take the field against the peasants, the class
from which most of them sprang, and whose
grievances they well appreciated. Still, by dint
of threats, promises and money, Truchsess at
length succeeded in getting together a force
of 8000 foot and 3000 horse. By the end of
March the peasants, on their side, began to
weary of the interminable negotiations with the
league at Ulm, whose object was now only
too apparent, and determined to begin active
operations. Truchsess, fearing lest the body
encamped in the district known as the Ried,
and called from its place of origin the "Baltringer
contingent," might cut off his retreat to his own
castle and domains and possibly invade them,
determined to attack this section first. His
relations with his own tenants seem to have
been on the whole fairly good, and he appears
to have left his family at the Waldsee.

As we have already seen, the Baltringer or
Ried contingent formed one of the three sections
of the "Evangelical Peasant Brotherhood," the
other two being the Black Forest and the
Lake contingents. But in the marshy district
where the Baltringer division was encamped,
Truchsess could not transport his heavy guns

-97-