Part 4 (2/2)

Owing perhaps to the intercession of the Cardinal Infant of Spain, he was at last permitted the attendance of a page and groom, who might be Dutch or English, but not German. ”I have sent Kingsmill his pa.s.s,”

wrote the Elector {44} in August 1640, ”he will be fit enough to pa.s.s my brother Rupert's time, and I do not think he will use his counsel in anything.”[21] Of Kingsmill's arrival at Linz we hear nothing, but two other companions now relieved Rupert's solitude.

Susanne Marie von Kuffstein, daughter of Rupert's gaoler, was then a lovely girl of about sixteen. She was, says the writer of the Lansdowne MS., ”one of the brightest beauties of the age, no less excelling in the beauty of her mind than of her body.” On this fair lady the young prisoner's good looks, famous courage, and great misfortunes made a deep impression. She exerted herself to soften her father's heart, and to persuade him to gentler treatment of the captive. In this she succeeded so well ”that the Prince's former favours were improved into familiarities, as continual visits, invitations and the like.” Thus Rupert was enabled to enjoy Susanne's society, and that he did enjoy it there is very little doubt, ”for he never named her after in his life, without demonstration of the highest admiration and expressing a devotion to serve her.”[22] It has been suggested that the memory of Susanne von Kuffstein was the cause of Rupert's rejection of Marguerite de Rohan. There is, however, little ground for crediting him with such constancy. Maurice, it must be remembered, rejected the unfortunate Marguerite with equal decision.

Moreover, Susanne herself married three times, and Rupert's sentiment towards her seems to have been nothing more pa.s.sionate than a chivalrous and grateful admiration.

Besides Susanne the Prince had at Linz another friend,--his white poodle ”Boye.” This dog was a present from Lord Arundel, then English Amba.s.sador at Vienna; it remained Rupert's inseparable companion for many years, and met at last a soldier's death on Marston Moor. The Prince also, {45} for a short time, made a pet of a young hare, which he trained to follow him like a dog, but this he afterwards released, fearing that it might find captivity as irksome as did he himself.

Thus pa.s.sed a two years' imprisonment, after which the Emperor deigned to offer terms to his captive. In the first place he required that Rupert should embrace the Roman faith. But the boy was a Palatine, and, though he had listened willingly to the persuasions of his aunt, Henrietta, the least hint of compulsion rendered him staunchly Protestant. He answered the Emperor, somewhat grandiloquently, ”that he had not learnt to sacrifice his religion to his interest, and he would rather breathe his last in prison, than go out through the gates of Apostacy.” The Emperor then consented to waive the question of religion, only insisting that Rupert must ask pardon for his crime of rebellion against the Holy Roman Empire. But to do this would have been to deny his brother's right to his Electorate, and Rupert only retorted coldly that he ”disdained” to ask pardon for doing his duty.

Finally, he was invited to take service under the Emperor, and to fight against France, which country had just imprisoned his eldest brother.

But here also the boy was obdurate. To fight under the Emperor would inevitably involve fighting against the Swedes and the Protestant princes. Rupert therefore replied, ”that he received the proposal rather as an affront than as a favour, and that he would never take arms against the champions of his father's cause.”[23]

After such contumacy it may well be believed that the Emperor's patience was exhausted. His brother-in-law the Duke of Bavaria, then owner of the Upper Palatinate, and of the ducal t.i.tle which was Rupert's birthright, suggested that the boy's spirit was not yet broken, and urged the Emperor to deprive him of his privileges.

Accordingly, Graf {46} Kuffstein was ordered to cease his civilities, and Rupert was placed in a confinement rendered stricter than ever, guarded day and night by twelve musketeers.

For this severity the proximity of a Swedish army was an additional reason. Maurice himself was serving in their ranks, and the Emperor feared lest Rupert should hold correspondence with them. Against these Swedes was despatched the Emperor's brother, the Archduke Leopold, who, very happily for Rupert, pa.s.sed, on his way, through Linz. Being at Linz, the Archduke naturally visited the youthful prisoner who had made so much sensation, and was forthwith captivated by him. Leopold, whose gentle piety had won him the name of ”the Angel”, was but a few years older than the Palatine; the two had many tastes in common, and in that visit was established a friends.h.i.+p between Rupert the Devil and Leopold the Angel, which endured to the end of their lives.

The Archduke's intercession with the Emperor not only restored to Rupert his former privileges, but won him the additional liberty of leaving the castle on parole for so long as three days at a time.[24]

As soon as this concession made their civilities possible, the n.o.bles of the country showed themselves anxious to alleviate the tedium of Rupert's captivity. They ”treated him with all the respects imaginable,” invited him to their houses, and gave hunting parties in his honour. The house most frequented by Rupert was that of Graf Kevenh.e.l.ler, who, oddly enough, had been one of Frederick's bitterest foes. Yet Frederick's son found this Graf's house ”a most pleasant place,” at which he was always ”very generously entertained.”[25] And Rupert, on his part, seems to have made himself exceedingly popular with his friendly foes. He was, as they said, ”beloved by all,”[26]

and, wrote an {47} Imperialist soldier, ”his behaviour so obligeth the cavaliers of this country that they wait upon him and serve him as if they were his subjects.”[27] As pleasant a captivity as could be had was Rupert's now, but yet a captivity; and still, in spite of Susanne von Kuffstein, in spite of the Archduke and of ”all the cavaliers of the country,” his thoughts turned wistfully to the Hague, where, for him, was home.

[1] Lansdowne MSS. 817. fol. 157-168.

[2] Benett MSS. Warburton. Vol. I. p. 450.

[3] Benett MSS. Warburton. Vol. I. p. 451.

[4] Green's Princesses, Vol. V. p. 558.

[5] Memoiren der Herzogin Sophie, pp. 42-43.

[6] Briefwechsel der Herzogin Sophie mit Karl Ludwig von der Pfalz.

Ed. Bodemann. p. 184. Preussischen Staats Archiven.

[7] Beoett MSS. Warburton. Vol. I. p. 453.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Warburton, I. p. 453.

[10] Benett MSS. Warburton. Vol. I. pp. 454-455

[11] Dom. S. P. Nicholas to Pennington, Nov. 14, 1638.

[12] D. S. P. Eliz. to Roe, Oct. 2, 1638.

[13] Dom. State Papers, Eliz. to Roe, Nov. 6, 1638.

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