Hermann Christof, Count Russwurm (–1605) was an imperial commander in the

Long Turkish War The Long Turkish War (, ), Long War (; , ), or Thirteen Years' War was an indecisive land war between the Holy Roman Empire (primarily the Habsburg monarchy) and the Ottoman Empire, primarily over the principalities of Wallachia, Transylvania, ...

Biography

Russwurm was born in Frauenbreitungen, Sachsen-Meiningen, the son of Heinrich Russwurm the Younger and his wife Dorothea, probably in August 1565.Sch.
Rußworm, Hermann Christof Graf von
in ''

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

'', vol. 30 (1890), pp. 16-19. He began his military career in the

Cologne War The Cologne War (, ''Kölnischer Krieg'', '' Truchsessischer Krieg''; 1583–1588) was a conflict between Protestant and Catholic factions that devastated the Electorate of Cologne, a historical ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Em ...

(1583–88), by the end of which he had become commander of Christophe de Bassompierre's personal guard. In 1590 he entered on his inheritance, and became an officer in the regiment of Hans Reichard von Schönberg, serving in Jülich. Distinguishing himself in command, he received an imperial commission as lieutenant colonel and instructions to raise a regiment for Charles, Margrave of Burgau, to serve against the Turks. He was wounded at the

Siege of Pápa A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characte ...

in 1597. In Autumn 1600, at a banquet in Prague, he unsuccessfully sought to provoke the Moravian nobleman Charles of Žerotín the Elder into a duel. Russwurm commanded the imperial forces in failed attempts on

Buda Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...

in 1602 and 1603.Ferenc Szakály, "The Early Ottoman Period, Including Royal Hungary, 1526-1606", in ''A History of Hungary'', edited by Peter F. Sugar, Péter Hanák, Tibor Frank (Indiana University Press, 1994), p. 97: "In both 1602 and 1603, imperial troops under general Hermann Russwurm tried unsuccessfully to attack Buda." In May 1605 Russwurm was made a count. On 24 July he became embroiled in a quarrel in which one of his servants killed Marshal Belgiojoso's brother. Tried as an accessory to the killing, he was beheaded in Prague on 29 November 1605, against the wishes of the

Emperor Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–16 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russwurm, Hermann Christof 1605 deaths People of the Long Turkish War 1560s births Imperial Army (Holy Roman Empire) personnel