Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly

Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly (1559–1632), led Catholic forces in the Thirty Years' War. Born at Tilly in the Spanish Netherlands and Jesuit-educated at Cologne, he served under Alexander Farnese against the Dutch.

In 1610 Maximilian of Bavaria made him commander of the Catholic League's army. He won at White Mountain in 1620, fought in the conquest of the Palatinate, and crushed the Danes at Lutter in 1626.

His sack of Magdeburg in 1631 killed some twenty thousand inhabitants. Routed by Gustavus Adolphus at Breitenfeld, he defeated the Swedes at Bamberg in 1632, was mortally wounded at Rain, and died at Ingolstadt on 30 April 1632.