User:Dr Gangrene/ThirtyYearsWar

The Thirty Years' War had started in 1618 in Prague. The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, a Habsburg, fought for many years against a large number of European states. When France entered the war on the side of Ferdinand's opponents, to exploit his difficult political and military situation, the Spanish Habsburg King Philip IV came to the aid of his cousin, Ferdinand. Therefore, Luxembourg was also dragged into the war, as part of the Spanish Netherlands.

It started in Luxembourg on 23 March 1635 when Christopher of East Frisia, the governor of Luxembourg, took forces from the Spanish garrison of Luxembourg and seized Trier, killing the French soldiers that Archbishop Philipp Christoph von Sötern had let into the city. The Spanish forces pillaged Jewish homes and took the Archbishop back to Luxembourg as a prisoner.

Even before this date, in February 1635 the estates provincial, while agreeing to a levy of 100,000 florins payable to the Spanish King, complained in a letter that there were more regiments than usual in the province and the soldiers did not respect the inhabitants whatsoever, while the latter were forced to provide food and livestock feed to the armies.

In the 17th century, there was no military service. National armies had not yet developed as an institution. Forces were frequently composed largely of mercenaries. However, the citizens of a fortified towns (especially members of guilds) were obliged to perform guard duties on the walls for a certain number of hours or days per week. In times of emergency, the provincial council would enlist the inhabitants of surrounding villages to help guard the fortress of Luxembourg, but also strategic spots such as bridges and fords. These were called the élus, (Fr: "the elected") as they were chosen by lot; usually 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 farmers of a village was forced to be an élu soldier for a few months in the summer. This duty was greatly resented.

The start of the war — 1635-1636 in Luxembourg — was a terrible time for the Duchy. There was an outbreak of the plague in Luxembourg City, as well as in other areas such as Diekirch and Bettembourg and several others. In wartime, the city and fortress was completely overpopulated. There was not only a far higher than usual number of soldiers present (all quartered among citizens), but farmers from the surrounding countryside took refuge in the city from the enemy, bringing their livestock with them. The high number of people and animals living close together in the narrow streets made for terrible hygiene conditions. The fresh water supply was completely insufficient. These conditions attracted mice, rats, and diseases.

The plague appeared frequently in Europe, as well as in Luxembourg. In 1626-1627, the Provincial Council had fled to Echternach to escape the plague in Luxembourg City. The plague of 1635-1636, however, seems to have had a much higher number of casualties than previous outbreaks.

At the same time, the army of the Duke of Lorraine and that of the Duke of Emperor Ferdinand (the latter composed of 8,000 Poles and a higher number of Croats) arrived in the Duchy to protect it from a possible French attack.

Suffering

On 19 March 1636 the governor of Luxembourg, Christopher of East Frisia, died of the plague. Philipp-Diedrich von Manderscheid became acting governor. He read a message to the States Provincial, demanding another 200,000 florins in taxes to aid the Spanish army against the French. The deputies finally had enough, and declared that the province was on its knees, and could contribute no more until the troops were withdrawn so the farmers could work the land. As a consequence of this strong response, in May the Count of Isenburg, headquartered in Remich, received orders to depart with his Polish troops. The Hungarians and Croats were to remain.

The 17th century was the century of absolutism. The king and his counselors had all the powers. The Luxembourgers, both nobles and commoners, endured the war; all decisions were taken either in Madrid, or in Brussels. The governor of Luxembourg did nothing but execute the orders. For the province of Luxembourg, the Thirty Years' War was not a religious war with inhabitants defending their faith against a heretical aggressor; nor was it a patriotic war in which they defended their lands against invaders. The inhabitants had no emotional investment in the war. Their needs or wants were of interest to no-one. The French King Louis XIII and his minister Richelieu, then Anne of Austria (the French Regent) and Cardinal Mazarin, and finally Louis XIV waged war against the Spanish King Philip IV, who had come to the aid of his cousin, the Emperor Ferdinand III. The province of Luxembourg had the misfortune of being the poorest of the Spanish provinces, and therefore the province of least interest to the Spanish King, apart from the Fortress of Luxembourg. He could therefore easily sacrifice the interests of the province's inhabitants at the expense of other goals. Commoners and especially country-dwellers were barely considered human beings. They had not the slightest chance of deciding their own fate. Ce sont les «gens de qualité» qui pensent et agissent à leur place.

Even though France was, from 1643, governed by the Regent Anne of Austria, the sister of Spanish King Philip IV, the two countries did not manage to make peace. And despite the civil war, the Fronde, which ravaged France for several years, the Spanish did not succeed in improving their position. They first lost Thionville, then Montmédy, with all the lands that belonged to these, and allowed the war to completely destroy the province of Luxembourg. Officers as famous as Piccolomini, Isolani, Colloredo on one side, and Turenne, Condé, La Ferté on the other passed through the province with their armies to reach the large battlefields in France or in Germany. They commanded armies far too large in number to be maintained by such a poor province. Additionally, it seems that the Duke of Lorraine sought to destroy the country in order to easily occupy it later on.

La plupart des gouverneurs de cette période s'intéressent d'ailleurs surtout au prestige que leur confère leur haute position. A part Jean Beck et, au début, le comte de Manderscheid, les gouverneurs ne se fatiguent pas pour défendre les intérêts de leurs sujets. Ils jouissent des privilèges que leur poste leur confère. Ce sont des nobles dont le jugement est terni par les préjugés de leur état. Les membres du Conseil Provincial doivent obéir au roi, mais en général il n'y a pas de désaccord entre leur position et celle des députés des Etats. Leur position comme conseillers du gouverneur, exige d'eux une plus grande retenue dans l'expression de leur désaccord. Dans les deux capitales, Bruxelles et Madrid, les Luxembourgeois n'ont pas de représentant influent qui pourrait intervenir en leur faveur. Les députés se plaignent constamment de ce qu'aucune personnalité luxembourgeoise ne soit membre d'un ministère ou d'un conseil à Bruxelles pour défendre leurs intérêts. Et s'ils envoient l'abbé d'Orval, le comte de Manderscheid ou le comte de Wiltz en tant qu'ambassadeur extraordinaire à Bruxelles, ceux-ci ne connaissent que mal les