Erik slang

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Family coat of arms slang with command baton

Erik Slang (* 1600 ; † October 23, 1642 in Leipzig ) was Royal Swedish Major General in the Thirty Years' War .

Life

Origin and family

Erik Slang comes from a Finnish aristocratic family who started their line with Håkan Tidemansson († after 1505). His parents were the royal Swedish colonel, governor of Narwa and participant in the Helsinki state parliament from 1616, Claes Eriksson Slang († 1625) and Elin Johansdotter Boose († 1648). He was engaged to Agnes von Waldeck (1618–1651), a daughter of Count Christian Graf von Waldeck-Wildungen (1585–1637) and Countess Elisabeth von Nassau-Siegen (1584–1661). After a court settlement with Slang's mother, she received half of his estate in 1647 and finally married Count Johann Philipp III in 1650. from Leiningen-Dagsburg . The male line of his gender ended with Erik Slang .

Career

Slang was probably born in Finland , but was raised at the court of Gustavus Adolf . In 1625 he was accepted into the nobility class of the Swedish knighthood .

He began his military career as a cornet with Hans Wachtmeister af Björkö (1609–1652), with whom he moved to Germany . In 1635 he already led his own regiment of Finns for Johan Banér with the rank of lieutenant colonel . He carried out some successful actions in Brandenburg and was sent by Banér as negotiator to the elector . In 1636 he acted with his regiment in front of Magdeburg , his participation in the battle of Wittstock is assumed, but is not documented. This was followed by successful campaigns in Electoral Saxony in 1637 , in Mecklenburg in 1638 and again in Brandenburg and again in Saxony in 1639 with participation in the Battle of Chemnitz . Slang now moved into Bohemia , where, among other things, it raged badly when attacking Beraun by today's standards , leaving behind a lot of suffering and destruction. When the Swedes withdrew from Bohemia in March 1640, Slang led four regiments and covered Banér's right flank. Back in Saxony, he lost his right arm on May 11, 1640 when he was hit by a six-pounder while fighting near Saalfeld . Nevertheless, he moved to Bavaria with Banér's army in early 1641 to threaten the Reichstag , which was meeting in Regensburg . After the failure of the attack on the city, Slang was separated from the main army while retreating from Bavaria in March 1641 during skirmishes with the Imperialists and thrown from Mercy to Neunburg vorm Wald by a cavalry attack by Kaspar, where he was trapped by the Imperial Bavarian Army. He consistently refused the town's surrender, which led to the storming of the imperial family and Slang, together with Banér's brother and the Margrave of Baden, as well as 1,600 horsemen, 180 musketeers and around 90 officers, were captured.

In April 1642 slang was exchanged for Raimondo Montecuccoli . Back in the main army, he was immediately promoted to major general and went down in history in Neunburg as the "Swedish Leonidas" for his intransigence and bravery. In this connection he received some fiefs from the queen at Satakunda ; he had already inherited other estates from his father. On October 23, 1642, he was supposed to cover the left flank in the Battle of Leipzig Torstensson . After Slang was wounded five times during his twelve years in Germany, this time he lost his life at the beginning of the meeting and was buried in a local church.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Initially with No. 76, which was later changed to No. 106.
  2. ↑ a b Bernd Warlich: Erik Klarson Slang . In: The Thirty Years' War in personal testimonies, chronicles and reports ; accessed on August 1, 2020.
  3. ↑ Reference to the Spartan King Leonidas I , who opposed the Persians at Thermopylae in the minority .
personal data
SURNAME Slang, Erik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Slang, Erik Klarson; Slange, Erik; Snake, Erik; Schlang, Erik; Schleng, Erik; Slang (pseudonym); Schlangh, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish major general
DATE OF BIRTH 1600
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1642
Place of death Leipzig