Andreas von Auersperg, Lord of Schönberg und Seisenberg (Slovene: ''Andrej Turjaški''; Croatian: ''Andrija Auersperg'') (9 April 1556 – 5 September 1593) was a Carniolan

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...

from the influential Auersperg family, leader of the defending forces at the

Battle of Sisak The Battle of Sisak was fought on 22 June 1593 between Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Bosnian forces and a combined Christian army from the Habsburg lands, mainly Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Kingdom of Croatia and Inner Austria. The battle took place ...

in 1593.

Life and career

Andreas von Auersperg was born in the Carniolan town of

Žužemberk Žužemberk (; german: Seisenberg), is a town located southeast of the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. It is the seat of the Municipality of Žužemberk. The area is part of the historical region of Lower Carniola. The municipality is now includ ...

(Seisenberg) into one of the leading Protestant Austrian families in the Duchy of

Carniola Carniola ( sl, Kranjska; , german: Krain; it, Carniola; hu, Krajna) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region sti ...

as the youngest son of Wolfgang-Engelbert von Auersperg, Lord of Schönberg, Seisenberg and Flödnig, and Anna Maria von Lamberg. After his parents' early demise, the governor of Carniola, Baron Weikhard von Auersperg (1533–1581), became the guardian of the one-year-old boy. In 1569, the 13-year-old registered at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

, where the Collegiate Church, along with the rest of the city, was one of the first to have converted to

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

's teachings. In 1573 and 1574, he also studied at the renowned universities of

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

and

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

. Andreas became a soldier accompanying Archduke Matthew on his campaign in the Netherlands (1577–1578), fighting as a captain on the Croatian-Turkish border in 1578 and 1579 under Hans Ferenberger von Auer and Christoph von Auersperg. In 1583 he rose to the rank of colonel and was appointed commander-in-chief (''Feldobrist'') of the Croatian and

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

n frontier lands in Karlstadt in 1589.

Battle of Sisak

On 22 June 1593, the day of Saint Acacius,Peter von Radics
''Die Schlacht bei Sissek 22. Juni 1593 am Festtage des heiligen Achatius''
Laibach .e. Ljubljana Blasnik, 1861 the leader of the

Ten thousand martyrs Ten thousand martyrs may refer to the ten thousand martyred Fathers of the deserts and caves of Scete by Theophilus of Alexandria or to the ten thousand martyrs of Mount Ararat who were, according to a medieval legend, Roman soldiers who, led by S ...

, a battle occurred near the fortress of

Sisak Sisak (; hu, Sziszek ; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavin ...

in present-day

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, where the

Sava The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally th ...

and

Kupa The Kupa () or Kolpa ( or ; from la, Colapis in Roman times; hu, Kulpa) river, a right tributary of the Sava, forms a natural border between north-west Croatia and southeast Slovenia. It is long, with its border part having a length of and th ...

rivers meet. It was the last fortress 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, ...

needed to conquer in order to expand northward into central Europe virtually unopposed. Sources reportJoseph von Hammer-Purgstall, ''Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches.'
Vol. 4: ''Vom Regierungsantritte Murad des Dritten bis zur zweyten Entthronung Mustafa des Ersten 1574 - 1623''
Budapest: C. A. Hartleben, 1829, p. 218 and footnote with reference to the greatly differing figures in Ottoman sources, e.g.

Mustafa Naima Mustafa Naima ( ota, مصطفى نعيما; ''Muṣṭafā Na'īmā''; Aleppo, Ottoman Syria 1655 – 1716) was an Ottoman bureaucrat and historian who wrote the chronicle known as the ''Tārīḫ-i Na'īmā'' (''Naima's History''). He is ofte ...

,''Tarichi Naima'' (i.e. "Naima's History"), Constantinople 1734, vol. I, p. 43 f. (''Annals of the Turkish Empire: from 1591 to 1659''. Transl. Charles Fraser. London: Oriental Translation Fund, 1832), and Austrian sources, e.g. Franz Christoph von Khevenhüller (1588-1650), ''Annales Ferdinandei'', Leipzig: Weidmann 1721-1726, vol. IV, p. 1093, that the Ottoman army attacking the fortress was 38,000 strong, commanded by the Bosnian

beylerbey ''Beylerbey'' ( ota, بكلربكی, beylerbeyi, lit=bey of beys, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords') was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks ...

(governor-general), Hasan Pasha (born Niko Predojević). The Carniolan army under the command of the

Ban of Croatia Ban of Croatia ( hr, Hrvatski ban) was the title of local rulers or office holders and after 1102, viceroys of Croatia. From the earliest periods of the Croatian state, some provinces were ruled by bans as a ruler's representative (viceroy) an ...

Tamás Erdődy Count Tamás Erdődy de Monyorókerék et Monoszló (, ; 1558 – 17 January 1624), also anglicised as Thomas Erdődy, was a Hungarian-Croatian nobleman, who served as Ban of Croatia between 1583-1595 and 1608-1615 and a member of the Erdődy magn ...

, which was defending the fort counted only 4,000 to 5,000 men led by Andreas von Auersperg and

Ruprecht von Eggenberg Ruprecht von Eggenberg (1546 – 7 February 1611, Graz, Styria) was an Austrian colonel-general from the Duchy of Styria in Inner Austria, part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was a member of the Eggenberger family and cousin of Prince Hans Ulr ...

and reinforced by 1,240 Croatian horsemen and 500 Silesian mounted riflemen. Hasan Pasha attacked with his main force but was repelled by the heavy fire of the defending army. The Turks then retreated to the bridge they had just crossed, but Auersperg sent the arquebusars to capture the bridge. The Ottomans were then forced to swim to the other side of the river. About 8,000 Ottomans died during the retreat, including Hasan Pasha, who drowned in the river. The remaining Ottomans (who were guarding the camp) set their gunpowder on fire and fled. Thus, Auersperg won the Battle of Sisak and saved central Europe from imminent Ottoman invasion, whereupon

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born ...

sent the Protestant—who was nicknamed the "Carniolan Achilles" or even the "Christian Achill(es)" and called "the Terror of the Turks"—a handwritten letter of congratulation. Andreas von Auersperg died unmarried in Karlovac three months later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andreas von Auersperg 1556 births 1593 deaths Principality of Auersperg Austrian untitled nobility Carniolan nobility People from the Municipality of Žužemberk Slovenian generals People of the Long Turkish War