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14 April in military history: Battle of Chemnitz, 1639

Military history · 14 April · Thirty Years' WarFull calendar

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Map marking the battle site: Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany
Location: Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany. Location map: © Echoes of Battle (data: Natural Earth, public domain)
Quick answer

On 14 April 1639 the Swedish army of Field Marshal Johan Banér routed a combined Imperial and Saxon army near Chemnitz in Saxony, during the Thirty Years' War. Banér went on to take Pirna and march into Bohemia. On the same date in 1471 Edward IV defeated the Earl of Warwick at Barnet.

Battle of Chemnitz

14 April 1639 · 387 years ago

Chemnitz, 14 April 1639

According to the Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, Banér's advance forced the Imperial and Saxon troops, now united under Field Marshal Morzin, to come out and meet him; Banér concentrated his forces and routed them at Chemnitz. The Nordisk familjebok also says that Banér utterly defeated the Imperialists and the Saxons there, under a commander it calls Marzini. According to the same encyclopedia, Chemnitz had already been almost completely burned down in 1632 and 1634.1

The sources do not tell the battle the same way. Ward writes that Banér drove the Saxons back on Dresden and then defeated their Imperialist allies near Chemnitz, under Archduke Leopold William. Schiller speaks of Banér "totally routing the Saxon army at Chemnitz". The dates differ as well: the Svenskt biografiskt lexikon gives 4 April 1639, Ward gives 14 April, and the Nordisk familjebok prints both, as 4 (14) April.2

Into Bohemia

The Svenskt biografiskt lexikon gives Banér three aims in marching into Bohemia: to drive a wedge between Saxony and the Imperial forces, to shift the burden of war onto the Habsburg hereditary lands and to join hands with Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, who was to advance from the Rhine. On the way, still in Saxony, Banér took Pirna. Ward says he then scattered an Imperial force near Brandeis, and at the end of a month sat down before Prague with a much augmented army, but withdrew to the Elbe after a brief cannonade. Schiller has him take Brandeis and Leitmeritz and defeat General Hofkirchen, who had ten regiments.3

Bernard never came. He died in July 1639, on the 8th according to Gardiner and the 11th according to Ward. While Banér waited, his army devastated Bohemia. Schiller writes: "Above a thousand castles, hamlets, and villages were laid in ashes; sometimes more than a hundred were seen burning in one night". According to the Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, Banér began his retreat in March 1640, after nine months in which the hereditary lands had suffered every misery of war.4

From Wittstock to the Baltic

Johan Banér won a victory at Wittstock in 1636, told in our article on the battle. Ward names the beaten army as the one commanded by the Elector of Saxony and the Imperialist general Hatzfeldt, and writes that the victory in a great measure restored the reputation the Swedes had lost at Nördlingen. Gardiner calls Banér "the ablest of the successors of Gustavus". But he could not hold what he had gained. In 1637 he lay in a fortified camp at Torgau while the Imperial general Gallas gathered a much larger army against him. According to Ward, Banér's army had sunk to no more than 16,000 men, and the force approaching under Gallas was nearly twice as large.5

Banér broke out in the summer of 1637. Ward writes that he spread a report that he was marching on Erfurt and was fifteen hours' march away before Gallas learned that he had left Torgau; Banér reached Fürstenberg on the Oder on 3 July and then joined Wrangel at Neustadt. Ward adds that a popular engraving of the day showed him opening the sack with his sword and making his way out. The retreat cost the Swedes their gains in Saxony and Brandenburg, and Gardiner sums up the year in one line: Banér "was driven back to the shores of the Baltic".6

A new army

In 1638 Sweden sent Banér large reinforcements and supplies. Schiller puts them at 14,000 fresh troops from Sweden and Livonia. According to the Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, Wrangel, who had shared the command, was recalled that spring, and Banér became commander-in-chief of the Swedish forces in all of Germany as well as governor-general of Pomerania. With the new army he cleared Pomerania and Mecklenburg of the Imperial forces and pushed Gallas back; Ward says the Imperial troops withdrew into Silesia and Bohemia for the winter.7

France and Sweden renewed their alliance in 1638, and Ward records that France undertook to pay Sweden a million livres a year. The plan, in Ward's account, was for France to fight in the south-west while Sweden took on the Austrian lands, and Banér hoped to work with Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, who was campaigning on the Rhine.8

Across the Elbe

Around the turn of 1638 and 1639 Banér crossed the Elbe. The Svenskt biografiskt lexikon says that he relieved Erfurt, where a Swedish garrison had held out, then pursued the remnants of the Saxon elector's army without mercy and besieged his fortresses. Ward has him pass through the Brunswick lands, apparently to force Duke George of Lüneburg out of his neutrality, before he turned on the Saxons and drove them back on Dresden. Schiller adds that Banér first defeated an Imperial general named Salis at Elsterberg.9

Schiller, quoted here in the English translation published by Project Gutenberg, also gives a picture of the land the Swedes crossed. The country between the Elbe and the Oder had been so stripped by the passing armies that Banér had to take a roundabout route through Halberstadt, and the Lower Saxon states, eager to be rid of him, supplied him so well that he had bread in Magdeburg, "where famine had even overcome the natural antipathy of men to human flesh".10

Also on this day

Battle of Buda Zaborowska

14 April 1863 · 163 years ago

By the village of Buda Zaborowska in the Kampinos Forest, a January Uprising unit of young Warsaw volunteers under Major Walery Remiszewski fought Russian troops. The insurgents were defeated by the Russians.

1471: at Barnet, north of London, King Edward IV defeated the army of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and Warwick was killed as he fled. The Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV says that Edward attacked between four and five in the morning, although "there was a greate myste and letted the syght of eithar othar". Edward's campaign continued at Tewkesbury.11

1861: Major Robert Anderson and his Union garrison marched out of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, which they had surrendered to the Confederate forces of Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard. During the salute to the flag that the surrender allowed, a gun went off early and an explosion killed Private Daniel Hough. The bombardment is told on our page for 13 April and in our article on the battle.12

Frequently asked questions

When and where was the Battle of Chemnitz?

It was fought near Chemnitz in Saxony in April 1639, during the Thirty Years' War. Ward gives the date as 14 April; the Swedish national biography gives 4 April, and the Nordisk familjebok prints both, as 4 (14) April.

Who won the Battle of Chemnitz?

The Swedish army under Field Marshal Johan Banér defeated the Imperial and Saxon forces. The sources disagree on who commanded the losing side: the Swedish national biography names Field Marshal Morzin, while Ward names Archduke Leopold William.

Who was Johan Banér?

A Swedish general who won at Wittstock in 1636 and whom Gardiner calls "the ablest of the successors of Gustavus". In 1638 he became the commander of all Swedish forces in Germany and governor-general of Pomerania.

Where did Banér go after Chemnitz?

He took Pirna, marched into Bohemia and advanced on Prague, then fell back to the Elbe. His army devastated Bohemia until he began his retreat in March 1640.

What else happened on 14 April?

In 1471 Edward IV defeated the Earl of Warwick in the fog at Barnet, and Warwick was killed. In 1861 Major Robert Anderson's Union garrison marched out of Fort Sumter.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. Riksarkivet, “Johan Banér”; Nordisk familjebok, “Chemnitz”. ↩
  2. A. W. Ward, “The Later Years of the Thirty Years’ War (1635-48)”; Friedrich Schiller, “The History of the Thirty Years’ War”; Riksarkivet, “Johan Banér”; Nordisk familjebok, “Chemnitz”. ↩
  3. Riksarkivet, “Johan Banér”; A. W. Ward, “The Later Years of the Thirty Years’ War (1635-48)”; Friedrich Schiller, “The History of the Thirty Years’ War”. ↩
  4. A. W. Ward, “The Later Years of the Thirty Years’ War (1635-48)”; Samuel Rawson Gardiner, “The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648”; Riksarkivet, “Johan Banér”; Friedrich Schiller, “The History of the Thirty Years’ War”. ↩
  5. Riksarkivet, “Johan Banér”; A. W. Ward, “The Later Years of the Thirty Years’ War (1635-48)”; Samuel Rawson Gardiner, “The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648”. ↩
  6. Riksarkivet, “Johan Banér”; A. W. Ward, “The Later Years of the Thirty Years’ War (1635-48)”; Samuel Rawson Gardiner, “The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648”. ↩
  7. Riksarkivet, “Johan Banér”; A. W. Ward, “The Later Years of the Thirty Years’ War (1635-48)”; Friedrich Schiller, “The History of the Thirty Years’ War”. ↩
  8. A. W. Ward, “The Later Years of the Thirty Years’ War (1635-48)”; Riksarkivet, “Johan Banér”. ↩
  9. Riksarkivet, “Johan Banér”; A. W. Ward, “The Later Years of the Thirty Years’ War (1635-48)”; Friedrich Schiller, “The History of the Thirty Years’ War”. ↩
  10. Friedrich Schiller, “The History of the Thirty Years’ War”. ↩
  11. John Bruce, “Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV. in England and the Finall Recouerye of His Kingdomes from Henry VI”; London Museum, “The Battle of Barnet”. ↩
  12. Frank Barnes, “Fort Sumter National Monument”; American Battlefield Trust, “Fort Sumter”. ↩

Sources

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