Alessandro Ferdinando Maffei (3 October 1662 – 5 January 1730) was an Italian Lieutenant General of Infantry in the service of the

Electorate of Bavaria The Electorate of Bavaria (german: Kurfürstentum Bayern) was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1623 to 1806, when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Bavaria. The Wittelsbach dynasty which ruled the Duchy of Ba ...

. He was the brother of the Italian writer and archaeologist

Francesco Scipione Francesco Scipione Maffei (; 1 June 1675 – 11 February 1755) was a Italian writer and art critic, author of many articles and plays. An antiquarian with a humanist education whose publications on Etruscan antiquities stand as incunables ...

. De Maffei was born in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

. After entering the army of Bavaria in 1683, he was wounded at the Siege of Mongatz in 1687; he was later promoted to Colonel in 1696. During the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, he served as the second in command at the

Battle of Schellenberg The Battle of Schellenberg, also known as the Battle of Donauwörth, was fought on 2 July 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The engagement was part of the Duke of Marlborough's campaign to save the Habsburg capital of Vienna from a ...

in 1704. In 1706, he led a brigade at the

Battle of Ramillies The Battle of Ramillies (), fought on 23 May 1706, was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. For the Grand Alliance – Austria, England, and the Dutch Republic – the battle had followed an indecisive campaign against the Bourbon ar ...

against the Allied forces under the command of the

Duke of Marlborough General (United Kingdom), General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an Engl ...

. After being taken prisoner, he became involved in abortive negotiations for peace. Maffei München

In 1717, he contributed to the victory over the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

at the Siege of Belgrade in the Austro-Turkish War and was subsequently made Field Marshal of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

. He died in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

in 1730.

Works

References

Bibliography

* * Crescenzio, Daniela. ''Italienische Spaziergänge in München''. Band 2: ''Dynastien aus Italien''. 1. Auflage. IT-INERARIO, Unterhaching 2009, . * Falkner, James. ''Ramillies 1706: Year of Miracles.'' Pen & Sword Books Ltd, (2006). . * Fricke, Gustav. ''Der bayerische Feldmarschall Alessandro Marchese Maffei. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichtsschreibung und zur Geschichte der Türkenkriege und des spanischen Erbfolgekrieges''. In: ''Jahres-Bericht über das Königliche Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium und die Königliche Vorschule zu Berlin'' Ostern 1891, , pages 3–54. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maffei, Alessandro, Marquis De 1662 births 1730 deaths Military personnel from Verona Italian soldiers German army commanders in the War of the Spanish Succession