View source for Kurt Christoph von Königsmarck

{{Short description|Dutch-Swedish military leader}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Kurt Christoph von Königsmarck
| image       = Conrad Christoff von Königsmarck SP103.jpg
|caption = Portrait of Conrad Christoff von Königsmarck by [[Matthaeus Merian the Younger]]
| birth_date  = 24 March 1634
| death_date  = 31 October 1673
| death_place = [[Bonn]]
| nationality = Dutch
| parents     = [[Hans Christoff von Königsmarck]] <br/> Agathe von Leesten
| spouse      = Maria Christina von Wrangel
| children    = [[Karl Johann von Königsmarck]] <br/> [[Maria Aurora von Königsmarck]] <br/> [[Amalia Königsmarck|Amalia Wilhelmina von Königsmarck]] <br/> [[Philip Christoph von Königsmarck]]
}}
'''Conrad''' or '''Kurt Christoph von Königsmarck''' (24 March 1634 – 31 October 1673) was a [[Netherlands|Dutch]]-[[Sweden|Swedish]] military leader.
He was the son of [[Hans Christoff von Königsmarck]] and Agathe von Leesten and the brother of [[Otto Wilhelm von Königsmarck]] and [[Beata Elisabet von Königsmarck]].
==Career==
Königsmarck received an education despite the war and later joined the Swedish army. He took part in the bloody battle near Warsaw in 1656. In 1658 under [[Charles X Gustav of Sweden|Charles X]] command during the crossing over the frozen Great Belt Bridge to [[Funen]] he was caught by the Danes and was left free only after the Peace of [[Roskilde]]. In 1663 after the death of his father he became a vice-governor of the [[Duchy]] of [[Bremen-Verden]] and commander of [[Stade]].
He served the [[stadthouder]] [[William III of Orange]] in [[Bodegraven]] during the [[Rampjaar]]. When 10,000 French troops under the command of [[François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg]] arrived over the frozen ice of the [[Hollandic Water Line]] from [[Woerden]] on 27 December 1672, he retreated to [[Leiden]]. There the councilman Cornelis Hop and others kept the gates closed and ordered him back to [[Alphen aan de Rijn]] in order to defend the Water Line at [[Gouwsluis]]. His retreat enabled the Duke of Luxembourg to destroy Bodegraven and [[Zwammerdam]].<ref name=NNBW>[http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/molh003nieu02_01/molh003nieu02_01_1338.php Conrad Christoffel graaf van Königsmarck] in the [[NNBW]]</ref>
Königsmarck was killed in the [[Siege of Bonn (1673)|Siege of Bonn]] by an accidental cannon shot from friendly side at the age of 39.<ref name=NNBW/>
In a year his body was reburied in Stade. He was known for his charitable gifts, as for example a rebuilding of burnt church in Stade in 1659.
==Personal life==
He married Countess Maria Christina von Wrangel, the daughter of Count [[Hermann von Wrangel]]. They had five children, four of whom lived to adulthood:
* [[Karl Johann von Königsmarck]] (1659-1686)
* [[Maria Aurora von Königsmarck]] (1662-1728)<ref>{{Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the Seventeenth Century|page=296 note 3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XN51y209fR8C&pg=PA296}}.</ref>
* [[Amalia Königsmarck|Amalia Wilhelmina von Königsmarck]] (1663-1740)
* [[Philip Christoph von Königsmarck]] (1665-1694)
* Gustaf Herman von Königsmarck (1668–1669), who died in infancy
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1634 births]]
[[Category:1673 deaths]]
[[Category:Swedish military personnel]]
{{Netherlands-politician-stub}}