Walter Butler (Colonel)

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Count Richard Walter Butler (* around 1600 in Ireland ; † December 25, 1634 near Schorndorf ) was an Irish colonel in Wallenstein's army and was involved in his murder.

origin

His life is unknown until the beginning of the 1630s, but what is certain is that he was a son of Peter Butler from Roscrea , Ireland . He received a good education, but no fortune.

In the imperial service

It is not known exactly when he entered Austrian service. He soon became an officer in the Irish Legion , commanded by his relative, Jacob Butler.

Swedish captivity

Butler led troops from Poland to reinforce the imperial army in Frankfurt (Oder) in 1631 (see: History of the City of Frankfurt ) . During the storming of the city by the Swedes, he defended the northern city gate with his Irish regiment. The resistance must have impressed militarily: only a few of his soldiers survived, he himself was hit in the arm by a musket ball and wounded in the hip by a halberd before he gave up. His bravery impressed even the Swedish King Gustav Adolf . He had the captured butler brought to Stettin for medical treatment - an unusually high recognition according to the code of honor of the time.

After eight months of imprisonment, Butler received alarming news from his cousin Jakob Butler. His superior, Colonel Boheim, accused Walter Butler through a courier to the Kaiser of being responsible for the loss of the city of Frankfurt. Butler immediately bought himself free for 1000 thalers and had Gustav Adolf certify his bravery in the face of the enemy. Butler also helped with propaganda: a leaflet appeared in Frankfurt full of praise for Butler's deeds. Field Marshal Rudolph von Teuffenbach had commanded the defense of Frankfurt in 1631. Butler went to see him in Silesia, where he forced his accuser Boheim to publicly revoke the allegations made.

He then went to Warsaw to recruit 100 auxiliary troops for the fight in Silesia at his own expense.

Murder of Wallenstein

He soon gained Wallenstein's trust after joining his troops in 1632. Wallenstein appointed him colonel of a dragoon regiment . With this regiment he met Wallenstein between Pilsen and Eger after Emperor Ferdinand II had deposed him. Butler teamed up with Commandant John Gordon in Eger and Colonel Sergeant Walter Leslie to put Wallenstein prisoner. When this seemed impractical, they planned the assassination of the former generalissimo of the imperial family. The plan was put into practice on February 25, 1634 after Wallenstein's three confidants - Ilow , Trčka and Kinsky - had previously been slain at a banquet at Gordon's. The emperor gave Butler the title of count, showered him with honors and awards, and gave him Bohemian lands that previously belonged to the Duke of Friedland.

End of life and death

Butler fought near Nördlingen and conquered Kirchheim unter Teck and Nürtingen (September 6-8) and Reutlingen , which surrendered on October 3, 1634 after being besieged. Finally, with the support of the Tiefenbach Regiment, he stormed Urach (Reutlingen district) on November 12, 1634 and besieged Schorndorf , which burned down completely in December 1634 after a 14-hour cannonade .

Butler died on December 25, 1634 near Schorndorf. Military honors were paid to him during his laying out. Captain Deveraux, the compatriot Butler known from the events of Eger, brought the news of the death of the colonel to his wife in Wiesensteig . For the lead of the coffin, the lead water pipes to the castle and the hospital were dug up and melted down in Schorndorf . The funeral mass took place in the Catholic Church in Wiesensteig. Count Matthias Gallas , asked for his last service in Butler's will, made sure that the coffin was safely brought to Prague through Bavaria and Bohemia.

Since Butler had no male heir, all of his lands went to his daughter, and since she died unmarried, ultimately to his widow Anna Maria Burggräfin von Dohna . Ferdinand III. confirmed this on March 6, 1638 by majesty letter. It was only when Anna Maria got married to the Kurmainzischen Hereditary Marshal Hans Christof Ferdinand that a brother of Butler, Thomas Theobald, made inheritance claims and was awarded a third.

Drama character

In Schiller's Wallenstein , Colonel Buttler is portrayed as the main responsible and unauthorized initiator of Wallenstein's murder, while Gordon is portrayed as a weak character, warner and procrastinator, while Lesley takes a back seat. Octavio Piccolomini initially appears (unhistorically) as a mastermind and moves Buttler, who is portrayed as Wallenstein's favorite, to apostate him by telling him that Wallenstein once encouraged Buttler to seek his elevation to Imperial Count in Vienna, while he also did so had thwarted there to take Butler against the emperor. (Sources indicate that Wallenstein undertook such an intrigue against Illo or Isolani , but this is not guaranteed.)

Buttler accompanies Wallenstein to Eger, but from the outset not only plans the arrest ordered by Piccolomini, but also the murder, for which the advance of the Swedes serves as an excuse. He has Wallenstein's confidants killed at a feast at the castle and then his captains Walter Deveroux (historically guaranteed as the real murderer) and Macdonald (historically Dionysius Macdaniel) stabbed to death in his bed in the house of Mayor Pachhälbel Wallenstein.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Bücheler: From Pappenheim to Piccolomini. Six characters from Wallenstein's camp . 1994, p. 62.
  2. ^ Heinrich Bücheler: From Pappenheim to Piccolomini. Six characters from Wallenstein's camp . 1994, p. 64, p. 65.
  3. ↑ Klaus Koniarek: BUTLER, Walter. In: WHO was WHO - in the Thirty Years War. Retrieved June 2, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Johann Gottfried Sommer: The Kingdom of Bohemia. Second volume: Bunzlauer Kreis. Prague 1834, p. 163.
personal data
SURNAME Butler, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Butler, Richard Walter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish colonel in Wallenstein's army and involved in his murder
DATE OF BIRTH around 1600
PLACE OF BIRTH Ireland
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 1634
Place of death at Schorndorf