Hans Adam von Schöning (1 October 1641 – 28 August 1696) was a ''

Generalfeldmarschall ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (from Old High German ''marahscalc'', "marshal, stable master, groom"; en, general field marshal, field marshal general, or field marshal; ; often abbreviated to ''Feldmarschall'') was a rank in the armies of several ...

'' in the service of

Brandenburg-Prussia Brandenburg-Prussia (german: Brandenburg-Preußen; ) is the historiographic denomination for the early modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenz ...

and the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...

. Schöning was born at

Tamsel Schloss Tamsel is a significant historical estate in the Brandenburg Neumark region. The estate is located in what is today the small village of Dąbroszyn, Lubusz Voivodeship, Dąbroszyn, Poland, and consists of a manor house, a church and a par ...

near Küstrin in the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out o ...

. He was well-connected by marriage, his uncle being Field Marshal

Georg von Derfflinger Georg von Derfflinger (20 March 1606 – 14 February 1695) was a field marshal in the army of Brandenburg-Prussia during and after the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Early years Born 1606 at Neuhofen an der Krems in Austria, into a family o ...

and his daughter being married to Colonel Ludwig

von Blumenthal The von Blumenthal family are Lutheran and Roman Catholic German nobility, originally from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them Je ...

, a nephew of Field Marshal von Dünewald and brother-in-law of General Carl Friedrich von Schlippenbach (1658–1753). His descendants include Field Marshal von Wrangel, granddaughter Luise Eleonore Wreech (1708–1784), a nephew - the military historian Kurd von Schöning and the

rocket scientist Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

. Upon completing his studies at the University of Wittenberg (1657-1659) and Strasbourg University (1659/60), he traveled in Europe for several years. But upon the death of his parents, he returned to the family estate in 1964. Von Schöning died on 28 August 1696 in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

and was buried in the chapel at

in Dąbroszyn. Hans Adam von Schöning was the owner of an estate in Brzoza.

Family

Hans Adams parents were Hans Adam (d 1664), squire of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

, and Marianne (born in Schapelow). He married Johanna Margarethe Luise, of Pöllnitz, in 1668. He had two sons, Boguslaus,

Lieutenant Colonel, and Johann (Hans) Ludwig of

Chamberlain, and Lieutenant Colonel.

Military career

He distinguished himself in many military campaigns, including the

Turkish Wars A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in ...

, the

Nine Years War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

against France, and the war against Sweden 1675-79 particularly during the conquest of

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

and

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

and in the expulsion of Sweden from Prussia. He famously quarreled with General von Barfus, and was eventually arrested for supposedly plotting to bring Saxony over to the French. Between 1677 and 1684, Schöning was regimental chef of the 1st Prussian Infantry Regiment. In 1689 he took part in the successful Siege of Bonn.

Schloss Tamsel

Field-Marshal von Schöning later built a castle in

, Brandenburg (now Dabroszyn/Dąbroszynie, Poland). A neo-gothic church on the estate contains a mausoleum for the von Schöning, von Wreech and von Dönhoff families.

Biography

Schöning, K. Wolfgang von. (1837), The life and wartime deeds of Field Marshal Hans Adam von Schöning on Tamsel: namely his campaign with 8,000 Brandenburgers against the Turks. A contribution to the recognition of the time conditions in the Electoral Brandenburg and Electoral Saxon lands during the second half of the 17th century. With portraits of the field marshal and 55 facsimiles of signatures of distinguished contemporaries. Lüderitz, Berlin 1837

External links

Sächsische Biografie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoning, Hans 1641 births 1696 deaths Field marshals of Prussia Field marshals of Saxony People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg German military personnel of the Nine Years' War