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MONTECUCCULI (MONTECUCCOLI), RAIMONDO...

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 765 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MONTECUCCULI (MONTECUCCOLI), RAIMONDO, See also:COUNT OF (1609-1680) , See also:prince of the See also:holy See also:Roman See also:Empire and Neapolitan See also:duke of See also:Melfi, See also:Austrian See also:general, was See also:born on the 21st of See also:February 1608/9, at the See also:castle of Montecucculo in See also:Modena. His See also:family was of Burgundian origin and had settled in See also:north See also:Italy in the loth See also:century. At the See also:age of sixteen Montecucculi began as a private soldier under his See also:uncle, Count Ernest Montecucculi, a distinguished Austrian general (d. 1633). Four years later, after much active service in See also:Germany and the See also:Low Countries, he became a See also:captain of See also:infantry. He was severely wounded at the storming of New See also:Brandenburg, and again in the same See also:year (1631) at the first See also:battle of See also:Breitenfeld, where he See also:fell into the hands of the Swedes. He was again wounded at Ltitzen in 1632, and on his recovery was made a See also:major in his uncle's See also:regiment. Shortly afterwards he became a See also:lieutenant-See also:colonel of See also:cavalry. He did See also:good service at the first battle of See also:Nordlingen (1634), and at the storming of See also:Kaiserslautern in the following year won his colonelcy by a feat of arms of unusual brilliance, a See also:charge through the See also:breach at the See also:head of his heavy cavalry. He fought in See also:Pomerania, Bohemia and See also:Saxony (surprise of Wolmirstadt, battles of Wittstock and See also:Chemnitz), and in 1639 he was taken prisoner at Melnik and detained for two and a See also:half years in See also:Stettin and See also:Weimar. In captivity he studied, not only military See also:science, but also See also:geometry in See also:Euclid, See also:history in See also:Tacitus, and See also:architecture in See also:Vitruvius, and planned his See also:great See also:work on See also:war. On his See also:release he distinguished himself again in See also:Silesia.

In 1643 he went to Italy, by the See also:

emperor's See also:request, and made a successful See also:campaign in See also:Lombardy. On his return to Germany MONTECUCCULI he was promoted lieutenant-See also:field-See also:marshal and obtained a seat in the See also:council of war. In 1645-46 he served in See also:Hungary against Prince See also:Rakoczy of Transylvania, on the See also:Danube and See also:Neckar against the See also:French, and in Silesia and Bohemia against the Swedes. The victory of Triebel in Silesia won him the See also:rank of general of cavalry, and at the battle of Zusmarshausen in 1648 his stubborn rearguard fighting rescued the imperialists from annihilation. For some years after the See also:peace of See also:Westphalia Montecucculi was chiefly concerned with the business of the council of war, though he went to See also:Flanders and See also:England as the representative of the emperor, and to See also:Sweden as the See also:envoy of the See also:pope to See also:Queen See also:Christina, and at Modena his See also:lance was victorious in a great tourney. In 1657, soon after his See also:marriage with Countess Margarethe Dietrichstein, he took See also:part in, and after a See also:time commanded, an expedition against Rakoczy and the Swedes who had attacked the See also:king of See also:Poland. He became field-marshal in the imperial See also:army, and with the Great Elector of Brandenburg completely defeated Rakoczy and his See also:allies (peace of See also:Oliva, i66o). From 1661 to 1664 Montecucculi with inferior See also:numbers defended See also:Austria against the See also:Turks; but at St Gotthard See also:Abbey, on the Raab, he defeated the Turks so completely that they made a truce for twenty years .(Aug. 1, 1664). He was given the See also:Golden Fleece, and became See also:president of the council of war and director of See also:artillery. He also devoted much time to the compilation of his various See also:works on military history and science. He opposed the progress of the French arms under See also:Louis XIV., and when the inevitable war See also:broke out received command of the imperial forces.

In the campaign of 1673 he completely out-manoeuvred his great See also:

rival See also:Turenne on the Neckar and the See also:Rhine, and secured the See also:capture of See also:Bonn and the junction of his own army with that of the prince of See also:Orange on the See also:lower Rhine. He retired from the army when, in 1674, the Great Elector was appointed to command in See also:chief, but the brilliant successes of Turenne in the See also:winter of 1674 and 1675 brought him back. For months the two famous commanders manoeuvred against each other in the Rhine valley, but on the See also:eve of a decisive battle Turenne was killed and Montecucculi promptly invaded See also:Alsace, where he engaged in a war of manoeuvre with the great See also:Conde. The See also:siege of Philipsburg was Montecucculi's last achievement in war. The See also:rest of his See also:life was spent in military See also:administration and See also:literary and scientific work at See also:Vienna. In 1679 the emperor made him a prince of the empire, and shortly afterwards he received the dukedom of Melfi from the king of See also:Naples. Montecucculi died at See also:Linz on the 16th of See also:October 168o, as the result of an See also:accident. With the See also:death of his only son in 1698 the principality became See also:extinct, but the See also:title of ' count descended through his daughters to two branches, Austrian and Modenese. As a general, Montecucculi shared with Turenne and Conde the first See also:place amongst See also:European soldiers of his time. His Memorie della guerra profoundly influenced the age which followed his own; nor have See also:modern conditions rendered the See also:advice of Montecucculi wholly valueless. See Campori, Raimondo Montecuccoli (See also:Florence, 1876) ; Spenholtz, Aureum vellus seu catena, &c. (Vienna, 1668) ; memoir prefaced to the Memorie (See also:Cologne edition) ; this appears also in v. der Groeben's Neuer Kriegsbibliothek, vi.

230 (See also:

Breslau, 1777); Morgenstern, Oesterreichs Heiden (St Polten, 1782) ; Schweigerd, Oesterreichs Helden (Vienna, 1853); Paradisi, Elogio storico del See also:conte Raimondo Montecucculi (Modena, 1776) ; Schels, Oesterreichische militdrische Zeitschrift (Vienna, 1818, 1828 and 1842); Pezzl, Lebensbeschreibung Montecucculis (Vienna, 1792) ; See also:Hormayr, Oesterreichischer See also:Plutarch, XI II. (Vienna, 18o8); Reilly, Biographie der beriihmtesten Feldherrn Oesterreichs (Vienna, 1813) ; Wiirzbach, Biographisches Lexikon See also:des Kaiserthums, &c., pt. 19 (Vienna, 1868) ; Teuffenbach, Vaterldndisches Ehrenbuch (Vienna and See also:Teschen, 1877); See also:Die Hofkriegsraths, prdsidenten (Vienna, 1874) ; Weingartner, See also:Heldenbuch (Tesehen, 1882) ; Grossmann, Archiv See also:fur ost. Geschichte (Vienna, 1878) ; also supplement to Militar. Wochenblatt (See also:Berlin, 1878) ; See also:Organ des militarwissenschaftl. Vereins (Vienna, 1881); Reale instituto venelo di scienze, via. 5, 6 (See also:Venice, 1881); Rivista militare See also:Italian (See also:March and See also:April 1882); Allgemeine deutsche Biographic, vol. xxii. (See also:Leipzig, 1885). Important controversial works are those of See also:Turpin and Warnery, two distinguished soldiers of the 18th century (Commentaires sur See also:les memoires, &c. (See also:Paris), 1769, and Commentaires sur les See also:comm. . . . du See also:comte Turpin, Breslau, 1979).

A See also:

critical estimate of Montecucculi's works will be found in Jahns Gesch. der Kriegswissenschaften, ii. 1162–1178 (Leipzig, 1890).

End of Article: MONTECUCCULI (MONTECUCCOLI), RAIMONDO, COUNT OF (1609-1680)

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