Francis of Mercy

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Francis of Mercy

Franz Freiherr von Mercy , Herr zu Mandre und Collenberg (* 1597 in Longwy , Lorraine , † August 3, 1645 in Alerheim ) was Imperial and Bavarian War Council , Field Marshal General , Chamberlain and Governor of Ingolstadt , and from 1643 Commander-in-Chief of the Bavarian Army in the Thirty Years' War . Mercy is considered one of the most capable military commanders of his time, he achieved great successes against French armies, which he prevented several times from invading southern Germany and pushed back across the Rhine .

Live and act

Mercy was born in Longwy around 1597 and came from an old noble family in Lorraine . His parents are Pierre Ernest de Mercy , Governor of Longwy and Chamberlain of Duke Charles. III of Lorraine , and Anne du Hautoy . Mercy was the second oldest child and had a total of nine siblings. Two brothers also reached high ranks in the imperial or Bavarian army, the older brother Heinrich (* 1596; † 1656/59) rose to field marshal lieutenant in the imperial military service, while the younger brother Kaspar often served together with or under Franz and in 1644 as Bavarian general sergeant before Freiburg fell. Other younger brothers were Maximilian, who joined the Benedictine order, and Ludwig, who was fatally wounded in 1633 as a captain in the defense of Constance . Little is known about the other brothers Anton, Errard and Pierre Ernest (II) as well as the two sisters.

At a young age Mercy began his armed service in the Bavarian army and changed to imperial service at the beginning of the Thirty Years War under Charles IV of Lorraine . Mercy had become a captain around 1625, and in 1626 he was named chamberlain to Archduke Leopold V of Tyrol . In 1631 he fought as colonel sergeant with distinction in the battle of Breitenfeld near Leipzig , in which the imperial family suffered a heavy defeat and Mercy himself was wounded. In 1633 he was colonel of a regiment in Constance, which he successfully defended against attacks by the Swedes under Gustaf Horn .

On March 2, 1634, Mercy was briefly captured by the enemy in a battle near Thann against the Rhine Count Otto Ludwig von Salm-Kyrburg-Mörchingen . Soon afterwards it was exchanged and from April onwards it was able to hold the city of Rheinfelden for months against a Swedish army under the command of the Rheingrafen. Mercy did not surrender the city to the enemy until August 29, against free withdrawal of the garrison, after his defenders ran out of food and a famine broke out. Because of his long defense of Rheinfeld and the hesitant departure of the Rheingrafen, he arrived too late in Nördlingen to avert the defeat there.

From 1635 to 1638 Mercy served as sergeant-general in the army of Charles of Lorraine in Alsace and the Free County of Burgundy , in order to defend the Habsburg territories in what was later to be called the Ten Years War , the partial conflict of the Thirty Years' War. In 1636 the imperial army stationed in Lorraine and Burgundy under Matthias Gallas planned an attack on Paris from the south, but was continuously attacked in advance by French troops and the Weimaraners allied with them . Mercy took part in the course of these battles in the siege of Colmar , in the relief of the French besieged Dole and in the battle of Gray . In 1638 Mercy entered Bavarian service in the rank of general field master craftsman . In 1641 he commanded a Bavarian corps against the Duke of Longueville in the Lower Palatinate . In the same year he took part with the Bavarian troops in the Imperial campaign under Leopold Wilhelm and Piccolomini to Lower Saxony and fought near Wolfenbüttel and Göttingen .

In January 1641, a Bavarian army under Mercy had the task of protecting the Electoral Congress in Regensburg from a foreseeable attack by the Swedes under Banér after a Swedish raid troop had been able to cross the frozen Danube. Coming from the north, however, the main Swedish army did not succeed in crossing the Danube, whose ice cover had surprisingly thawed. In the pursuit of the Swedish army to Bohemia , the imperial-Bavarian vanguard under Mercy's brother Kaspar at Neukirchen-Balbini met the Swedish rearguard under Erik Slang , which Kaspar was able to throw to Neunburg vorm Wald and lock up where the imperial-Bavarian army then took over Sweden captured. In 1642 Franz von Mercy was accepted into the Fruitful Society by Prince Ludwig I of Anhalt-Köthen under the company name The Advertiser . At the same time, other imperial and Bavarian generals such as Piccolomini and Kaspar von Mercy were accepted into the society, largely due to the fact that the principalities of Anhalt were the deployment area of ​​the imperial troops at this time, which were accompanied by the Bavarian army until the beginning of 1642, and the prince promised himself a gentler treatment of the country.

In 1642 Franz von Mercy received the command of the Bavarian troops in Swabia . In the course of the year he succeeded in driving the opposing troops from Swabia and parts of the Breisgau to the forest towns . In the following year 1643, Mercy prevented the Weimaraner army under French Marshal Guébriant from invading Bavaria, and on May 31, Mercy was appointed field marshal for his services. As the successor to Johann Joachim von Wahl , who was in poor health , he also assumed command of the entire Bavarian army. On November 24, 1643, Mercy commanded a united Bavarian army together with imperial men under Melchior von Hatzfeldt and Lorraine under Duke Karl, which attacked the Weimaran troops under the command of General Rantzau in their quarters in the battle of Tuttlingen , including almost the entire enemy army destroyed.

In May 1644 he successfully besieged Überlingen and at the same time blocked the Hohentwiel fortress . The opposing army of the Weimaraner had meanwhile been taken over and reinforced by Turenne , who was supposed to make the rest of the troops badly beaten at Tuttlingen fit for action again. During the siege of Überlingen, Turenne advanced from the left bank of the Rhine in the direction of Neustadt and Hüfingen , defeated Mercy's brother Kaspar there, but on June 8th retreated across the Rhine to the Colmar area. Mercy then broke off the blockade of the Hohentwiel and followed Turenne to Freiburg, which had been under French occupation since 1638. The Bavarian army began to besiege the city, while Turenne's Weimaraner camped first near Breisach, then near Krozingen , with 10,000 men not strong enough to attack Mercy. The French dispatched Louis d'Enghien (later known as Le Grand Condé ) from Sedan in July to support Turenne and prevent the Bavarians from advancing further. On July 29th, the French commandant handed Freiburg over to Mercy when Enghien was at Zabern.

Turenne and Enghien did not unite their troops until August 1st at Krozingen and now advanced with a superior force against Mercy. This succeeded with his troops in the battle of Freiburg im Breisgau from 3rd to 5th August 1644 to repel the Franco-Weimar army under the command of Enghien and to hold Freiburg. The Bavarian troops first defended themselves on the Bohl, a fortified mountain foothill near Ehaben , on the night of August 4th they settled on the Lorettoberg above Freiburg unnoticed by the opponents and built new fortifications at an enormous speed. The French were repulsed in their last attack on August 5th by Kaspar von Mercy, who was killed in the process. After three days of rest, Enghien decided on August 9, against Turenne's advice, not to continue attacking Freiburg, but to march into Glottertal to cut Franz von Mercy from his connections to the rear. Mercy recognized the French plan and set off with his troops in good time via Eschbach to St. Peter , where Mercy's rearguard fought off the head of the Weimaran army under General Rosen on August 10th . As a result, Mercy moved across the Black Forest to Heilbronn , while Turenne and Enghien went to the Rhine plain to besiege the imperial fortress Philippsburg . Tactically, the losing battles for Freiburg were a success for Mercy, who maintained the conquered city and with his army withstood a superior force of his opponents. Strategically, the French gained an advantage when they subsequently invaded the poorly defended Rhine plain and largely brought it under their control by autumn 1644.

Mercy had just united with the imperial under Hatzfeldt near Neckarsulm on September 8th when Philippsburg surrendered to the French. An advance department sent by Mercy to Mainz could not prevent the handover of this city by the cathedral chapter on September 17th. Almost all garrisons on the Rhine between Philippsburg and Koblenz with the exception of the Spanish-occupied Frankenthal surrendered to the French. By the end of 1644, the Bavarian troops only retook Mannheim on October 17th and Höchst am Main on November 7th. With the latter, the connection with the allies in Kurköln and the Spanish Netherlands could be secured again.

The next year, the Imperial Bavarian Army under Mercy's command was also successful in the battle of Herbsthausen on May 5, 1645, in which Turenne suffered one of his few defeats at all. In the battle of Alerheim near Nördlingen , Mercy was killed by a musket ball on August 3, 1645 , when he led reinforcements to the focus of the action. His body was first brought to Donauwörth on an artillery truck and then to Ingolstadt the next day. The captured French Marshal Gramont was amazed at the exuberant reception that Mercy received from the people of the city who had rushed to the gates. He was very popular and highly regarded in Ingolstadt, where he had been the fortress commander and governor.

Franz Freiherr von Mercy had not enriched himself like so many other military commanders, which was the rule at the time. His contemporaries call him the most disinterested general of the entire Thirty Years War. Elector Maximilian , who was shocked by Mercy's death, assigned his widow to live in the city and as maintenance the entire income of the Lieutenancy of Ingolstadt. He transferred the position of chief owner of the Mercy regiment to the first-born little son Max Leopold and the command of his uncle, Lieutenant Colonel von Elter.

family

Mercy was married three times in total. His first wife was Anna Margareta Bonn von Wachenheim, who lived until at least 1628. In 1630 Mercy married his second wife Anna Margareta von Schauenburg, a daughter of the bailiff of the Ortenau , Johann Rainer von Schauenburg , and niece of Mercy's then superior Hannibal von Schauenburg . Anna Margareta von Schauenburg died in Besançon in 1636 while her husband was fighting in Burgundy. He married the third and last wife Maria Magdalena von Flachsland in 1638, she was supposed to survive her husband.

The daughter Claudia (* 1631; † May 5, 1708) from Mercy's second marriage married the Bavarian court master Count Bonaventura von Fugger (1619-1693) on November 14, 1649 . All three surviving sons of Mercy entered the military. The eldest son, Max Leopold, was the imperial sergeant-general in 1678, it is unclear from which marriage he came. Secured from the third marriage comes the second son Peter Ernst von Mercy (* approx. 1640 † 1686), who fell in the Great Turkish War . His son was the field marshal and Banat regional administrator Claudius Florimund Mercy , who died in 1734 and was the last male descendant of Franz von Mercy. The twins Ferdinand Franz and Anna Franziska were born posthumously in 1645. Ferdinand Franz died in 1683 as commander of the Bavarian fortress of Ingolstadt as a result of the campaign to relieve Vienna . Anna Franziska († 1707) married the Breisgau baron Johann Erhard Maria von Falkenstein and was the mother of the Csanád bishop Adalbert von Falkenstein .

Mercy as commander

Mercy was distinguished by the speed of his decisions and his calm. His contemporary and opponent on the battlefield, Marshal Gramont , writes in his memoir:

“But Mercy, who had solved the Heilbronn affair so well, had no less astuteness to predict that of Schwäbisch Hall. With the greatest possible hurry he was there before us, covering this place. This leads me to speak of an utterly unique cause and of the superiority of this general. During the entire length of the two long campaigns waged against him by the Duke of Anguien, the Marshal of Gramont, and the Marshal of Turenne, they never decided in their council of war that was to the advantage of the king's arms and consequently harmful to those of the emperor, whom Mercy would not have guessed and foresaw himself, as if he had been fourth with them on the council of war or as if they had given him confidential information of their intention. It must be admitted that the source from which such generals come has long since run dry and those I knew during the war were less astute and more limited in intelligence. "

- Marshal Gramont

Prince Condé said:

“In the two campaigns (1644 and 1645) in which I fought against Mercy, Mercy did not take a step that did not bear the stamp of the highest ability. He always knew my designs as precisely as if he had been a member of my council of war. "

- Prince Condé

With an excellent eye, he knew how to use every terrain to his advantage, which is particularly evident in the positions of Dürrwangen and Alerheim, and how to effectively distribute the masses. He did not stick to the usual tactics, but improved the weapons service according to the latest principles of his time. He divided the infantry into battalions to make them more mobile. Mercy reduced the number of pikemen and put the squadrons only three ranks deep. He made the artillery more agile and began to combine the branches of arms for mutual support. He deviated from the previously usual order of battle, in which the center consisted only of infantry and the wings of cavalry. The terrain was crucial to the order of battle he chose. His operations were consistent and withstood recent critical assessments. With all of this he was a devout Christian who cared for his soldiers. He personally monitored the catering in particular and remedied occasional deficiencies as quickly as possible.

Remembrance and commemoration

Bust of Franz v. Mercy in the Hall of Fame in Munich

By order of Elector Maximilian, Mercy was buried on September 4, 1645 in the Moritzkirche in Ingolstadt. The entry in Latin can be found in the death register of the responsible parish:

“4. Septembris 1645 In parochiali ecclesia nostra Mauritiana cum solemni pompa funebri Sepultus est Perrilustris ac Generosus Dominus Franciscus LB de Mercy, Dominus in Mandre et Collenburg, Generalis campi Mareschalcus et Ingolstadianae urbis Praa milesefectus, qui tertio die Augustus gluiti in proelio ".

"4. September 1645 In our Moritz parish church, the famous and noble Mr. Franz Freiherr von Mercy, Mr. zu Mandre and Collenberg, field marshal and governor of Ingolstadt, who died on August 3rd as a glorious officer, was buried in a solemn funeral procession. "

In this church there is a round bronze plate 63.5 cm in diameter on the epistle side . Above is Mercy's coat of arms and below the inscription:

"Here is buried Weiland the high-born Mr. Frantz Frey Mr. von Merci, here to Mandre and Collenberg, known Roman. Quays. May. Also Churfürstl. Drch. In Bairn and Camerer, respectively, War Raht General Feld marshalk, appointed obrister and governor of Ingolstadt who shot a bullet through alern onfern nerdlingen and left his life knightly before the enemy on August 3, 1645, whose soul God be merciful and merciful wölle: his age in the 48th year. "

The grave is in the choir of the church and was marked with a small stone slab with the inscription:

"Franciscus Lib. Baro de Mercy obiit Aug. 3, 1645"

This plate was destroyed in World War II. A replacement was not provided.

At the place of his death in Alerheim , a stone with the inscription STA VIATOR HEROEM CALCAS (Stand wanderer, you are visiting a hero!) Was erected, allegedly at the instigation of Condé. Between 1881 and 1884 it was demolished by the then owner of the property and built into its garden wall. At that time it probably no longer had a legible inscription.

In 1970 another memorial stone was erected with the same Latin text and the following addition:

“IN THIS PLACE, ON AUGUST 3, 1645, IN THE BLOODY MEETING AT ALERHEIM, THE CHURBAN FIELD MARSHAL FRANZ FREI-HERR VON MERCY FALLED. 8,000 MEN DIED WITH HIM. "

Franz Freiherr von Mercy's bust was placed in the Hall of Fame in Munich. There is a Mercystraße in Ingolstadt and Freiburg im Breisgau .

literature

Web links

Commons : Franz von Mercy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Andreas Pechtl: Again Grimmelshausen's "brave general" Franz von Mercy. Comments and additions to the contribution by Martin Ruch. In: Simpliciana , XXXI, 2009, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2010, pp. 479–504.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Adolf Schinzl:  Mercy, Franz Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 414-419.
  3. ↑ Martin Ruch: Grimmelshausen's "brave general" Franz von Mercy and the Mercy'sche Hof in Gengenbach. In: Simpliciana , XXX, 2008, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2009, p. 162.
  4. ↑ a b c d Helmut Neuhaus:  Mercy, Franz Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 125 f. ( Digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Bernd Warlich: Salm in Kirburg, Mörchingen and Tronecken, Otto Ludwig, Wild and Rheingraf from in: The Thirty Years' War in personal reports, chronicles and reports ; accessed on April 28, 2020
  6. ^ Karl Wittich :  Otto Ludwig, Wild and Rheingraf . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 730-734.
  7. ↑ Constantin von Wurzbach : Mercy, Franz Freiherr von . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 17th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1867, p. 394 f. ( Digitized version ).
  8. ^ Christian Pantle: The Thirty Years' War. When Germany was on fire . Propylaen Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-549-07443-5 , p. 249 ff .
  9. ↑ Bernd Warlich: Erik Klarson Slang . In: The Thirty Years' War in personal testimonies, chronicles and reports ; accessed on April 28, 2020
  10. ↑ Martin Ruch: Grimmelshausen's "brave general" Franz von Mercy and the Mercy'sche Hof in Gengenbach. In: Simpliciana , XXX, 2008, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2009, p. 163.
  11. ^ Bernhard von Poten :  Wahl, Johann Joachim Graf von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 40, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, p. 592 f.
  12. ↑ a b c Rudolf Schott: The fighting in front of Freiburg im Breisgau, the conquest of Philippsburg and the sieges of several cities on the Rhine in 1644. Military history journal , Volume 24: Issue 2. De Gruyter, 1978.
  13. ↑ a b Lothar Höbelt: From Nördlingen to Jankau. Imperial strategy and warfare 1634-1645 . In: Republic of Austria, Federal Minister for National Defense (Hrsg.): Writings of the Army History Museum Vienna . tape 22 . Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-73-3 , p. 399-401 .
  14. ↑ a b Martin Ruch: Grimmelshausen's “brave general” Franz von Mercy and the Mercy'sche Hof in Gengenbach. In: Simpliciana , XXX, 2008, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2009, p. 169.
  15. ↑ a b Community of Alerheim: Memorial stone to Field Marshal Franz Freiherr von Mercy. In: www.alerheim.eu. Retrieved August 6, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Mercy, Franz von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mercy, Franz Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION General of the Catholic League in the Thirty Years War
DATE OF BIRTH 1597
PLACE OF BIRTH Longwy , Lorraine
DATE OF DEATH August 3, 1645
Place of death Alerheim