“ The victory of Triebel in Silesia won him the rank of general of cavalry, and at the battle of Zusmarshausen in 1648 his stubborn rearguard fighting rescued the imperialists from annihilation. For some years after the peace of Westphalia Montecucculi was chiefly concerned with the business of the council of War, though he went to Flanders and England as the representative of the emperor, and to Sweden as the envoy of the pope to Queen Christina, and at Modena his lance was victorious in a great tourney. ”

“ MONTECUCCULI (Montecuccoli) , RAIMONDO, Count of (1609–1680) , prince of the holy Roman Empire and Neapolitan duke of Melfi, Austrian general, was born on the 21st of February 1608/9, at the castle of Montecucculo in Modena. His family was of Burgundian origin and had settled in north Italy in the 10th century. At the age of sixteen Montecucculi began as a private soldier under his uncle, Count Ernest Montecucculi, a distinguished Austrian general (d. 1633) . Four years later, after much active service in Germany and the Low Countries, he became a captain of infantry. ”

“ The rest of his life was spent in military administration and literary and scientific work at Vienna. In 1679 the emperor made him a prince of the empire, and shortly afterwards he received the dukedom of Melfi from the king of Naples. Montecucculi died at Linz on the 16th of October 1680, as the result of an accident. With the death of his only son in 1698 the principality became extinct, but the title of count descended through his daughters to two branches, Austrian and Modenese. As a general, Montecucculi shared with Turenne and Condé the first place amongst European soldiers of his time. ”