Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld (german: Peter Ernst Graf von Mansfeld;
c. 158029 November 1626), or simply Ernst von Mansfeld, was a German military commander who, despite being a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, fought for the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
s during the early years of the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
. He was one of the leading mercenary generals of the war.
Biography
Mansfeld was an
illegitimate
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...
son of
Count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
Peter Ernst von Mansfeld (1517–1604), a member of the comital
House of Mansfeld
The House of Mansfeld was a princely German house, which took its name from the town of Mansfeld in the present-day state of Saxony-Anhalt. Mansfelds were archbishops, generals, supporters as well as opponents of Martin Luther, and Habsburg admin ...
and royal
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
stadtholder. He was raised in the
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
faith at his father's palace in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
.
He gained his earliest military experiences during the
Long War in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
, where his elder half-brother
Charles (1543–1595), also a soldier of renown, held a high command in the
imperial army. While his brother succumbed to an epidemic within short time, young Ernst stayed at the theatre of war for several years. In the
War of the Jülich Succession
The War of the Jülich Succession was a war of succession in the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. It lasted between 10 June 1609 and 24 October 1610, resumed in May 1614 and finally ended on 13 October 1614. The first round of the conflict ...
he served under Archduke
Leopold V of Austria, until that prince's ingratitude, real or fancied, drove him into the arms of the enemies of the
House of Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
. Although he remained a Roman Catholic, from about 1610 he openly allied himself with the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
princes, and during the earlier part of the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
he was one of their foremost champions.
He was despatched by
Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy, at the head of about 2000 men to aid the revolting
Bohemians when war broke out in 1618. He took
Pilsen, but in the summer of 1619 he was defeated at the
Battle of Sablat
The Battle of Sablat or Záblatí occurred on 10 June 1619, during the Bohemian period of the Thirty Years' War. The battle was fought between a Roman Catholic Imperial army led by Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy and the Pr ...
; after this he offered his services to the
Emperor Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria. His parents were de ...
and remained inactive while the titular king of Bohemia,
Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, was driven in headlong rout from
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
. Mansfeld, however, was soon appointed by Frederick to command his army in Bohemia, and in 1621 he took up his position in the
Upper Palatinate
The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria.
Geography
The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...
, successfully resisting the efforts made by
Tilly Tilly may refer to:
Places France
* Tilly, Eure, in the Eure ''département''
* Tilly, Indre, in the Indre ''département''
* Tilly, Yvelines, in the Yvelines ''département''
Elsewhere
* Tilly, Belgium, a village in the municipality of Viller ...
to dislodge him.
From the Upper Palatinate, he passed into the
Rhenish Palatinate. Here he relieved
Frankenthal
Frankenthal (Pfalz) ( pfl, Frongedahl) is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
History
Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, af ...
and took
Hagenau
Haguenau (; Alsatian: or ; and historically in English: ''Hagenaw'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of France, of which it is a sub-prefecture.
It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg, some to the south. To the n ...
; then, joined by his commander, the elector Frederick, he defeated Tilly at
Wiesloch
Wiesloch (, locally ; South Franconian: ''Wissloch''), is a town in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 13 kilometres south of Heidelberg.
After Weinheim, Sinsheim and Leimen it is the fourth largest town in the Rhein-Neckar-Kre ...
(25 April 1622) and plundered
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
and
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
. However, Mansfeld's ravages were not confined to the lands of his enemies; they were ruinous to the districts he was commissioned to defend. At length, Frederick dismissed Mansfeld's troops from his service. With
Christian of Brunswick
Christian the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (20 September 1599 – 16 June 1626), a member of the House of Welf, titular Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt, was a German Protestant military l ...
the count then entered the service of the
United Provinces and marched to the Republic through the Spanish Netherlands. In August 1622, at
Fleurus
Fleurus (; wa, Fleuru) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It has been the site of four major battles.
The municipality consists of the following districts: Brye, Heppignies, Fleurus, Lambusart, ...
his army had to fight its way through a Spanish attempt to block him. His army recuperated and reequipped in September and then marched with the Dutch army to relieve the city of
Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the local dialect) is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands.
Etymology
The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soil ...
, besieged by Spain. After that, he took up his quarters in
East Frisia, capturing fortresses and inflicting great hardships upon the inhabitants. A
mercenary
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any ...
and a leader of mercenaries, Mansfeld often interrupted his campaigns by journeys made for the purpose of raising money, or in other words of selling his services to the highest bidder, and in these diplomatic matters he showed considerable skill.
About 1624 he paid three visits to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, where he was hailed as a hero by the populace, and at least one to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
.
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
, being the father-in-law of
Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Frederick V (german: link=no, Friedrich; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both ...
, was anxious to furnish him with men and money for the recovery of the Palatinate, but it was not until January 1625 that Mansfeld and his army of "raw and poor rascals" sailed from
Dover to the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
before failing to relieve the
siege of Breda. Later in the year, the Thirty Years' War having been renewed under the leadership of
Christian IV of Denmark
Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian mon ...
, he re-entered Germany to take part therein but on 25 April 1626
Wallenstein
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein () (24 September 1583 – 25 February 1634), also von Waldstein ( cs, Albrecht Václav Eusebius z Valdštejna), was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Th ...
inflicted a severe defeat upon him at the bridge of
Dessau. Mansfeld, however, quickly raised another army, with which he intended to attack the hereditary lands of the house of
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, and pursued by Wallenstein he pressed forward towards Hungary, where he hoped to accomplish his purpose by the aid of
Bethlen Gábor, prince of Transylvania but when Bethlen changed his policy and made peace with the emperor, Mansfeld was compelled to disband his troops. He set out for
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, but when he reached
Rakovica near
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...
, in
Bosnia, he took ill and died on 29 November 1626, of natural causes. He was buried in
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, entertai ...
.
Notes
References
* Endnotes:
** F. Stieve, ''Ernst von Mansfeld'' (Munich, 1890)
**
R. Reuss, ''Graf Ernst von Mansfeld im böhmischen Kriege'' (Brunswick, 1865)
** A. C. de Villermont, ''Ernest de Mansfeldt'' (Brussels, 1866)
** L. Graf Uetterodt zu Scharfenberg, ''Ernst Graf zu Mansfeld'' (Gotha; 1867)
** J. Grossmann, ''Des Grafen Ernst von Mansfeld letzte Pläne und Thaten'' (Breslau, 1870)
** E. Fischer, ''Des Mansfelders Tod'' (Berlin, 1878)
**
S. R. Gardiner
Samuel Rawson Gardiner (4 March 1829 – 24 February 1902) was an English historian, who specialized in 17th-century English history as a prominent foundational historian of the Puritan revolution and the English Civil War.
Life
The son of ...
, ''History of England'', vols. iv. and v. (1901);
**
J. L. Motley, ''Life and Death of John of Barneveld'' (ed. 1904; vol. ii)
Further reading
Ernst von Mansfeld- notification (also in English) concerning the latest biography about the mercenary leader (published in September 2010)
Book review and summary (in English)of the German biography mentioned before
External links
Ernst von Mansfeld
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansfield, Ernst, Graf Von
1580s births
1626 deaths
Ernst
Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst"
* Anton Ernst (1975-) ...
German mercenaries
Counts of Germany
Military personnel of the Thirty Years' War
People of the Anglo-Spanish War (1625–1630)