Henrik Magnus Buddenbrock

Henrik Magnus Buddenbrock, born July 22, 1685 in Livonia, beheaded July 16 / July 27, 1743 in Stockholm) was a Swedish baron and Lieutenant General. He was executed for negligence in the Russo-Swedish War, in the aftermath of the defeat at Villmanstrand.

Life

Henrik Magnus Buddenbrock was born 1685 in Livonia. He was the son of the landed gentleman and Swedish Army officer Henrik Gotthard von Buddenbrock (1648-1727) and Charlotta von Cronman. He enlisted as an officer of the Swedish army, becoming a captain of the Livgardet in 1711, Major of grenadiers in 1715, Major General in 1721. He was elevated to friherre (matricle number 206) in 1731 and promoted to Lieutenant General of the infantry in 1739. As such, he was in 1741 commander of the troops in Finland, under General Charles Emil Lewenhaupt, at the onset of the war against Russia.

Trial and execution

On August 23 / September 3 1741, Swedish Major General Carl Henrik Wrangel and his corps in Villmanstrand in Karelia, at the long disputed frontier between Sweden and Russia, was attacked and defeated by a Russian army under General Peter Lacy before Buddenbrock, less than 10 kilometers away, could come to his assiantance.

As the war was developing unfavorably for Sweden, the defeat was blamed on Lewenhaupt and Buddenbrock. In August 1742 they were dismissed from Finland and immediately arrested by Vice Admiral Ritterstolpe upon their return. On the night of September 28 Buddenbrock was brought to Stockholm, where he was imprisoned and closely guarded. A court martial was convened under Field Marshal Hamilton on October 8 to investigate the two cases. The prosecutor was Chancellor of Justice Silverschildt, who submitted an extensive indictment. Buddenbrock was accused of, among other things, not assemblinh his troops in a timely fashion in order cross the Russian border, as planned. In addition he had not arrived to Villmanstrand in time to rescue Major General Wrangel.

Buddenbrock defended himself so well, that had he only faced the nobility, he would have left with his life. However the other Estates of the Riksdag, in particular the peasants, were embittered and demanded a scapegoat. On May 26 1743 he gaoled in the prison of Södermalm. The verdict of the Commission and was announced publicly to a large congregation on May 29. Buddenbrock was to be dishonored, his property confiscated, and he himself beheaded with an axe. In an appeal, Buddenbrock wrote a comprehensive account where he detailed his services to the kingdom, but despite this and the pleading of his family, the verdict was confirmed by the Estates the following day. Even a request to be beheaded with a sword (as befitting a nobleman) or to be executed by firing squad was denied. The date of his execution was set to July 20 but king Frederick postponed it another week.

On July 27 1743, General von Buddenbrock was executed in Stockholm. His wife, Magdalena Elisabeth Rahm, and their four children left Sweden for Holland.

ource

* [http://runeberg.org/sbh/buddenhm.html Nordisk Familjebok]