The Saxon Uprising(151)

Four of the council members got out of the city alive. The rest all died, several of them quite horribly—and in the case of one, with his entire family. All were burned alive in their home.

Even more savage was an incident in Mecklenburg, just outside of Rostock. A party of Swedish merchants was caught by a mob and torn to pieces. The hapless merchants were utterly bewildered. What did they have to do with the wars of dynasties?

Those were the two worst incidents. There were many instances of beatings and vandalism, but nowhere else did anyone lose their lives.

Except by accident. There were quite a few accidental deaths. Mostly due to the combination of liquor and livestock, or liquor and heights. In what was perhaps the most flamboyant such death, a totally inebriated apprentice fell off the famous tower of the Ulm Minster, the Lutheran church that boasted a steeple one hundred meters tall. He was trying to affix a tricolor flag to the very top. He was within four yards of the top when he fell, holding onto the flag all the way down.

The parade in Magdeburg was the largest in the nation. For all intents and purposes, the whole city turned out.

Ulrik opted for caution. Over-riding Kristina’s vehement protests, he insisted that they avoid any formal participation in the rally that culminated in Hans Richter Square at the end of a march. Instead, he had Kristina standing on the steps of the royal palace as the march went by, waving at the crowd—and then hustled her off to the kitchens of the Freedom Arches.

Enough to please the mob, not so much as to burn all bridges with the Swedes.

That course of action might have posed a problem, except that there was a most suitable substitute for Kristina on this occasion to serve as the official centerpiece of the rally.

Rebecca Abrabanel, the Prince’s wife, who was appalled and aghast when her role was explained to her.

By everyone on the committee. She had no allies at all. Not one.

“I don’t give speeches!”

She did that day. Five of them. By the time she got to the fifth one, everyone agreed it was pretty good.

The parade in Hamburg was huge as well. So was the one in Augsburg.

In Hamburg, the Battle of Ostra—as it came to be called—and its aftermath shifted the balance of political power still further in favor of the Fourth of July Party and the Committee of Correspondence. But that shift had been happening anyway. Hamburg’s economy had been expanding rapidly, which had drawn into the city people from classes which were naturally inclined in that direction.

The political change in Augsburg was more significant, because it was much less predictable. The central figure was the militia commander, Ruprecht Amsel. The combination of Kristina and Ulrik’s actions and his anxieties about the Bavarians had already inclined him toward the Fourth of July Party more than he normally would have been. Mike Stearns’ victory at Ostra was the catalyst. On February 27, he announced publicly at the rally held in that city that he was switching his party allegiance. Most of his militiamen followed suit.

Thereafter, Augsburg joined most of the imperial cities as FoJP bastions. Not to the degree that Magdeburg or Luebeck were, to be sure. But certainly as much as Hamburg or Frankfurt.

A still greater political shift took place in Hesse-Kassel. Amalie Elisabeth instructed her officials and military commanders to place no obstacles in the way of anyone wanting to celebrate the events in Dresden. Indeed, she instructed them to provide quiet assistance, if they were asked for it.

Then, as a march took place that would culminate in a rally that afternoon, she spent the rest of the morning just thinking. And by noon, had decided that caution now required boldness.

She went to the radio room her husband had set up in the palace the year before and spent a bit of time there. Then, to everyone’s surprise starting with her closest advisers and top officials, she made her way to the rally and politely asked the organizers to give her the platform.

They were just as surprised as anyone, but naturally they agreed at once.

Her speech was short and consisted simply of reading the message that she’d had transmitted an hour before to the entire nation. Leaving aside the flowery preface, the gist of it was simple:

General Stearns was quite correct. Chancellor Oxenstierna’s actions were completely illegal. The legitimate prime minister, Wilhelm Wettin, should be released from prison and returned to office.

The applause went on and on and on. Liesel Hahn, who was on the platform herself, was simultaneously delighted and downcast. Delighted, because she thought Amalie Elisabeth’s actions were entirely correct. Downcast, because the prospects for the Fourth of July Party itself in Hesse-Kassel would remain dim for some time.

Probably for the lifespan of the landgravine, in fact.