Henry VIII of Ortenburg

Count Heinrich VIII (born August 9, 1594 at Waldeck Castle near Kemnath , † August 29, 1622 near Fleurus , Belgium) was the youngest of three sons of Count Heinrich VII von Ortenburg and his second wife Johannetta, Freiin von Winneberg. Heinrich came from the Bavarian noble house of Ortenburg . Since he was not the first-born son and the seniority succession was legally valid in the count family , his eldest brother Friedrich Casimir was the first successor to George IV as Count of Ortenburg . For this reason, Henry VIII dedicated himself to the art of war.

Live and act

Henry VIII was born on August 9th at Waldeck Castle and baptized in the faith of the Reformed Church . It can be assumed that he spent most of his childhood in the Waldeck estate , the official residence of his father Heinrich VII. He is said to have been looked after with responsible tasks at a young age.

In 1617 Count Ludwig von Löwenstein asked for help for the Republic of Venice and its conflict against Friuli . Heinrich followed his bid and went to the Dutch coast to embark. It was not possible to get to Venice by land, as the journey would have passed through Friuli. Count Heinrich VIII seems to have understood the war trade well at the age of 23, as a section of infantry was subordinate to him. The journey towards Venice began with Ludwig's flotilla, consisting of eleven ships. However, by the time the flotilla reached its destination, Friuli and Venice had already settled their conflict. So that the trip was not entirely in vain for Henry VIII, he made a beautifully elaborated nautical map on parchment with the route of the flotilla marked. He wanted to prove his extraordinary abilities to his peers.

Defense of the Elbow

In the same year Archduke Ferdinand II received the royal crown of Bohemia. His rigorous action against the Protestant estates of the kingdom triggered the Thirty Years' War with the fall of the window in Prague on May 27, 1618 . The Bohemian estates deposed Ferdinand as king and on August 26, 1619 elected Friedrich von der Pfalz as their new ruler. By removing Ferdinand, the estates hoped to prevent his coronation as emperor. Yet Ferdinand was surprisingly crowned emperor in Prague . Since then he has fought hard against the Protestant classes. The general of the Catholic League was Count Johann t'Serclaes von Tilly , general of the Bavarian Duke Maximilian I , on the Protestant side, Count Peter Ernst II von Mansfeld , a mercenary leader , led the troops.

Count Heinrich VIII had meanwhile entered the service of Duke Christian of Brunswick . At the age of 25, he was given command of 1,000 horses. In Mansfeld's army he moved to Prague via Eger , Elbogen and Karlsbad . On November 8, 1620 the battle of the White Mountains broke out , the great clash between the army of the Catholic League and the army of the Bohemian estates, with the main Bohemian army under Prince Christian [d. Ä.] Was decisively beaten by Anhalt. Mansfeld had withdrawn to Pilsen, which he was able to maintain for months after the Bohemian defeat. The Bohemian winter king , Elector Friedrich V of the Palatinate, then fled Bohemia, but held on to his Bohemian king title.

The castle and town of Loket , German name Elbogen.

The Protestants saw their impending defeat in front of their eyes, but Count von Mansfeld did not yet. He entrenched some of his men at important points in the Egerland . At Elbogen Castle and the town below, Czech name Loket , Count von Mansfeld installed Henry VIII as town commander and left him a garrison as support. Mansfeld himself moved on to the Ore Mountains .

The military leader on the Catholic side, Count Tilly, was angry that Mansfeld had anticipated him in the important city of Elbogen. He immediately sent troops to surround and besiege this city and fortress. When the Ortenburger found out about the approaching troops, he did not want to make things too easy for the Bavarian troops and not leave the city without a fight. So he had all the houses in the suburbs outside the city wall demolished and burned down. The city also began to make bulwarks. The city walls and towers were also occupied. Henry VIII finally sent a messenger to Count Mansfeld in the Ore Mountains and asked for support.

The Bavarian troops reached Elbogen on February 2nd and positioned themselves at a height opposite the city. The army commander had the cannon batteries set up there. From then on, the city and the castle were under attack. On March 28, 1621 a commander of the Bavarian army wrote that the castle had previously been considered impregnable because it was only accessible from one side, all other sides were secured by 30 meter high rock. The cannons were supposed to wear down the city and bring it down.

Count Henry VIII, on the other hand, had the gaps that were shot in the city walls and defensive walls during the day filled up and closed again at night. This made an onslaught of the Bavarian troops impossible. The bombardment of the city continued until April 8, before the Bavarians had to withdraw without having achieved anything.

Four days later, on Easter Monday, April 12, 1621, the Bavarians returned and began to bombard the city again. A Saxon army, which was allied with the Bavarians, also arrived. This began to open fire on the castle on April 19th. Nevertheless, the two armies still had no success in shooting the city ready for attack.

The field marshal of the Catholic League, Count Tilly, was angry at this news, and the tenacity of the defense lawyers was a thorn in his side. So he himself came up with an army of soldiers from Pilsen . Once on the battlefield, Tilly threatened the councilors that if he resisted for a longer period of time, he would destroy the city and turn it into a pile of stones. In order to emphasize his demands, he had his most powerful gun, a twenty-four pounder, set up opposite the city. He immediately started firing. This worked because the first bullet hit the town hall, in which the councilors were meeting at that moment. However, Count Tilly soon had to stop the bombardment because the powder stocks of the Bavarian and Saxon armies were exhausted.

Count Tilly then offered an honorable retreat to Henry VIII on May 7, 1621, which he accepted under the following conditions: "The crew could withdraw with flying flags, burning fuses and bullets in their mouths. The occupiers were not allowed to fight against Catholic troops for 3 months League fight. The baggage should remain with the Count of Ortenburg, his officers and soldiers, including captured horses, for which the wagons are added to take away the injured and damaged. " Tilly thus moved into the badly shot city.

On the same day, Count Mansfeld arrived at Elbogen with 8,000 men, but too late because the city had already been handed over. Count Henry VIII had nevertheless managed to successfully face the hostile superiority with his few men for 94 days.

Battle of Fleurus

Battle of Fleurus . The last battle of Henry VIII. After the leaders of the Palatinate army were killed and wounded, the unmanaged troops fled.

Henry VIII was apparently used to military activities, since, after accepting the honorable retreat in Elbogen, he and other military commanders under Mansfeld left the theater of war in Bohemia and moved to the Palatinate . There, in August 1621, Spanish troops under General Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba , on the side of the Catholic League, reached the Rhine and beyond. General Córdoba had Frankenthal near Ludwigshafen besieged. The government in Heidelberg was then forced to act. They then asked Count Mansfeld for help.

Count Henry VIII had in the meantime risen to command the Mansfeld Life Guard with ten cornets and 700 horses. Mansfeld's army in the Palatinate consisted of six other commanders with a total of 4600 horses and another nine regiments of infantry with 20,000 men.

On October 14th, the Palatinate troops of Mansfeld near Mannheim gathered and strengthened . The Spanish General Cordoba was forced to break off the siege and regroup. After the Palatinate set out, Córdoba secretly withdrew at night and at dawn. Since some Spanish troop units did not want to withdraw or had not yet received the order to withdraw, the Spanish army, which also felt that it had been cheated of its booty, led to shootings with many wounded and 500-1000 dead. The withdrawal made only sluggish progress, since every unit of troops wanted to be the last to leave Frankenthal. The first Palatine cavalry vanguard finally reached the rear of the Spanish army; 100 men were killed and 1,000 muskets captured. A captain, an ensign and a Rhine count were also captured.

However, the Spaniards gathered again and holed up near Osthofen near Worms . This was followed by a week-long break in the fight, which offered time for supplies of military equipment, food and animal feed on both sides. The local population suffered greatly as a result. Smaller skirmishes with the enemy had little impact.

With the onset of winter in 1621, the troops remained in their positions. The winter weakened both armies due to illness and frostbite. Mansfeld's army alone is said to have shrunk to 14,000 men.

In May 1622 we find Count Henry VIII as a colonel on horseback in Mansfeld's life guards and in command of ten companies .

General Córdoba besieged the city of Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands in August 1622 . Count Mansfeld then set out with his army to relieve the besieged city. On August 28, the two enemy armies finally met at Fleurus near Namur , in what is now Belgium.

The battle of Fleurus began at three o'clock in the morning on August 29, 1622 . At the beginning the Spaniards could be beaten back. Duke Christian von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , Duke Friedrich von Sachsen-Weimar and Count Heinrich VIII von Ortenburg followed them together. In the process, they captured many artillery pieces and numerous ammunition. Likewise, money wagons and the entire chancellery of the Spanish general as well as almost the entire booty of the Spanish army from the Rhineland Palatinate.

The Palatinate army already had victory in mind, but the war turned. The Spanish army rallied and bypassed the flanks of the Palatinate people who followed them. A withdrawal of Duke Christian's army was therefore impossible. By about two in the afternoon the Palatinate army managed to break through the Spanish ranks in six places and it looked as if they could turn the battle around again. But then more Spanish troops arrived and decided the battle for the Spaniards. Duke Friedrich von Sachsen-Weimar died during the battle, Count Heinrich VIII fell fatally wounded from his horse and died on the same day, Duke Christian von Braunschweig was seriously wounded and lost his left arm. Part of the Palatinate army was now leaderless and began to flee.

5000 to 6000 men of Count Mansfeld's entire army were either killed, wounded or taken prisoner, while the Spanish side lost 300 dead and 900 wounded. Despite the defeat at Fleurus, Mansfeld managed to break through the Spanish ranks and break the ring of siege around the city of Bergen op Zoom.

Even if the Protestant imperial county of Ortenburg supported this with taxes during the war due to its location in the Bavarian duchy, Henry VIII had fought for his faith on the side of the Protestant League and gave his life for it.

progeny

Henry VIII was not married and died childless.

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Walter Fuchs: The last battle of Count Heinrich VIII at Ortenburg. In Donau Bote 20 (1999), edition of Tuesday, January 19, 1999, p. 26 f.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Walter Fuchs: Count Heinrich XIII. from Ortenburg. A soldier of stature. In: Donau-Bote 7 (1986), edition of Tuesday, December 16, 1986, pp. 24-26.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Johann Ferdinand Huschberg : History of the ducal and countial general house of Ortenburg edited from the sources , Sulzbach 1828, pp. 494–496.

literature

• Friedrich Hausmann : The Counts of Ortenburg and their male ancestors, the Spanheimers in Carinthia, Saxony and Bavaria, as well as their subsidiary lines , published in: Ostbairische Grenzmarken - Passauer Jahrbuch für Geschichte Kunst und Volkskunde , No. 36, Passau 1994 (p. 9 -62).
• Walter Fuchs: Count Heinrich XIII. from Ortenburg. A soldier of stature. In: Donau Bote 7 (1986), edition of Tuesday, December 16, 1986 (pp. 24-26).
• Walter Fuchs: The last battle of Count Heinrich VIII at Ortenburg. In: Donau-Bote 20 (1999), edition of Tuesday, January 19, 1999 (p. 26 f).
• Walter Krüssmann: Ernst von Mansfeld (1580-1626); Count's son, mercenary leader, war entrepreneur against Habsburg in the Thirty Years War . Berlin 2010 (Duncker & Humblot, Historical Research , Vol. 94); ISBN 978-3-428-13321-5 ; therein biographical note on Ortenburg (p. 270 note 383), and a. with information on his personal. Motifs, as well as (pp. 444–454) a detailed description of the Battle of Fleurus (1622), with a critical assessment of the outcome.
• Johann Ferdinand Huschberg : History of the ducal and count's general house in Ortenburg edited from the sources , Sulzbach 1828 ( full text version in the Google book search).

Web links

• Root list on Genealogy.euweb.cz