Tilly, John Tzerclais, Count De

, son of Martin Tzerclais, hereditary sénéchal of the county of Namur, was descended from an ancient and illustrious family, which was one of the seven patrician families of Brussels. It is said that he was originally a Jesuit; but, going into the army, he commanded the Bavarian troops under the duke Maximilian. He had a great share in the victory gained at Prague, November 8, 1620, over the unfortunate elector palatine Frederic V. and afterwards defeated successively the armies of count Mansfeldt, the duke of Brunswick, and the margrave of Baden Dourlach. At the battle of Lutter | in Luneuburg, 1626, he conquered the Danish army, which their king commanded in person. In 1629, he was sent to Lubeck, as plenipotentiary for concluding a peace with Denmark, had the sole command of the imperial forces the following year, instead of Walstein, and took the city of Magdeburg by storm, in 1631, where his soldiers committed the most horrid cruelties, barbarities, and ravages during three days. This unhappy city, after having been given up to pillage, was destroyed by fire, and almost all the inhabitants,.men, women, and children, murdered in the most inhuman manner; a barbarous massacre, which will for ever tarnish the glory of this celebrated general. He then invaded Saxony, and took Leipsic; but was defeated three days after, Sept. 17, the same year, 1631, by Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden. Having rallied his forces he repulsed Horn, chief of the protestant party General Tilly was at length wounded by a cannon ball while defending the passage of Lech against the Swedes, and died of his wound, April 30, 1632. Tilly is said to have been remarkable for two virtues, seldom found in his profession, the strictest chastity and temperance. He was likewise very popular with his troops, to whom he was always kind and liberal, and at last bequeathed sixty thousand crowns to the old regiments which had served under him. ¹