Peter Melander von Holzappel

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Field Marshal Peter Melander, Count von Holzappel

Peter Melander, Count von Holzappel, Freiherr zu Laurenburg and Lord zu Lülsdorf (born February 8, 1589 in Niederhadamar as Peter Eppelmann ; † May 17, 1648 in Augsburg ) was an important general in the Thirty Years' War . He initially fought on the side of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel , which was allied with the Swedes , and was then appointed commander-in-chief of the opposing imperial troops until his death in early 1647 .

Origin, family and descendants

Peter Melander was born as Peter Eppelmann on February 8, 1589 in Niederhadamar, the son of a wealthy farmer. Several clergymen, holders of local administrative offices and the ownership of two mills in the area are guaranteed in the family. The date of birth is documented, whereas the year of birth 1585, which can be found in older literature, is based on an erroneous age statement on the epitaph Melander in the church of Holzappel . After the death of his father in 1592, Peter Eppelmann moved to the Netherlands to live with his childless uncle Johann, a secretary to Moritz von Orange . His uncle had translated the family name Eppelmann into Greek "Melander", and Peter took the uncle's name. Through the efforts of Johann Melander, the family was raised to the knightly nobility in 1606 and then took over the name "von Holzappel" from the extinct noble family "Holzappel von Voitsburg-Selzberg" from the Gießen area .

In 1638 Peter Melander married Agnes, daughter of Johann Wilhelm von Efferen called Hall, Swedish councilor and Drosten zu Ravenstein, and widow of the Swedish colonel Bernhard Bogislav von Platen , who died in 1656. With her he had his only surviving legitimate child, daughter Elisabeth Charlotte, later Countess von Holzappel-Schaumburg (1640–1707). She married Prince Adolf von Nassau-Dillenburg and thus became Princess Elisabeth Charlotte von Nassau-Schaumburg. In addition, Peter Melander had a daughter Ludovika from his marriage to Agnes von Efferen, who, however, had died as a toddler in 1644. A relationship with his maid Catharina Winter from Neumark had resulted in two illegitimate sons, Hektor von Holzappel, who died as an imperial colonel in 1647, and Wilhelm von Holzappel, who died in 1691 as major general of the Dutch States General in the battle of Aughrim . The daughter Catharina, who died in 1715, came from another relationship with Catharina Gottorp from Werl.

Melander's descendants include Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Karl Gustav of Sweden .

Military career

First engagements: Netherlands, Switzerland, Venice

Melander, raised in a strictly Protestant manner, made his first military steps in the Dutch army. In 1615 he entered the Venetian service and fought in the Friulian War . In 1620 he was a colonel in command of a Swiss regiment in Basel . He then fought in the Valtellina War (1620–1626) and in the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631).

Hessen-Kassel services 1633–40

Melander reached the first high point of his military career in 1633 when he was appointed lieutenant general and secret war council of Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hessen-Kassel. That was the highest military rank after the Landgrave himself. The Protestant, reformed Landgrave Wilhelm was allied with the Swedes . Thus Peter Melander led the Hesse-Kassel troops against the imperial troops of the Catholic side. On June 28, 1633 in the Battle of Hessisch Oldendorf , Melander commanded the center of the Protestant armed forces under Georg von Calenberg and contributed a lot to the victory over the imperial troops. As a result, Melander inflicted some serious defeats on the imperial troops on Westphalian territory: on May 26, 1634, taking Hamm , on June 27, 1634, victory against Lothar Dietrich von Bönninghausen , general of the Catholic League , who was forced to cross the Rhine to withdraw.

After Landgrave Wilhelm's death in the autumn of 1637, his wife, Landgrave Amalie Elisabeth , adhered to her husband's anti- Habsburg alliance policy. Renewed negotiations for the accession of Hessen-Kassel to the Peace of Prague failed and the armistice with the emperor, probably on the advice of Melander, concluded on March 10, 1638, ended on October 21, 1639 through an alliance between the landgrave and France. Melander no longer wanted to support this attitude and in mid-July 1640 resigned supreme command of the Hesse-Kassel troops. Then, with the mediation of Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm von Neuburg , Duke of Jülich-Berg , negotiations with Emperor Ferdinand III. resumed in imperial service via a command.

Palatinate-neo-castle and imperial services 1640–1647

Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm assigned Melander Haus Angerort near Duisburg as his place of residence and sent him to the Imperial Court in Vienna. There he was appointed Count of Holzappel on December 23, 1641 . On February 15, 1642 he received an imperial field marshal's license . After Angerort was sacked by Hesse-Kassel soldiers in the spring of 1642, the Count Palatinate awarded him the castle and town of Lülsdorf near Niederkassel and the nearby villages of Ranzel and Lohmar as a Bergisches fief on July 15 of that year .

It was not until 1645, after the invasion of Wrangel in Westphalia , Melander again received a military command as commander of the Westphalian Circle troops . He first protected the Duchy of Berg , moved to the Main with 400 horsemen to support Leopold Wilhelm and then led troops to Upper Hesse to help Landgrave Georg II in the Hessian War against Melander's former employer, Landgravine Amalie. In 1646 he fought on the left bank of the Rhine against the Kassel general Carl von Rabenhaupt , forced him to break off the siege of Zons and liberated the Jülich places Euskirchen , Münstereifel , Nideggen and Heinsberg from Hessian occupation. Before the end of the year it went over to the other bank of the Rhine and occupied Paderborn on November 30th .

After the death of Matthias Gallas in April 1647 Melander received the supreme command of the entire imperial troops, which he led to Bohemia in July 1647 . About 10,000 Bavarians joined Count Jost von Gronsfeld there. However, disagreements between the two generals quickly led to the renewed separation of the two armies. Melander besieged Marburg and was able to take the city with the exception of Marburg Castle in December 1647. However, he lost numerous troops during the siege. On December 28, the Hesse-Kassel commandant of the castle, Johann Georg Stauff, had his guns fired at the house of the pharmacist Seip, where Melander was about to sit down to the trumpet signal. Melander was badly wounded by a shot beam and the head of the sentry at the door was torn off.

Last battle and death 1648

Melander's units withdrew towards the Danube (January 1648) and were surprised by a Swedish-French army under Wrangel and Turenne near the village of Zusmarshausen near Augsburg . Melander, who had thrown himself into the fray, was hit by two shots. He died on May 17, 1648 in Augsburg as a result of the wounds he received in the battle of Zusmarshausen .

Melander von Holzappel belonged to the Evangelical Reformed Church and therefore his wife had difficulties in finding a burial place for her husband. Even in the Protestant imperial city of Regensburg , the ecclesiastical ministry strictly rejected his funeral. His wife had to move on to his home region with the embalmed body of her husband. Melander von Holzappel was buried in the Fürstengruft ("Melandergruft") of the Protestant Johanneskirche in Rhineland-Palatinate, in the village of Holzappel (Esterau).

Acquisition of the rule of Holzappel

Having become rich through his high position in the Thirty Years' War, Peter Melander acquired the Esterau lordship for 64,000 thalers in 1643 from Prince Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar , who was in considerable financial difficulties. Emperor Ferdinand III. shortly thereafter elevated the small rulership to the "Free Imperial Immediate County of Holzappel" in gratitude for the services that Melander had rendered in the imperial army. Melander thus became a member of the Wetterau Empire Counts College .

Peter Melander left a fortune that made it possible for his wife Agnes to acquire the lordship and the Schaumburg Castle in 1656 and to combine it with the County of Holzappel to form the County of Holzappel-Schaumburg. Melander's daughter Elisabeth Charlotte renamed the main town of Esten to Holzappel in 1685.

Appreciation

Melander, who seems largely forgotten today, was a highly respected warlord during his lifetime, for whose service almost all warring powers vied. The saying, known in the Westerwald, comes from him: “I am a German and a Westerwald too; that means as much as two Germans! ”In a modified form, the authorship of this saying, which refers to Melander, is also Moritz von Orange and Emperor Ferdinand III. attributed.

“Melander was an arrogant and dangerous man, but one who had the firm loyalty of the Hessian troops, although his own loyalty was an uncertain matter. He was known to value honor and preferential treatment, but also for not looking for opportunities. Undertakings, however honorable they were, were of no interest to him unless he was amply rewarded and guaranteed that if he failed, he would not have to take responsibility. His greed was legendary. To an envoy from the French court, he boasted that "he only served great kings who also had the means to reward their faithful servants". But despite his many weaknesses, Melander was an experienced general ... ""

- Tryntje Helfferich : The Iron Princess , 2013

According to Andreas Pechtl, there is a half-length portrait of Melander von Holzappel in profile to the left in the portrait gallery of Gripsholm Castle (Inv.No. 798), a photograph of another half-length portrait is in the holdings of the Deutsche Fotothek (no. . Both portraits are probably authentic. Andreas Pechtl further exposed the portrait reproduced in Nassau's Life Pictures and subsequently in numerous articles about Melander as inaccurate. It does not show the Field Marshal, but rather Prince Christian II of Anhalt-Bernburg .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Leopold von Eltester :  Holzappel, Peter Graf zu . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, pp. 21-25.
  2. ↑ Rosa Micus: Traces of Reformed Protestantism in Regensburg . In: Negotiations of the historical association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg . tape 159 . Historical Association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg, 2019, ISSN  0342-2518 , p. 229-246, 242 .
  3. ↑ Simon Schmitz: Peter Melander von Holzappel's inheritance strategy and its successful failure. Pp. 99-144.
  4. ↑ Tryntje Helfferich , The Iron Princess , p. 44. - Translated from the English

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Holzappel, Peter Melander from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holzappel, Peter Melander Graf von (full name); Eppelmann, Peter (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION General in the Thirty Years War and the commander in chief of the imperial league troops
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1589
PLACE OF BIRTH Niederhadamar
DATE OF DEATH May 17, 1648
Place of death augsburg