Gottfried Heinrich Pappmheim, count, an imperial general in the thirty years' war, born May 29, 1594, died at Leipsic, Nov. 7 (new style 17), 1632. He received a liberal education at Altdorf and Tubingen, and travelled extensively. His zeal for the Roman Catholic faith leading him to adopt the profession of arms, he became a captain of cavalry, and was soon distinguished for his daring and courage. At Linz he joined the Bavarian army, and was made lieutenant colonel. At the battle of Prague, in 1620, he received 20 wounds, and was left for dead on the field. In 1623 the emperor appointed him commander of a regiment of cuirassiers, afterward celebrated under the name of Pappenheimers. He fought in Lombardy till 1626, when he was recalled to put down an insurrection of Protestant peasants in Upper Austria, who had resorted to arms to defend their faith. This revolt, in which 40,000 peasants perished, he crushed in a month; the history of it he himself wrote. He assisted Tilly in his campaign in northern Germany against Christian IV. of Denmark, and in May, 1631, bore a leading part in the storming of Magdeburg. In the sack of this city his troops acted with the greatest ferocity. In the defeat at Leipsic, Pappenheim received seven wounds and owed his life to a peasant.

After the death of Tilly he joined Wallenstein, and in the battle of Liitzen (Nov. 6) received a mortal wound, and was carried to Leipsic. - See Hess, Gottfried Heinrich, Graf von Pappenheim (Leipsic, 1855).