Historica Wiki
Advertisement
Maximillian Mandorf

Maximillian Mandorf (1045-1086) was a general of the Holy Roman Empire. Mandorf was intelligent and severe, and was considered one of the HRE's best commanders. In 1086, he took part in a German campaign against Jan I of Bohemia and was killed in the assault on Prague, although the city was taken and the Bohemians suppressed.

Biography[]

Mandorf

Mandorf at the Siege of Prague

Mandorf was born to a noble German family that were prestigious within the Holy Roman Empire. He was known to be an intelligent commander and was made the Governor of Nuremburg in 1080, and was severe on those who dared to resist the Empire's might and overlordship.

Mandorf was given the honor of assaulting the Kingdom of Bohemia, whose king Jan I of Bohemia had the guts to offer resistance to the Holy Roman Empire's rule over his lands of Bohemia and Prague. Mandorf and 5,800 German troops laid siege to Prague, held by 3,760 Slav Levies, although they had crossbowmen, while the Germans had only peasant archers. 

The fiery ballista bolts lit up the snowy city's gates as the winter siege of 1082 commenced, and the German army drew up outside of the city. The Imperial army assaulted the city when the gates collapsed, and the German army moved in for the attack. Mandorf encouraged his men, telling them that the Holy Roman Empire was the refuge of Roman wisdom and that killing the enemy was giving them mercy; they spared them from a rightful death, the gallows. 

Mandorf had a knack for leading his men from the front. He was the first charger to enter the city and charged in with his bodyguards, assaulting the weaker Slav Levies. He fought bravely but harried by crossbowmen from the rear and stabbed by spearmen from the front, he knew that he would die a chivalrous death.

Mandorf was caught in the sword fighting between his and Jan's troops and fell in the battle. Both he and his horse Georg were cut down, and the Germans lost 80% of their army in the assault. The Germans took the city after heavy losses and nearly 19,000 Bohemian civilians were massacred as retaliation for their opposition.

Advertisement