Bernard of Saxe-Weimar

Bernard of Saxe-Weimar (; 16 August 160418 July 1639) was a German prince and general in the Thirty Years' War. Biography Born in Weimar in the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Bernard was the eleventh son of Johann, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Dorothea Maria of Anhalt. Bernard received an unusually good education and studied briefly at the University of Jena, but soon went to the court of Duke John Casimir of Saxe-Coburg to engage in knightly exercises. At the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War he took the field on the Protestant side, and served under Mansfeld at Wiesloch (1622), under the Margrave of Baden at Wimpfen (1622), and with his brother William at Stadtlohn (1623). Undismayed by these defeats, he took part in the campaigns of King Christian IV of Denmark. After a severe defeat in Holstein in 1627, Bernhard left Danish service and went to the Dutch Republic. There he was present at the famous Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch in 1629. When King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden landed in Germany Bernard quickly joined him, and for a short time he was colonel of the Swedish life horse guard. After the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631), he accompanied Gustavus in his march to the Rhine and, between this event and the Battle of the Alte Veste, Bernard commanded numerous expeditions in almost every district from the Moselle to Tyrol. At the Alte Veste he displayed great courage, and at the Battle of Lützen (1632), when Gustavus was killed, Bernard assumed the command, killed a colonel who refused to lead his men to the charge, and finally by his furious energy won the victory at sundown.