Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe
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Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe (about 1685 - 30 December 1769) was a General Feldwachtmeister and Count of the Holy Roman Empire.
He was the son of Francis Taaffe and his wife Anna Maria née Crean, and second cousin of the 5th Viscount Taaffe. He was born at Crean's Castle in county Sligo and educated in Lorraine. He became chancellor of duke Leopold of Lorraine, father of Emperor Francis I.
He entered the Austrian army, serving at Phillipsburg in Baden and in the campaign against France in 1734-5, the Turkish War of 1736-39, and was present in battle at Fort St. Elizabeth, Pallesch, and the battle of Semlin. He succeeded to the peerage in 1738, and was promoted to Major-General (General Feldwachtmeister) in 1739. He distinguished himself, aged about 72, at Marshal Daun's victory of Frederick the Great at Kolin in 1757. He was Chamberlain to Emperor Charles VII and Empress Maria Theresa, and was created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. He is said to have introduced the growing of the potato to Silesia in 1763. and lost his Irish estates to a Protestant relative under the reign of Queen Anne.