Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, 2nd Count of Bucquoy (9 January 1571-10 July 1621) was commander-in-chief of the Holy Roman Empire's Imperial Army from 1614 to 1621 before and during the Thirty Years' War. He led the Imperials to victory in the Battle of Sablat in 1619 and the Battle of White Mountain in 1621, but he was killed while besieging Nove Zamky in 1621.
Biography[]
Charles Bonaventure de Longueval was born in Arras, Spanish Netherlands on 9 January 1571, the son of Maximilian de Longueval, 1st Count of Bucquoy. He began serving in the Spanish Army in the Low Countries as a teenager, rising to the rank of colonel by the age of 26. He fought at the Battle of Nieuwpoort, the Siege of Ostend, and in Ambrogio Spinola's Frisian campaigns, and he became a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1613. In 1614, he was made commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire, and he was on leave in the Habsburg Netherlands when the Bohemian Revolt broke out in 1618. He returned to Vienna in August 1618, and he was defeated by Jindrich Matyas Thurn at the Battle of Lomnice in November, preventing him from lifting the Siege of Pilsen. In 1619, he defeated Mansfeld at the Battle of Sablat, forcing the Bohemians to lift the siege of Budweis. In November 1620, he led the Habsburg forces to victory at the Battle of White Mountain, and he was granted estates at Novy Hrady, Rozmberk, and Libejovice, which remained in the family until 1945. On 10 July 1621, he was killed at the siege of Ersekujvar, and Torquato Conti succeeded him.