baron, of old family, and was born in September, 1583. As a boy, he
displayed signs of a singularly proud and independent temper, and
foreshowed his bent by the delight which he took in the society of
military men. His family was Protestant; but having lost his parents
when quite young, he was educated, by the wish of his guardians, at
the Jesuit college of Olmutz, and soon changed his faith. In Italy,
where he next studied, he made great advances in mathematics, law,
languages, and the delusive science of astrology, in which he was a
firm believer ever afterward. On his return to Germany, he fought in
the imperial army against the Turks, who invaded Hungary. He had
considerable estates in Bohemia, which were increased by his marriage,
in 1606, with a rich Moravian widow, who died in 1614, and left him
her property. In the peaceful occupation of farming he spent several
years, and acquired great wealth by his skill and economy. In 1617, he
took part in a campaign against the republic of Venice, with which
Ferdinand had quarreled, and, on the termination of the war in the
same year, was ennobled as Count. The lavish generosity of Wallenstein
during this war greatly endeared him to the army.

Such was his popularity that in 1619, on the Bohemian revolution
breaking out, he was offered by the insurgents the command of their
army, although a Catholic. But he steadily refused the offer, and
warmly espoused the imperial cause, upon which the Bohemians
confiscated his estates. He, however, soon retrieved his fortunes by a
second rich marriage, and the favor of the emperor. The Bohemians,
under their heroic leaders, the Counts von Mansfeldt and Thurn,
ventured to march upon Vienna, and threaten Ferdinand in his capital;
but Wallenstein, on June 10, 1619, gained a signal victory over their
army, and saved his master's throne. In the following year the
Bohemians and Hungarians formally renounced their allegiance; the
former setting up Frederick, Elector-Count Palatine of the Rhine, as
their king; and the latter, Bethlem Gabor, Prince of Transylvania.
Frederick, who was the son-in-law of James I. of England, was as unfit
to govern as his father-in-law, and spent his time in a frivolous
parade of his rank. He obtained but a doubtful support from the
Protestant princes in Germany, who were jealous of his popularity.
Ferdinand, assisted by Spain and other Catholic powers, sent a large
force into Bohemia, under the command of Maximil