what Trcˇka, Ilow and later Kinsky said genuinely emanated from
Wallenstein and had his full authority, hence recording it as though
the general himself had said it, whereas much of the time they were
probably usurping that authority to press forward their own schemes.
Few of those directly involved – including the emperor and most of his
advisers – actually saw Wallenstein in the latter stages of his life, and it
is evident that most still took him for the commanding personality he
had previously been, rather than realising the extent of the deteriora-
tion caused by his illness. A better indication was provided by Ilow, who
was reported in mid-December as saying that Wallenstein was able to
receive visitors only when strictly necessary, and even then a proper dis-
cussion was scarcely possible as the general cursed terribly throughout
because of his great pain.^21 At key moments Wallenstein could and did
still make the effort to intervene personally and exercise his old author-
ity, but increasingly such occasions were the exception rather than the
rule, as his progressive decline put him ever more under the influence
and virtual control of the cabal around him.
At the end of December Trcˇka wrote to Kinsky, urging him to come
to Pilsen because Wallenstein had decided to make agreements not only
with Saxony and Brandenburg, but also with Sweden and France, add-
ing in an oft-quoted phrase that they ‘were now determined to take the
mask right off’ in order to make a start.^22 What exactly he meant by this
is a matter for speculation, but it certainly did not mean that contacts
with Sweden and France were to be brought out into the open, not least
because it is unlikely that Wallenstein himself had authorised them. It
was, after all, only three months since he had insisted that Arnim join
him in attacking these foreign interlopers, the condition upon which
the peace negotiations had foundered, and the final crisis which was