Portret van Annibale Gonzaga, RP-P-1909-4533

Annibale Gonzaga (1602 –

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, 2 August 1668) was commander of the city of Vienna, imperial field marshal and president of the

Hofkriegsrat The ''Hofkriegsrat'' (or Aulic War Council, sometimes Imperial War Council) established in 1556 was the central military administrative authority of the Habsburg monarchy until 1848 and the predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War. Th ...

Life

He was the son of Ferrante de Gazzuolo and Isabella Gonzaga, and thus a member of the Italian ducal family Gonzaga. He joined the Imperial army. In 1634 he was already colonel of a regiment. He rose quickly through the ranks, partly by his competences, partly by his family name (Eleonora Gonzaga was the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, wife of Emperor Ferdinand II). Gonzaga was one of the commanders at the

Battle of Nördlingen (1634) The Battle of Nördlingen (german: Schlacht bei Nördlingen; es, Batalla de Nördlingen; sv, Slaget vid Nördlingen) took place on 6 September 1634 during the Thirty Years' War. A combined Imperial-Spanish force inflicted a crushing defeat on ...

. In 1640, he became commander of the city of Vienna. Two bastions he built were named after him. In 1642 he commanded with Count Bruay the right wing of the imperial army in the disastrous Battle of Breitenfeld. A year later, he commanded an imperial army in Hungary. Gonzaga also commanded troops that the Emperor had sent to Hungary in 1658. In 1660 he became General of Artillery, Field Marshal and Privy Council. He was a member of a delegation that negotiated the

Treaty of Oliva The Treaty or Peace of Oliva of 23 April (OS)/3 May (NS) 1660Evans (2008), p.55 ( pl, Pokój Oliwski, sv, Freden i Oliva, german: Vertrag von Oliva) was one of the peace treaties ending the Second Northern War (1655-1660).Frost (2000), p.183 ...

in Berlin with

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William (german: Friedrich Wilhelm; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is ...

. Since 1666 he was president of the Imperial War Council (

) and High Steward of the widowed Empress Eleanora, to whom he was related. He was also a knight in the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...

. He was buried in the Franciscan Church in Vienna. In 1861, a street in Vienna, the ''Gonzagagasse'' was named after him.

Family

He married in 1636 with Marie of Saxe-Lauenburg, daughter of

Francis II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg Francis II of Saxe-Lauenburg (Ratzeburg, 10 August 1547 – 2 July 1619, Lauenburg upon Elbe), was the third son of Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg and Sybille of Saxe-Freiberg (Freiberg, 2 May 1515 – 18 July 1592, Buxtehude), daughter of Duke He ...

and

Maria of Brunswick-Lüneburg Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (born: 13 January 1566 in Schladen; died: 13 August 1626 in Lauenburg) was a princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by birth and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg. Life Mary was a daughter of the Duke Julius of ...

.
After her death in 1644 he remarried in 1646 with Maria Barbara Countess of Czaky and into the Hungarian nobility. From the marriages came four sons and several daughters. All 4 sons died before their father. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzaga, Annibale Diplomats of the Habsburg monarchy Knights of the Golden Fleece 1602 births 1668 deaths Field marshals of the Holy Roman Empire Italian nobility

Annibale Annibale is the Italian masculine given name and surname equivalent to Hannibal. In English, it may refer to : Given name * Annibale Albani (1682–1751), Italian cardinal * Annibale I Bentivoglio, (died 1445), ruler of Bologna from 1443 * Annibal ...

17th-century diplomats Military personnel from Vienna