Leopold Philipp Karl zu Salm

Leopold Philipp Karl zu Salm (* 1619 or 1620 at Neuviller Castle in Neuviller-sur-Moselle (Neuweiler); † December 15, 1663 at Anholt Castle in Anholt ) was Wildgrave and Rhine Count as well as Prince of Salm from the Salm-Neufville line . He embarked on a military career marked by changes of sides and employers, which eventually led him to the position of commander in chief of the troops of the Rhenish Confederation .

Life

family

Leopold was the second-born son of Prince Philipp Otto zu Salm and his wife Christiane von Croÿ -Aarschot (approx. 1591–1664), a daughter of the Marquis d'Havré, Charles Philippe von Croÿ (1549–1613), and granddaughter of the first duke von Aarschot , Philippe II. de Croÿ . The sponsorship for the boy took Archduke Leopold , then Abbot of Murbach Abbey , the brother of Emperor Ferdinand II. Since Leopold's older brother, the firstborn son Ludwig (* 1618), in 1636 as a captain of a regiment under Ottavio Piccolomini at St. Omer fallen was, Leopold was the successor of his brother at a young age 3rd Prince of Salm. On October 22, 1641 he married Maria Anna von Bronckhorst -Batenburg (* May 4, 1624, † October 16, 1661 in Remiremont ), the niece of the Imperial Field Marshal Johann Jakob von Bronckhorst-Batenburg . On December 5, 1645, her father, Dirk (Dietrich) IV. Von Bronckhorst-Batenburg (1578–1649), signed the legal succession and sovereignty over the rule of Anholt as well as ownership of further areas to Leopold. The couple had five children:

• Karl Theodor Otto (* July 7, 1645; † November 10, 1710 in Aachen )
• Gaston Philippe (born September 30, 1646, † 1668 in Nancy in a duel)
• Ludwig Liborius (died young)
• Dorothea Maria (born January 31, 1651 - † November 14, 1702, abbess of Remiremont Abbey )
• Marie Christine (December 29, 1653; † 1744 as canoness in Remiremont Abbey)

Military career

After the death of his father (1634), Leopold pursued a military career, in the course of which he changed sides and employer. Although he was destined for a spiritual career and had already received minor orders, he joined his older brother Ludwig on his campaigns in the Imperial Army in 1634/1635 . Like his brother, he became a captain under Piccolomini. In 1639 Emperor Ferdinand III. a letter of praise for bravery. In 1640 Leopold was promoted to colonel and was given command of his own cuirassier regiment of initially 600, later 1000 riders, which he led under the generals Matthias Gallas and Melchior von Hatzfeldt to the scenes of the Thirty Years' War in western and southern Germany, Bohemia, Silesia and Austria . In the summer of 1641, the siege of the Dorsten fortress , which was occupied by Hessen-Kassel, brought him near Anholt , where he negotiated with the Count of Bronckhorst-Batenburg for the hand of his heir . Shortly after the wedding, Leopold returned to his army. Between 1644 and 1649 he devoted himself increasingly to the administration of his property and the affairs of his family. In 1647, Leopold temporarily reappeared militarily when he recruited a regiment for the Republic of Venice against the Turks who had been trying to conquer the island of Crete since 1645 . In 1648 his distant relative, Charles IV of Lorraine , hired him as his sub-commander. On the side of Spain, the approximately 9,000-strong Lorraine army fought in the Franco-Spanish War against Prince Condé . In the battle of Lens , the Spanish-Lorraine army led by Leopold Wilhelm von Austria was defeated by the French armed forces. After the shaft, Leopold was promoted to field marshal. In 1650 he left his service in Lorraine and hung up his sword for six years. On February 28, 1654, Leopold was admitted to the Reichstag in Regensburg "to the session and vote " in the Imperial Council of Princes . In 1656 he - an imperial prince - entered the service of the French King Louis XIV after Leopold had tried unsuccessfully to be appointed to the Spanish or imperial army. Louis XIV appointed him "Lieutenant-general sur touttes les trouppes de Nation allemende" (Lieutenant General for all German troops). In this function he was responsible for recruiting troops in the Holy Roman Empire and for leading German-speaking foreign regiments in the French army. From June 1659, as Field Marshal General , he was in command of the troops of the Rhenish Confederation founded in 1658 . The Peace of Pyrenees and the Peace of Oliva saved Leopold, who began to gather his troops near Andernach in the early summer of 1659 , from an anti-Habsburg military operation. He died in Anholt Castle in 1663 and was buried in the Anholt St. Pankratius Church .

literature

• Jonas Stephan: Become a prince. The Salm family in the 17th century . Master thesis at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, April 2014 ( website )
• Maximilian Gritzner: The nobility of German Lorraine . Bauer and Raspe, Nuremberg 1873, p. 5 ( Google Books )
• Historical family tables of the käyserlichen, royal. and princely families. Which in their europ. Countries according to d. Expiration d. have ruled the Roman monarchy until the present day. Deß Zweyten Theiles: Of the Princely Races. New addition . Lipper, 1701, table CXXXIX: Princely Salmischer tribe

Web links

• Family table “Salm 4” (D2) in the genealogy.euweb.cz portal
• Salm, Leopold Philipp Karl Graf von in 0jaehrigerkrieg.de