Egon VIII of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg (Ernst Egon; 21 March 1588 in Speyer – 24 August 1635 in Constance) was Imperial Count of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg (1618–1635) and Bavarian Field-marshal, and an important military leader in the Thirty Years' War.
Contents
Early life
By birth, member of an old House of Fürstenberg, Egon was the son Frederick IV of Fürstenberg (1563–1617) and his wife, Countess Elizabeth of Sulz (1562/63-1601).
Career
Presumably the third son of the couple, Egon held several church offices. He was Chorbishop of Magdeburg and Strasbourg, treasurer and prebendary, Provost at St. Gereon in Cologne and of Archduke Leopold, Bishop of Passau and Strasbourg, Council and the governor in the autonomous Cathedral district of Rouffach.
By imperial letters patent of 9 September 1619, he was made a warlord of the Catholic League (German) during the Thirty Years War. In 1631, Egon of Fürstenberg enforced the Edict of Restitution in Franconia and Württemberg. Together with Johann von Aldringen, he waged war on Württemberg after the Peace of Cherasco, which forced the Duke of Württemberg to submit to the emperor and to distance himself from the decisions of the Leipzig convention. On 14 September 1631, during the siege of Leipzig, he commanded the right wing of the imperial troops led by General Tilly.