Ernst von Mansfeld

[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.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.He took Pilsen, but in the summer of 1619 he was defeated at the Battle of Sablat; after this he offered his services to the Emperor Ferdinand II and remained inactive while the titular king of Bohemia, Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, was driven in headlong rout from Prague.Mansfeld, however, was soon appointed by Frederick to command his army in Bohemia, and in 1621 he took up his position in the Upper Palatinate, successfully resisting the efforts made by Tilly to dislodge him.According to one account, Mansfeld, knowing his end was near, donned his armour and propped by two of his soldiers he gave a farewell speech to his remaining followers and died at sunrise while standing up.
Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-VorderortErnest II, Count of Mansfeld-VorderortLuxembourgSpanish NetherlandsRakovicaBosniaOttoman EmpireGermanCatholicProtestantsThirty Years' WarillegitimatePeter Ernst von MansfeldHouse of MansfeldSpanishstadtholderlower nobilityBrusselsLong WarHungaryCharlesimperialWar of the Jülich SuccessionLeopold V of AustriaHouse of HabsburgProtestantUskok WarCharles Emmanuel, Duke of SavoyBohemiansPilsenBattle of SablatEmperor Ferdinand IIFrederick V, Elector Palatine of the RhinePragueUpper PalatinateRhenish PalatinateFrankenthalHagenauWieslochAlsaceChristian of BrunswickUnited ProvincesFleurusBergen op ZoomEast FrisiamercenaryLondonJames IFrederick V, Elector PalatineNetherlandssiege of BredaChristian IV of DenmarkWallensteinthe bridge of DessauAustriaBethlen Gábor, prince of TransylvaniaVeniceSarajevopublic domainChisholm, HughEncyclopædia BritannicaR. ReussS. R. GardinerJ. L. Motley