page_title: Erlach family
section_title: Foreign military service
hierarchical_section_title: Erlach family / Foreign military service
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bildnis Hieronymus von Erlach (1667-1748), nach dem 1730 entstandenen Bildnis von Carlo Francesco Rusca.
context_page_description: The Erlach family was a Bernese patrician family. They first became citizens of Bern around 1300. During the 17th and 18th Centuries they were one of the leading families in Bern. For centuries the family served as senior military commanders in both Bern and in foreign armies. They were mayors of Bern and ruled over many other towns and cities in western Switzerland. Several family members received the upper nobility title "Reichsgraf".
context_section_description: In the 17th century many of the von Erlach family left Switzerland to find work as Swiss mercenaries, often in service to the King of France.  Johann Jakob von Erlach (25 May 1628 – 1694) became the first commander of the Bernese regiment in the French army in 1671.  He rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General in 1688, but then converted to Catholicism and lost all his Bernese titles and his citizenship in Bern.
  His relative Sigmund (3 October 1614 – 7 December 1699) was more successful.  He rose to the rank of Colonel in service with Bernard of Saxe-Weimar and became a Major-General in the French army.  When he returned home, he entered a career in politics becoming a member of the Grosser Rat in 1645.  A few years later, Sigmund led Confederation troops successfully against the rebels in the Swiss peasant war of 1653.  However, he was not as lucky in the 1st Battle of Villmergen in 1656.  The Catholic forces were successful and the resulting treaty was unpopular in Bern.  While Sigmund was heavily criticized for his defeat, his political career was unharmed.  He was elected as the fifth von Erlach Schultheiss in 1675 and held the office until 1699.  He died wealthy, successful but childless, so his estates passed on to other relatives.
  Another cousin, Hieronymus von Erlach (31 March 1667 Bern-28 February 1748), reached even higher.  He initially served in the Bernese regiment in the French army, but in 1702 he was a colonel of a regiment in the Imperial Austrian army during the War of the Spanish Succession.  Early successes brought him promotions and in 1704 he was made a lieutenant field marshal.  His star continued to rise, despite suspicions that he leaked Austrian plans to the French.  In 1710 Emperor Joseph I made Hieronymus his chamberlain.  Two years later Emperor Charles VI gave him the title of Reichsgraf or Imperial Count.  A few years later he returned to Bern and entered politics and became the sixth von Erlach Schultheiss from 1721 until 1746.
caption: Hieronymus von Erlach
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