Johann von Aldringen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johann Graf von Aldringen
Signature Johann von Aldringen.PNG

Johann Graf von Aldringen in chronicles often General Altringer (* December 10, 1588 in Luxemburg , † July 22, 1634 in Landshut ) was an Imperial Field Marshal in the service of the Catholic League during the Thirty Years' War . He was involved in the conspiracy against Albrecht von Wallenstein .

Life

Coming from an impoverished family, Aldringen initially worked as a clerk in the Luxembourg regional chancellery. In 1618 he joined the imperial army . From 1621 to 1623 he fought in Bavarian units until he was appointed Colonel under Tilly . In 1624 Aldringen became a court war councilor , and in the following year he was given command of a regiment of the league. In the battle of Dessau he defeated an army of the Protestant Union under Mansfeld together with Wallenstein , which is why he was appointed baron .

Aldringen negotiated in 1628 the handover of the Duchy of Mecklenburg to Wallenstein. In 1629 he was also involved in the negotiations that led to the Peace of Lübeck . This ended the armed conflict between the Kingdom of Denmark and the Catholic League. During the Mantuan War of Succession , Aldringen was ordered to northern Italy and secured enormous fortunes when imperial troops under Matthias Gallas sacked the city of Mantua in July 1630 .

Johann Graf von Aldringen. Portrait from the third volume of the Theatrum Europaeum .

In April 1632 he was wounded in the Battle of Rain , took over command of the League army the same month after Tilly's death and was appointed Field Marshal shortly afterwards on October 13th. In November of the same year he was raised to the rank of imperial count . On September 30, 1633 he and the general Duke von Feria moved to the Klettgau after the siege of Constance , and from Stühlingen they threatened the city of Schaffhausen . Feria and Aldringen together commanded an army of around 30,000 men. After negotiations, they moved to Tiengen on October 8 , which they took from the Swedes. Then they besieged Rheinfelden (see Naval War on Lake Constance 1632–1648 ). At the end of 1633, Aldringen secured the Danube strait near Passau with an army and got involved in the plot that led to the deposition and then to the murder of Wallenstein in February 1634. In gratitude for this he received the Teplitz Castle and Lordship in Northern Bohemia worth 94,000 guilders, which until then had belonged to Wilhelm Kinsky , who was also murdered in Eger .

On July 18, 1634 Johann von Aldringen was ordered with three regiments of dragoons to Landshut , which was attacked by a Swedish army under Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar and Gustav Graf Horn on July 20, 1634. He came with his unit from Regensburg , where, as Lieutenant General of the Catholic League , he was involved in the reconquest of Regensburg with a Bavarian army and an imperial army . When the Swedes stormed Landshut on July 22, 1634, Johann von Aldringen was shot while the cavalry retreated when he tried to swim across the Isar with his horse. Landshut was then sacked by the Swedes.

Photo-request.svg
 Image wanted 
BW

Aldringen was married to the sister of Count Matthias Gallas's wife , Countess Livia von Arco . He was childless because his wife died shortly after him in Passau of puerperal fever. He was buried in the monastery church of Prüll Monastery in the Kumpfmühl suburb of Regensburg.

His brothers, Johann Mark von Aldringen , Bishop of Seckau , and Paul Aldringen, Coadjutor of the Bishop of Strasbourg, inherited the real estate and the large fortune from the robbery in Mantua. The rare manuscripts in the library there also came into their possession. After his death, he was highly honored by the Emperor and the Elector of Bavaria. Teplitz fell to the Clary-Aldringen house, which his sister had co-founded .

reception

Bust in the Heldenberg memorial
Statue Johann Graf von Aldringen

Through the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I on February 28, 1863, Johann von Aldringen was included in the list of the "most famous warlords and generals of Austria worthy of perpetual emulation" , in whose honor and memory there was also a life-size statue in the general hall of that time The newly established Imperial and Royal Court Weapons Museum (today: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien ) was built. The statue was created in 1865 from Carrara marble by the sculptor Johann Meixner and was dedicated by the Aldringen family.

Another portrait bust can be found in the Heldenallee of the Heldenberg Memorial .

The dramaturge Ludwig Stark mentioned Johann von Aldringen in his Historical Festival, which premiered in 1897 and which addressed the non-violent surrender of the imperial city of Dinkelsbühl to the Swedes on May 11, 1632. "Altringer cannot help from Regensburg," it says there. Behind this is the accusation that Johann von Aldringen did not come to the aid of the imperial city of Dinkelsbühl as the imperial field marshal. The festival is still performed annually at the Dinkelsbühler Kinderzeche . In the theater play " Der Meistertrunk ", also edited by Ludwig Stark in 1884 , which has been performed in Rothenburg ob der Tauber since 1881 , Aldringen also plays a supporting role in Count Tilly's entourage .

literature

swell

  • Friedrich Förster (Ed.): Albrechts von Wallenstein, the Duke of Friedland and Mecklenburg, unprinted, personal, confidential letters and official letters from the years 1627 to 1634. 3 volumes. G. Reimer, Berlin 1828–1829 (unprinted, personal, confidential letters and official letters from 1627 to 1634 to Arnim, Aldringen, Gallas, Piccolomini and other princes and generals of his time).

Representations

Web links

Commons : Johann Graf von Aldringen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ German biography on the website of the "Bayerische Staatsbibliothek", last seen on October 23, 2019.
  2. ^ Antonio Schmidt-Brentano: Imperial and Imperial Generals (1618-1815). Austrian State Archives, Vienna 2006, p. 3.
  3. ↑ Golo Mann: Wallenstein . S. Fischer Verlag GmbH Licensed edition of the German Book Association, Frankfurt Main 1971, p. 1157 .
  4. ↑ Peter Engerisser, Pavel Hrnčiřík: Nördlingen 1634. The battle of Nördlingen - turning point of the Thirty Years' War. Späthling, Weißenstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-926621-78-8 , p. 78.
  5. ↑ Entry in deutsche-biographie.de
  6. ↑ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. Volume 1: The museum, the representation rooms. Kiesel, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 32.
personal data
SURNAME Aldringen, Johann von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aldringen, Johann Graf von; General Altringer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION General in the Thirty Years War
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1588
PLACE OF BIRTH Luxembourg
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1634
Place of death Landshut