PAPPENHEIM, GOTTFRIED HEINRICH, COUNT OF (1594-1632), imperial field marshal in the Thirty Years' War, was born on May 29, 1594, at the little town of Pappenheim on the Altmwhl, now in Bavaria, the seat of a free lordship of the empire, of an ancient family established there. He was educated at Altdorf and at Tiibingen. At the outbreak of the war he abandoned the legal and diplomatic career on which he had em barked, and took service in Poland under the Catholic League. He displayed brilliant courage at the battle of the White Hill near Prague (Nov. 8, 162o), where he was left for dead on the field. In the following year he fought against Mansfeld in western Germany, and in 1623 became colonel of a regiment of cuirassiers, afterwards the famous "Pappenhejmers." In the same year, as an ardent friend of Spain, the ally of his sovereign and the champion of his faith, he raised troops for the Italian war and served with the Spaniards in Lombardy and the Grisons. His long and heroic defence of the post of Riva on the Lake of Garda made his name. In 1626 Maximilian of Bavaria, the head of the League, recalled him to Germany to suppress an insurrection in Upper Austria. In a few weeks Pappenheim crushed the rebellion with ruthless severity (actions of Efferdingen, Gmiinden, Vocklabruck and Wolfsegg, Nov. 15-30, 1626). After this he served with Tilly against King Christian IV. of Denmark, and besieged and took Wolfenbiittel. His hope of obtaining the sovereignty and posses sions of the evicted prince was, after a long intrigue, definitely disappointed. In 1628 he was made a count of the empire. The
siege and storm of Magdeburg followed, and Pappenheim, like Tilly, has been accused of the most savage cruelty in this transac tion. After the battle of Breitenfeld, he covered the retreat of the imperialists from the lost field with care and skill, and won glory by his operations on the lower Rhine and the Weser in rear of the victorious Swedish army. Being now a field marshal in the imperial service, he was recalled to join Wallenstein, and assisted the generalissimo in Saxony against the Swedes ; but was again despatched towards Cologne and the lower Rhine. In his absence a great battle became imminent, and Pappenheim was hurriedly recalled. He appeared with his horsemen in the midst of the battle of Lutzen (Nov. 6th-16th, 1632). His furious attack was for the moment successful. But at about the same time as Gustavus was killed, Pappenheim also was mortally wounded. He died next day in the Pleissenburg at Leipzig.
See Kriegsschriften von baierischen Offizieren I. II. V. (Munich, 182o) ; Hess, Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim (Leipzig, 1855) Ersch and Gruber, Allgem. Encyklopfidie, III. II (Leipzig, 1838) ; Wittich, in Allgem. deutsche Biographic, Band 25 (Leipzig, 1887), and works there quoted.