TILLY, Joins; TZERCLAS, Count of, one of the greatest captains of the 17th c., was born in 1559, at the château of Tilly in Brabant. A pupil of the Jesuits, his natural -sternness of character inclined him to embrace their fanatical ideas; and this bent of mind was fixed by the examples of Alba (q.v.) and Requesens, under whom he was initiated into the art of war in the low countries. After a term of distinguished service in Hungary against the Turks, he was appointed (1609) by duke Maximilian of ' Bavaria to re-organize his army, but resigned this post to take the command of the Catholic army at the outbreak of the Thirty Years' war (q.v.), and in conjunction with duke Maximilian :gained (Nov. 8, 1620) the battle of Prague, which dissipated the ambitious dreams of the -elector-palatine. During the course of this war, he separated, by able strategy, the :armies of Mansfeld and of the markgraf of Baden, beat the latter at Wimpfen, expelled -Christian of Brunswick from the Palatinate (1622), defeating him at Hochst (July 22, 1622) and at Stadion (Aug. 1623); the latter conflict, which was of the most desperate •character, lasting for three days. Created a count of the empire, he was next opposed to the king of Denmark, whom he conquered at Lutter (Aug. 17, 1626), and in conjunc tion with Wallenstein, compelled to sign the shameful treaty of Labe& (1629). In the following year, he succeeded Wallenstein as commander-in chief of the imperial forces, and took. by storm the town of Magdeburg (May 10, 1631). The unheard-of atrocities which lie allowed the Croats and Walloons of his army to perpetrate on this occasion have affixed to his otherwise high reputation a foul blot, ineffaceable by all the cosmetic arts of his numerous apologists. On May 14, he made a solemn entry into the ruined
city, attended the celebration of a Te Dewitt in the cathedral, and then sent to the emperor a dispatch in which occurs this remarkable passage: "Since the capture of Troy, and the destruction of Jerusalem, a victory such as this has never been seen!" From this lime, however, fortune deserted him; for his next opponent was the great Gustavus Adolphus, who completely routed him at Breitenfeld (Sept. 17, 1631); and though, in the following spring, he obtained some minor successes over the Swedish gen. Horn, the long speedily forced him to retreat behind the Lech in Bavaria, and (April 5) forced the passage of the river right in his front, after a desperate conflict in which Tilly was mor tally wounded. He was removed to Ingolstadt, where he died, April 30, 1632. Tilly, the victor in 36 battles, was reckoned the best general of the time till his defeat by the Swedes; he was small in stature, and of a meager habit of body, with a stern and energetic cast of countenance. Sober and continent, a despiser of luxury and wealth, his zealous support of the Catholic party was entirely founded upon fanatical zeal for the supremacy of a religion which he regarded with more than monkish devotion.
See SESAMDIL