Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/418

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THIRTY YEARS' WAR 356 THIRLWALL Christian of Denmark received back all his occupied territory, and undertook not to meddle again in German affairs. After this second success, Ferdinand again roused his people by an edict which re- quired restitution to the Roman Catho- lic Church of all church lands and prop- erty acquired by them since 1552. To the assistance of the Protestants of Germany, in these circumstances, came Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, who landed (1630) with a small army on the coast of Pomerania. Joined by numerous volunteers, and aided by French money, he advanced, and routed Tilly at Brei- tenfeld (or the battle of Leipsic, Sep- tember, 1631), victoriously traversed the Main and the Rhine valleys, defeated Tifly again near the confluence of the Lech and the Danube (April, 1632), and entered Munich. Meanwhile the emper- or sought the aid of Wallenstein, by whose ability and energy Gustavus was obliged to retire to Saxony, where he gained the great victory of Lutzen (No- vember, 1632), but was himself mortally wounded in the battle. The war was now carried on by the Swedes under the chan- cellor Oxenstierna, till the rout of the Swedish forces at Nordlingen (Septem- ber, 1634) again gave to the emperor the preponderating power in Germany. The Elector of Saxony, who had been an ally of Gustavus, now made peace at Prague (May, 1635), and within a few months the treaty was accepted by many of the German princes. The Swedes, however, thought it to their interest to continue the war, while France resolved to take a more active part in the conflict. Thus the last stage of the war was a contest of France and Sweden against Austria, in which the Swedish generals gained various suc- cesses over the imperial forces, while the French armies fought with varied for- tunes in West Germany and on the Rhine. Meanwhile the emperor had died (1637), and had been succeeded by his son, Fer- dinand III. The struggle still continued till in 1646, the united armies of the French under the great generals Turenne and Conde, and the Swedes advanced through Suabia and Bavaria. The com- bined forces of Sweden and France were then about to advance on Austria, when the news reached the armies that the peace of Westphalia (1648) was con- cluded, and that the long struggle was ended. THIRLWALL, CONNOP, an English bishop and historian; bom in Stepney, Middlesex, England, Jan. 11, 1797; was a child of almost unexampled precocity, learned Latin at three, read Greek at four, and at 11 published "Primitiae" (1809), a volume of poems and sermons. He next went to Charterhouse; entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in October, 1814, and in February following carried off the Craven and Belle scholarship and the highest honors. In October he was elected to a Trinity fellowship, and next spent about a year on the Continent, making fast friendship with Bunsen at Rome. He entered as a law student at Lincoln's Inn in February, 1820. He was called to the bar in 1825, but the natural bent of his mind prevailed, and in 1827 he took orders. Already in 1825 he had translated Schleiermacher's "Essay on St. Luke" and written an introduction — a remarkable performance for a barrister. His return to Cambridge was marked by the commencement, in conjunction with his dear friend Julius Hare, of a transla- tion of Niebuhr's "History of Rome" (vol. i. 1828; ii. 1832). Their famous "Philolog- ical Museum" (1831-1833) saw only six numbers, but contained some remarkable papers, among them Thirlwall's "On the Irony of Sophocles." In 1834 he signed the petition in favor of the admission of dissenters to academical degrees, and in May put forth a weighty pamphlet in defense of the measure. The master of the college, Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, called on him to resign the assistant- tutorship, which he did at once, though under protest. Almost immediately he was presented by Lord Brougham to the quiet Yorkshire living of Kirby-Under- dale. Here he wrote for "Lardner's Cyclo- paedia" his "History of Greece" (8 vols. 1835-1847; improved ed. 1847-1852). In 1840 Lord Melbourne raised Thirl- wall to the see of St. David's, and within six months thereafter he preached in perfect Welsh. For 34 years he labored with the utmost diligence in his diocese, building churches, parsonages, and schools, and augmenting poor livings (to the extent of $150,000 from his own pocket). His "Primary Charge" (1840) was a catholic-spirited apology for the Tractarian party. Thirlwall joined in the encyclical letter censuring "Essays and Reviews," but was one of the four bishops who refused to inhibit Bishop Colenso. He supported the Maynooth grant, the admission of Jews to Parlia- ment, and alone among the bishops voted for the disestablishment of the Irish Church. He was appointed chairman of the Old Testament Revision Committee, and resigned his see in May, 1874, retir- ing to Bath, where he died July 27, 1875. The nobilty of his character is revealed in "Letters to a Friend," edited by Dean Stanley, in 1881.