A 1622 Thirty Years' War engagement where Protestant forces repulsed Tilly, though he subsequently bypassed them to unite with Spanish forces.
Key Facts
- Date
- 27 April 1622
- Location
- Near Wiesloch, 23 km south of Heidelberg
- Catholic force (de Córdoba)
- Approximately 20,000 troops from Spanish Netherlands
- Outcome
- Protestant repulse of Tilly; Tilly bypassed to link with de Córdoba
- Follow-on engagement
- Battle of Wimpfen, later in April 1622
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In spring 1621, Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, crossed the Rhine from Alsace to join Ernst von Mansfeld's Protestant forces. Their combined aim was to prevent Count Tilly from linking up with Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, who was marching from the Spanish Netherlands with an army of around 20,000 men under orders from General Ambrosio Spinola.
On 27 April 1622, Tilly attacked the Protestant rear guard near Mingolsheim and initially succeeded, but was repulsed when he engaged the main Protestant body. The Catholic forces were driven back and forced to retreat, ending the direct confrontation without a decisive Catholic victory.
After his repulse, Tilly bypassed the stationary Protestant army and successfully joined de Córdoba later that month, achieving the strategic link-up the Protestants had sought to prevent. Mansfeld was left at a disadvantage awaiting Christian of Brunswick's reinforcements from the north, and the two sides clashed again shortly after at the Battle of Wimpfen.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Ernst von Mansfeld, Hans Michael Elias von Obentraut, Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach.
Side B
2 belligerents
Count Tilly, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba.