Johan Lilliehöök

Johan Nilsson Lilliehöök (1598 – 23 October 1642) was a Swedish nobleman and general who served during the Thirty Years' War. He became the Master-General of the Ordnance (Riksfälttygsmästare) and General of the Infantry serving as second-in-command to Field Marshal Lennart Torstenson. He was mortally wounded while commanding the Swedish center at the Second Battle of Breitenfeld in 1642.

Early life Coat of arms of the family branch Lilliehöök af Fårdala (No. 1). Johan Lilliehöök was born in 1598 at Fårdala, 15 kilometres east of Falköping, to Nils Andersson Lilliehöök and Brita Hand. He was born into the noble Lilliehöök family, specifically the Lilliehöök af Fårdala branch of the family. Once he had finished his education, in 1615 he entered the royal service as a courtier in King Gustavus Adolphus's Life Guards.

Early career Lilliehöök rose through military ranks during Gustavus Adolphus's campaigns in Livonia, Poland, and Prussia. In 1618, he was commissioned as an ensign and by 1625 he had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel. In the same year, following a drawing of lots at the newly established House of Nobility (Riddarhuset), the Lilliehöök af Fårdala branch of the family were introduced under no. 1 within the knights class.

Lilliehöök had 3 children with Ingeborg Bååt before her death in 1635. Baron Jakob Lilliehöök (25 May 1633 – 3 October 1657), attained the rank of Major in the Swedish army before his death at the hands of Danes aged 24. Brita Lilliehöök (19 December 1634 – 10 July 1636), died in infancy in Riga. Baron Anders Lilliehöök (19 December 1635 – 17 November 1685), governor and diplomat. Following the death of his second wife, Lilliehöök married Christina Ulfsparre af Broxvik in 1637 and had 3 children with her. Baroness Ingeborg Lilliehöök (16 September 1639 – 23 January 1675), married Field Marshal Göran Sperling. Johan Lilliehöök (1641 – 10 February 1648), died at age 7, shot dead by an angry mob in Uppsala. Baroness Beata Lilliehöök (1642–1671), married Nils Nilsson Natt och Dag.

Legacy In 1651, his surviving sons and daughters were raised to the baronial families class in the Swedish House of Nobility as the no. 13 Lilliehöök. However, the line went extinct when Anders Lilliehöök died in 1685 without any surviving male heirs.

The Swedish Academy later honored Lilliehöök's memory by striking a commemorative coin designed by Frans Michael Franzén. The obverse features a bust of Lilliehöök, while the reverse depicts a bust of Gustavus Adolphus looking down at a dying warrior.