or Christian of Halberstadt, 1599–1626, Protestant military leader in the Thirty Years War, titular bishop of Halberstadt (1616–23). One of the first allies of Frederick the Winter King, elector palatine of the Rhine, he took up arms in defense of the Palatinate in 1621. Defeated (1622) by the imperial commander Tilly, he went to the Netherlands. Christian then advanced into Germany but had to retreat, and Tilly turned the retreat into a rout at Stadtlohn (1623). While serving with Christian IV of Denmark, he was defeated a third time (1626).