Note 74 — Book I. LETTERS TO MAXIMILIAN. (continued 2)

Lazarus von Schwendi, Seigneur of Hohen-Landsperg in Upper Alsace, was a very remarkable man. He was a friend of Count Egmont, by whose side he fought at the battles of St. Quentin and Gravelines. At Maximilian’s request Philip II. allowed him to take command of his forces in Hungary. He retook Tokay from the Turks in 1565. (Katona, Historia Regum Hungariæ, xxiv. 45; see also Sketch of Hungarian History.) He was also distinguished as a scholar; he wrote a book, De Bello contra Turcas gerendo, and two other treatises. But what marks his position more than anything else is the fact that two of the most important manifestos of that age were addressed to him. (1) Orange’s protest against the administration of Granville. See Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic, Part II. chap. iv.:—‘This letter, together with one in a similar strain from Egmont, was transmitted by the valiant and highly intellectual soldier to whom they were addressed, to the King of Spain with an entreaty that he would take warning from the bitter truths which they contained.’ (2) Maximilian’s protest against the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew (see note 1, page 42). Schwendi eventually retired to his estates in Alsace, and died at Kirchofen in 1583, aged sixty-two.