Johann Georg Christian, Prince of Lobkowicz
Johann Georg Christian, Prince of Lobkowicz (German: Johann Georg Christian, Fürst von Lobkowitz, Czech: Jan Jiří Christian z Lobkovic; 10 August 1686 – 4 October 1755), was an Austrian field marshal. He was a member of the old Bohemian noble Lobkowicz family, of which he established a cadet branch, the Hořín–Mělník line.
Life
He was born in Prague to Ferdinand August Leopold, 3rd Prince of Lobkowicz and Duke of Sagan, and his second wife, Marie Anna Wilhelmine of Baden-Baden and Hochberg. He fought under Prince Eugene of Savoy against the French in the War of the Spanish Succession and later against the Turks during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718. He succeeded Piccolomini after his death in Priština, Kosovo, but Johann increased taxes and failed to maintain good relations; and the Albanian and Serb forces joined the Ottomans.[1][2]
Since 1717 he commanded his own cuirassier regiment. In 1732 he became Governor of Sicily (the island was for a short time a part of Habsburg realm). On 28 November 1739 he was made a Knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece. In 1741 he attained the rank of field marshal.
During the War of the Austrian Succession, he successfully fought the French (under the command of Maréchal de Belle-Isle) and Bavarians between Prague and Munich; through the actions of his troops he managed to enclose and besiege Belle-Isle's forces in Prague. Later, he was appointed as Governor of the Duchy of Milan (1743–1745). Subsequently, he became the commander-in-chief of the Habsburg forces in Italy, but lost the Battle of Velletri (1744) against the army of King Charles III of Spain.
In 1745 composer Christoph Willibald Gluck accepted an invitation to become house composer at London's King's Theatre, travelling to England, possibly in the company of Georg Christian but more likely with his younger cousin, Ferdinand Philipp, 6th Prince Lobkowicz.
Family
Johann Georg Christian married Countess Henriette of Waldstein-Wartenburg in Prague on 11 March 1717. They had 10 children. Two of their sons were killed in battle; two other sons, Joseph Maria Karl and August Joseph Anton, served in the Austrian military and diplomatic corps and became Knights in the Order of the Golden Fleece and one, Ferdinand Maria of Lobkowicz, became bishop of Ghent.
See also
References
- Hahn, Johann Georg (2015). The Discovery of Albania: Travel Writing and Anthropology in the Nineteenth Century Balkans. I.B.Tauris. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-78453-292-5. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
- Bajraktari, Jusuf (1996). The Kosova issue--a historic and current problem: symposium held in Tirana on April 15-16, 1993. Institute of history. p. 71. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
Further reading
- Marek, Miroslav. "Genealogy.euweb". Genealogy.EU.
- Kasík, Stanislav; Mašek, Petr; Mžyková, Marie (2002). Lobkowiczové: dějiny a genealogie rodu [Lobkowiczs: A History and Genealogy of the Family] (in Czech) (Historia nobilium ed.). Olomouc: Matice cyrilometodějská. ISBN 80-903040-3-6.