7.Death of Albrecht von Wallenstein 

At the end of Albrecht von Wallenstein's life, he faced more than one crisis, conspiracy and finally murder. These are the events of the years 1633 to 1634.

THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST WALLENSTEIN

The crisis began with the invasion of Bavaria by the Weimar Duke Bernard. Reich succumbed to the Swedes on November 14, 1633, and nothing could stop them from invading Austria. Wallenstein was ordered to march his army to Bavaria just after completing his tasks in Silesia. In Pilsen, however, also because of the coming of winter, he decided to order his army to bivouac. This was perceived by the Emperor's military council as hesitation and a betrayal to the Emperor. His enemies, of whom there were more than enough at court, constantly sent complaints and anonymous memoranda demanding his deposition. His health was also very serious.

Sometime shortly after Christmas 1633, the agent of the Austrian and Spanish courts and confessor of the Emperor's wife Eleonora, the Capuchin Diego Quiroga, visited Wallenstein in Pilsen with the task of persuading him to provide immediate military aid to Bavaria, and at the same time suggested the possibility of his voluntary resignation as commander-in-chief of the imperial troops because of Wallenstein's poor health. If he had not feared hell and devils, according to a contemporary account, Wallenstein is said to have told Quiroga at the time, he would have taken the strongest poison to finally put himself out of his misery. He showered Quiroga with accusations and complaints against Vienna and the emperor, who never cared for the army, neglected the troops and demanded serious decisions from him. In these indignations, however, Wallenstein's anger and helplessness at his own impotence were already combined. When Quiroga met Maximilian of Wallenstein, the Duke's nephew, on his way back from Pilsen, he reportedly told him that Wallenstein would not live much longer. In the meantime, William of Kinsky took up the activity and intensified negotiations with Count Thurn, the Swedes and Saxony.

THE HEIGHT OF THE CRISIS

The situation came to a head on 11 January 1634. On this day all officers from the regimental commanders upwards were invited to Pilsen. However, the afternoon banquet, hosted by Kristian Ilov and with wine flowing, turned into a drinking party, which eventually invalidated the reverter signed by Wallenstein's officers pledging allegiance to him. A renewal of the reverse was necessary, and this took place in Wallenstein's apartment two days later. The audience with the Duke, who attended it in his bed, ended with the confirmation of the reverse pledging allegiance to the Generalissimo. Five copies were made and signed by all. Among the signatures was also that of General Ottavio Piccolomoni, a favourite of Wallenstein, who a few days after the signing of the Pilsen reverse wrote a lengthy report to Vienna on the Duke's secret negotiations with the enemy and his efforts to eradicate the Habsburg dynasty.

The situation in Vienna was already completely anti-Waldstein. Wallenstein was still the commander-in-chief of the army and, paradoxically, the Emperor was the last one to hesitate to pass sentence on Wallenstein - he lacked direct evidence of the Duke's treason. After receiving Piccolomini's report, the Emperor finally signed a decree on 24 January 1634, absolving the army of its allegiance to Wallenstein and entrusting the command to Gallas. According to the imperial patent, Wallenstein, together with Field Marshal Kristian Illov and Colonel Adam E. Trčka of Lípa, as the instigators of the revolt, were arrested and transported to Vienna.

THE MURDER OF ALBRECHT OF VALDŠTEJN

On 22 February, Wallenstein set off for Cheb, where he arrived on 24 February. Colonel Walter Butler, together with Walter Leslie and John Gordon, arranged a banquet for him and his friends. This was the pretext for the liquidation of Wallenstein and his followers. However, Albrecht did not attend the banquet. Illov, Kinský, Henry Niemann and Trčka of Lípa were murdered in the banquet hall. The murderers went to Albrecht's house, where the zealous centurion Walter Deveroux murdered the Duke with a partisan.

CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY

The property of the murdered was divided between the murderers and the soldiers. The murdered were buried in Stříbro, but the Duke's corpse was taken to Valdice in 1636. After the dissolution of the Carthusian monastery in 1785, his remains were buried in the Church of St. Anne in Mnichovo Hradiště, where they have remained ever since.

His vast estate was confiscated and his family only regained the Prague palace for Maximilian Wallenstein and the Česká Lípa estate for his widow Isabella. The confiscation of Wallenstein's extensive property and the property of A. E. Trcka thus had an even worse impact on the Czech lands than the post-Baroque confiscation. At the time of Albrecht von Wallenstein's assassination, the Emperor still owed him 3 million gold coins.