Marshal Gottfried Heinrich Earl of Pappenheim-Treuchtlingen
Gottfried Heinrich was born in 1594 and baptized Protestant. In 1607 he began to study in Tübingen and later, together with Wallenstein in Altdorf near Nuremberg.
Gottfried Heinrich was highly educated and ambitious. Probably also in this context, as a young man,he decided to convert to the Catholic faith and to try his luck "at war".
His courage and chivalric, superior martial arts was already evident in his first battle at the "White Mountain". Along with the imperial forces (catholic league), he suggested the troops from Bohemia, Moravia , Silesia and
Lower Austria. He was severely wounded.
After further victories in the Veltins to Riva and other battles, in 1628, he was designated by the Colonel to the "Master-General of the League stuff." That would now correspond to the rank of General of Artillerie.He was charged in Count status.
His contradictorily place in European history, he got at the siege of Magdeburg under Tilly. A smaller fire, tactical layed from Gottfried Heinrich, developed into an inferno and 12.000 people of Magdeburg died.
The marshals
Since the Frankish king and emperor time, from 7 Century after Christ, you have to imagine a "royal" or later "imperial" as a mobile, sometimes huge retinue of human, animal and household. It moved around in "German and European lands or led war and moved to quarters in so called royal courtyards, which were distributed specially for this purpose over the country.
This company obviously had a need for large organization, that was done by the so-called “Reichsministerialen” - mostly from low nobility.They had almost inevitably, the central bodies of imperial power, there were: cup-bearer, Captain, Treasurer and Marshal.
The field marshals had to worry about in this context, especially to transport and trade, protecting the Jews, parades, the staging of the “Reichstag” and especially the affairs of the army system and warfare.
They also had the privilege of being at the coronation of the emperor to put the crown on his head. Over time, these offices were hereditary information. From time immemorial, all the royal and imperial marshals have been “Pappenheimer” throughout the Middle Ages.