20 Facts About Torquato Conti

Torquato Conti was an Italian military commander who served as a General-Field Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.

Torquato Conti later became a nobleman and was made Duke of Guadagnolo and Gonfalonier of the Church by Pope Urban VIII.

Torquato Conti was the grandson of another Torquato Conti and thus the nephew of Cardinal Carlo Conti.

Torquato Conti's father suggested an ecclesiastic career and to that end, he studied under the tutelage of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, a relative of the wife of his grandfather Torquato, Violante Farnese.

In 1616, Torquato Conti commanded a company of infantry against Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy in an unsuccessful attempt to maintain the Spanish occupation of Alba.

Alba was retaken by the Duke of Savoy and Torquato Conti, having survived the battle, went to Germany.

In Germany, Torquato Conti commanded the Italian volunteers fighting for Ferdinand II, who in 1619 became Holy Roman Emperor.

Torquato Conti was promoted to lieutenant colonel and Regimental Chief in the interceding years before commanding troops loyal to Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy first at the Siege of Pilsen and then at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620.

Torquato Conti continued with Count of Bucquoy and commanded troops during the Siege of Ersekujvar where Bucquoy was killed.

Torquato Conti led a contingent to recover the body of the count but was captured.

Torquato Conti continued to defend the city against attacks from Gabor Bethlen.

In 1622, Torquato Conti left Olomouc and took part in the Battle of Wimpfen.

In 1623, Maffeo Barberini was elected to the papal throne as Pope Urban VIII and Torquato Conti went to Valtellina as a commander of papal troops.

In 1629, Torquato Conti became ill and removed himself from front line fighting.

Torquato Conti was installed as Field Marshal and commander of garrisoned troops in Pomerania after the Capitulation of Franzburg; specifically the strategic Oder River crossing towns of Gartz and Greifenhagen.

Torquato Conti rode out from Gartz and Greifenhagen and to meet the Swedish landing force.

When one village complained of the treatment they had received, Torquato Conti ordered them to be stripped naked so that they would "have sure grounds for complaints".

Torquato Conti's actions have led some to suggest that Duke Bogislaw and his people were driven into the arms of the Swedes.

Torquato Conti travelled to Vienna where he received an honourable discharge and was appointed Gonfalonier of the Church by Pope Urban.

Torquato Conti married Countess Felice Sassatelli-Bevilacqua in Ferrara but they had no children and Conti died there in 1636.