Torquato Conti | |
---|---|
Duke of Guadagnolo | |
![]() | |
Other titles | Field Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire, Gonfalonier of the Church |
Born | 1591 Rome |
Died | 6 June 1636 44–45) Ferrara | (aged
Wife | Felice Sassatelli-Bevilacqua |
Father | Lotario Conti, Duke of Poli |
Mother | Clarice Orsini |
Torquato Conti (1591–1636) was an Italian military commander who served as a General-Field Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War. His barbarous treatment of defenceless villagers earned him the nickname, The Devil. He later became a nobleman and was made Duke of Guadagnolo and Gonfalonier of the Church by Pope Urban VIII.
Conti was born in 1591 at Rome, the son of Lotario Conti (Duke of Poli) and his first wife Clarice Orsini (Lotario Conti had 14 children in total by two wives). He was the grandson of another Torquato Conti (1519–1571) and thus the nephew of Cardinal Carlo Conti. His father suggested an ecclesiastic career and to that end, he studied under the tutelage of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, a relative of the wife of his grandfather Torquato, Violante Farnese. For reasons unknown, he instead volunteered in the army of the Spanish Empire. [1]
In 1616, Conti commanded a company of infantry against Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (who was supported by the Kingdom of France) in an unsuccessful attempt to maintain the Spanish occupation of Alba. Alba was retaken by the Duke of Savoy and Conti, having survived the battle, went to Germany.
The development of Conti's military career generally followed the development of the Thirty Years' War and he fought in a number of early battles and sieges at the beginning of the war.
In Germany, Conti commanded the Italian volunteers fighting for Ferdinand II, who in 1619 became Holy Roman Emperor. Conti was promoted to lieutenant colonel and Regimental Chief in the interceding years before commanding troops loyal to Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy first at the Siege of Pilsen and then at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. [2] He continued with Count of Bucquoy and commanded troops during the Siege of Érsekújvár where Bucquoy was killed. Conti led a contingent to recover the body of the count but was captured.
When he was released several months later, Ferdinand II rewarded his bravery by giving him command of the garrison at Olomouc. He continued to defend the city against attacks from Gábor Bethlen. In 1622, Conti left Olomouc and took part in the Battle of Wimpfen. For his loyalty he was promoted to colonel and chamberlain.
In 1623, Maffeo Barberini was elected to the papal throne as Pope Urban VIII and Conti went to Valtellina as a commander of papal troops. Valtellina saw significant conflict during the Thirty Years' War as each side of the Bourbon–Habsburg rivalry tried to gain control of the passes between Lombardy and Austria. For his service there, the pope rewarded Conti by naming him Duke of Guadagnolo and General of the Papal Army. Shortly after he was named Ordnance Master (similar to the British Master-General of the Ordnance) of the army of the Holy Roman Emperor.
In 1626 he returned to Germany and commanded units loyal to Albrecht von Wallenstein during the Battle of Dessau Bridge. The following year, while von Wallenstein was elsewhere fighting Christian IV of Denmark, Conti commanded Imperial troops at Holstein.
In 1629, Conti became ill and removed himself from front line fighting. He was installed as Field Marshal and commander of garrisoned troops in Pomerania after the Capitulation of Franzburg; specifically the strategic Oder River crossing towns of Gartz and Greifenhagen. [1]
The beginning of the Swedish intervention (1630–1635) in the Thirty Years' War saw King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and his troops enter the Holy Roman Empire via the Duchy of Pomerania. Conti rode out from Gartz and Greifenhagen and to meet the Swedish landing force. [3] On 9 July, Swedish forces took Stettin (now Szczecin), but throughout 1630 were content with establishing themselves in the Oder estuary. The Duchy of Pomerania capitulated and Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Pomerania, and his councillors negotiated the Treaty of Stettin with King Gustavus Adolphus.
Forced to retreat from the advancing Swedish army of King Gustavus Adolphus, Conti ordered his troops to burn houses, destroy villages and generally cause as much harm to property and people as possible, a military strategy known as scorched earth . His actions were remembered thus: [4]
To revenge himself upon the Duke of Pomerania, the imperial general permitted his troops, upon his retreat, to exercise every barbarity on the unfortunate inhabitants of Pomerania, who had already suffered but too severely from his avarice. On pretence of cutting off the resources of the Swedes, the whole country was laid waste and plundered; and often, when the Imperialists were unable any longer to maintain a place, it was laid in ashes, in order to leave the enemy nothing but ruins.
And by another: [1]
For his lawless depredations and exactions, which had earned for him the name of The Devil among the common people of the North of Germany, as well as in Jutland and Holstein.
When one village complained of the treatment they had received, Conti ordered them to be stripped naked so that they would "have sure grounds for complaints". [5] Conti's actions have led some to suggest that Duke Bogislaw and his people were driven into the arms of the Swedes. [4] They saw King Gustavus Adolphus as a far better alternative to the violent rampaging Torquato Conti and his Imperial troops. Faced with the choice, the Treaty of Stettin may have seemed less like a capitulation and more like a rescue to the people of Pomerania.
In September Conti's commanding officer, von Wallenstein, was dismissed by the Emperor whose advisers were concerned he was planning a coup to take control of the Holy Roman Empire. At the same time, Conti launched an exploratory attack on Stettin but was repulsed. Seeing that King Gustavus Adolphus had no interest in attacking his position, Conti sent a message to the monarch suggesting a truce for the length of the oncoming winter. Angered by the devastation Conti had caused, the King responded: [6] "The Swedes can fight in winter as well as in summer".
Suffering from illness (likely cancer) and disheartened by the King's rebuke, Conti resigned his post in favour of Colonel Hannß Casimir von Schaumberg. [7] Both Gartz and Greifenhagen, where Conti had been garrisoned, were soon thereafter lost to the Swedes.
Conti travelled to Vienna where he received an honourable discharge and was appointed Gonfalonier of the Church by Pope Urban. He married Countess Felice Sassatelli-Bevilacqua in Ferrara but they had no children and Conti died there in 1636.
Conti was the uncle of Michelangelo Conti who was elected to the papal throne as Pope Innocent XIII, though Michelangelo was born 19 years after Torquato Conti died.
The Battle of Lützen, fought on 6 November 1632, is considered one of the most important battles of the Thirty Years' War. Led by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, an Allied army primarily composed of troops from Sweden, Saxony, and Hesse-Kassel, narrowly defeated an Imperial force under Albrecht von Wallenstein. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, with Gustavus himself among the dead.
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, also von Waldstein, was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). His successful martial career made him one of the richest and most influential men in the Holy Roman Empire by the time of his death. Wallenstein became the supreme commander of the armies of the Imperial Army of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and was a major figure of the Thirty Years' War.
Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly was a field marshal who commanded the Catholic League's forces in the Thirty Years' War. From 1620 to 1631, he won an unmatched and demoralizing string of important victories against the Protestants, including White Mountain, Wimpfen, Höchst, Stadtlohn and the Conquest of the Palatinate. He destroyed a Danish army at Lutter and sacked the Protestant city of Magdeburg, which caused the deaths of some 20,000 of the city's inhabitants, both defenders and non-combatants, out of a total population of 25,000.
The Battle of Rain took place on 15 April 1632 near Rain in Bavaria during the Thirty Years' War. It was fought by a Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and a Catholic League force led by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly. The battle resulted in a Swedish victory, while Tilly was severely wounded and later died of his injuries.
The Battle of Breitenfeld or First Battle of Breitenfeld, was fought at a crossroads near Breitenfeld approximately 8 km north-west of the walled city of Leipzig on 17 September, or 7 September, 1631. A Swedish-Saxon army led by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and Saxon Elector John George I defeated an Imperial-Catholic League Army led by Generalfeldmarschall Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly. It was the Protestants' first major victory of the Thirty Years War.
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.
Bogislaw XIV was the last Duke of Pomerania. He was also the Lutheran administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Cammin.
Johann or Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg was a German Field Marshal. At different times during the Thirty Years' War, he was a Field Marshal for the Holy Roman Empire and its opponent the Electorate of Saxony. He also pursued various diplomatic tasks.
The Battle of the Alte Veste was a significant battle of the Thirty Years' War in which Gustavus Adolphus' attacking forces were defeated by Wallenstein's entrenched troops.
The Polish–Swedish War of 1626–1629 was the fourth stage in a series of conflicts between Sweden and Poland fought in the 17th century. It began in 1626 and ended four years later with the Truce of Altmark and later at Stuhmsdorf with the Treaty of Stuhmsdorf.
The siege of Stralsund was a siege laid on Stralsund by Albrecht von Wallenstein's Imperial Army during the Thirty Years' War, from 13 May 1628 to 4 August 1628. Stralsund was aided by Denmark and Sweden, with considerable Scottish participation. The lifting of the siege ended Wallenstein's series of victories, and contributed to his downfall. The Swedish garrison in Stralsund was the first on German soil in history. The battle marked the de facto entrance of Sweden into the war.
The Treaty of Stettin or Alliance of Stettin was the legal framework for the occupation of the Duchy of Pomerania by the Swedish Empire during the Thirty Years' War. Concluded on 25 August (O.S.) or 4 September 1630 (N.S.), it was predated to 10 July (O.S.) or 20 July 1630 (N.S.), the date of the Swedish Landing. Sweden assumed military control, and used the Pomeranian bridgehead for campaigns into Central and Southern Germany. After the death of the last Pomeranian duke in 1637, forces of the Holy Roman Empire invaded Pomerania to enforce Brandenburg's claims on succession, but they were defeated by Sweden in the ensuing battles. Some of the Pomeranian nobility had changed sides and supported Brandenburg. By the end of the war, the treaty was superseded by the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the subsequent Treaty of Stettin (1653), when Pomerania was partitioned into a western, Swedish part, and an eastern, Brandenburgian part.
The Banner of the Holy Roman Church was the battle standard of the Papal States during the Renaissance and a symbol of the Catholic Church. The office of the Gonfalonier of the Church was originally intended to function as its bearer of the Holy See.
The capitulation of Franzburg was a treaty providing for the capitulation of the Duchy of Pomerania to the forces of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War. It was signed on 10 November (O.S.) or 20 November (N.S.) 1627 by Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Pomerania, and Hans Georg von Arnim, commander in chief of an occupation force belonging to the army of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, led by Albrecht von Wallenstein. While the terms of the capitulation were unfavourable for the Duchy of Pomerania already, occupation became even more burdensome when the occupation force did not adhere to the restrictions outlined in Franzburg. Stralsund resisted with Danish, Swedish and Scottish support, another Danish intervention failed. Imperial occupation lasted until Swedish forces invaded in 1630, and subsequently cleared all of the Duchy of Pomerania of imperial forces until 1631.
The Treaty of Bärwalde, signed on 23 January 1631, was an agreement by France to provide Sweden financial support, following its intervention in the Thirty Years' War.
The Battle of Frankfurt an der Oder on 13 April 1631 took place during the Thirty Years' War. It was fought between the Swedish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire for the strategically important, fortified Oder crossing Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg, Germany.
Philipp von Mansfeld, was Graf von Mansfeld, Vorderort and Bornstedt who commanded troops during the Thirty Years' War. He first fought on the side of the Swedish Empire under his second cousin, was captured, changed allegiance and raised a navy for General Albrecht von Wallenstein. Later, he commanded troops as Feldmarschall of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Diet of Regensburg was a meeting of the Prince-Electors of the Holy Roman Empire which occurred at Regensburg from July to November 1630. It resulted in a major loss of power for the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II.
The Swedish invasion of the Holy Roman Empire or the Swedish Intervention in the Thirty Years' War is a historically accepted division of the Thirty Years' War. It was a military conflict that took place between 1630 and 1635, during the course of the Thirty Years' War. It was a major turning point of the war: the Protestant cause, previously on the verge of defeat, won several major victories and changed the direction of the War. The Habsburg-Catholic coalition, previously in the ascendant, was significantly weakened as a result of the gains the Protestant cause made. It is sometimes considered to be an independent conflict by historians.
Events from the year 1631 in Sweden