Melchior from Hatzfeldt

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Melchior from Hatzfeldt

Melchior Friedrich Gottfried Graf von Gleichen and Hatzfeldt, Lord of Trachenberg (born October 20, 1593 at Crottorf Castle , Altenkirchen district , Westerwald ; † January 9, 1658 in Powitzko near Trachenberg ) was an imperial general who served in the Thirty Years' War under Albrecht von Wallenstein and Matthias Gallas served.

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Melchior belonged to the von Hatzfeldt family, which can be traced back to Hessen in the 13th century . He was the second of five sons of Sebastian von Hatzfeldt and his wife Lucie von Sickingen , a great-granddaughter of Franz von Sickingen and granddaughter of Georg von Frundsberg . Originally intended for the clergy like his younger brother Franz von Hatzfeld , who later became the prince-bishop of Würzburg and Bamberg , he went through spiritual training in Fulda , where he attended the papal seminary of the Jesuits , up to becoming a deacon . After studying in Würzburg , since 1613 in Pont-à-Mousson and Bourges , he joined the imperial regiment "Old Saxony" as an officer in 1620 and made it under Wallenstein to become General Feldzeugmeister.

1631 died the last Graf von Gleichen and Melchior and his brother Hermann was after the reversion of the Thuringian county to the Archbishopric of Mainz in 1639 from this with the Gleichen Castle and the associated domination invested , which also Blankenhain and the Niederburg Kranichfeld belonged.

In 1632 Melchior von Hatzfeldt was made a colonel and in 1633 a field marshal lieutenant. In the battle for Regensburg he took part in the reconquest of the city of Regensburg , which was occupied by the Swedes . On June 5, 1634 he was shot in the right cheek when the Swedes fell out at night and the bullet got stuck in his leg (jawbone) ". For a few weeks he fought with death in the Prüll monastery near Regensburg. After recovering in Vienna, he joined the army again at the end of September 1634, was appointed Field Marshal and Imperial Count of Hatzfeldt in 1635 and Count zu Gleichen in 1640 with a seat and vote in the Wetterau Counts College .

After Wallenstein's murder in February 1634, he served under Gallas . He was not involved in Wallenstein's fall; however, the general's death brought him some advantages. The execution of Hans Ulrich von Schaffgotsch only created the opportunity for Melchior to win the Trachenberg rulership, which was previously the fiefdom of the executed person.

On October 4, 1636 he suffered a defeat against the Swedes under Johan Banér in the battle of Wittstock , but two years later his troops won a victory over the Palatinate in the battle of Vlotho . In 1641 he won the siege of Dorsten . On March 6, 1645, Hatzfeldt was captured by Sweden in the battle of Jankau , but could be exchanged after a short time. In 1646 he finished his service in the imperial army, but was deployed again in 1657 with the rank of field marshal when he led 16,000 imperial troops in support of the Polish king John II Casimir against Karl Gustav of Sweden and conquered Krakow . Returning to his Silesian estates, he died here at Powitzko Castle near Trachenburg after just a few months, on January 9, 1658. Hatzfeldt's body was buried in Prausnitz , his heart in the mountain church Laudenbach (Weikersheim) . In both churches, artistically very demanding, almost identical Tumba tombs were erected for him , made by Achilles Kern .

Heart tomb in the mountain church Laudenbach (Weikersheim)

As a person, Melchior Graf von Hatzfeldt was considered righteous and religiously moderate. He died unmarried and was inherited by his brother Hermann. The Silesian Trachenberg was lost from the possessions of his successors in 1945, but Crottorf Castle , which he built as a moated castle in 1641, and Schönstein an der Sieg Castle are still the property of descendants of the family.

The writer Grimmelshausen , himself a participant in the Battle of Wittstock, lets Hatzfeld appear briefly at the end of chapter XXIV of his novel Simplicissimus .

literature

Web links

Commons : Melchior von Hatzfeldt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Engerisser A previously unknown view of the siege of Regensburg in 1634 . In: Negotiations of the historical association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg. 148th Volume Regensburg 2008; P. 67, footnote 22; ISSN 0342-2518
  2. ↑ Website for the Laudenbach mountain church .
  3. ^ Website on the Hatzfeld tomb in the Prausnitz parish church (now Prusice) ( Memento from July 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); Website on the Hatzfeld tomb in the Laudenbach mountain church ( Memento from December 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).
personal data
SURNAME Hatzfeldt, Melchior from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hatzfeldt, Melchior Count of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Imperial Habsburg general
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1593
PLACE OF BIRTH Crottorf Castle
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1658
Place of death Powitzko