Tilly, Johann Tserklaes, Count von 1559-1632
Bavarian soldier

Born at the castle of Tilly in Brabant and brought up by the Jesuits, he fought in Hungary against the Turks, and was appointed in 1610 by Duke Maximilian of Bavaria to reorganize his army. Given the command of the Catholic League's army at the outbreak of the Thirty Years War, he separated the armies of Mansfeld and of the Margrave of Baden, beat the latter at Wimpfen (1622), and expelled Christian of Brunswick from the Palatinate, defeating him in two battles. Created a Count of the Empire, he defeated King Kristian IV of Denmark at Lutter (1626), and with Albrecht von Wallenstein compelled him to sign the Treaty of L�beck (1629). The next year he succeeded Wallenstein as Commander-in-Chief of the imperial forces, and stormed Magdeburg (1631). Gustav II Adolph, at Breitenfeld, drove him to retreat behind the Lech, and forced the passage of the river, after a desperate conflict in which Tilly was fatally wounded.