Christoph of Baden-Durlach (1603–1632)

Margrave Christoph von Baden-Durlach (* March 6th ^July / March 16, 1603 ^greg. , † April 30, 1632 outside Ingolstadt ) was an officer ( colonel ) in the Protestant-Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War .

Life

He was the youngest of three surviving sons of Margrave Georg Friedrich von Baden-Durlach and his wife Juliane Ursula von Salm- Neufville. Like his brothers, he was also dubbed Margrave , but without ruling his own territory.

With the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, the father became active as a military leader on the Protestant side. In order not to endanger the margraviate, he ceded the rule to his eldest son Friedrich (V) . His brother Christoph joined Ernst von Mansfeld and commanded one of the two bodyguard regiments in his army . In 1624, after the defeat of the Palatinate, Baden and Mansfeld troops, Christoph returned to Baden with his second brother Karl. In 1625 he negotiated with Cardinal Richelieu on behalf of his father .

In the summer of 1630 Christoph visited his father, who was staying in Geneva at the time, and then traveled on to the French king , where he tried in vain for a place in his army.

After Gustav Adolf's successful intervention in the war, numerous Protestant princes, including his ruling brother Friedrich, allied with the Swedes at the end of 1631. Christoph joined the Swedish army advancing to Bavaria in early 1632 and became colonel (commander) of the infantry regiment Friedrich Moritz von Uslar (whose namesake had previously died).

After the victory at Rain am Lech on April 14th, Margrave Christoph was one of the nobles who accompanied Gustav Adolf and the former "Winter King" when they moved into Augsburg and took part in the thanksgiving service in the St. Anna Church .

The army then moved on towards Ingolstadt , where the defeated Bavarian army had withdrawn with the dying Johann T'Serclaes von Tilly , and began sieging the fortress on April 29th . The next day, Gustav Adolf and some companions, including Christoph von Baden, went on an exploratory ride to inspect the condition of the enemy fortifications. Obviously, the range of enemy guns was underestimated and they came under fire. A cannonball killed Christoph von Baden with a direct hit on the head and then smashed the leg of the horse of the king riding next to him, who got away with minor injuries. The dead horse was recovered and groomed by the Ingolstadt residents and still exists today under the name “ Swedish horse ”.

The dead margrave was brought back to his homeland. Before that, all of the army's firearms, from cannons to pistols, had been fired twice in his honor . King Gustav Adolf gave a funeral speech (included in the Theatrum Europaeum ), in which he used the events as an opportunity to remind people that he was just as mortal and endangered as the simplest soldier in his army. In addition, he justified his campaign, which he led not for his own enrichment, but for the just cause, i.e. the restoration of the rights of the German Protestants.

The regiment previously commanded by the margrave of Baden was taken over by Wilhelm von Wendt zu Cratzenstein . The siege of Ingolstadt was unsuccessfully called off after five days.

Since Christoph's brother Karl had already died in 1625, Friedrich V remained the sole heir and the problem of the inheritance distribution of Durlach's possessions, which had threatened every generation up to now , did not even arise. In 1649 Friedrich finally established the indivisibility of the margraviate in his will.

Individual evidence

^ Walter Krüssmann: Ernst von Mansfeld (1580-1626). Count's son, mercenary leader, war entrepreneur against Habsburg in the Thirty Years War (= historical research. Vol. 94). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010
^ Karl Obser : Margrave Georg Friedrich von Baden-Durlach and the project of a diversion on the Upper Rhine (1623-1627) In: ZGO 44 (= NF 5), pp. 215, 221f, 237–242
^ Martin Opitz , Klaus Conermann (ed.): Correspondence and testimonies: critical edition with translation , Volume 1, Walter de Gruyter, 2009, p. 856, note 18
↑ Bernd Warlich, www.30jaehrigerkrieg.de: Baden-Durlach, Christoph von , In: The Thirty Years War in testimonials, chronicles and reports (accessed in March 2016)
↑ Thuringian University and State Library Jena : Central German testimonials from the time of the Thirty Years' War: Alphabetical index of people in Volkmar Happe’s testimony (accessed in March 2016)

personal data
SURNAME	Christoph of Baden-Durlach
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Christoph of Baden
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Margrave son of Baden and officer in the Thirty Years War
DATE OF BIRTH	March 16, 1603
DATE OF DEATH	April 30, 1632
Place of death	near Ingolstadt

[1] Walter Krüssmann: Ernst von Mansfeld (1580-1626). Count's son, mercenary leader, war entrepreneur against Habsburg in the Thirty Years War (= historical research. Vol. 94). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010

[2] Karl Obser : Margrave Georg Friedrich von Baden-Durlach and the project of a diversion on the Upper Rhine (1623-1627) In: ZGO 44 (= NF 5), pp. 215, 221f, 237–242

[3] Martin Opitz , Klaus Conermann (ed.): Correspondence and testimonies: critical edition with translation , Volume 1, Walter de Gruyter, 2009, p. 856, note 18

[4] Bernd Warlich, www.30jaehrigerkrieg.de: Baden-Durlach, Christoph von , In: The Thirty Years War in testimonials, chronicles and reports (accessed in March 2016)

[5] Thuringian University and State Library Jena : Central German testimonials from the time of the Thirty Years' War: Alphabetical index of people in Volkmar Happe’s testimony (accessed in March 2016)