Ottavio Piccolomini-Pieri, duca d’Amalfi

Ottavio Piccolomini-Pieri, duca d’Amalfi (born November 11, 1599, Florence [Italy]—died August 11, 1656, Vienna [Austria]) was a general and diplomat in the service of the house of Habsburg during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) and one of the imperial generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein’s most-trusted lieutenants. His skills both on the battlefield (Thionville, 1639) and at the conference table (Congress of Nürnberg, 1649) made him an invaluable servant of the Austrian and Spanish crowns.

Born into a noble Tuscan family, Piccolomini entered the Habsburg service in 1616. After campaigning in Bohemia and Hungary (from 1618), he returned to Italy in 1623 as a volunteer in Spanish pay. In 1627 Piccolomini began his association with Wallenstein, whose bodyguard he soon commanded. From 1627 to 1629 he was used on a number of the generalissimo’s diplomatic missions and, after the outbreak of the War of the Mantuan Succession, in which Austria opposed France, he went to Italy with both military and diplomatic powers (1629). Two years later, however, he was forced to sign an unfavourable peace in order to give Austria a free hand against the Swedes in the north.

After his return to Germany, Piccolomini, who was instrumental in Wallenstein’s reinstatement as generalissimo and almost turned the Battle of Lützen (November 1632) into an imperial victory, became increasingly disillusioned when his superior bequeathed favours and promotions on other men. He played a leading role with the Austrian general Matthias von Gallas in the generals’ conspiracy that toppled and assassinated Wallenstein on February 25, 1634. Although Emperor Ferdinand II rewarded Piccolomini richly, he gave the supreme command to Gallas.

After the victory at Nördlingen (September 6, 1634), which freed Bavaria, Piccolomini returned to the Spanish service and campaigned against the French in the Netherlands (1635–39), winning the spectacular victory of Thionville (June 1639), for which he was created duke of Amalfi. He then reentered the Austrian army, but, after his defeat at the second Battle of Breitenfeld (November 1642), he again returned to the Spanish service in the Netherlands. Finally, in May 1648, the emperor Ferdinand III named him commander in chief, and Piccolomini thus conducted the last campaign of the Thirty Years’ War. The next year he served as head of the imperial delegation to the Congress of Nürnberg, which negotiated issues left unsettled by the Peace of Westphalia (1648). Named imperial prince (Reichsfürst) in 1650, he died in the Austrian capital six years later.