Peter Ernst von Mansfeld (20 July 1517-22 May 1604) was a Saxon general who prospered in the service of Spain, serving as Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1592 to 1594.
Biography[]
Mansfeld was born in Heldrungen in Saxony, and as a young man came to the Spanish Netherlands with Charles V of Germany. In 1535 he took part in the Siege of Tunis, when the Habsburgs captured the city from the Barbary States. In 1545 he was made the Governor of Spanish Luxembourg and a year later was made a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Under his cousin Don John of Austria, he fought in the Eighty Years War and won a decisive victory in the Battle of Gembloux. When Alexander Farnese invaded France in 1590, he was made the interim Governor of the Spanish Netherlands and in 1592, after Farnese's death, he became the official governor. In 1594 he was succeeded by Ernst of Austria as Governor. His illegitimate son Ernst von Mansfeld became a famous mercenary general who fought in the Thirty Years War.