Anton Sztáray from Nagy-Mihaly

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Anton Count Sztáray of Nagy-Mihaly

Anton Count Sztáray von Nagy-Mihaly , also Anton Count Sztáray von Sztára and Nagy-Mihály , (* 1740 in Kaschau ; † 23 January 1808 in Graz ) was kk chamberlain and officer (1800: general field master ) during the wars with the Ottoman Empire , the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars as well as commander of the Military Maria Theresa Order and Knight of the Order of Malta .

origin

The Sztáray family, belonging to the Hungarian nobility, descends from the Bavarian Count Wencellin Jack von Watzenburg. That count led the from Emperor Otto III. troops sent to help King Stephen I of Hungary against the prince Cuba who had fallen away from Christianity , defeated the enemy a. received goods in Hungary from King Stephen as a reward . Nagy-Mihály owned the family since 1240.

Emperor Sigismund gave the family a letter of arms for Adalbert von Nagy-Mihály issued on March 3, 1418 in Constance. Emperor Charles VI. On June 23, 1725, the dynasty was raised to the status of Hungarian barons and Emperor Franz I granted Imre Nagymihalyi and Baron Sztáray the dignity of count on April 6, 1747.

Anton was a son from the second marriage of Count Imre Sztáray (1698–1769) with Therese Du Bois de la Tournelle.

Life

Florennes Castle
Battle of Hohenlinden

Anton joined the Imperial Austrian Infantry Regiment No. 19 "Leopold Pálffy" as an ensign in 1759 , and took part in the Battle of Kunersdorf (August 12, 1759), the Battle of Landeshut (June 23, 1760) and during the Seven Years' War Battle of Liegnitz (August 15, 1760) and the conquest of the Silesian fortress Schweidnitz (October 1, 1761). In addition to the rank tour, he was promoted to captain in infantry regiment No. 52 "Károlyi" for his achievements in battle . In this regiment he became first major in 1772 , lieutenant colonel on August 16, 1773 and received the vacant Khuen's grenadier battalion on October 25, 1778.

With this battalion Sztáray successfully defended Freihermersdorf against the attacking Prussian troops under General Matthias Ludwig von Lossow during the War of the Bavarian Succession on January 13, 1779 . Because of his special achievements he was appointed colonel and commander of the 1st Székler Border Infantry Regiment. On February 17, 1779 he managed to hold both positions at Pfaffenberg and Mesnik with only one battalion from Székler against five Prussian battalions.

As a colonel in Infantry Regiment No. 33 "Prince Nikolaus Esterházy" he was able to distinguish himself again in the Turkish Wars. After he had stormed the fortress Schabatz on April 27, 1788 on the express order of Emperor Franz II with a battalion and three guns and on October 12, 1788 (rank of October 4 of the year) to major general and owner of the 1st Székler border infantry Regiment had been promoted, Sztáray was wounded twice in the successful storming of Belgrade on September 30, 1789 and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Maria Theresa Order on December 12 of that year (19th doctorate).

At the beginning of 1792 the Kaiser entrusted him with a brigade command in the Austrian Netherlands . Shortly after the outbreak of the First Coalition War with France in April 1792, Sztáray won the battle near Florennes on May 23, 1792 , then the Count commanded the retreat of the Austrian troops under Field Marshal Duke Albert Casimir von Sachsen-Teschen in the province of Limburg in November 1792 Army avant-garde . For these services, the count was promoted to field marshal lieutenant on December 29, 1793 (rank of December 17 of the year) . At the beginning of June 1796 Sztáray took over the command of the right wing (20 battalions, 4 companies and 36 squadrons, a total of around 21,500 men) of the Imperial and Royal Upper Rhine Army of Feldzeugmeister Count Maximilian Baillet von Latour . On June 14th and 15th, 1796, he repulsed the attacks of Jean-Victor Moreau's French Rhine-Moselle army near Maudach am Rehbach ; later he fought under the command of Archduke Karl in the battles near Malsch (July 9, 1796) and Neresheim (August 11, 1796), where he each commanded an attack column.

In mid-August 1796 he belonged to the Imperial and Royal Upper Rhine Army with which Archduke Karl moved north to defeat the French Sambre-Maas Army under the command of Jean-Baptiste Jourdans . Sztáray played a particularly prominent role in the victorious battle of Würzburg , because he did not wait until the French started the main attack against the Austrians, but instead faced Jourdan with his division on the morning of September 2, 1796, thus gaining the necessary time, until Archduke Karl and the main force of his army could rush to reinforce the battlefield. For his achievements in the victorious battle of Würzburg, Count von Sztáray was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa on September 18, 1796 (45th doctorate). In the extremely bitter battle for Diersheim (April 20/21, 1797) he was in command on the Austrian side and was seriously wounded in the course of the battle on April 21, 1797.

At the beginning of the Second Coalition War, Sztáray commanded the right wing corps of the Imperial and Royal Main Army under Archduke Karl in Swabia in the campaign of 1799 and secured the Neckar Valley against the French army at Philippsburg . In the victorious battle of Wiesloch on December 2nd and 3rd, he drove the French Rhine Army under Division General Lecourbe from the right bank of the Rhine, freed the heavily oppressed Philippsburg fortress from the French blockade and became Feldzeugmeister on March 1st, 1800. After the defeat of Hohenlinden (December 3, 1800), Archduke Karl took over the supreme command of the main army in Germany and gave the Sztáray the command of the so-called Bohemian-Moravian Legion.

After the Peace of Lunéville , which ended the Second Coalition War, Feldzeugmeister Count von Sztáray was appointed commanding general in Inner Austria and Upper Austria in 1801 . In February 1806 he finally retired and retired to Graz, where he died barely two years later without being married.

Coat of arms of the Count Sztáray of Nagy-Mihaly 1747

coat of arms

1747: In the blue shield a golden black grooved castle wall with a half-open gate in the middle. The wall has four battlements, and on two of them there is a magpie of a natural color facing inwards, both of which hold a golden ring with their beaks. A crowned helmet rises above the count's crown, which bears the two magpies of the shield. The helmet covers are gold and blue, and two Hungarian warriors in their national costume are holding the shield in both hands. - The magpies also appear on the central battlements.

literature

  • Archduke Karl of Austria-Teschen : History of the 1799 campaign in Germany . Verlag Strauss, Vienna 1819 ( digitized version ).
  • Franz Joseph Adolf Schneidawind: History of the French campaign in Germany 1796 . Printed and published by Carl Wilhelm Leske, Darmstadt 1837.
  • Jaromir Hirtenfeld: The military Maria Theresa order and its members . Publishing house of the bookstore for military literature Karl Prohaska, Vienna 1857.
  • Winterfeld: History of the 52nd Infantry Regiment . Vienna 1871.
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Sztáray, Anton Graf . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 42nd part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1880, pp. 258–261 ( digitized version ). * Adolf Schinzl:  Sztáray, Anton Graf . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, pp. 293-295.
  • German Adelsarchiv (Ed.): Genealogical manual of the count's houses . Volume 19 and Volume 146. Starke Verlag, Limburg ad Lahn 1959.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sztáray in: Pierer's Universal-Lexikon . Volume 17. Altenburg 1863, p. 178
  2. ↑ a b Prof. Dr. Ernst Heinrich Kneschke: "German count houses of the present: in heraldic, historical and genealogical relation", 3rd volume AZ, Verlag TO Weigel, Leipzig 1860, p. 401 f.
  3. ^ German Aristocratic Archives: "Genealogical Handbook of the Count's Houses", Volume 19 and Volume 146, Verlag Starke, Limburg ad Lahn 1959, p. 546
  4. ↑ http://www.geneall.net/W/per_page.php?id=1857185
  5. ↑ a b http://www.napoleon-online.de/AU_Generale/html/sztaray.html
  6. ↑ a b http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/mmto5.htm
  7. ^ Adolf Schinzl:  Sztáray, Anton Graf . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, pp. 293-295.
  8. ↑ Dr. Ignatius Aurelius Fessler: "The stories of the Ungern and their countrymen", 10th part, Verlag Johann Friedrich Gleditsch, Leipzig 1825, p. 697 ff.
  9. ^ Antonio Schmidt-Brentano: Imperial and Imperial Generals (1618-1815), Austrian State Archives / A. Schmidt-Brentano 2006, p. 100
personal data
SURNAME Sztáray from Nagy-Mihaly, Anton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sztáray from Sztára and Nagy-Mihály, Anton Graf; Sztáray of Nagy-Mihaly, Anton Graf (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian officer
DATE OF BIRTH 1740
PLACE OF BIRTH Košice
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1808
Place of death Graz