Sporck was born in 1595 in Sporckhof located in the
Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn, on a farm belonging to his father Franz (died in 1625). Little is known about his early life, however letters written by him indicate that he was well educated. Sporck was baptized as Lutheran, however he later adopted Catholicism due to the contemporary recatholicization campaign launched by
Dietrich IV, Bishop of Paderborn. He had three brothers. His younger brother Philip worked at the court of Padeborn's prince-bishop, and his two older brothers served in the military of the
Electorate of Bavaria, one of them in the rank of
rittmeister (cavalry captain). Sporck entered the Bavarian military in 1620. According to his comrade in arms future general Chavagnac, he initially served as a
drummer while other accounts claim he was a cavalryman. He fought side by side with his brother in the
Battle of White Mountain an early action of the
Thirty Years' War where the latter was killed. Sporck reached the rank of rittmeister in 1633, while serving under
Johann von Werth. In 1636 he distinguished himself in battle. In 1639, he took part in the
Hessian campaign against the
Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, where was promoted to colonel. On 29 March 1640, he was thanked by
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria for recruiting two
companies of
arquebusiers, ordering him to recruit five more. The riders were recruited in the
Upper Palatinate by July, forming Sporck's personal regiment. In November 1643, Sporck's regiment made a daring raid on the French troops stationed in the vicinity of
Tuttlingen. In March 1645, Sporck distinguished himself in the
Battle of Jankau, however he was seriously wounded and was seized as a prisoner of war by the Swedes. Upon his release in 1646, Maximilian I granted him the rank of
generalwachtmeister. On 14 March 1647, Bavaria signed a
truce with Sweden and France. This angered a party of officers led by Werth, who launched a mutiny in an attempt to bring Bavaria back into the war, Sporck was among those who joined Werth. Bavaria renounced the truce on 7 September, after the emperor granted Maximilian large monetary concessions and military autonomy. Werth and Sporck had angered Maximilian to such an extent that their return into Bavarian service was deemed impossible, they therefore joined the Imperial army. On 12 October 1647, emperor
Ferdinand III promoted him to
lieutenant field marshal,
enfeoffing him with the lordship of
Lysá nad Labem and giving the noble title of
Reichsfreiherrn (free lord). He spent the rest of the war fighting against the Franco–Swedes in
Bavaria and against the latter in
Bohemia. He spent the following years maintaining his vast estates. In 1657, he rejoined the Imperial troops fighting in the
Second Northern War, campaigning extensively in Poland,
Prussia,
Schleswig,
Jutland and
Pomerania. In 1661, he took part in a failed military expedition against the Turks in
Transylvania. The 1663 Turkish invasion of Imperial
Hungary sparked the
Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664). The charge conducted by his cavalrymen at the
Battle of Saint Gotthard (1664) on 6 August, gained the praise of the emperor
Leopold I who assigned him the command of the sum of the Imperial cavalry and made him an
Imperial Count. Six years later he was promoted to
generalfeldmarschall and sent to Hungary, where he suppressed an uprising organized by the
Hungarian magnates. He returned to Hungary in 1672, where he headed the bloody pacification of areas which were previously overtaken by bandits. In the meantime the empire had become embroidered in the
Franco-Dutch War. In the summer of 1673, troops under the command of Sporck and
Raimondo Montecuccoli marched to the
Rhine where they
besieged Bonn, repelling a relief attempt by French marshal
Turenne. After wintering in
Westphalia, he participated in the 1674 campaign in Belgium, taking
Dinant,
Chimay and
Huy. In April 1675, he returned to the Upper Rhine and united his army with that of Montecuccoli. He retired in February 1676 due to old age. Sporck died in his Bohemian castle Hermanmester on 6 August 1679. Chavangac describes him as a master of light cavalry tactics, whose personal bravery led to the creation of exaggerated tales about his exploits. By the end of his life he had accumulated estates worth of 3 million
thalers and had an annual income of 50,000 more. ==Family==