Jindrich Matyas Thurn
Encyclopedia
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: Heinrich Matthias Graf von Thurn und Valsassina; Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
: Enrico Matteo Conte della Torre di Valsassina
Della Torre
The Della Torre were an Italian noble family who rose to prominence in Lombardy during the 12th-14th centuries, until they held the seigniory of Milan before being ousted by the Visconti....
; Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
: Henrikki Matias Thurn-Valsassina) (24 February 1567 – 26 January 1640), was a leading Bohemian nobleman, one of leaders against Ferdinand II of Bohemia and in events that led to the Thirty Years War, and in the end a military and diplomat in Swedish service, residing in Swedish Estonia
Swedish Estonia
The Duchy of Estonia , also known as Swedish Estonia, was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1561 until 1721, when it was ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad, following its capitulation in the Great Northern War. The dominion arose when the northern parts of present-day Estonia were united...
.
Life
He was the son of geheimratGeheimrat
Geheimrat was the title of the highest advising officials at the Imperial, royal or principal courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the Geheimer Rat reporting to the ruler...
of the Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria
Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria
Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria was ruler of Further Austria including Tirol.-Life account:...
, Franz Napus von Thurn-Valsassina (František Thurn), count of Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
(1508–1586) and his second wife countess Barbora of Schlick (1547–1581), daughter of Hieronymus Schlick (Jeroným Šlik), count of Bassano and Weißkirchen and countess Katharina von Gleichen-Tonna.
Both of his parents were Protestants. Count Jindrich Matyas was born on in Lipnice nad Sázavou
Lipnice nad Sázavou
Lipnice nad Sázavou is a village in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 700 inhabitants.It is where, at the Czech Crown Inn, Czech author Jaroslav Hašek wrote a substantial part of The Good Soldier Švejk before he died in 1923...
castle in Bohemia. After the death of his father, he was fostered to his Catholic uncle John Ambrose.
Young count Thurn served in the Austrian embassy, and visited Istanbul, Syria, Egypt and Jerusalem. Since 1592 he served in the imperial army against Turks. He rose to the ranks of colonel and War Councillor. By marriage, he came into remarkable landholdings, in Krajina of Croatia among other places. The Emperor granted him the burgraviate of Karlštejn Castle as reward for his accomplishments in the battles against the Turks in Hungary. In northeast Bohemia he purchased 1605 the lordship of Velisz, which brought him to the membership of the Bohemian estate of nobles. He joined politically the Protestants of Bohemia. He served as marshal of the nobility.
In 1617, the devout Catholic archduke Ferdinand
Ferdinand
Ferdinand is a Germanic male given name composed of the words for "prepared"/"protection"/"safety"/"peace" and "journey"/"boldness"/"recklessness"...
was put forward as Habsburg successor to the aged, childless emperor Matthias, and also to be elected to the Bohemian throne. Bohemian nobles required him to commit to honor their freedom of religion, enshrined in the Decree of the late emperor Rudolph (Letter of Majesty). Thurn was one of signatories of Bohemians' critical reply to Ferdinand.
Ferdinand was not willing to do that. However, his election was pushed forward. In 1618, in a stormy event at the Hradčany Castle
Prague Castle
Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here...
(i.e. royal palace) of Prague, count Thurn lead the Bohemian nobles who defenestrated two of Ferdinand's representatives, Bořita of Martinice and Slavata of Chlum
Vilem Slavata of Chlum
Vilém Slavata z Chlumu a Košumberka was a Czech nobleman from old Bohemian family. As viceregent of Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg he became famous as co-victim, along with Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice, of the 1618 Defenestration of Prague.-Life:Vilém was born at his family's estates in...
.
Thurn was elected as one of the thirty Defenders of the Protestant Faith elected by the Estates of Bohemia. The revolt of the Protestant population of Bohemia began on 23 May 1618 and Thurn took command of the national army which deployed before Vienna on 6 June 1619 and again on 26 November. He participated in deposing Ferdinand of Bohemian throne and in the election of Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Frederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia ....
as new king. Count Thurn was commander of a regiment at the Battle of White Mountain
Battle of White Mountain
The Battle of White Mountain, 8 November 1620 was an early battle in the Thirty Years' War in which an army of 30,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt were routed by 27,000 men of the combined armies of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor under Charles Bonaventure de Longueval,...
in 1620. After the Bohemians' defeat there, Ferdinand exiled him, like all the other leaders of the uprising. Thurn so lost his estates in Bohemia.
Afterwards Thurn continued to take part in the fighting and political negotiations of the Thirty Years' War against the Habsburgs, as diplomat and as soldier. In 1626 he took command of some troops in Silesia. Then he served as lieutenant general in the army of King Gustav Adolf of Sweden and took part in the battle of Lützen 1632.
His only son, count Frantisek Bernard, also in Swedish service, fell in the war in 1629.
On 11 October 1633 Thurn and his force of 8000 soldiers were confronted by Wallenstein's army near Steinau an der Oder in Saxony, where he was captured. He was ransomed soon from the captivity, and retired to the family's new holdings in Pärnu
Pärnu
Pärnu is a city in southwestern Estonia on the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is a popular summer vacation resort with many hotels, restaurants, and large beaches. The Pärnu River flows through the city and drains into the Gulf of Riga...
, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
. Count Thurn died there, and was buried in the St Mary's Cathedral of Tallinn
St Mary's cathedral of Tallinn
St Mary's Cathedral, Tallinn is a church located on Toompea Hill in Tallinn, Estonia. Originally established by Danes on 13th century, it is the oldest church in Tallinn and mainland Estonia...
.
His heir was his underage grandson, count Heinrich von Thurn-Valsassina of Pärnu
Pärnu
Pärnu is a city in southwestern Estonia on the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is a popular summer vacation resort with many hotels, restaurants, and large beaches. The Pärnu River flows through the city and drains into the Gulf of Riga...
(1628–1656), son of František Bernard (1592–1628) and Magdalena von Thurn-Valsassina (born von Hardeck).
Count Thurn wrote a booklet, titled "Defensionsschrift", in German, there justifying his role in the events of 1618 as a deliberate, conscious defence of his religious beliefs. The booklet was published in Sweden.