Andrea Cantelmo


Andrea Cantelmo was a Neapolitan commander of Habsburg armies during the Thirty Years' War, the War of the Mantuan Succession, the second phase of the Eighty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War.

Life

Cantelmo, son of the duke of Popoli and of Laura d'Evoli, was born in Pettorano sul Gizio on 2 August 1598. In 1620 he obtained a commission as captain of a company of arquebusiers being sent to the Valtelline. After serving in the Valtelline he transferred to the army of Emperor Ferdinand II as a cavalry commander, serving in Bohemia before returning to Italy to take part in the Relief of Genoa. He remained in Italy to serve in the initial stages of the War of the Mantuan Succession, taking part in the Siege of Casale.
In 1631 he transferred again, to the Army of Flanders, serving in the Rhineland and later in Picardy. As general of artillery he played an important role in the Habsburg victory in the Battle of Kallo. He was interested in history and politics, and wrote on the art of war, but his writings have not been preserved. He maintained a correspondence with the humanist historian Erycius Puteanus.
By 1644 he was in Spain, where he was appointed a member of the Council of War and given command of the Army of Catalonia as acting captain general.
He died at Alcubierre on 5 November 1645.