Georg Jenatsch, commonly called Jürg or Jörg Jenatsch (1596 - January 24, 1639), was a Swiss political leader during the Thirty Years' War. One of the most striking figures in the troubled history of the Grisons in the 17th century, he was born at Samaden (capital of the Upper Engadine). Events February 5 - 26 catholics crucified in Nagasaki, Japan. ... January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events January 14 - Connecticuts first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, is adopted. ... The victory of Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) The Thirty Years War was a conflict fought between the years 1618 and 1648, principally in the Central European territory of the Holy Roman Empire, but also involving most of the major continental powers. ... Graubünden or Grisons (German: Graubünden; Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun; French: Grisons), is the largest and easternmost Swiss canton. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ...

He studied at Zürich and Basel, and in 1617 became the Protestant pastor of Scharans (near Thusis). But almost at once he plunged into active politics, taking the side of the Venetian and Protestant party of the Salis family, as against the Spanish and Romanist policy supported by the rival family, that of Planta. Zürich IPA (in English often Zurich, which is also the standard French form of the name) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 364,558 in 2002; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ... Basel (English traditionally: Basle [ba:l], German: Basel [ba:z@l], French Bâle [ba:l], Italian Basilea [bazilE:a]) is Switzerlands third most populous city (188,000 inhabitants in the canton of Basel-City as of 2004; the 690,000 inhabitants in the conurbation stretching across the immediate... Events Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed I (1603-1617) to Mustafa I (1617-1623). ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ...

He headed the preachers who in 1618 tortured to death the arch-priest Rusca, of Sondrio, and outlawed the Plantas. As reprisals, a number of Protestants were massacred at Tirano (1620), in the Valtellina, a very fertile valley, of considerable strategical importance (for through it the Spaniards in Milan could communicate by the Umbrail Pass with the Austrians in Tirol), which then fell into the hands of the Spanish. Events March 8 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but on May 15 confirms the discovery). ... Location within Italy Piazza della Scala Milan (Italian: Milano; Milanese dialect: Milán) is the main city in northern Italy, and is located in the plains of Lombardy, the most populated and developed of Italian regions. ... Tyrol (Tirol in German) is a federal state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. ...

Jenatsch took part in the murder (1621) of Pompey Planta, the head of the rival party, but later with his friends was compelled to fly the country, giving up his position as a pastor, and henceforth acting solely as a soldier. He helped in the revolt against the Austrians in the Prattigau (1622), and in the invasion of the Valtellina by a French army (1624), but the peace made (1626) between France and Spain left the Valtellina in the hands of the pope, and so destroyed Jenatsch's hopes.

Having killed his colonel, Ruinelli, in a duel, Jenatsch had once more to leave his native land, and took service with the Venetians (1629-1630). In 1631 he went to Paris, and actively supported Richelieu's schemes for driving the Spaniards out of the Valtellina, which led to the successful campaign of Rohan (1635), one of whose firmest supporters was Jenatsch. But he soon saw that the French were as unwilling as the Spaniards to restore the Valtellina to the Grisons (which had seized it in 1512). For other uses of Richelieu, see Richelieu (disambiguation). ...

So he became a Romanist (1635), and negotiated secretly with the Spaniards and Austrians. He was the leader of the conspiracy which broke out in 1637, and resulted in the expulsion of Rohan and the French from the Grisons. This treachery on Jenatsch's part did not, however, lead to the freeing of the Valtellina from the Spaniards, and once more be tried to get French support. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Henri, duc de Rohan (1579 - April 13, 1638), French soldier, writer and leader of the Huguenots, was born at the château of Blain, in Brittany. ...

But on the 24th of January 1639 he was assassinated at Coire by the Plantas; later in the same year the much coveted valley was restored by Spain to the Grisons, which held it till 1797. Jenatsch's career is of general historical importance by reason of the long conflict between France and Spain for the possession of the Valtellina, which forms one of the most bloody episodes in the Thirty Years' War. The victory of Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) The Thirty Years War was a conflict fought between the years 1618 and 1648, principally in the Central European territory of the Holy Roman Empire, but also involving most of the major continental powers. ...

See biography by E Haifter (Davos, 1894), and as well the novel Jürg Jenatsch by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1876). Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (October 12, 1825 - November 28, 1898), a poet and, as he was born in Zürich, is a fellow-townsman of Gottfried Keller. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...