Mansfield, Peter Ernst II, Count

b. 1580; d. 1626

German soldier, one of the greatest generals of the Thirty Years War, first fought under the Duke of Savoy against the Spaniards. Sent to help the Bohemian rebels, he took Pilsen and compelled Bucquoi to evacuate Bohemia, but afterwards induced the Bohemians to make Frederick, the Elector Palatine, their king. The latter was defeated by the Imperial troops; Mansfield held out at Pilsen and Tábor until, yielding to superior numbers, he retreated to the Palatinate in 1621. The following year he ravaged Alsace and, joining forces with Frederick, defied both the Bavarians and the Hessians. Entering Belgium and uniting with the Duke of Brunswick, he defeated the Spaniards at Fleurus and penetrated into Westphalia. In 1625, at the head of a motley army, he re-entered Germany, but was defeated by Wallenstein and retreated to Brandenburg. He gave up the command against Austria and decided to try his fortunes in Venice, but died on his way there.

The illegitimate child of a Catholic princely family, Mansfield provides a classic example of the unprincipled mercenary leader of the day.

© JM Dent/Historybookshop.com

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