Count Hans Christoff von Königsmarck, of

Tjust Tjust () was one of the small lands of Småland, Sweden. It was divided into the hundreds of Tjust Northern Hundred and Tjust Southern Hundred. It corresponds to Västervik Municipality and the southern part of Valdemarsvik Municipality. E ...

(4 March 1600 – 8 March 1663), son of Conrad von Königsmarck and Beatrix

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 ...

, was a German soldier who commanded Sweden's legendary

flying column A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ''ad hoc'' unit, formed during the course of operations. The term is usually, though not necessarily, appli ...

, a force which played a key role in the Swedish military strategy in 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 ...

Biography

He was born in Kötzlin,

Altmark :''See German tanker Altmark for the ship named after Altmark and Stary Targ for the Polish village named Altmark in German.'' The (English: Old MarchHansard, ''The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ...'', Volume 32. ...

. After serving as a page on the court of Prince Frederick Ulrich of Wolfenbüttel, he entered Imperial military service in 1620. After the dissolution of

Albrecht von 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 ...

's troops and Gustavus Adolphus' intervention, Königsmarck offered his services to the Swedish King. By 1635 he commanded his own

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

. He was appointed

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

in 1640, Governor-General of

Bremen-Verden ), which is a public-law corporation established in 1865 succeeding the estates of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (established in 1397), now providing the local fire insurance in the shown area and supporting with its surplusses cultural effor ...

in 1645,

Privy Councilor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1651 and Field Marshal in 1655. He is best known for the Siege of Prague between 25 June and 1 November 1648, where he managed to capture and loot the left-bank of Prague but failed to take the Old Town until fighting ended with news of the Peace of Westphalia. During the Second Northern War, Königsmarck was captured on a sea passage to the Polish front by Danzigian ships and held prisoner at Weichselmünde until 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 ...

1660. In 1655 Königsmarck erected a castle in Lieth and named it after his wife Agathe von Leesten. The name of the castle, Agathenburg, also became the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

of the village Lieth. Their children were: * Otto Wilhelm von Königsmarck * Conrad or Kurt Christoph von Königsmarck, whose children were: **

Karl Johann von Königsmarck Carl Johann von Königsmarck (15 May 1659 – 28 August 1686) was a Swedish count of Brandenburgian extraction and a soldier. Königsmarck was born in Nyborg in Funen, Denmark, as the second son of Count Kurt Christoph von Königsmarck and his w ...

** Maria Aurora von Königsmarck.Kenneth Meyer Setton, ''Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the Seventeenth Century'' (1991), p. 296 note 3
Google Books
** Amalia Wilhelmina von Königsmarck **

Philip Christoph von Königsmarck Philip Christoph von Königsmarck (4 March 1665 – 2 July 1694), also spelled Philipp, was a Swedish count and soldier. He was allegedly the lover of Sophia Dorothea, Princess of Celle, the wife of Duke George Louis of Brunswick and Lüneburg, ...

Beata Elisabet von Königsmarck Beata Elisabet von Königsmarck (1637–1723), was a Swedish countess and landowner. She was the daughter of Hans Christoff von Königsmarck and Barbara von Leist: through her brother, she was thereby the paternal aunt of Carl Johan von Kön ...

He died, aged 63, in Stockholm.

References

* :de:s:ADB:Königsmarck, Hans Christoph Graf von

Notes

External links

WorldCat page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Konigsmarck, Hans Christoff 1605 births 1663 deaths People from Kyritz Field marshals of Sweden Governors-General of Sweden Members of the Privy Council of Sweden Swedish people of the Thirty Years' War German emigrants to Sweden Swedish people of German descent Swedish nobility People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg 17th-century Swedish military personnel 17th-century Swedish politicians Military personnel of the Thirty Years' War