Philipp von Mansfeld

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Philipp von Mansfeld

Philipp von Mansfeld-Vorderort zu Bornstedt (* 1589 ; † April 8, 1657 in Raab ) was an officer in the Thirty Years' War . He initially fought on the side of the Swedes and Protestants, was captured, converted to Catholicism and entered the imperial service . He built a fleet on the Baltic Sea and later fought in various theaters of war. Most recently he had the rank of field marshal and was commander of the Hungarian city of Győr .

family

He was the youngest son of Count Bruno II from the Mansfeld – Vorderort – Bornstedt line of the Mansfeld family (see also the family list of the Mansfeld family ). His mother was Christine von Barby and Mühlingen . Two of his brothers, Wolfgang and Bruno , later entered the imperial service.

Philipp was married three times.

In 1611 he married Maria von Mansfeld-Hinterort (* 1567 (after March 3); † between 1625 and 1635), daughter of Count Johann von Mansfeld-Hinterort and widow of Landgrave Ludwig IV von, who was 30 years older and died in 1604 Hessen-Marburg . The marriage had remained childless. In the bitter inheritance dispute that broke out after the Landgrave's death with his nephews, Landgraves Moritz von Hessen Kassel and Ludwig V von Hessen-Darmstadt , she was accused of adultery with the steward Philipp Ludwig von Baumbach .

In his second marriage he married Klara NN between 1625 and 1635 , († (May) 1648). The couple had the following children:

  • Maria Clara (~ December 21, 1635)
  • Ferdinand (~ June 6, 1637)
  • Anna Caroline († August 19, 1712)
∞ Karl Heinrich von Zierotin († 1682)
∞ Franz von Gallas (1666–1731)
  • Susanne Polyxena Catharina (~ July 7, 1640; † 1693)
∞ Count Matthias Ernst von Berchtold (born February 26, 1632 - † July 7, 1678)
∞ Count Julius Leopold von Hoditz and Wolframitz (* July 19, 1640; † July 23, 1693)
  • Georg Albert (May 4, 1642 - December 26, 1696) ∞ (August 1696) Barbara Magdalena von Mansfeld-Hinterort (January 12, 1618 - December 25, 1696)

After the death of his second wife Klara, he married Countess Margareta Katherina Popelovna Lobkowitz on June 20, 1648 in Penzing near Vienna . Her first marriage was to Johann Karl von Schönberg and she was court lady of Empress Maria Anna . From this marriage comes:

Life

After his father's death in 1615, he and his brothers became the ruling count of the Mansfeld – Vorderort – Bornstedt line.

He had initially served with the Swedes and possibly took part in the Ingermanland War , which ended in 1617. Even after that he was still the owner of a Swedish infantry regiment. In 1622 he fought on the Protestant side under his distant relative Ernst von Mansfeld and was taken prisoner during the battle of the Lorscher Heide (June 10, 1622). Probably his brothers in Vienna exercised their influence to get him free. His wife is also believed to have campaigned for his release in Brussels , the capital of the Spanish Netherlands . This dragged on and he seems to have been in captivity in 1624. After his release, he converted to Catholicism and transferred to the imperial camp.

In 1628 he was in command of the imperial Baltic Sea fleet under Wallenstein and gathered ships and sailors together to build the fleet. He had a foundry built, bought several large trading ships and had them converted for war purposes. More ships were built. Seven warships came from Danzig in 1639, other ships were supposed to come from Dunkirk . The Danes tried to destroy the fleet lying in Wismar by attacks. Both sides hijacked the enemy's ships. A major Danish attack with fourteen ships followed on April 2, 1629. The Peace of Lübeck ended the fighting. Later there were only minor battles with the Swedes.

In 1631 he took part in the siege of Magdeburg . On May 3, he moved his quarters from Wanzleben to Westerhüsen . He captured one of the city's important outlying works. He is said to have acted hesitantly during the actual storm. In the same year he was appointed court counselor and imperial chamberlain. A year later he was Feldzeugmeister and in 1633 Field Marshal. As such, he undertook campaigns in Silesia and Poland .

From 1633 he fought as "General Capo on the Weser" in Westphalia , in the Wetterau and later in the Landgraviate of Hesse . One of his most important subordinates was Lothar Dietrich von Bönninghausen , who usually commanded the cavalry .

Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm complained to the emperor about the rampant rage of Mansfeld's soldiers during attacks in his area. His soldiers were ruthless in Hesse too. He threatened that “no pigsty should stand still” in Nassau . In fact, there were attacks and destruction. At Dillenburg there were violent battles with the Hessians and the city was sacked.

Later he was at the head of an army in southern Germany, which was essentially taken over by the Spanish. In October 1634 he commanded about 10,000-15,000 men. Together with Gallas and Piccolomini , Mansfeld, who was considered a cautiously operating commander, was supposed to pinch the Swedes after their defeat in the Battle of Nördlingen . From the area around Cologne , he marched in the direction of the Wetterau in November. The aim was to bring the area between the Lahn , Rhine and Main under imperial control and to bring back Catholic priests. An army was formed against him under Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar . Mansfeld pulled his troops together near Aschaffenburg and holed up. With reinforced troops, Mansfeld advanced as far as Gelnhausen . There both armies faced each other for a few days without a battle. After the opposing troops had withdrawn, Mansfeld was able to get the Kinzig area under control.

After that he stayed mainly in Vienna . In 1637 he became commander of the Hartschier bodyguard. When his wife Margareta Katherina had an affair with a Hungarian lieutenant colonel, a scandal broke out.

In 1639 he fought against the Swedes in Silesia. He was last in command of the Raab fortress in Hungary in 1657.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see: Holger Th. Gräf and D. Schwennicke: European family tables , New Series, Volume XIX., Plate 87, Publisher: Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt a. M. 2000, ISBN 3-465-03074-5
  2. ↑ The second marriage seems plausible: Maria Clara was baptized in 1635 and Maria von Mansfeld was already 68 years old at that time and is therefore leaving her mother.
  3. ↑ Reinhard Spindler, Magdeburg during the Thirty Years' War in Magdeburger Stadtzeuge (n) , Issue 15, Verlag Delta D Magdeburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-935831-43-7 , page 47
personal data
SURNAME Mansfeld, Philipp von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION imperial field marshal
DATE OF BIRTH 1589
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1657
Place of death Raab