Herzog Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar

Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar, Herzog (Weimar, 1604-39, Neuenburg, Baden), a Protestant, had an adventurous career as a soldier of fortune and military leader, which proved detrimental to German interests in the crucial stages of the Thirty Years War (see Dreissigjähriger Krieg). After the death of Gustavus Adolphus at the battle of Lützen in 1631 Bernhard took over command of the troops. He became indispensable to Gustavus Adolphus's chancellor and successor, Axel Oxenstierna, who gave him the bishoprics of Würzburg and Bamberg as Swedish fiefs. In return Bernhard took command of the combined forces of the League of Heilbronn in 1633. He was defeated at Nördlingen and lost his duchy of Franconia, but, although he disliked Richelieu, he concluded with him in 1635 the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye by which he thought he had secured Alsace. The fall of Breisach/Rhine in 1638, crowning the campaign, was in effect a triumph for France. On Bernhard's early death in 1639 his army passed into French service and the war on German soil into French hands.