raise 11,000 undisciplined soldiers. Ruler of Brandenburg After George William fled to Königsberg in the Duchy of Prussia in 1638, Schwarzenberg became the virtual dictator of Brandenburg from 1638 to 1640. To finance the war, Schwarzenberg imposed new taxes, restricted the powers of the provincial estates, and suspended the Privy Council in favor of a War Council. Although Schwarzenberg had initially been supported by the estates for his cautious neutrality at the beginning of the war, the estates resented his attacks on their rights. He was seen as a traitor and agent for Austria and Habsburg Spain, profiting from the war while Brandenburg suffered. More often than not, the mercenaries he hired did more harm to the people of Brandenburg than to the Swedish troops, whom they were unable to expel. By the time of George William's death in 1640, Brandenburg-Prussia was on the verge of dissolution. Later years When Frederick William acceded to Brandenburg's throne in 1640, he began curtailing the powers of Schwarzenberg, assuming them himself or granting them to Götzen. The new elector demoted the Rhinelander to Governor of Brandenburg. Frederick William had long resented Schwarzenberg, believing that the minister had tried to poison him in 1638 when the prince was ill with measles. Schwarzenberg died unexpectedly in 1641, allegedly from fright caused by his rioting mercenaries. Although his administration of Brandenburg's meager resources was largely unsuccessful during the Thirty Years' War, it marked the beginning of the state's curtailment of the estates, a process continued by Frederick William, the "Great Elector". Schwarzenberg's successor as Governor of Brandenburg, Samuel von Winterfeld, negotiated a treaty of peace with Sweden. Cuno von Uechtritz-Steinkirch designed a bust of Schwarzenberg for Berlin's Siegesallee; along with a bust of Colonel Konrad von Burgsdorff, the statue of Schwarzenberg flanked that of Elector George William. The memorial was unveiled on 23 December 1899. Notes References 1583 births 1641 deaths People from the County of Mark People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg Counts of Germany Schwarzenberg, Adam Von German Roman Catholics Schwarzenberg family