Gottfried

Born 1480; died July 23, 1562. German imperial knight.

In 1514, while in the service of Duke Ulrich of Württem-berg, Berlichingen took part in the suppression of the “Poor Conrad” uprising. During the Peasants’ War (1524–26), Berlichingen found himself in personal conflict with the Swabian League and on Apr. 27, 1525, at the urgent request of W. Hipler, was chosen as commander of one of the peasant detachments in Franconia (the so-called Bright Detachment). At the end of May 1525, before a decisive battle with the troops of the Swabian League, he betrayed the peasants. Berlichingen wrote an autobiography (Lebensbeschreibung Herrn Gö tzes von Berlichingen, published by A. Leitzmann, 1916), in which he emerges as a typical representative of the decadent German piratical knighthood.