Ernst von Mansfeld

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort or Ernest II, Count of Mansfeld-Vorderort.
Graf von Mansfeld
Bornc. 1580
Luxembourg, Spanish Netherlands
Died29 November 1626 (aged c. 46)
Rakovica, Bosnia, Ottoman Empire
Years active1595–1626
Parent

Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld (

Catholic, he fought for the Protestants during the early years of the Thirty Years' War
. He was one of the leading mercenary generals of the war.

Biography

Ernst was an

Luxembourg.[3]

He gained his earliest military experiences during the Long War in Hungary, where his elder half-brother Charles (1543–1595), also a soldier of renown, held a high command in the imperial army. While his brother succumbed to an epidemic within short time, young Ernst stayed at the theatre of war for several years. In the War of the Jülich Succession he served under Archduke Leopold V of Austria, until that prince's ingratitude, real or fancied, drove him into the arms of the enemies of the House of Habsburg. Although he remained a Roman Catholic, from about 1610 he openly allied himself with the Protestant princes, and during the earlier part of the Thirty Years' War he was one of their foremost champions.[2]

He was despatched by

Tilly to dislodge him.[2]

From the Upper Palatinate, he passed into the

Christian of Brunswick the count then entered the service of the United Provinces and marched to the Republic through the Spanish Netherlands. In August 1622, at Fleurus his army had to fight its way through a Spanish attempt to block him. His army recuperated and reequipped in September and then marched with the Dutch army to relieve the city of Bergen op Zoom, besieged by Spain. After that, he took up his quarters in East Frisia, capturing fortresses and inflicting great hardships upon the inhabitants. A mercenary and a leader of mercenaries, Mansfeld often interrupted his campaigns by journeys made for the purpose of raising money, or in other words of selling his services to the highest bidder, and in these diplomatic matters he showed considerable skill.[2]

About 1624 he paid three visits to

Split.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany, it has formed part of family names since 1919.
  2. ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911, p. 599.
  3. ^ https://www.academia.edu/38288379/Mansfeldschlass_Un_ch%C3%A2teau_disparu_1604_2018
  4. ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 599–600.

References

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mansfeld, Ernst". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 599–600. Endnotes:
    • F. Stieve, Ernst von Mansfeld (Munich, 1890)
    • R. Reuss, Graf Ernst von Mansfeld im böhmischen Kriege (Brunswick, 1865)
    • A. C. de Villermont, Ernest de Mansfeldt (Brussels, 1866)
    • L. Graf Uetterodt zu Scharfenberg, Ernst Graf zu Mansfeld (Gotha; 1867)
    • J. Grossmann, Des Grafen Ernst von Mansfeld letzte Pläne und Thaten (Breslau, 1870)
    • E. Fischer, Des Mansfelders Tod (Berlin, 1878)
    • S. R. Gardiner
      , History of England, vols. iv. and v. (1901);
    • J. L. Motley
      , Life and Death of John of Barneveld (ed. 1904; vol. ii)

Further reading

External links

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