Bernhard, Duke of Weimar, was a soldier. He was born in 1604 and died in 1639, probably as the result of murder by poisoning. He was the fourth son of Duke John of Saxe-Weimar, and entered the service of Holland, and afterwards the Danish army employed in Holstein. He then joined Gustavus Adolphus, and in the battle of Lutzen, 1632, commanded the victorious left wing of the Swedish army.
In 1633 he took Bamberg and other places, was made Duke of Franconia, and after the alliance of France with Sweden raised an army on the Rhine to act against Austria. After many brilliant exploits he captured Breisach and other places of inferior importance, but showed no disposition to hand them over to the French, who began to find their ally undesirably formidable. He rejected a proposal that he should marry Richelieu's niece, the Duchess d'Aiguillon, seeking instead the hand of the Princess of Rohan. This the French court refused lest the party of the Huguenots should become too powerful. He died somewhat suddenly in 1639 at Neuberg, the common opinion being that he was poisoned by Richelieu. Research Bernhard
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