Federigo Savelli

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Federigo Savelli

Federigo Duca di Savelli , Signore di Poggio, Principe d'Albano, (also Friedrich Herzog von Savelli ; * in Rome ; † December 19, 1649 ) was a Roman prince and, as the imperial Habsburg field marshal, commander in chief of the imperial troops in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , Imperial Chamberlain and Ambassador of Ferdinand II in Rome, Imperial Court War Council and Lieutenant General of the Holy Roman Church.

He fought in the Thirty Years War with little success on the imperial side, but was more successful in defending the Papal States. He served both the Pope and the Emperor as envoy on several occasions.

Life

Federigo Savelli, also known in Germany as Friedrich (von) Savelli , came from the princely family of the Savelli, who were wealthy in Neapolitan and Milanese and held the office of Hereditary High Court Marshal of the Popes. With Honorius III. (Cencio Savelli) and his great-nephew Giacomo Savelli as Honorius IV , the family produced two popes of the 13th century and a few cardinals, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. On March 6, 1712, she died out with the death of Giulio Savelli. The Oberhofmarschallamt passed to Prince Augustino Chigi, whose descendants still have it today.

Federigo was born as the son of Bernardino Savelli († 1590), Signore di Palombara , 1st Duke of Castel Gandolfo, Marchese di Roccapriora , Marshal of the Holy Roman Church, from his marriage to Lucrezia dell'Anguillara († 1617).

After fighting in Hungary during the reign of Emperor Rudolf II , Pope Paul V made him General of Bologna , Ferrara and Romagna . Gregory XV. appointed him lieutenant general of the Roman Church and during the unrest in Valtellina Urban VIII declared him general of Ferrara again.

He then served in Germany in the service of Emperor Ferdinand II, who made him his chamberlain, and won the favor of Wallenstein . As the commander of the imperial troops in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania, he handed over the town of Demmin in Pomerania to the Swedes when King Gustav II Adolf invaded Germany . This handover and the previous bad defense put him in a bad light even with the enemy. Gustav Adolf advised him to serve his emperor better at court than in the army. Also Tilly complained to the emperor about him. Nevertheless, he was still in favor with Ferdinand II and, after Tilly's defeat in the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631), was sent to Rome as the imperial special envoy to Pope Urban VIII to ask for support against the Protestants . On January 19, 1635 he was appointed Imperial Feldzeugmeister .

After Ferdinand III's accession to the throne . In addition to the Bavarian general Johann von Werth , Savelli commanded an imperial Bavarian army in Alsace against the Duke of Weimar , who had begun to besiege the city of Rheinfelden in February 1638 very early in the year . For Bernhard, the imperial Bavarian army appeared surprisingly quickly on February 28, attacked the siege troops and forced them to flee quickly up the Rhine to Laufenburg. Instead of pursuing the fleeing troops of Bernhar, transporting away the cannons they had left behind and thus ensuring victory, the Imperial Bavarian mercenaries were distributed to the quarters and the cannons abandoned by the enemy were left on site. When the siege troops, which had initially been driven out, reappeared early in the morning three days later, the commanders of the Imperial Bavarian Army were totally surprised. While Salvelli fled with his troops, Werth faced battle but was defeated. Salvelli, who had initially hidden in the bushes, was also discovered. In this way, the battle of Rheinfelden , which had already been believed to be won, was lost and turned into a great victory for Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar, who was able to increase his army by 3000 men. Both defeated commanders - Savelli and Werth - were taken prisoner. Werth was extradited to France.

Savelli was locked in the town hall of Kleinlaufenburg , but was able to escape with the help of a woman. In revenge for his successful escape across the Rhine to Switzerland, the pastor, the chaplain and a Swedish sergeant (the latter for leaving his post) were executed shortly afterwards under the command of Johann von Nassau and Johann Ludwig von Erlach . (Blood deed by Laufenburg).

After that, Savelli, who became field marshal on April 28, 1638 , tried to prevent the conquest of Breisach with the new Bavarian general Johann von Götzen in August 1638 . Since this did not succeed due to another military mistake by Salvelli, he went back to the imperial court, where he was to be tried by a court martial. When he was able to prevent this because of his good relations with the Pope in Rome, he was sent back to Rome as an envoy.

As Urban VIII got into a war with Venice , Florence , Modena and Parma precisely because of the Duchy of Castro , the latter appointed him - with imperial permission - lieutenant general of the Church in the province of Perugia , where he established the Papal States, especially against the Grand Duke of Florence, successfully defended. He then resigned as commander in chief down, took back the character as an imperial envoy, and was as such in the election of Pope Innocent X there.

When the French besieged Orbetello in 1646 , he contributed a lot to the defense of the place and also tried to retake Portolongone and its fortress, but died over it in 1649.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Savelli, Friedrich Hertzog von. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 34, Leipzig 1742, column 300 f.
  2. ↑ a b entry (PDF; 453 kB) in the list of imperial and imperial generals by Antonio Schmidt-Brentano, Austrian State Archives, 2006, at oesta.gv.at, viewed June 23, 2009
  3. ^ A b Christian Pantle: The Thirty Years' War. When Germany was on fire . Propylaen Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-549-07443-5 , p. 228-232 .
  4. ^ Emil Jegge: The history of the Fricktal until 1803 , p. 158
personal data
SURNAME Savelli, Federigo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Savelli, Friedrich Herzog von (spelling after Zedler); Savelli, Federigo Duca di; Signore di Poggio; Principe d'Albano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman prince, imperial field marshal in the Thirty Years War
DATE OF BIRTH before 1591
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH December 19, 1649