Gottfried Huyn von Geleen | |
|---|---|
 Gottfried, Count Huyn, Baron of Geleen | |
| Born | Flanders [1] |
| Died | 27 August 1657 Maastricht [1] |
| Allegiance |  Holy Roman Empire  Bavaria |
| Rank | Generalfeldmarschall |
| Battles/wars | Thirty Years' War
|
Gottfried, Count Huyn, Baron of Geleen or Godefridus Comes ab Huyn Baro de Geleen (died 27 August 1657), [2] rose to the rank of Field Marshal in the service of the Holy Roman Emperor during the 30 Years War. [3]
Gottfried was born in Flanders. In 1615 he joined the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire in Italy as a volunteer. In 1618 he joined the Anholt Regiment of the Bavarian Army and remained with the regiment rising to the rank of colonel. While serving in the regiment he participated in the Count of Tilly's campaigns in Bohemia and the Rhine, then took part in the Siege of Magdeburg and at the Battle of Leipzig. [1]
After Baron Geleen distinguished himself in 1632 by the defence of Wolfenbüttel against the Duke of Lüneburg, he received an independent command in Westphalia in June 1633. With luck and skill, he led his 10,000 Catholic League troops against the desultorily appearing armies of the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and the Duke of Lüneburg as well as against the Swedes under Torsten Stalhandske. [1]
Geleen joined the imperial service in 1636 with the rank of generalwachtmeister (major-general). He fought in with the Imperial and Bavarian armies under Count of Hatzfeld and Count of Götz against Sweden and helped in the campaign that drove the Swedes under the command of Johan Banér back to the Baltic. [1]
In 1639, after unification with the Bavarians under Franz von Mercy, the Emperor transferred the command on the Rhine to Geleen. He crossed the Rhine near Speyer in October that year, but soon had to recross in order to drive the enemy from the Rheingau. In September 1640, after he had besieged and occupied Bingen, he combined his force of 4,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry with the imperial army under Leopold Wilhelm at Fritzlar, but detached his force from the main army, to besiege Friedberg, and then wintered in the bishoprics of Würzburg and Bamberg to guard them against an intended invasion of the Swedes. [1]
In early 1641, he helped to drive Banér from the Upper Palatinate and then marched to the Rhine in April, where he spent the next year in Cologne under Hatzfeld on an indecisive campaign against Guébriant. Soon after leaving the army, Geleen was retired as Province Commander (Landcomthur) of the Teutonic Order in the Bailiwick of Alden Biesen. But in 1644 he was called out of retirement by the Emperor on the advice of the Westphalian Circle. [1]
Geleen and his troops joined Mercy at Aschaffenburg and followed him into Swabia. There Geleen commanded the right wing at the disastrous battle of Allerheim (Second Battle of Nördlingen). Mercy was killed and Geleen was captured, but after a short captivity Geleen was exchanged for the French General Gramont and then took command of the Bavarian army. [1]
In 1646, Geleen, under the command of Leopold Wilhelm, took part in the campaign against Turenne and Wrangel, and in March of the following year, after the elector of Bavaria concluded ceasefire, he resigned from his command. He died in 1657 at Maastricht or Castle Alden Biesen; his lineage became extinct with the death of his nephew. [1]
Johann von Werth, also Jan von Werth or in French Jean de Werth, was a German general of cavalry in the Thirty Years' War.
The Battle of Wittstock took place during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). It was fought on 24 September or 4 October 1636. A Swedish-allied army commanded jointly by Johan Banér and Alexander Leslie decisively defeated a combined Imperial-Saxon army, led by Count Melchior von Hatzfeld and the Saxon Elector John George I.
Matthias Gallas, Graf von Campo und Herzog von Lucera was an Austrian professional soldier during the Thirty Years' War. He distinguished himself in the first half of the war in service of the Catholic League, in the War of the Mantuan Succession, and as one of Albrecht von Wallenstein's Generals. After carrying out the dismissal and elimination of Wallenstein, Gallas became acting supreme commander of the Imperial Army three times between 1634 and 1647 but he never held the function or authority of a Generalissimo.
The Second Battle of Breitenfeld, also known as the First Battle of Leipzig, took place during the Thirty Years' War on 2 November 1642 at Breitenfeld, north-east of Leipzig in Germany. A Swedish Army commanded by Lennart Torstensson decisively defeated an Imperial Army under Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and his deputy Ottavio Piccolomini.
Ottavio Piccolomini, 1st Duke of Amalfi was an Italian nobleman whose military career included service as a Spanish general and then as a field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire.
Count Claudius Florimund de Mercy was an Imperial field marshal, born at Longwy in Lorraine, now in France. His grandfather was the Bavarian field marshal Franz Freiherr von Mercy.
Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow, Graf von Dennewitz was a Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars.
Franz Freiherr von Mercy, Lord of Mandre and Collenburg, was a German field marshal in the Thirty Years' War who fought for the Imperial side and was commander-in-chief of the Bavarian army from 1643 to 1645. In that role, he destroyed a French army at Tuttlingen (1643), stalemated another at Freiburg (1644), destroyed a third French army at Herbsthausen (1645) and was killed at the Second Battle of Nördlingen (1645).
The following units and commanders fought in the Battle of Breitenfeld of the Thirty Years War in 1631. Unless otherwise noted, all units have ten companies.
The Battle of Oldendorf on 8 July 1633 was fought as part of the Thirty Years' War between the Swedish Empire with its Protestant German allies and the Holy Roman Empire near Hessisch-Oldendorf, Lower Saxony, Germany. The result was a decisive victory for the Swedish Army and its allies.
Otto Heinrich Fugger, Count of Kirchberg and Weissenhorn was a German professional soldier in Imperial and Bavarian service during the Thirty Year's War. Born into the ennobled mercantile family Fugger, he chose a military career in which he became a Knight of the Golden Fleece and served as governor and military commander of Augsburg.
Melchior Graf von Gleichen und Hatzfeldt was an Imperial Field Marshal. He fought in the Thirty Years' War first under Albrecht von Wallenstein and Matthias Gallas, then received an independent command in Westphalia. Usually successful with a smaller corps on this secondary front and victorious at Vlotho and Dorsten, he lost at Wittstock and Jankau in his brief intermezzos as commander of major armies.
Johann von Götzen was a Lüneburg nobleman and Generalfeldmarschall who fought during the Thirty Years' War. He was married to Elisabeth of the Falke family, with whom he had two sons: Johann Sigismund, Count of Götzen (1622-1622) and Johann, Georg Count of Götzen (1623-1679).
The Battle of Wolfenbüttel took place near the town of Wolfenbüttel, in what is now Lower Saxony, during the Thirty Years' War. Swedish forces led by Carl Gustaf Wrangel and Hans Christoff von Königsmarck and Bernardines led by Jean-Baptiste Budes, Comte de Guébriant withstood an assault by Imperial forces led by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, forcing the Imperials to retreat.
Adrian von Enkevort was a Brabantine nobleman and Generalfeldmarschall who fought during the course of the Thirty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War (1635–59). He followed his father's footsteps becoming an officer, his first success came in 1632 when he distinguished himself at the Battle of Lützen, receiving the rank of Oberstleutnant in the forces of the Holy Roman Empire. He was later sent to the Rhine front where he assisted Charles of Lorraine in reclaiming his lost realm. After a short spell in the Spanish invasion of Picardy, he returned to the Rhine where he was captured by the French, spending three years in captivity. Upon his return in 1641, he was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall and dispatched to Germany where he campaigned extensively. In 1648, he became the supreme commander of the Bavarian forces, serving in this capacity until the end of the war. He was subsequently ennobled and received the sum of 3,000 Goldguldens for his service during the war. He died in 1663.
Johann von Sporck was a German nobleman and Generalfeldmarschall. Sporck was born in 1595 and he began his military career at the start of the Thirty Years' War as a private. His personal bravery and mastery of cavalry tactics led to his steady advancement through the ranks as well as his ennoblement. He later fought in the Second Northern War, the Austro-Turkish War (1663–64) and the Franco-Dutch War. He retired in 1676, having received the rank of Generalfeldmarschall and accumulating great riches. He died three years later. His son Franz Anton von Sporck became a publisher and a patron of arts.
Johann Philipp Kratz von Scharffenstein was a German nobleman and field marshal, who fought during the course of the Thirty Years' War. He served with distinction in forces of both the Catholic League and Holy Roman Empire. His poor relationship with the Imperial generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein frustrated his plan of becoming the supreme commander of the League's forces. Embittered by this he defected to Sweden, where he attained the rank of field marshal. He was captured at the Battle of Nördlingen in 1634 and executed for treason a year later.
Johann Wilhelm von Hunolstein, also known as Hunoltstein or Hunoldstein, was a professional soldier in Lorrain, Bavarian and Imperial military service during the Thirty Years' War. Since 1643, he was part of the General Staff of the Imperial supreme commanders Gallas and Melander, and commanded himself the entire infantry of either the Imperial or the Bavarian field army.
The siege of Philippsburg was a French siege of the Rhine fortress of Philippsburg during the Thirty Years' War. After the battle of Freiburg in early August, the French under the Duc d'Enghien refrained from attacking the city and marched north to besiege Philippsburg instead. The place fell after a two-week siege. The French took Worms, Oppenheim, Mainz and Landau over the following weeks.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain :Carl von Landmann (1878), "Geleen und Amsterad, Gottfried Huyn Graf von", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), vol. 8, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, p. 534
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
