Peter Melander, Graf von Holzappel

Peter Melander was born, as Peter Eppelmann, in Niederhadamar, the son of a farmer. Documentary evidence of his birth date exist. The older literature says that he was born in 1585; this was based on an erroneous inscription in his epitaph in the church of Holzappel. After his father's death in 1592, Peter Eppelman joined his childless uncle John, a secretary of Maurice of Orange, in the Netherlands. His uncle had translated the family name Eppelmann into Greek as Melander, and Peter also took this name. Through the efforts of John Melander, the family was raised to knightly nobility in 1606. They then took over the name of Holzappel from the extinct noble Holzappel of Voitsburg-Selzberg family from the Giessen area.

The strictly Protestant Melander took his first tentative steps towards a military career in the Dutch army. In 1615, he joined the Venetian army and fought in the Uskok War. In 1620, he commanded a Swiss regiment in Basel as Colonel. He then fought in the Valtellina War (1620–1622) and the Mantuan War of Succession (1628–1631). He reached the first highlight of his military career in 1633 with his appointment as Lieutenant General and secret war council of the Landgrave William V of Hesse-Kassel. William V was allied with the Swedes, so Peter Melander fought with the Hessian troops against the imperial army.[1] In the Battle of Oldendorf on 28 June 1633, he commanded the center of the Protestant forces under Duke George of Brunswick-Calenberg and contributed much to the victory over the Imperial army and defeated them several more times as he chased them through Westphalia. He captured Hamm on 26 May 1634 and he defeated General Bönnighausen on 27 June 1634, forcing him to retreat across the Rhine. Landgrave William V died in autumn 1637 and his widow, countess Amalie Elisabeth became regent for her eight-year-old son William VI. She held on to her late husband's anti-Habsburg policies. Melander was no longer willing to support this stance and resigned the command of the Hessian troops in mid-July 1640. He was then courted by the Emperor.

He briefly served as ambassador of Count Palatine Wolfgang William of Neuburg. On 23 December 1641, Melander was created imperial count of Holzappel. On 15 February 1642, he received an imperial patent promoting him to field marshal. After he left the Hessian army, he resided until 1643 at Angerort near Duisburg, on the instruction of Wolfgang William.[1] On 1642, Wolfgang William enfeoffed him with Lülsdorf Castle near Niederkassel.[2]

He did not resume his military duties until Wrangel invaded Westphalia in 1645. Melander was appointed as supreme commander of the imperial army in Westphalia to defend the region. On 30 November 1646, he occupied Paderborn and after the death of Matthias Gallas in April 1647, he took command of the entire imperial army and led it into Bohemia in July. He arrived too late to prevent the Swedish capture of Eger. In late August his cavalry scored a success against Swedish horsemen under Helmold Wilhelm Wrangel at the Battle of Triebl. In October he was joined by 10000 Bavarian troops under Count Jost of Gronsfeld. However, disputes between the two led to the armies being separated again by the end of November. Melander besieged Marburg and took the city, but not the castle, in December 1647.[1] During this siege, he lost many troops. On 28 December 1647, Johann Georg Stauff, the Hessian commander of the castle, fired his cannon at the house of the apothecary Seip, where Melander had intended to have dinner at the bugle signal. Melander was severely injured by a falling beam; the sentinel at the door was killed.

Peter Melander became rich due to his position in the Thirty Years' War. In 1643, he purchased the Lordship of Esterau from John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar, who was in considerable financial difficulty. Emperor Ferdinand III raised the small Lordship to the immediate County of Holzappel. Melander became a member of the Wetterau Association of Imperial Counts in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire.[1]

In January 1648, Melander's troops retreated towards the Danube. Near the village of Zusmarshausen, near Augsburg, they were surprised by a Swedish-French army under Wrangel and Turenne. Melander threw himself into the fray and was shot twice. He died on 17 May 1648 in Augsburg, as a result of the wounds he had received in this battle. He was buried in the princely crypt (the Melandergruft) in the Lutheran St. John church in Holzappel, which was known as Esten at the time.

Peter Melander left a fortune that allowed his widow Agnes to purchase the Lordship and Castle of Schaumburg in 1656, and merge it with Holzappel, thus forming the County of Holzappel-Schaumburg.

In 1685, Melander's daughter Elisabeth Charlotte changed the name of the county seat from Esten into Holzappel.