Count John VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen (7 June 1561 – 27 September 1623), German: Johann VII. der Mittlere Graf von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Graf zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Beilstein, was since 1606 Count of Nassau-Siegen, a part of the County of Nassau, and the progenitor of the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.
John was one of the most important military theorists of his time, who introduced many innovations and inventions. His Kriegsbuch contained all the military knowledge of his time, but also many new ideas, which made an essential contribution to the reform of the Dutch States Army by his cousin Maurice. John served in the Dutch States Army, was colonel general of the Palatinate and commander-in-chief of the Swedish army. His reputation reached far beyond the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. As a mediator, John successfully continued the example set by his grandfather William the Rich.
John was born at Siegen Castle on 7 June 1561 as the second son of Count John VI the Elder of Nassau-Siegen and his first wife Landgravine Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg.
John first attended the Counts' School in Siegen and then – in 1576 – went to the Heidelberg University together with his three oldest brothers William Louis, George and Philip and his cousin Maurice of Nassau, but left the university the following year at his father's request. He did not regret his departure at all, because he found "das Studieren nicht anmutig" ("studying not graceful"). John got involved early in the administration, finances and military affairs of his father's county.
John the Elder had plans to reorganise the finances of the county of Nassau-Siegen through a rich marriage of his son, but when John the Middle declared that he had already given his heart, the father did not make the slightest attempt to let political reason prevail over the son's wish. This speaks for the characters of father and son, who always got along very well and complemented each other in the best way. By his marriage in 1581 to Countess Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen (like his grandmother Countess Juliane of Stolberg-Wernigerode, widow of a count of Hanau-Münzenberg), John the Middle strengthened the relations within the Wetterauer Grafenverein and thus contributed – even without a substantial financial contribution – to the strengthening of the House of Nassau.
Contributing to his father's military reform
John experienced his first military campaign under Count Palatine John Casimir in 1583, for which troops were assembled in the area of Siegen. At that time, John became acquainted with the practice of mercenary armies, whose disadvantages his father had described in numerous conversations.
From 1584 onwards, John was engaged in reinforcing the fortifications of Nassau Castle and Dillenburg Castle. During the military reform of John the Elder, especially his introduction of general conscription, John the Middle ensured better training. Realising that conscripted subjects should not be led helplessly to the slaughter, he ensured that the men were properly trained. He ordered standardised rifles of the same caliber for them, so that one could help the other with bullets. And he created uniform clothing, clearly aware that the men would feel like soldiers in that uniform. Uniforms and standardised armaments were something entirely new for that time. The Siegerländer Landesausschluß wore a brown hat with a feather and a blue lining, a yellow leather or linen gambeson, a red overcoat with a blue lining and a white collar. Trousers and socks were blue. This uniform corresponded with the costume which had already been acquired in 1481/82 in the Netherlands for the men of the Siegen marksmen's guild.
For weapons training, John invented the foot drill. The men were favourably inclined towards this measure, because they saw for themselves how they could gain a huge amount of time by continuous practice in handling weapons and thus had a great advantage over their opponents. In Nassau, and especially in the Siegerland where it was introduced first, there was never any protest against the general conscription, because the population considered the Counts' struggle for the freedom of the Netherlands as their own. They shared with the territorial lord the biblically founded conviction of the right of this Dutch Revolt against the rape of body and soul.
Relatively late, in 1592, John entered the Dutch Revolt. There he participated in the sieges of Steenwijk and Coevorden. With Prince Maurice, he was more like a brother than as a cousin, because they had spent their youth together in Dillenburg and Siegen. When John showed him and his brother William Louis his notes containing his thoughts on military training, it was "nun wol im anfang ein solches veracht und für Superfluum gehalten" ("despised in the beginning and thought to be superfluous"). But soon Maurice had to realise that the Ausschußmänner from the county of Nassau-Siegen and the equally trained peasants from the Westerwald were better than the Dutch soldiers. Immediately, John's approach was introduced into all garrisons of the United Provinces. A new type of mortar invented by John, together with the corresponding incendiary bullets, both of which he had made cast in Siegen, was tested at the Siege of Groenlo in 1597 and had a devastating effect.
John put his thoughts on paper when they occurred to him: under the titles Observationes, Landesrettungswerk, Memorial, Discours, etc. Together they form a Kriegsbuch that reflects all military knowledge of the time, but above all contains a wealth of completely new ideas, from the art of large fortifications to the most advantageous arrangement of a 'secret chamber'. John's military writings laid the foundation for the supremacy of the Dutch States Army and thus constituted an essential contribution to the victory. They were republished in 1973. John was one of the most important military theorists of his time and his reputation reached far beyond the borders of the Holy Roman Empire.
Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Army
In the great theatre of operations of the Counter-Reformation, King Sigismund III, the Catholic Vasa, had united Poland and Sweden in his hand. His uncle, the Calvinist Duke Charles of Södermanland led the opposition to Sigismund. John thought it was a matter for Protestants to support Charles. Therefore, with the consent of the Wetterauer Grafenverein, he travelled to the battlefield in Livonia. However, he first visited his brother William Louis in Friesland, and only when the latter also approved of the plan and John knew that Nassau was in the care of his brother, did he go to Charles, whom he met in Pernau on 16 July 1601. Charles immediately offered John the supreme command, which he accepted "trotz der geringen Lusten" ("despite the low desire"), but only for a period of three months, because the Swedish army was in a more than poor condition. The foot soldiers, for instance, were so miserably armed that John devised and immediately ordered the production of spiked carts, which were pushed in front of the infantry and proved to be a great protection against the attacking cavalry. Such spiked carts were kept in the arsenal of Siegen for decades.
After three months, during which John had won several skirmishes and captured much material from the Poles, but had not been able to bring the Siege of Riga to a successful conclusion, Charles begged him to stay in Livonia and remain in command. John accepted his plea. Immediately afterwards, the cold became so fierce that within six weeks 40,000 people either froze or starved to death, including 4,500 of the 6,000 foot soldiers from Nassau. And again, after three months, John was persuaded to stay. Then, however, first the thaw set in and then a mutiny put an end to all military operations. John wrote in vain to get money to pay the troops. He had long since pawned his collars and jewellery for the troops' wages. Finally, he really resigned from his duties. Charles provided a Swedish naval ship for the journey to Lübeck, which had to remain on Bornholm for a long time due to violent storms. John's wages of 18,000 guilders had still not been paid by the Swedes 29 years later.