Olivier van den Tempel

Olivier van den Tempel , also Olivier van den Tympel and Olivier de Temple (* 1540 in Brussels , † October 3, 1603 in Vlijmen near 's-Hertogenbosch ) was a Brabant general with the rank of colonel during the liberation struggle of the Netherlands against Spain at the age of eighty War (1568–1648).

origin

He came from an old and noble Brabant family and called himself Herr von Corbeeck (1567–1598). His father was Jan van den Tempel (van den Tympel, † 1579) and also Mr. von Corbeeck (since 1562, today Korbeek Dijle southwest of Leuven ). Both served the Protestant side. Olivier van den Tempel had two younger brothers, Denis and Karel (Charles), the last father of the theologian Marcus van den Tempel (1575–1636). Olivier van den Tempel, himself a Protestant , was married to the Catholic Anne von Anxy.

Career

He was colonel and regimental commander under William I of Orange and during the first half of the Eighty Years War from 1579 military governor in Brussels, which he had to hand over to Alessandro Farnese in 1585 after a long siege by the Spanish. He fought primarily in this war on Belgian-Dutch soil, conquering Mechelen near Antwerp on April 9, 1580 , Eindhoven in 1581 and Aalst in 1582 .

In 1587, during the Cologne War (1583–1588) , van den Tempel moved to the Rhine to support Archbishop Gebhard I von Waldburg, who had fled to the Netherlands, against his successor Ernst von Bayern through a military success . In the confused years that followed, Andernach tried to take the southernmost point of the Archdiocese of Cologne. He stayed longer with the recruitment of Protestant troops for France on behalf of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon . Coming from the Jülich region, he intended to take Andernach in a real night-and-fog operation. With Aufsetz petarden , his pioneers tried to blow up the Andernach Rheintor , then the Korenportz in the north of the city. Despite the fog and surprise, it was only possible to blow up the smaller side gate, and the guards were able to repel the attack from van den Tempel. He withdrew with his army, stayed for a while near Kettig and left the area after crossing the Rhine near Engers in the direction of Limburg , where he arrived in mid-August. During this time he was described by the Limburg chronicler Johannes Mechtel, who must have known him personally because of his good description, in his "Limburg Chronicle" as 55 years old, which would correspond to a year of birth of 1536. After an army parade by Christian I von Anhalt , the leader of the German Protestant troops to relieve the French king, which also shows the name of van den Tempel's army on a contemporary engraving, Olivier van den Tympel moved from Limburg via Kaiserslautern to France Metz , Conflans , Verdun , Châlons / Marne to Vandy north of Vouziers . There he met King Henry IV , who was holding a parade of Protestant troops. From there he moved as far as the Seine to Rouen , which the king had besieged. From now on, van den Tempel was in the king's service until around 1595, i.e. even after the king's conversion to Catholicism. His troops were divided during this time and deployed in different places. On July 28, 1597, Olivier van den Tempel was appointed chief war counselor in the field. From 1602 he was involved in the siege of 's Hertogenbosch. In Vlijmen, west of the city gates, he captured the Spaniard Marqués de Malaspina in October 1603, whom he brought to a joint meeting with Prince Moritz in Vught . On the way back, both of them were hit by a lost cannonball from the town of 's-Hertogenbosch. Both horses died, de Malaspina lost his lower legs, van den Tempel died on the same day of his serious injuries.

In the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam a portrait painting by the Flemish painter depends January Anthonisz van Ravesteyn that Olivier van the temple as "MONS (IEUR) DE TEMPLE." represents, contemporary in black breastplate, ruff and sash .

coat of arms

Olivier van den Tempel had a coat of arms.

Blazon : In black, a golden, red-armored, soaring lion, covered with a silver sloping bar, on which are three red hearts.

The lion can be found in many coats of arms for the names "Temple", "Templaar" etc. The color "red" of the hearts indicates his homeland Brabant, as does the lion.

Web links

• Coat of arms Oliviers van den Tempel