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Johann Tserclaes Count of Tilly | |
|---|---|
 Count Tilly on a portrait | |
| Nickname | The Monk in Armor |
| Born | February 1559 |
| Died | 30 April 1632 (aged 73) |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch | |
| Years of service | 1574–1632 |
| Rank | Generalfeldmarschall |
| Battles / wars | |
Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly (Dutch:Johan t'Serclaes Graaf van Tilly;German:Johann t'Serclaes Graf von Tilly;French:Jean t'Serclaes de Tilly; February 1559 – 30 April 1632) was a field marshal who commanded theCatholic League's forces in theThirty Years' War. From 1620 to 1631, he won an unmatched and demoralizing string of important victories against the Protestants, includingWhite Mountain,Wimpfen,Höchst,Stadtlohn and theConquest of the Palatinate. He destroyed a Danish army atLutter andsacked 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.
However, Tilly's army was eventually crushed atBreitenfeld in 1631 by theSwedish army of KingGustavus Adolphus. A bullet from a Swedisharquebusmortally wounded him at theBattle of Rain on 15 April 1632, and he died two weeks later inIngolstadt on 30 April 1632, at the age of 73. Along with DukeAlbrecht von Wallenstein ofFriedland andMecklenburg, he was one of two chief commanders of theHoly Roman Empire's forces during the first half of the Thirty Years' War. Military historian Gaston Bodart (1908) refers to Tilly as one of the most notable military leaders from modern and contemporary times.[1]
Johann Tserclaes was born on February 1559 inCastle Tilly,Walloon Brabant, in theSpanish Netherlands, in what is nowBelgium, to a devoutlyCatholicBrabantine family. After receiving aJesuit education inCologne, he joined theSpanish Army at the age of fifteen and fought underAlexander Farnese, Duke of Parma in his campaign against the rebellious Dutch forces during theEighty Years' War, participating in the successfulSiege of Antwerp in 1585. After this he joined theHoly Roman Empire's campaign against theOttoman Turks inHungary and theTransylvania as amercenary during theLong Turkish War in 1600, and through rapid promotion became afield marshal in only five years. When the Turkish War ended in 1606, he remained in the service ofRudolf II inPrague until he was appointed commander of theCatholic League forces byBavaria underMaximilian I, Duke of Bavaria in 1610.[2]
As commander of the forces of the Catholic League, Tilly fought against theBohemian rebels following theDefenestration of Prague, by which time he had trained his soldiers in the SpanishTercio system, which featuredmusketeers supported by deep ranks ofpikemen. A force of 25,000 soldiers, including troops of both the Catholic League and the Emperor scored an important victory againstChristian of Anhalt andCount Thurn at the decisiveBattle of White Mountain west ofPrague on 8 November 1620. Half of the enemy forces were killed or captured, while the Catholic League lost only 700 men. This victory was vital in crushing resistance to the Emperor in Bohemia, as it allowed Prague to be captured several days later.[3]
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Next, Tilly turned west and marched throughGermany, but was defeated at theBattle of Mingolsheim on 27 April 1622. He then joined with the Spanish general DukeGonzalo Fernández de Córdoba – not to be confused with the famous Spanish general of the same name from the Italian Wars in Italy at the end of the 15th century – and was victorious at theBattle of Wimpfen againstGeorge Fredrick,Margrave of Baden-Durlach on 6 May; this victory occurred after the enemies' ammunitiontumbril was hit by cannon fire and exploded.
He was successful again at theBattle of Höchst on 20 June and was made acount (Graf inGerman) for this victory. These three battles in two months allowed him to capture the city ofHeidelberg following an eleven-week siege on 19 September.Christian the Younger of Brunswick, whom he had already defeated at Höchst, raised another army, but again lost to him at theBattle of Stadtlohn, where 13,000 out of his army of 15,000 were lost, including fifty of his high-ranking officers. Together with the complete surrender of Bohemia in 1623, this ended virtually all resistance in Germany. This caused KingChristian IV of Denmark to enter theThirty Years' War in 1625 to protectProtestantism, and also in a bid to make himself the primary leader ofNorthern Europe. Count Tilly besieged and capturedMünden on 30 May 1626, whereupon local and refugee Protestant ministers were thrown into the river Werra, but could not lay a siege toKassel.[4]
Tilly fought the Danes at theBattle of Lutter on 26–27 August 1626, in which his highly disciplined infantry charged the enemy lines four times, breaking through. This led him to win decisively, destroying[clarification needed] more than half the fleeing Danish army, which was uncharacteristic of the warfare of the time. Denmark was forced to sue for peace at theTreaty of Lübeck. This disrupted the balance of power in Europe resulting inSwedish involvement in 1630 under their redoubtable leader, the brilliant King and field generalGustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who had been trying to dominate theBaltic for the previous ten years in wars withPoland, then a continentalpower of note.[3]
While Gustavus Adolphus landed his army inMecklenburg and was inBerlin, trying to make alliances with the leaders of Northern Germany, Tilly laid siege to the city ofMagdeburg on theElbe, which promised to support Sweden.
The siege began on 20 March 1631, and Tilly put his subordinateGottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim in command while he campaigned elsewhere. After two months of laying siege, and after the fall ofFrankfurt an der Oder to the Swedes, Pappenheim finally convinced Tilly, who had brought reinforcements, to storm the city on 20 May with 40,000 men under the personal command of Pappenheim. The assault was successful and the walls were breached, but the commanders supposedly lost control of their soldiers. A massacre of the populace ensued in which roughly 20,000 of the 25,000 inhabitants of the city perished by sword and the fire which destroyed most of the city, then one of the largest cities in Germany and about the size ofCologne orHamburg.
Many historians consider it unlikely that Tilly ordered the city to be torched. Magdeburg was a strategically vital city of the Elbe and was needed as a resupply center for the looming fight against the Swedes. Although extremely opposed to the Reformation movement, Tilly was an experienced commander and would have recognized the strategic importance of the city. Additionally, he sent a proposal of surrender to Magdeburg days before the final assault, after the capture of the Tollredoubt. However, the city's mayor rejected the offer, expecting a Swedish relief force to arrive soon. When the slaughter began, and no escape was possible, the children of the city were formed in procession and marched across the marketplace singing Luther's hymnErhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort whose opening verse translates as "Lord keep us steadfast in thy Word, Curb Pope and Turk who by the sword, would wrest the kingdom from thy Son, and set at naught all he hath done." The children were slain without mercy, but whether by order from Tilly or not remains debated in some quarters.[5] Tilly afterwards reportedly wrote to the Emperor
Never was such a victory since the storming of Troy or of Jerusalem. I am sorry that you and the ladies of the court were not there to enjoy the spectacle.[6]
Following Magdeburg, Tilly engaged the army of Gustavus Adolphus at theBattle of Breitenfeld on 17 September 1631, near the city ofLeipzig, which he had reached after laying waste toSaxony. In the battle he was outmaneuvered by King Gustavus Adolphus and suffered 27,000 casualties. The Swedes' maneuvering and accurate, rapid artillery fire caused his troops to break and flee. He withdrew, and political rivalries preventedWallenstein from coming to his aid, so he turned to defence. He defeated the Swedes atBamberg on 9 March 1632. While attempting to prevent the Swedes from crossing intoBavaria over theLech nearRain am Lech, he was wounded early in theBattle of Rain on 15 April by a 90-gramarquebus bullet[7] (not, as erroneously reported, by aculverin cannon ball), which shattered his right thigh, and died ofosteomyelitis (bone infection) fifteen days later inIngolstadt at the age of 73 on 30 April 1632. His tomb is inAltötting,Upper Bavaria.[2]
Fraternal descendants includeAntonio Octavio Tserclaes de Tilly (1646–1715) andClaude Frédéric t'Serclaes, Count of Tilly (1648-1723). Antonio was a general and nobleman in service of Spain, while his younger brother Claude fought in service of thearmy of the Dutch Republic. A sister or daughter, Albertina, of this Prince Antonio Octavio, would be the first root for the Spanish ducal title, Dukes of Tserclaes, bestowed in July 1856 by QueenIsabella II of Spain to members of the Pérez de Guzmán family, living inJerez andSeville, Spain.[citation needed]
| Titles of nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| New title | Count of Tilly 1622–1632 | Succeeded by |
