" The King laughed
and owned that he was right.
Instead of bearding the Emperor in his capital he turned toward the
Rhine where millions of Protestants were praying for his coming and
where his army might find rest and abundance. The cathedral city of
Wuerzburg he took by storm. The bishop who ruled it fled at his
approach, but the full treasury of the Jesuits fell into his hands.
The Madonna of beaten gold and the twelve solid silver apostles,
famous throughout Europe, were sent to the mint and coined into
money to pay his army. In the cellar they found chests filled with
ducats. The bottom fell out of one as they carried it up and the
gold rolled out on the pavement. The soldiers swarmed to pick it up,
but a good many coins stuck to their pockets. The King saw it and
laughed: "Since you have them, boys, keep them." The dead were still
lying in the castle yard after the siege, a number of monks among
them. The color of some of them seemed high for corpses. "Arise from
the dead," he said waggishly, "no one will hurt you," and the
frightened monks got upon their feet and scampered away.
Frankfort opened its gates to his victorious host and Nuernberg
received him as a heaven-sent liberator. But Tilly was in the field
with a fresh army, burning to avenge Breitenfeld.
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