Heidelberg

by G. P. R. James

First published 1846

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4.0(1)

Set in Heidelberg and the Electoral Palatinate in the early seventeenth century, Heidelberg places romance and political allegiance inside the crisis that develops into the Thirty Years’ War. The Palatinate is a centre of Protestant power, and the ambitions surrounding Elector Frederick V draw local households into a conflict that quickly becomes European. James uses the city and court as a meeting point for soldiers, nobles and families trying to judge which political commitments will protect them and which will destroy them.

The choice of Frederick to accept the Bohemian crown in 1619 helped turn a regional dispute into a much wider war. Heidelberg itself would soon experience occupation and devastation. James writes with the knowledge of that approaching disaster, giving courtship and intrigue an undertone of instability. Personal loyalties are tested by confessional politics and by rulers whose dynastic decisions can expose whole territories to invasion.