Karl von Mansfeld

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Karl von Mansfeld (copper engraving by Abraham Hogenberg )

Prince Karl (II.) Von Mansfeld (* 1543 in Luxembourg ; † August 24, 1595 in Komorn ) served in Spanish, French and imperial services. Most recently he was the supreme commander of the imperial armed forces in Hungary during the Long Turkish War .

family

He came from the noble Mansfeld family . He belonged to the Friedeburg line. His father was Peter Ernst I. von Mansfeld . The mother was Margarethe (born von Brederode ). One of his (half) brothers was Peter Ernst II von Mansfeld . Another (half) brother was the canon Charles III. from Mansfeld.

He himself married Diane de Cossé in his first marriage. He was an irascible person. When he caught his wife committing adultery with the Comte de Maure, he killed them both. In his second marriage in 1591 he married Marie Christine von Egmond, daughter of Count Lamoral von Egmond . There were no children from marriages.

Life

He joined the Spanish Army in the Netherlands early on. At first he fought under the command of his father. He later served under the Duke of Alba . Against his father's wishes, he switched to French services. He served Charles IX. and Heinrich III. also in the royal cabinet.

Later, at the insistence of his father, he returned to the Spanish Netherlands and served under Don Juan d'Austria and Alexander Farnese .

In the fight against the insurgents in the Eighty Years' War he proved himself many times. In 1578 he covered the rear of the army at Gembloux . In 1582 he became a colonel. He excelled at Ghent , Eindhoven or at the siege of Fermonde . During the siege of Antwerp , he commanded a fleet with which he captured several enemy ships. Later he managed to take the heavily fortified Westerlo Castle with a small force .

In 1586 he became the commander of his own larger contingent. With this army he marched to 's-Hertogenbosch . The commander of the rebels had the dikes pierced and thereby flooded Mansfeld's camp. The army held out in the water for three days and was about to surrender. Because it suddenly froze and the Dutch were afraid that their ships could be trapped by the ice, they withdrew, whereupon Mansfeld was able to escape across the ice. King Philip II of Spain appointed him General and Admiral of the Dutch Seas. As a result, he fought against the French under Farnese. He was also entrusted with independent commands.

During the long Turkish War he fought in Hungary. In the meantime, the important city of Raab had fallen to the Ottomans and Emperor Rudolf II seemed to be about to lose all of Hungary. He asked the Spanish Habsburgs for support, with Mansfeld at the head. As an experienced general , he was supposed to support Archduke Matthias , who had little war experience and was to lead a larger army to Hungary.

In 1595 he was knighted by Rudolf II in Prague . In addition, the dignity of imperial prince granted to his father was confirmed. He successfully took care of the reorganization of the imperial troops. He introduced stricter breeding and improved the supply system.

Mansfeld marched to Gran with an army of 13,000 men in June 1595 and besieged the fortified city for two months. He succeeded in completely defeating a numerically superior Ottoman relief army under Mustafa Pascha. Even in the aftermath, the besieged city did not surrender despite constant fire and several assault attacks. It was only when the water supply was cut off that the Ottomans' attitude in the city changed and they began negotiations. Mansfeld died of the dysentery before the city was handed over . He was buried in the family's grave in Luxembourg.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Friedrich von Schulte:  Mansfeld, Karl Fürst von (lawyer) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 235.
personal data
SURNAME Mansfeld, Karl von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish and Imperial General
DATE OF BIRTH 1543
PLACE OF BIRTH Luxembourg
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1595
Place of death Komorn