Origins Peter Melander was born, as Peter Eppelmann, in
Niederhadamar, the son of a farmer. Documentary evidence of his birth date exists. The older literature says that he was born in 1585; this was based on an erroneous inscription in his epitaph in the church of
Holzappel. After his father's death in 1592, Peter Eppelman joined his childless uncle Johann Eppelmann (d. 1608), a secretary of
Maurice of Orange, in the Netherlands. His uncle had translated the family name Eppelmann into Greek as
Melander, and Peter also took this name. Through the efforts of John Melander, the family was raised to
knightly
nobility in 1606. They then took over the name
of Holzappel from the extinct noble
Holzappel of Voitsburg-Selzberg family from the
Giessen area.
Military career The strictly
Protestant Melander took his first tentative steps towards a military career in the
Dutch army. In 1615, he joined the
Venetian army and fought in the
Uskok War. In 1620, he commanded a Swiss regiment in
Basel as
Colonel. He then fought in the
Valtellina War (1620–1622) and the
Mantuan War of Succession (1628–1631). He reached the first highlight of his military career in 1633 with his appointment as
Lieutenant General and secret war council of the Landgrave
William V of
Hesse-Kassel. William V was allied with the
Swedes, so Peter Melander fought with the
Hessian troops against the imperial army. In the
Battle of Oldendorf on 28 June 1633, he commanded the center of the Protestant forces under Duke
George of Brunswick-Calenberg and contributed much to the victory over the Imperial army and defeated them several more times as he chased them through Westphalia. He captured
Hamm on 26 May 1634 and he defeated General Bönnighausen on 27 June 1634, forcing him to retreat across the
Rhine. Landgrave William V died in autumn 1637 and his widow, countess
Amalie Elisabeth became regent for her eight-year-old son
William VI. She held on to her late husband's anti-
Habsburg policies. Melander was no longer willing to support this stance and resigned the command of the Hessian troops in mid-July 1640. He was then courted by the Emperor. He briefly served as ambassador of Count Palatine
Wolfgang William of Neuburg. On 23 December 1641, Melander was created
imperial count of Holzappel. On 15 February 1642, he received an imperial patent promoting him to field marshal. After he left the Hessian army, he resided until 1643 at Angerort near
Duisburg, on the instruction of Wolfgang William. He did not resume his military duties until
Wrangel invaded
Westphalia in 1645. Melander was appointed as supreme commander of the imperial army in Westphalia to defend the region. On 30 November 1646, he occupied
Paderborn and after the death of
Matthias Gallas in April 1647, he took command of the entire imperial army and led it into
Bohemia in July. He arrived too late to prevent the Swedish capture of
Eger. In late August his cavalry scored a success against Swedish horsemen under Helmold Wilhelm Wrangel at the
Battle of Triebl. In October he was joined by
Bavarian troops under Count
Jost of Gronsfeld. However, disputes between the two led to the armies being separated again by the end of November. Melander besieged
Marburg and took the city, but not the castle, in December 1647. During this siege, he lost many troops. On 28 December 1647, Johann Georg Stauff, the Hessian commander of the castle, fired his cannon at the house of the apothecary Seip, where Melander had intended to have dinner at the bugle signal. Melander was severely injured by a falling beam; the sentinel at the door was killed.
Acquisition of dominion of Holzappel Peter Melander became rich due to his position in the Thirty Years' War. In 1643, he purchased the
Lordship of
Esterau from
John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar, who was in considerable financial difficulty.
Emperor Ferdinand III raised the small Lordship to the
immediate County of Holzappel. Melander became a member of the
Wetterau Association of Imperial Counts in the
Imperial Diet of the
Holy Roman Empire.
Last battle and death In January 1648, Melander's troops retreated towards the
Danube. Near the village of
Zusmarshausen, near
Augsburg, they were surprised by a Swedish-French army under
Wrangel and
Turenne. Melander threw himself into the fray and was shot twice. He died on 17 May 1648 in Augsburg, as a result of the wounds he had received in
this battle. He was buried in the princely crypt (the
Melandergruft) in the Lutheran St. John church in
Holzappel, which was known as
Esten at the time. Peter Melander left a fortune that allowed his widow Agnes to purchase the Lordship and Castle of
Schaumburg in 1656, and merge it with Holzappel, thus forming the County of Holzappel-Schaumburg. In 1685, Melander's daughter Elisabeth Charlotte changed the name of the county seat from
Esten into
Holzappel. ==Family==