MONTECUCCULI, RAIMONDO, COUNT OF (1609? 168o), prince of the Holy Roman Empire and Neapolitan duke of Melfi, Austrian general, born Feb. 2, 1608 or 1609, at the castle of Montecucculo in Modena. At the age of sixteen Monte cucculi began as a private soldier under his uncle, Count Ernest Montecucculi, a distinguished Austrian general (d. 1633), but seeing continuous service in Germany and the Low Countries, he rose by 1634 to a colonelcy. In 1639 he was taken prisoner at Melnik and detained for two and a half years in Stettin and Wei mar. In captivity he studied military science, geometry, history and architecture and planned his great work on war. On his re lease he distinguished himself again in Silesia, and in Lombardy (1643). On his return to Germany he was promoted lieutenant field-marshal and obtained a seat in the council of war. In 46 he served in Hungary, on the Danube and Neckar, and in Silesia and Bohemia. The victory of Triebel in Silesia won him the rank of general of cavalry, and at Zusmarshausen in 1648 his rearguard fighting rescued the imperialists from annihilation. For some years after the peace of Westphalia Montecucculi was chiefly concerned with the business of the council of war, though he went to Flanders and England as the representative of the em peror, and to Sweden as the envoy of the pope, and at Modena his lance was victorious in a great tourney. In 1657, soon after his marriage with Countess Margarethe Dietrichstein, he saw further active service. He became field-marshal in the imperial army, and with the Great Elector of Brandenburg completely defeated Rakoczy and his allies (peace of Oliva, 166o). From 1661 to 1664 Montecucculi defended Austria against the Turks, whom he de feated so completely at St. Gotthard Abbey, on the Raab, that they made a truce for twenty years (Aug. 1, 1664). He was given the Golden Fleece, and became president of the council of war and director of artillery. He also devoted much time to the compilation of his various works on military history and science. When the war broke out against France, he received command of the imperial forces. In 1673 he completely out-manoeuvred his great rival Turenne on the Neckar and the Rhine. He retired from the army when, in 1674, the Great Elector was appointed to command in chief, but the brilliant successes of Turenne in the winter of 1674 and 1675 brought him back. After Turenne's death
Montecucculi invaded Alsace, where he engaged in a war of manoeuvre with the great Conde. The siege of Philipsburg was Montecucculi's last achievement in war. The rest of his life was spent in military administration and literary and scientific work at Vienna. In 1679 the emperor made him a prince of the empire, and shortly afterwards he received the dukedom of Melfi from the king of Naples. Montecucculi died at Linz on Oct. 16, 168o, as the result of an accident. He shared with Turenne and Conde the first place amongst European soldiers of his time. His Memorie della guerra profoundly influenced the age which followed his own.
AUTHORITIES.—The Memorie della guerra, etc., was published at Venice in 1703 and at Cologne in the following year. A Latin edition appeared in 1718, a French version in 1712, and the German Kriegs nachrichten des Fiirsten Raymundi Montecuccoli in 1736. Many memoirs on military history, tactics, fortification, etc., written in Ital ian, Latin and German, remain still unedited in the archives of Vienna. The collected Opere di Raimondo Montecuccoli were published at Milan (1807) , Turin (1821) and Venice (1840), and include political essays and poetry.
See Campori, Raimondo. Montecuccoli (Florence, 1876) ; Spenholtz, Aureum vellus seu catena, etc. (Vienna, 1668) ; Paradisi, Elogio storico del conte Raimondo Montecucculi (Modena, 1776) ; Pezzl, Lebensbe schreibung Montecucculis (Vienna, 1792) ; Hormayr, Oesterreichischer Plutarch, XIII. (Vienna, i8o8) ; Wilrzbach, Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums, etc., pt. 19 (Vienna, 1868) ; Die Hofkriegsraths, priisi denten (Vienna, 1874) Weingartner, Heldenbuch (Teschen. 1882) ; Grossmann, Archiv fur ost. Geschichte (Vienna, 1878) ; Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, vol. xxii. (Leipzig, 1885). Important controversial works are those of Turpin and Warnery, two distinguished soldiers of the 18th century (Commentaires sur les memoires, etc. [Paris], 1769, and Commentaires sur les comm. . . . du comte Turpin, Breslau, 1777). A critical estimate of Montecucculi's works will be found in Jahns Gesch. der Kriegswissenschaften, u. (Leipzig, 189o).