Count Gustaf Adolf Lewenhaupt (aka ''Löwenhaupt''; 1619–1656) was a Swedish soldier and statesman. He was appointed Major General in 1645, Privy Councilor in 1650, General in 1651,

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

, in 1655 and

Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, in 1656. In the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

(1618–1648) he commanded troops at the Battle of Breitenfeld (First Battle of Leipzig), in 1642. Queen

Christina of Sweden Christina (; 18 December ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. 8 December1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Monarchy of Sweden, Queen of Sweden from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. Her conversion to Catholicism and ...

promised him the

Himmelpforten Convent Himmelpforten Convent (Low Saxon: ''Klooster Hemelpoorten'', ; ) was founded as a monastery of nuns following the Cistercian Rule during the 13th century in Himmelpforten, in today's Lower Saxony, Germany. During the 16th century, it was convert ...

with all its revenues,Beate-Christine Fiedler, „Bremen und Verden als schwedische Provinz (1633/45–1712)“, in: ''Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser'': 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. III: pp. 173–253, here p. 189. . and on 30 July/ 9 August 1651^O.S./N.S. he was invested with the convent as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

heritable in the male line (Mannlehen).Matthias Nistal, „Die Zeit der Reformation und der Gegenreformation und die Anfänge des Dreißigjährigen Krieges (1511–1632)“, in: ''Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser'': 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. III: pp. 1–158, here p. 79. . In the course of the

Great Reduction In the Great Reduction of 1680, by which the ancient landed nobility lost its power base, the Swedish Crown confiscated lands earlier granted to the nobility. ''Reductions'' () in Sweden and its dominions were the return to the crown of fiefs tha ...

of 1680 in the following year the general government of Swedish

Bremen-Verden Bremen-Verden, formally the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (; ), were two territories and immediate fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, which emerged and gained imperial immediacy in 1180. By their original constitution they were prince-bishoprics of th ...

revoked the enfeoffment to the Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt counts, so that Lewenhaupt's son Gustaf Mauritz (1651–1700) lost Himmelpforten again to the Swedish crown.Georg von Issendorff, ''Kloster und Amt Himmelpforten. Nach Akten und Urkunden dargestellt'', reprint of the edition by "Stader Archiv", 1911/1913, extended by Clemens Förster, Stade and Buxtehude: Krause, 1979, p. 53. No ISBN.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewenhaupt, Gustaf Adolf 1619 births 1656 deaths Field marshals of Sweden Governors-general of Sweden Members of the Privy Council of Sweden Swedish people of German descent Swedish counts 17th-century Swedish politicians 17th-century Swedish military personnel