1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 02
But the doctor made no further reference to the matter. His smile vanished, and he continued with his medical assessment.
“What you will discover when you come into your cousin’s presence is that he speaks — quite easily, in fact — but his speech makes no sense. It’s as if the mechanism which translates thoughts into words has been broken. The technical medical term for the condition is ‘aphasia.’ Beyond that…”
He leaned back in the chair in his office. “He’s apparently still not recognizing anyone. The temporal lobes are involved in handling visual content, too. He’s apparently had no seizures yet, but he might have them in the future. And he’s apparently suffering from occasional onsets of blind fury.” Sourly, he added: “You’ll have to forgive my excessive use of the term ‘apparently.’ I’m no longer on the scene and the few reports I’ve gotten since I left are skimpy at best.”
“Will he recover?”
“He might, yes. But there’s no way to know yet, Colonel—nor, even if he does recover, do we know how long it might take.”
“Your best estimate, please.”
Nichols shrugged. “Assuming he recovers at all, and given that it’s now been several weeks since the injury, I don’t see much chance of any major improvement until a few months have gone by. I could easily be proven wrong, you understand.”
“Could it take years?”
“Possibly. But…” Nichols made a little face. “Look, here’s how it is with brain traumas. Strokes, too. There are some outliers, true enough. There have even been a few cases where people recovered after almost twenty years in a coma. But the general rule of thumb is that once what you might call the normal recovery period has passed, the odds that the patient will recover start dropping pretty quickly. So my gut feeling is that if Gustav Adolf doesn’t recover — mostly, anyway — within a year, then he’s not going to recover at all.”
Hand nodded. “Thank you. That’s quite helpful, I think.”
****
Now that he was on the scene in Berlin, Hand could see that the doctor’s assessment had been quite helpful. It gave him what he most needed as a guide to action: a time frame.
Six months, Hand decided. That would be his framework.
Chancellor Oxenstierna had escorted the colonel into the room in the former Elector’s palace where Gustav Adolf was kept. He’d been silent since, allowing the king’s cousin to interact as best he could without distraction.
Now, finally, he spoke. “As you can see, Erik, he does not have his wits about him any longer.”
Hand thought it would be better to say that the king’s wits were wandering somewhere inside his brain, trying to find a way out. But under the circumstances, the less he said to Oxenstierna, the better.
So he simply uttered a noncommittal sound. A hum, you might call it.
Oxenstierna turned to face him. “Will your current assignment…?”
Hand raised his hand a few inches. “Please, Axel. Despite my cousin’s current condition, I feel obliged to maintain his confidentiality.”
“Yes, of course.”
Hand hesitated for a moment, to give the chancellor the impression that he was thinking through the complexities involved in his current assignment, whatever that assignment might be.
“I will be traveling quite a bit over the next few months, Axel. I can say that much, I think.”
“I see. Can you give me any indication as to where?”
The colonel shrugged. “Hard to know. Here. Magdeburg. Grantville, perhaps. Possibly Bohemia. Poland… not likely, I think.”
The chancellor seemed on the verge of saying something — a protest, probably, by the expression on his face — but after a few seconds satisfied himself with an equally non-committal grunt.
He then gave Hand a polite little bow. More in the way of an exaggerated nod, really. “And now I’m afraid I must be off. Urgent affairs of the realm, as you can imagine.”
Hand returned the not-quite-a-bow. That was slightly rude, on his part. King’s cousin or not, Oxenstierna still ranked him in Sweden’s hierarchy. But Hand couldn’t afford to give any impression, especially to Oxenstierna, that he was in the least bit intimidated by Gustav Adolf’s predicament.
After the chancellor left, Hand glanced at the one other person in the room. That was Gustav Adolf’s personal bodyguard Erling Ljungberg, who was perched on a stool in a corner.
Ljungberg was new to the assignment. Silently, Erik cursed the fates on that evil battlefield that had not only stuck down the king but slain his bodyguard as well. That had been Anders Jönsson, a man whom Hand had known very well indeed. Had Anders still been alive…
But, he wasn’t. And Erik simply didn’t know Ljungberg well enough yet — he’d correct that as soon as possible, of course — to speak freely to him.
He was moving in perilous waters now, which the ancient Roman poet Ovid had described very well indeed. If treason prospers, none dare call it treason.
So, he did no more than give Ljungberg the same not-quite-a-bow, and then left the room. As he was passing through the door, he heard Gustav Adolf call out behind him.
“Weather not a wagon! Be drunken blue! Can empty trolls whisper crow?”
A protest? A question?
Probably both, Erik thought. What else would be coming from a king trapped in the chaos of his own mind, while those in power around him plotted treason?
For treason, it surely was. Hand was certain he knew what Oxenstierna and his cohorts were planning — and it was no accident that none of them would have dared propose those same plans to their sovereign while he still had his senses.
Six months. By then, one of them would be publicly given the label of traitor.
That might very well be Erik Haakansson Hand himself, of course, but he’d always enjoyed a challenge. No assignment his cousin had ever given him was as challenging as the one that he hadn’t because he could no longer speak.
Six months, then.
I see that Haakonsson has a six-month window in which to make sure events go the way GA wanted them to. He also quickly needs to figure out what kind of man GA’s new bodyguard is so he can determine whether or not he can be trusted; poor GA.
“Now, finally, he spoke. “As you can see, Erik, he does not have his wits about him any longer.—
Bullshit both Oxenstierna and Hand both know that GA still has his wits about him it’s just that he can’t communicate at the moment. That remark shows that Oxenstierna is already plotting.
Problem is weather G2A has his wits is immaterial if he cant communicate. Ive seen it in RL with my grandfather after he had his last hard attack the lights were on and he could talk clearly but everything was jumbled.
It’s clear that Haakonsson suspects what Oxenstierna is doing and doesn’t like it at all. The question now is, will he hook up with the opposition. Or rather, one or more of the oppositions. Mike and his party, the COC, Kristina, Ulric and Baldur. If these guys get together, I don’t think O has a chance.
Hmm. Getting GA out of Berlin looks like a job for Harry Lefferts’ wrecking crew and I think Oxenstierna would be much improved by a message from Julie MacKay.
He can´t speak – can he write?
@3, dave o – I think it is safe to say that Colonel Hand will, at some point, hook up with the oppositions, and I think it is safe also to say that the oppositions to Oxenstierna and Wettin will coalesce.
@4, John Lenton – IIRC, Harry Lefferts and crew were headed for Italy to spring Frank Stone from Borja’s prison. Of course, that was before Mike Stearns lost the election, but I doubt that Lefferts’ mission changed much, if any.
There are interesting possibilities here. We know a lot about Oxenstierna from history. He was very capable, but not a visionary. When his king died, there was a gap he was unable to fill. Nor was the Monarchy is sound succession. We ahve already seen hints of what GA’s daughter will do in this universe, but in history, she was a disaster.
J
@5 Matt, I’m not an MD but I believe that the problem is in the speech center of the brain and not the wiring that runs the mouth or the hand. So if he tried to speak or write “Oxenstierna is plotting against me” it would come out of his brain jumbled either way.
@7 A disaster indeed. She was brilliant, spoke just about every European language, had a wide ranging intellect and, unfortunately, also had Maria E. as the main influence in her young life, GA being dead. What Eric is doing, as you suggest, is showing what might have been had Maria died and Gustav lived.
@7 and 8, In this new timeline, Kristina does have several advantages that real-world Kristina did not have, in the form of people she trusts and, more importantly, listens to, who are giving her pretty good advice: Prince Ulric, Caroline Platzer, and Baldur Nordhaal. Even Christian IV is competent, shrewd, and knows the game and the players; I’m waiting to see how he reacts to all of this. It’s entirely plausible that Kristina and Co go to Copenhagen instead of Magdeburg, at least temporarily (if they’re not already there; I don’t have a copy of “Eastern Front” handy); combine Ulric’s brains and judgement with Christian’s experience and you’ve pretty well got a match for Oxenstierna and Wettin. And they have radio in Copenhagen, so they can keep in touch with Stearns and Co, Spartacus, and Don Fransisco, all with a bit more ablility to keep Kristina safe than in a powderkeg like Magdeburg’s about to become.
@9 I wouldn’t take Kristina to Copenhagen right now. Yes, Christian is an “ally” and he’s Ulric’s father. But he’s also a monarch forced into a subordinate situation, and if Kristina is in Copenhagen the temptation to do something about that would be immense!
As succession crises go this one is particularly nasty because GA3 is still alive (and may well actually fully or partially recover). Any regency or security arrangments that activate on his death are nullified by that simple fact. Kristina has no actual command authority, ANYWHERE, and she can’t claim to have inherited, that leaves her as a nine year old girl who’ll be somebody important someday, and who has no real protector. She’s one of the most important pieces in Europe in the game of thrones right now and doesn’t have any noticable income or military force at her disposal.
She needs to be SOMEWHERE where being GA3’s daughter is enough to provide a strong base of support, and she needs to AVOID any other players in the great game till she gets to this possibly mythical place (Magdenburg’s clearly her best shot). That means avoiding Christian. There are simply too many ways he could use her, best to avoid subjecting him to the temptation. The only reasonable alternative would be to go to Berlin and throw herself on Oxenstierna’s mercy (which isn’t a disaster for her, he’d almost certainly let her have the throne eventually and would treat her quite well otherwise). Going to Oxenstierna is only really a mistake if you assume that his policies are very bad things.
@10, Good points all. However, unless he’s suddenly become a complete idiot, Oxenstierna certainly has agents in Magdeburg, which makes it slightly less attractive, unless she goes straight to the CoC and stays clear of any of the official channels (the same arguement could potentially be made for going to Grantville or Bamberg–the Ram’s people probably still have a lock on Bamberg, and the up-timers still control Grantville); Gunther Acterhof could probably come up with a bodyguard for her that no one would want to mess with, and we saw in “1633” how much the population likes her. That still leaves the problem of what happens if (when) a full-scale rebellion starts in Magdeburg and/or Thuringia-Franconia.
If they had access to a plane, I’d say Prague might be workable, especially since that effectively puts her under the protection of both Wallenstein and, more importantly, Stearns and Nasi; Wallenstein’s a bit of a wild card there for the same reason Christian IV might be, except he needs the USE in his corner, or at least not actively against him, if Ferdinand decides to get aggressive, while Christian really doesn’t face an external threat unless he creates one.
And yes, given the sorts of people gravitating to Oxenstierna in Berlin, I’d say keeping the only heir you’ve got away from him and his is a sound move.
What a predicament! You have to wonder if the outcome would be any different if they had actual access to uptime medicine. There are several medications used by people subject to seizures and other neurological problems of that nature. Still, stepping out of the world, this is a positively ingenious method of putting a tight timeframe on a mission and keeping the pace going, not to mention the suspense as to whether the king will recover or not. As far as Kristina goes, I’d be tempted to pull a Sleeping Beauty with her and put her far, far out in the country somewhere until she gets quite a bit older and can do something instead of being a puppet.
Donald from Fast Weight Loss
Kristina goes to Magdeburg. Asks that Ulric be her regent. Approved in TF by acclamation. Oxenstierna knashes teeth, doesn’t dare oppose,but tries to undermine through Wettin.
their are plenty of wild calls about, Carl Gustav, Władysław IV Vasa, who all have some claim to the throne of sweden
Kristina must go to Magdeburg! That is where she will find all of her allies, e.g., CoC, Simpson, and where she is very popular and loved by the general public. No one would dare harm her there.
@15, Going there substantially increases her personal risk. Plenty of people would dare to harm her there. Her mother and father both just provided examples that being beloved isn’t armor and doesn’t neccessarily stop people from wanting very badly to kill you even if the attempt is nearly sure to cost their own lives.
On the other side: Christian VI, Oxenstierna, and Wallenstein would ALL be more than willing to offer her their “protection” and mean it. They’d cheerfully stick her in their best defended fortress and let her out only under very heavy guard in circumstances where assassination would be extremely difficult. Having her healthy and under your control is astonishingly valuable. Ulrik would be poor odds to survive if he was with her in any of those places (except Denmark), but she’d be dead safe.
Bodyguards can only do so much, and to be effective using popular support in Magdeburg she HAS to be public. Very public, which means fairly killable. And she’s a deadly threat to a bunch of people’s plans running loose in Magdeburg. “Realistically” assassination is a very serious risk if she goes to Magdeburg, and hardly any risk at all if she goes anywhere else (even if her protector decides she’s inconvientent, what the heck, he’s got half a dozen history books that say she abdicated, just point out to her the advantages of doing so in terms of life expectancy).
Storywise, well, storywise the risk is small and she does in fact need to go to Magdeburg, because Eric’s not the sort of author who has bright, friendly, plot important nine year old girls assassinated. But it’s not something any of the characters can reasonably pretend is being done for her personal safety, it’s being done for reasons of state (you’ve just had 20,000 or so serious casualties between the two sides in Poland, reasons of state are legitimately important enough to risk things like a nine year old girl’s life on, but that’s what going to Magdeburg is doing, it’s one of the highest personal risk courses available).
Kristina going to Magdeburg also puts paid to any idea that Oxenstierna and Wettin are going to get away with calling their coup d’etat ‘business as usual.’ It puts the USE smack dab into a civil crisis (maybe civil war), not just a constituional one (the succesion).
On a different level, is “history” try to repair itself?
Hurry up Mr. Mailman. I need to check 1635 (the new one) for clues. GA died in our timeline. Since he was such a pivotal figure, him living past his death would really warp things. Almost as bad as if Chamberlain and Melcher had died the day before their heroics at Little Round Top. No United States to save Europe in 1917 OR 1945. A planet dominated by Germany. No nukes, which means almost continuous warfare.
If the Congress of Copenhagen arrangements stick, such as they are, Ulrik is Kristina’s heir in Sweden. She is safe from assassination by Oxenstierna. She is not safe from abduction, but that is a lot harder to do than assassination. Ulrik suggested Copenhagen was a bad place to go, because of his father’s indecisiveness in a crisis, in The Eastern Front. If Kristina goes anywhere but Magedurg she may as well just surrender to Uncle Axel.
Dear me! Talk about suicides!
Oxen is a Sweden’s Chancellor which mean he has extensive contacts within the country. One could say it’s his home turf. Staying in Sweden is asking for house arrest and capture by him and his.
Danemark is risky on the part of Christian. As his son said, he’s no one you can depend on a crisis.
Prague? You trust that Wallenstein? If so I have several patches of coastal lands I can sell you. At a discount.
As any founding emperor can advise “return to your source of power”, Kristina should go where hers is. Which mean not the nobles, or the church. No, it’s the armies and the people. Madeburg is a very good fortress but she must not forget the USE army and Sweden army in Poland.
Not sure if it’s a spoiler to post info from Eastern Front so I’ll just say that one of the epiloges involves Ulrik & Christina and their plans in reponse to the news from Berlin. Or to put it another way, a lot of electrons have died in vain above. :)
@22 Hey now, freewheeling discussion of good fiction is never a waste! Besides, I think this discussion has been less about where Kristina’s going and more about how sensible going to Magdeburg is weighed against the possible alternatives.
@21, I can see your point about Wallenstein maybe being less than totally trustworthy, but remember, Don Fransisco and Morris Roth are already operating in Prague, and at last report Stearns is on his way to Bohemia with his division; the last thing Wallenstein can afford right now, with Austria on his borders, is an avoidable falling out with the USE and he’s smart enough to know it. By why involve him at all? I withdraw my previous comment about using a plane to get to Prague, and go for stealth and misdirection instead: sneak Kristina and Caroline into the Jewish quarter of Prague where Nasi and Roth can keep her hidden until we’re sure what Oxenstierna’s really up to, with Ulrik and Baldur kicking around in Magdeburg to make people think the princess has gone to ground there.
The beauty of that strategy is that they almost have to go through Magdeburg to get to Prague, so staying in Magdeburg, which is the direction Mr. Flint seems to be going, can be done easily enough if circumstances dictate that trying to leave Magdeburg would be too risky.
I love where this is going. Do you all really believe Ox would try to have Christina assassinated? I think his loyalty to the Vasa family and his own personal honor would prevent that. Not to say he wouldn’t be very happy to have her on hand to control her appearances, nor would he (as he has shown) hesitate to promote his point of view and seize power, but he just doesn’t seem the type. His earlier interactions with GA gave me the impression of the “loyal dissenter.” What puzzles me is how he thinks he can get away with his schemes if GA gets better? Again, I don’t see him taking direct action against GA’s person, but he’s certainly gone to great lengths to keep him under his thumb.
@24
I tend to agree. I’d also love to know what the other co-regents named in the 1630 instructions (the grand admiral, steward, constable and treasurer) think of Ox’s solo seizure of power. The constable, de la Gardie, is married to GA’s longterm squeeze, so he’s got to have an interesting view of the whole business.
I think discussions about where Kristina will be safe miss the point. Oxenstierna and Wettin have the power: right now. She can only survive to rule by going where she (or her friends and advisers) can get enough support to oppose them. In my opinion, that means Magdeburg. Similarly, I don’t think that the law, or G2A’s previous arrangement mean anything. Look at the history of contemporary regencies. Who gets control depends on who has the power and all previous arrangements can and will be ignored or put aside. Control of the heir is a lot of political power.
It depends. We tend to assume Oxenstierna can dominate the Swedish government without any effort. If he’s excluding other people from power they may not be all that happy. We know that’s true in at least one case already. I guess I am looking for a Swedish version of the landgravine of Hesse-Kassel.
Alan, Axel may have followed the rules for Sweden. Right now we only know what he’s doing in the USE.
@25 Axel Oxenstierna’s Instrument of Government that deliniated the five Great Offices of Sweden (in order of precedence: Lord High (LH): Steward/Justicar (law and court system), Constable (land forces), Admiral (sea forces), Chancellor (external diplomacy/bureaucracy), Treasurer (commerce/taxation)) was enacted OTL in 1634. It also designated them as regents for any underage Swedish Monarch. Eric Flint has not passed down what or when the NTL version was.
@27 Even OTL prior to the 1634 IoG the deck was not quite so highly stacked. OTL LH Steward was Magnus Brahe (Brahe and Oxwnstiernas were rivals), replaced at his death in 1634 by an Oxenstierna (Axel’s brother or cousin). OTL LH Constable was Jacob de la Gardie (son of illegimate niece (Sigismund of Poland’s illegitimate half-sister therefore aunt of current PLC king)of G2A’s father). OTL and NTL LH Admiral is Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm (G2A’s illegitimate half-brother). LH Chancellor OTL and NTL is Axel Oxenstierna himself. And LH Treasurer was effectively(defacto)Count Palatine John Casimir (G2A’s brother in law and father of Kristina’s OTL successor Charles X Gustav) until officially replaced by an Oxenstierna (Axel’s brother or cousin) after enacting of 1634 IoG.
Jacob de la Gardie is married to Ebba Brahe (G2A’s first love) and they have had to this point 11 children (5 surviving OTL, possible 2 more surviving NTL) with 3 additional (2 survivng OTL) children in total OTL. The oldest: OTL was Magnus Gabriel (later LH Chancellor) at 13, possibly NTL was Pontus (died OTL in 1632) at 16.
Count Palatine John Casimir’s wife Catherine (G2A’s older half-sister) OTL was effectively Kristina’s foster-mother. Her children: Christina Magdelana (19 ATT) later married Frederich VI Margrave of Baden-Durlach (grandson of NTL Swabia USE administrator); Charles X Gustav (13 ATT) Kristina’s OTL successor; Maria Eufrosyne (10 ATT) later married Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie (rumored OTL crush of Kristina’s); Eleonora Catherine (9 ATT) later married Frederick Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege (half-brother of NTL recently deceased Margrave of Hesse-Kassel); and Adolf John (6 ATT) inherited as Count Palatine when brother became king. All but 3 kings of Sweden after Kristina OTL are descended from Catharine.
There is speculation that Magnus Brahe probably wouldn’t have been replaced as LH Steward by an Oxenstierna in NTL. He was elderly so may have died NTL any time after the ROF and G2A probably wouldn’t want to skew Sweden’s internal politics so heavily towards the Oxenstierna’s favor.
OTL some of the Swedish Empire’s Governors were also replaced by Oxenstiernas. Hopefully that hasn’t happened NTL. OTL Johan Skytte (chancellor of both the University of Upsalla and University of Tartu, co-writer of G2A’s coronation vows, and IIRC a tutor of G2A) was governor-general of Livonia, Ingria, and Karelia until replaced by an Oxenstierna in 1634.
Count Palatine John Casimir was Calvinist (as was Hess-Kassel) thereby removing his wife from the Swedish succession. It also caused problems with the Lutheran-only laws (pushed OTL by Axel and passed by the Riksdag IIRC just prior to the ROF) and stipulations in the 1634 IoG (written by Axel OTL). His children were raised Lutheran and mostly in Sweden thereby allowing Charles X Gustav to inherit after Kristina’s abdication in 1654.
One last thing: Jacob de la Gardie was in charge of Sweden’s land forces but Tortensson(?sp?) was in charge of those of (and active within) the USE as well as equivalent to the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff (Admiral Simpson, Colonel Wood, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps and possibly NTL the Commander of the Medical Corps). Baner, Brahe, etc. are Area Commanders as Stearns is USE 3rd Army (unit) Commander. G2A was Commander in Chief. And by canon Christian IV has committed no troops (under the Union of Kalmar) ATT. Hesse-Kassel was leading his province’s troops and subordinating to Tortensson and G2A (like State National Guards and State Air National Guards when deployed overseas). Axel Oxenstierna is in no one’s chain of command!
@29
Uncle Ax may be in the USE chain of command at second hand though Wettin, but that depends on who has the USE command-in-chief and thats been identified as the emperor and the prime minister in different books.
Alan- I apologize for not noticing that both posts I replied to were yours.
‘Uncle Ax’, ‘the Ox’, or whatever you want to call him legally has no power over Wettin. In law as Prime Minister of the USE his status is equal to Axel’s as Chancellor of Sweden. The USE is NOT part of the Swedish Empire as a Dominion (like Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, the Karelias, and the PLC/Prussian lands ceded by the Truce of Altmark)!!! Nor are Danish-Norwegian lands as part of the Union of Kalmar.
By Law Wettin or G2A might be CinC. Like you I’ve seen it both ways in canon. Union of Kalmar forces (Army, Navy, and Air Force (LTA and fixed wing)) seem to be under Christian IV subordinated to G2A (as Hesse-Kassel subordinated to G2A and Tortensson).
It looks to me that Axel has finagled Wettin and Tortensson into allowing him command access. How, I have little idea!!!
ET1swaw – I share your lack of ideas), but I look forward to finding out. BTW, the great officers of Sweden were codified in the OTL Instrument of Government 1634 but they were actually created by a series of laws issued between 1614 and 1630. GA also changed the privy council from a when the king feels like it body to one that sat permanently in Stockholm. Hopefully what they are thinking will get snippeted soon.
most, actually practically all, of those great officerships existed since middle ages.
I find it doubtful that Christian of Denmark would be anything less than supportive of Kristina, given Prince Ulrich’s attitudes and the fact that out of her loins could still spring the greatest ruling house of Europe which would also be his grandchildren.
I don’t believe that Axel is ordering Wettin around. I think he is just providing the most disgruntled members of the crown loyalists the opportunity they have been looking for. By bogging down the USE army and I’m sure offering the support of the Swedish army in enforcing there reactionary demands. He is achieving his goal and helping the German nobles of restoring order. As someone pointed out Axel is highly competent but not a visionary. If he were he would realize that long term his goal is impossible.
The scenario that scares me is this. Oxenstierna and Co., plus personal armies, attempt a crackdown, Stearns and Co., with most of the USE army and the Grantvillers, tell them where to shove it, and Richelieu decides to try and intervene. If that happens, it could very bloody, very quickly.
The scenario that scares me is this. Oxenstierna and Co., plus personal armies, attempt a crackdown, Stearns and Co., with most of the USE army and the Grantvillers, tell them where to shove it, and Richelieu decides to try and intervene. If that happens, it could very bloody, very quickly.