Christian to himself in the north. Outnumbered again, and leading an army that was not as disciplined as that of Tilly, Christian made a break for the relative safety of the United Provinces. He was outrun and outmaneuvered 10 miles short of the Dutch border, and in a stand typical of Christian's bravery, he was nonetheless decisively defeated at the Battle of Stadtlohn on 6 August 1623, when he lost all but 2,000 of this 15,000-man army. Broken, he fled for The Hague with the remnants of his army. Defeat and death Christian's defeat signalled the close of the "Palatine Phase" of the Thirty Years' War, and the end of the Protestant rebellion as a whole. Three days after Stadtlohn, Frederick V signed an armistice with Ferdinand II, ending the former's resistance to what seemed as impending Catholic domination of the Holy Roman Empire. Mansfeld shortly thereafter disbanded his army on the Rhine with the entrance of Denmark-Norway, the United Provinces, and England into the war in 1625. Under a plan that involved Christian, Mansfeld, and Christian IV, King of Denmark-Norway, pushing from the United Provinces and from Denmark-Norway, Christian found himself with ample financial backing. Ordered to advance on the Rhineland, he undertook this mission but quickly found himself checked by Tilly in Hesse, and opted this time to retreat rather than fight. Ill from the outset of the campaign, he died at Wolfenbüttel on 16 June 1626 at the age of 26. Ancestors References "Christian-of-Brunswick." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2004. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 2 Dec. 2004 Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vol. 4, p. 677-683 Ernst von Mansfeld - notification (also in English) concerning the latest biography about Count Mansfeld (to be published in September 2010) External links 1599 births 1626 deaths People from Gröningen Middle House of Brunswick German military leaders Knights of the Garter Lutheran administrators of Halberstadt Prince-Bishopric Military personnel of the Thirty Years' War Military personnel of the Holy Roman Empire University of Helmstedt alumni Sons of monarchs Military personnel from Saxony-Anhalt