Hmm...perhaps Saxony uses France to help unify Germany under its banner, much like the Sardinia-Piedmont used other nations to help unify Italy?
Tudor bulls, meet 16th century German china shop.
- Thread starter Dr. Waterhouse
- Start date
I actually just read much of what you read there and find it's a stupendous resource. One of the motives propelling this timeline is that I want to learn more about the period, and the quotes there are certainly helpful. I first learned of Protestant persecution of Catholicism from when I was a grad student researching Edmund Spenser, so this material does not surprise me.
For the purposes of the timeline, what I'm trying to get across is that Frederick Henry is less some Lockean liberal avant la lettre than he is a steely pragmatist. Frederick Henry knows enough to realize that he is essentially a heretic, and that eventually the full weight of the Church is going to come down on Saxony. So Luther is throughout this period agitating for the suppression of the other breakaway doctrines. But Frederick Henry, more out of fear than anything else, is basically saying to Luther, "These people you want to suppress? They're warm bodies. I need them." So he's basically making these points over Luther's objections.
The result is that relations between Frederick Henry and Luther become as icy as they can be, given the fact that Luther is quite aware it's only the Elector's protection keeping him safe. And Frederick Henry is smart enough to know that. And he has ego enough to think of Luther as being his servant, though of course Luther vehemently disagrees.
All this is very different from the real-world Elector John Frederick, who I think more or less bought Luther's doctrine wholesale and tried to enact it and push it as far as possible. So far, my fictional Wettins are all cautious and cagey and don't like to give away pieces they don't have to. That's the distinction in a nutshell, really.
Susano--
Obviously, your knowledge of the historical details exceed mine, and I look forward to all your feedback. As it is, your notes on Hesse and Julich-Cleves-Berg lets me know some material I need to research before I put up the next decade of the timeline.
As it is, Julich-Cleves-Berg becomes important later in the timeline because of a marriage other than the one already alluded to in what I've posted, and an eventual succession crisis.
So, thank you.
Obviously, your knowledge of the historical details exceed mine, and I look forward to all your feedback. As it is, your notes on Hesse and Julich-Cleves-Berg lets me know some material I need to research before I put up the next decade of the timeline.
As it is, Julich-Cleves-Berg becomes important later in the timeline because of a marriage other than the one already alluded to in what I've posted, and an eventual succession crisis.
So, thank you.
As far as I know Luthers position changed over the course of time. During his rise to fame he indeed supported the position that as everything was in the Bible (sola scriptura), an authoritive intepretation wasnt needed, that everybdoy could intepret the Bible, and that he excersises this right. Later on, he was convinced that his intepretation is the only correct one
Of course, Luther was also aware of political pragmatism. He didnt like it, but he was aware of it, and could at least bend his dogamata from time to time. For example, he at first was ardently of the opinion that the Emperor is not to be resisted, as he (the Emperor) is the godgiven authority. Later on though he commented taht while that position is theologcially right, legallythe Emperor is not Lord over the various prices, as hes elected from among them, and hence only primus inter pares. Such doctrinal trickery surely can be applied in other fields, too. Or hell, maybe Luther, ahem, simply dies in convinient time, what with a sufficiently ruthless Saxon duke...
Ill have to read the TL in detail later on. From a Hessian perspective, the positive sid eis the Schmalcldic League winning - the bad side is that the Saxon-hessian power struggle within the League* will really be more inS axonys favour. Though, as a suggestion, the Schmalkaldic War bests starts already between 1541 and 1543 over the question of Guelders: Jülich-Cleves-Berg and the Emperor fpight over that territory, JCB was a largely protestant (but religiously tolerant), but noi member of the Schmalkaldic League because of Hesses secret treaty with the Emperor and hence Hessian opposition to that, also because JCB wouldve been primarily a Saxon ally... but if that all can be changed its a League member more and a good casus belli.
Though Ill have to read the TL so far in detail later and give more preceise comments...
*At times, both sides even conspired with the Emperor...
No, Nigel. You and Lord Grattan caught me in an error. And I had thought I had been careful about getting this detail right when I wrote it out, but I keep subconsciously wanting to think that Mary Queen of Scots is named for Mary the Tudor who married a Scot, but actually that's Margaret. So the names in the timeline going foward will be corrected.
Thanks to both of you for pointing it out.
Thanks to both of you for pointing it out.
I must admit that I sometimes get confused by the Tudors, but I thought that Margaret was the elder sister and Mary was married to Charles Brandon. Since Elizabeth (mother of Frederick Henry) was older than Mary, that would mean that Frederick Henry himself would be first in line to the throne after the children of Henry VIII.
Of course, it could be a butterfly effect of Elizabeth surviving that caused Mary and Margaret to switch spouses.
Cheers,
Nigel.
Susano
Banned
Okay, having read it now, some details:
Seriosuly, while Luther could give propaganda approval the task would fall to somebody else. Not that there arent enough learned man around, so thats no big deal...
However, I can propose a solution for that: Philip of Hesse had close contacts to France. Nothing ever came out of it, France never really did support the German protestants, they only used them to sow discord in the Empire, but the contacts were there. So to counter that Frederick Henry tries to bring England aboard as supporter of the Saxon side of the League, and Henry VIII accepts to counter French influence on the League.
But yes, thats the major problem in your timeline. Hesse and the power struggle inside the League. The irony is that the Zwinglians arent even needed for the League to win. It was stronger it just behaved so absofuckinglutely stupid in the War, it cant be believed! Purely militarily, I mean. They couldve crushed Charles V in the Danube campaign, but instea dthey virtually just sat there and did nothing. And then Philip went home and the Saxons got defeated in Saxony... so, in the end, yes, theres no incentive for Saxony to tolerate Zwinglianism, and Hesse already has grudgingly accepted the Lutheran line.
Luther: "Good idea, but I am busy studying the bible."
Seriosuly, while Luther could give propaganda approval the task would fall to somebody else. Not that there arent enough learned man around, so thats no big deal...
Due to aforementioned dynamics in the Schmalkaldic League the Elector would absolutely not, IMO. Philip of Hesse tended very much towards Zwinglianism, he hosted the Marburg Dispute between Luther in Zwingly in 1529 or so. He only went with Lutheranism for political reasons, so that the German protestants would be an united front. Moreover, Hesses role in the League was that of the Champion of the South German cities, who didntc ontribute many troops, but much money, and those tended even more towards Zwinglianism under the influence of Bucer in Strassburg. OTOH, Luther is Saxon through and through. That is, contact sbetwen ehim and the local ruling house were very tight. Combined that means that, from pure machievallian power politics, due to the Saxon-Hessian rivalry in the League, Saxony has a reason to champion Lutheran orthodoxy instead of protestant diversity.
Eh, how much Protestant England was wasnt really much clear yet, or was it? Only that it had seceded from Rome...
Eh, what does Henry really get out of it? What intersts does he have in the HRE?
However, I can propose a solution for that: Philip of Hesse had close contacts to France. Nothing ever came out of it, France never really did support the German protestants, they only used them to sow discord in the Empire, but the contacts were there. So to counter that Frederick Henry tries to bring England aboard as supporter of the Saxon side of the League, and Henry VIII accepts to counter French influence on the League.
Okay, I have to ask now: Saxony is rich, yes. Probably the second richest state after Austria, maybe even per capita the richest,d ue to all the mines in the aptly named Ore Mountains. Still, where does all the money to build up both army and education come from?
Eh, thats what the League already is, and with sucha frenzy of Saxona ctivity relations to Hesse might even sour...
???
Yeah, as said, Hesse might make troubles. Frederick Henry accepts this king into the alliance, and that duke, etc etc... Philip of Hesse has two possibilities: Either he also gets more people aboard to strengthen the Hessian side of the League - however, his contacts are limited compared to Saxony. Or, he tries to sabotage the Saxon side expanding as, well as said, he did IOTL. However, Philip wont just sit still, thats for sure.
As said, Philip would be the champion of Zwinglians. And nobody like the Anabaptists, they were too anti-established order..
But yes, thats the major problem in your timeline. Hesse and the power struggle inside the League. The irony is that the Zwinglians arent even needed for the League to win. It was stronger it just behaved so absofuckinglutely stupid in the War, it cant be believed! Purely militarily, I mean. They couldve crushed Charles V in the Danube campaign, but instea dthey virtually just sat there and did nothing. And then Philip went home and the Saxons got defeated in Saxony... so, in the end, yes, theres no incentive for Saxony to tolerate Zwinglianism, and Hesse already has grudgingly accepted the Lutheran line.
Susano:
I want to respond to this quickly, because I do want to put up the next decade of the timeline tonight. For Frederick Henry, the purpose of giving Luther essentially an education portfolio was to direct him away from the debates with the Catholic Church and the other Protestant sects that were so troublesome for the purposes of the coalition.
I understood Philip of Hesse's wobbliness on matters of theology (and to some extent his craven self-interest--"legitimize my bigamous marriage or else!"), but see this less a rationale for Frederick Henry to push doctrinaire Lutheranism to distinguish him from Philip than to reach out and widen the tent. With Charles V, Brunswick-Wolffenbuttel, Brandenburg-Krumbach, and Albertine Saxony, the Ernestine Wettins have no shortage of rivals. In my estimation what a good leader would realize in this situation is that he needs allies, pure and simple, and make compromises necessary to keep the ones they had. As you note in your response, Philip's support was erratic and begrudging in our time line, partly because our real-world Elector John Frederick was such a frickin' charmer. Frederick Henry is trying to reel him closer so that Saxony doesn't find itself alone when the crucial time comes.
In our real history, Henry VIII was actually negotiating to enter the Schmalkaldic League in the mid-1530s, so him entering it is a bit less of a reach than one might think.
On some of this, I think, we're just going to have to agree to disagree. This is a hypothetical history, after all. Nonetheless, thanks for your help.
I want to respond to this quickly, because I do want to put up the next decade of the timeline tonight. For Frederick Henry, the purpose of giving Luther essentially an education portfolio was to direct him away from the debates with the Catholic Church and the other Protestant sects that were so troublesome for the purposes of the coalition.
I understood Philip of Hesse's wobbliness on matters of theology (and to some extent his craven self-interest--"legitimize my bigamous marriage or else!"), but see this less a rationale for Frederick Henry to push doctrinaire Lutheranism to distinguish him from Philip than to reach out and widen the tent. With Charles V, Brunswick-Wolffenbuttel, Brandenburg-Krumbach, and Albertine Saxony, the Ernestine Wettins have no shortage of rivals. In my estimation what a good leader would realize in this situation is that he needs allies, pure and simple, and make compromises necessary to keep the ones they had. As you note in your response, Philip's support was erratic and begrudging in our time line, partly because our real-world Elector John Frederick was such a frickin' charmer. Frederick Henry is trying to reel him closer so that Saxony doesn't find itself alone when the crucial time comes.
In our real history, Henry VIII was actually negotiating to enter the Schmalkaldic League in the mid-1530s, so him entering it is a bit less of a reach than one might think.
On some of this, I think, we're just going to have to agree to disagree. This is a hypothetical history, after all. Nonetheless, thanks for your help.
Susano
Banned
Quickr eply to a quickr eply
(because really, I should go to bed now):
Of course, its your TL!
But its interesting. If Zwinglians are "allowed", then the religious map of Germany will change, and Hesse and the South German cities will become Zwinglian. I think its unfair to describe Philip as just being out for his own good, ideologically. He did seem to honestly believe more in Zwinglis than Luthers intepretation, butah, for the purpose of the TL that in the end doesnt matter much. Timings a bitch, though: In 1529 Luther is uncompromising towards Zwingli and Hesse becomes Lutheran, and in 1533, just four years later, Frederick Henry officially proclaims Zwinglians is a-okay... Man, will Philip ever feel fooled!
(because really, I should go to bed now):
Of course, its your TL!
But its interesting. If Zwinglians are "allowed", then the religious map of Germany will change, and Hesse and the South German cities will become Zwinglian. I think its unfair to describe Philip as just being out for his own good, ideologically. He did seem to honestly believe more in Zwinglis than Luthers intepretation, butah, for the purpose of the TL that in the end doesnt matter much. Timings a bitch, though: In 1529 Luther is uncompromising towards Zwingli and Hesse becomes Lutheran, and in 1533, just four years later, Frederick Henry officially proclaims Zwinglians is a-okay... Man, will Philip ever feel fooled!
A Trip to Prague, with Friends!
1541
The gloom created by the growing threat of war is broken by the wedding in Wittenberg of the Elector Frederick Henry and the princess Elizabeth of Denmark, which triggers celebration throughout Protestant Germany.
External threats to the Holy Roman Empire ebb enough for the Emperor Charles V to once again focus his attention on the Reformers. In a last-ditch effort to defuse the crisis, the German princes meet at Regensburg. Frederick Henry attempts to restrain from Luther from some of the pricklier points of theological controversy with the wider church. Once again, Luther proves intransigent, and refuses to give ground even at Frederick Henry’s insistence. The Elector Frederick Henry and the Emperor Charles V then meet personally in an attempt to forge a compromise. Together, they agree that those theological issues that the Council of Regensburg cannot agree on will be passed upon without comment to facilitate peace within the Empire.
This outcome infuriates the religious authorities on both sides, as Luther—still the most famous Protestant theologian—and the Pope refuse to support the Regensburg Articles. However, for the Elector Frederick Henry to defy Martin Luther and for the Emperor Charles V to defy the Pope are entirely different things: and Charles V quickly reverses himself and assumes the final position that all theological questions are to be submitted to the Pope. The Protestant princes refuse to accept this position outright. The Council at Regensburg adjourns without agreement, and in departing Charles V issues a set of orders limiting the publication of dissenting religious tracts and the internal reformation of religious orders. This too is entirely unacceptable to the Protestant princes, and Frederick Henry does not even make a pretense of compliance.
For Charles, the rejection of the Articles of Regensburg would ultimately have serious consequences. Had he permitted the compromise with Frederick Henry to go forward, the result would have been a rift between the Reformers and their princely protectors that could have been the beginning of the end of the Reformation. As it was, Charles’ conclusory demands on the Protestant Princes only created solidarity on the side of the Reformation, as Luther, Melanchthon and Frederick Henry left Regensburg in complete agreement as to the necessity of resisting Charles’ commands.
1542
Frederick Henry, still hoping to avoid armed conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, or in the event hostilities do begin to not be seen as having as provoked them, refuses to interfere with the appointment of Julius Von der Pflug to the bishopric of Naumberg, enraging Martin Luther.
Simultaneously, Frederick Henry makes overtures to the French to win their support in the event of a war with the Emperor, a plan complicated by the fact that Frederick Henry does not want to reciprocate by aiding France in any conflict between that kingdom and the Emperor.
A lingering dispute over tax revenues from the Wurzener Country escalates sharply, threatening to plunge Frederick Henry into war with his first cousin the Duke Maurice of Saxony, leader of the Albertine line of Saxon rulers. Landgrave Philip of Hesse and Martin Luther attempt to mediate, but succeed only in preventing the start of armed hostilities.
As the Reformers’ frustrations with Frederick Henry’s peace policy grow, he is the subject of the bitterly satirical pamphlet The Lion of Christendom, which questions his willingness to defend the Reformation. Frederick declines to order the suppression of the pamphlet thinking it will only provoke further hostility between himself and the Protestant churches, which is understood by the Catholic Church and the court of the Holy Roman Emperor as advertising his personal weakness.
John Frederick marries Sybille of Cleves. Hans Holbein the Younger is lured to Wittenberg with the promise of an extraordinary commission to paint the wedding party. Frederick Henry then offers Holbein a position as the Wettin family's court painter, which he accepts because of dissatisfaction with his current employer, and in which role he will serve for almost the next twenty years. Cranach the Elder and Cranach the Younger, the long-serving and respected painters of the court, are retained as well but given the focus of depicting religious subject matter.
After the wedding, John Frederick is given permission from Frederick Henry to go to Cleves and fight in the army of his brother-in-law William IV of Julich-Cleves-Berg in his war with Charles V over Guelders.
1543
The reformer Justus Jonas’ leadership of the Reformation at Halle leads the Emperor to ask Frederick Henry to suppress Jonas in order to maintain peace. Not just because doing so would permanently alienate Frederick Henry from the Reformers, but because of his personal territorial ambitions with respect to Halle, he instead extends Jonas his protection and to garrison troops at Halle in defense of the Reformation there. This is understood as just short of an invitation to the Emperor to begin armed conflict. The other mark of Frederick Henry’s increasing confidence was his command that the Saxon army eject the forces of Henry of Brunswick-Luneburg and Prince of Wolfenbuttel from the town of Goslar to prevent the suppression of reformers. Frederick Henry then with the aid of Landgrave Philip of Hesse occupies Wolfenbuttel. Henry of Brunswick-Luneberg flees to Bavaria.
Frederick Henry’s new willingness to commit his army to the defense of the Reformation and his lingering feuds with neighboring princes leads Charles V to contract alliances against Frederick Henry with Duke Maurice, who is promised the Electoral dignity and much of the Ernestine Wettins’ lands, as well as Duke Eric II of Calenberg and the Margrave Albert Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Ostensibly, this alliance was formed to help the Emperor prosecute a war against the French, and in fact Frederick Henry was invited to participate but declined because he did not want to alienate the French or waste his men and treasury before the anticipated final confrontation with the Emperor.
The Electress Elizabeth bears Frederick Henry a son and heir, named Alexander following the growing vogue for Hellenic names, and implicitly analogizing the Greeks’ struggle against the Persians to the Protestant princes’ burgeoning conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor and the Habsburgs.
With the conclusion of the war between William IV of Julich-Cleves-Berg and the Emperor, John Frederick returns and begins taking part in the preparations for war.
1544
As Charles V’s war against France continues and the Elector Frederick Henry of Saxony still refuses to contribute men or resources to the war effort, Charles V increases the pressure on Frederick Henry and the other members of the Schmalkaldic League. In the Fourth Diet of Speyer, Charles V makes extraordinary doctrinal concessions to the Lutheran princes in exchange for their assistance against France. It is necessary for Saxony to accede to the arrangement for Charles’ concessions to be formalized, but nonetheless following the Diet at Speyer the Saxons still refuse in practice to contribute to the effort against France. This triggers the resolve of Charles V to bring the controversy with the wayward Lutheran princes to a head as soon as possible.
Frederick Henry now begins openly readying for war, as his younger brother John Frederick is installed with his volunteer army of Protestant fanatics, the Schwarmers, at the Coburg Veste in the western reaches of the Ernestine Saxons’ lands.
The Electress bears Frederick Henry a second child, a daughter, Elizabeth. Almost immediately Frederick Henry begins discussing the possibility of a match between Elizabeth and one of the sons of King Gustav I of Sweden.
1545
With war between the Schmalkaldic League and the Emperor’s Alliance all but certain, Frederick Henry requests large loans from the Kings of England and Denmark to fund new additions to his army. Likewise, preparations for war begin on the opposing side.
Martin Luther, fearful of the outcome of the anticipated war, begins writing a hagiographic biography of Frederick Henry intended to bolster his support throughout Lutheran Germany.
A third child of the Elector Frederick Henry and the Electress Elizabeth, Anna, is born. In England, the Duke of Suffolk dies. This makes Henry Brandon the Earl of Lincoln the Second Duke of Suffolk, and he is recalled to England to handle his father’s estate.
1546
The Emperor takes the long-anticipated step of imposing the imperial ban on the Elector Frederick Henry, thereby stripping him of all titles, dignities and possessions. He gives Duke Maurice of Saxony the responsibility of executing the ban and securing Frederick Henry’s lands. The news reaches Wittenberg only a few days after it does Maurice’s capital of Dresden, and Frederick Henry beats Maurice into the field with an army of 11,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry. He seizes the town of Meissen without a fight and marches on Dresden, defeating Maurice’s army in a pitched battle outside its gates. In the west, John Frederick marches on Leipzig with an army of 4,000, almost all Schwarmers, and an additional 1,000 cavalry. Leipzig falls after a brief siege. At this point almost the entirety of ducal Saxony is in Frederick Henry’s power, without even the armies of the Schmalkaldic League fully mobilized.
Duke Maurice flees to Prague along with 2,000 soldiers of Albertine Saxony loyal to him. This frustrates Frederick Henry’s immediate goal of capturing Maurice and forcing him to assign all his titles and lands to him and unify the Saxon lands under the Ernestine line.
It is to Dresden Frederick Henry summoned the armies of the Schmalkaldic League for an assault against the Kingdom of Bohemia itself. In the meantime, John Frederick secures the town of Chemnitz and prepares for an invasion of Brunswick-Luneburg.
1547
An army led by Emperor Charles V makes its way north from Prague, as another Imperial army marches east from the Netherlands towards Hesse. Frederick Henry dispatches the Schwarmers under John Frederick to aid in the defense of Hesse and the Saxon lands in Thuringia, while he himself leads the attempt to head off the Holy Roman Emperor.
In the gap beneath the ducal Saxons’ ancient Konigstein citadel, on the frontier between Saxony and Bohemia, Frederick Henry’s Schmalkaldic army intercepts that of Charles V as it is crossing the Elbe from west to east. Despite superior Habsburg armaments and equal numbers, the tenacity of the Saxon forces—especially the Schwarmers, who distinguish themselves by their daring—ultimately breaks the resolve of the imperial army and forces a retreat.
A second force advancing on the west shore of the Elbe under the Landgrave Philip of Hesse chases the disorganized Imperial army south and defeats it handily a few days later at Decin, inside Bohemia, almost capturing the Holy Roman Emperor and utterly scattering his forces. Capitalizing on the opportunity presented by his defeat of Charles V, Frederick Henry races south toward Prague.
Charles V’s army re-forms itself but lags behind Frederick Henry’s. On June 12, 1547, Prague falls to the Schmalkaldic League almost completely without a fight. In recognition of the solidarity between Prague’s Protestants and the Schmalkaldic armies, Frederick Henry restrains his armies from sacking the city but loots Prague Castle.
The Emperor Charles V camps at the nearby town of Pilsen and begins plotting to retake Prague by siege. At this point Frederick Henry faces a crucial choice: he can fight Charles V for Bohemia, and thus wage a prolonged war against a superior foe who will likely wear him down over time, or he can cut a deal with Charles V that will enable him to declare victory and keep his winnings. Several factors other than his military prospects suggest the inadvisability of continuing the war: first, Charles V's brother Ferdinand as King Bohemia is a monarch elected by the nobility of that country, the same nobility on whose authority and good will Frederick Henry would rely if he were to rule Bohemia, and from whom the act of deposing Ferdinand would quite likely alienate him; and second, Bohemia, while a territory that somewhat friendly to Protestants and to religious dissent generally, is culturally and religiously different from the rest of Frederick Henry’s realm. Always a more prudent decision-maker than a bold one, Frederick Henry chooses to negotiate.
Thus, Frederick Henry sends emissaries with terms to Charles V: he proposes that the German princes be completely free to decide matters of faith within reasonable limits, that he would receive the Saxon ducal lands, and with Landgrave Philip of Hesse other territories besides, and that he would be allowed to leave Prague with treasures looted from Prague Castle. In return, Charles V would get in all other respects the situatio quo ante bellum: he would continue as King of Bohemia and receive the loyal support of the Protestant princes as Emperor. Both rulers could thus sidestep the possibility of years of violent deadlock.
Between the time Charles V receives Frederick Henry’s emissaries and the time he responds, word reaches Prague and Pilsen that the army of the Duke of Calenberg had been routed by John Frederick at Fulda, and that Calenberg and Brunswick-Luneburg (from which Duke Henry had fled and which has been virtually undefended) is now occupied by the Saxons. Realizing that the military prospects for recovering Prague in the near term is very slight, Charles V agrees to negotiations with Frederick Henry and Landgrave Philip. Meeting in Prague Castle, the three leaders engage in protracted talks under a flag of truce.
Pending a final peace treaty to be decided later, Frederick Henry’s demand for princely autonomy on religious questions is granted. The Saxon Elector’s territorial demands are also granted: his rule over the Saxon ducal lands is validated by the Emperor, as Saxony also absorbs the Duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg, Wolfenbuttel, and the Archbishopric of Madgeburg and the imperial cities of Halle and Goslar. For the Landgraviate of Hesse, Philip wins the lands of the Bishoprics of Mainz, Wurzburg and Fulda and the Duchy of Calenberg. Frederick Henry’s deportment at the negotiations is notable for his extreme courtesy towards Charles.
News of the Treaty of Prague rocks Europe. Frederick Henry’s Schmalkaldic allies are to varying degrees overjoyed and furious, glad of the victory Frederick Henry has won for them and frustrated that he has robbed them of even grander triumphs to come. The French, English and Danish monarchs who had denied Frederick Henry more substantial assistance are quick to congratulate him on his resounding success. Brandenburg is also disappointed that its participation had resulted in substantial territorial boons to its potential competitors in northern Germany. And Frederick Henry himself begins the time-consuming task of transporting the substantial loot of Prague north to Saxony. It barely arrives in Dresden before the winter makes the roads impassable.
The Electress bears a fourth child to the Elector, a son named John Frederick after his brother. Henry VIII dies, and is succeeded by his son Edward VI. In Wittenberg, the ascent of Edward is seen in a cautiously optimistic light, in that Edward is without issue, making it very possible that the Earl of Lincoln might ascend to the throne.
1548
In Dresden, Frederick Henry proclaims the new disposition of Saxony. The former Duke Maurice is to be conveyed to a special prison keep being built at the Coburg Veste, far from his realm, where he will reside until death as a traitor to his family and his faith. His wife is returned to her father, the Landgrave Philip of Hesse. Frederick Henry grants his brother John Frederick and his descendants the lands of the former Duke Maurice as a vassal of himself. Furthermore, he proclaims the basic law that henceforth the Electors of Saxony must consent to rule and bequeath the land undivided before they assume power. Younger brothers of the heirs to the Electorate are to be born with the responsibility of serving in the army as John Frederick did and expanding the Saxon state thereby, with the promise of receiving title to their conquests as vassals of the Elector.
The German princes convene at Augsburg for a general council that most attendees assumed would confirm the terms of the previous year’s Treaty of Prague. However, Charles V arrives renouncing the crucial term of the treaty asides from the territorial changes, his grant of religious autonomy, pending a final settlement to be decided still later. Obviously, this change is the result of pressure on Charles V from the Pope not to concede to the Protestant princes, no matter the military consequences. Charles V attempts to formalize this arrangement in the Augsburg Interim, which is roundly denounced by all the Protestant princes, who all vow to disregard it.
Brunswick-Luneburg and Wolfenbuttel are reorganized as the Duchy of Lower Saxony, and the region fully occupied by Frederick Henry’s forces. In a side-agreement with the Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg, Frederick Henry gives agrees to give Brandenburg money and treasure seized from Brunswick-Luneburg in lieu of actual territory, a situation that well serves the interests of the heavily indebted Joachim II Hector.
At year’s end Frederick Henry rules a state running from the northern frontier of Bohemia along the Elbe almost all the way to the North Sea and stretching as far south as Franconia.
1549
The momentous changes in the Saxon state continue, as Martin Luther dies. At the funeral in Wittenberg, attended by Luther’s most prominent colleagues among the Reformers and the leading Protestant princes, Frederick Henry delivers one of the eulogies. The printed version of the eulogy, printed as a pamphlet and widely distributed throughout Germany, includes the first recorded reference to Saxon-Germany (Sachsen-Deutschland), which will henceforth be elaborated as the nationalistic concept of Saxony as the kernel around which the German state will emerge.
In more immediate political concerns, Frederick Henry responds to Charles V’s partial renunciation of the terms of the Treaty of Prague by expelling Julius von Pflug from the Bishopric of Naumberg. Frederick Henry has only tolerated his presence until now because previously its only alternative was straightaway and immediate war at a time when Saxony had seemed unprepared. Julius Von Pflug is one of the authors of the hated Augsburg interim— from the bishopric of Naumberg.
Frederick Henry commissions plans for a new palace, while John Frederick commissions his own for the remarkable expansion of an additional floor to the top of his new residence near Dresden, the hunting lodge Schloss Moritzburg built for the now-deposed Duke Maurice.
1550
Frederick Henry founds new gymnasia (now conventionally called “Martin’s schools”) at Wurzen, Madgeburg and Dresden. Also, construction begins on the Elector’s large new hunting lodge in Wittenberg and John Frederick's enlargement of Schloss Moritzburg in Dresden. Frederick Henry also announces he will fund the construction of a monument to Martin Luther in the city center of Wittenberg.
Frederick Henry orders the Saxon Post to expand its functions to include serving as a deposit bank for merchants anxious to keep their money safe. Work begins on large and well-guarded depositaries in Wittenberg and Dresden.
The two elder sons of the deposed Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg—Charles Victor and Philip—lead an uprising against the Saxon acquisition of the Duchy that Frederick Henry puts down with uncharacteristic ferocity. They are conveyed to the Coburg Veste where they are imprisoned in apartments near the former Duke Maurice, giving the Veste prison its bitterly sarcastic nickname “The Ducal Palace.”
The youngest son of the former Duke Henry V, Julius, had refused to participate in the rebellion and declared his allegiance to Frederick Henry—even though he was a Catholic—because of enmity between he and his father. As a result of this unusual loyalty of the son to Frederick Henry over even his own father, Frederick Henry allows Julius to come into his inheritance after a fashion by making him Duke of Lower Saxony as a vassal to the Elector, parallel to John Frederick’s status as the Duke of Saxony (now, Upper Saxony). The most crucial marker of Julius’ submission to Wittenberg is that he is not permitted under any circumstances the command of military forces, and the soldiers garrisoned there are trusted veterans who have spent significant time in the Ernestine Wettins’ service.
Misfortune befalls the family of the Elector when the Elector’s daughter Elizabeth dies. A few months later, the Electress bears the Elector’s fifth and fourth surviving child, Henry. The son’s namesake is his uncle by marriage Henry Brandon the Second Duke of Suffolk, who in this year is declared by Edward VI to be his heir as King of England.
1541
The gloom created by the growing threat of war is broken by the wedding in Wittenberg of the Elector Frederick Henry and the princess Elizabeth of Denmark, which triggers celebration throughout Protestant Germany.
External threats to the Holy Roman Empire ebb enough for the Emperor Charles V to once again focus his attention on the Reformers. In a last-ditch effort to defuse the crisis, the German princes meet at Regensburg. Frederick Henry attempts to restrain from Luther from some of the pricklier points of theological controversy with the wider church. Once again, Luther proves intransigent, and refuses to give ground even at Frederick Henry’s insistence. The Elector Frederick Henry and the Emperor Charles V then meet personally in an attempt to forge a compromise. Together, they agree that those theological issues that the Council of Regensburg cannot agree on will be passed upon without comment to facilitate peace within the Empire.
This outcome infuriates the religious authorities on both sides, as Luther—still the most famous Protestant theologian—and the Pope refuse to support the Regensburg Articles. However, for the Elector Frederick Henry to defy Martin Luther and for the Emperor Charles V to defy the Pope are entirely different things: and Charles V quickly reverses himself and assumes the final position that all theological questions are to be submitted to the Pope. The Protestant princes refuse to accept this position outright. The Council at Regensburg adjourns without agreement, and in departing Charles V issues a set of orders limiting the publication of dissenting religious tracts and the internal reformation of religious orders. This too is entirely unacceptable to the Protestant princes, and Frederick Henry does not even make a pretense of compliance.
For Charles, the rejection of the Articles of Regensburg would ultimately have serious consequences. Had he permitted the compromise with Frederick Henry to go forward, the result would have been a rift between the Reformers and their princely protectors that could have been the beginning of the end of the Reformation. As it was, Charles’ conclusory demands on the Protestant Princes only created solidarity on the side of the Reformation, as Luther, Melanchthon and Frederick Henry left Regensburg in complete agreement as to the necessity of resisting Charles’ commands.
1542
Frederick Henry, still hoping to avoid armed conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, or in the event hostilities do begin to not be seen as having as provoked them, refuses to interfere with the appointment of Julius Von der Pflug to the bishopric of Naumberg, enraging Martin Luther.
Simultaneously, Frederick Henry makes overtures to the French to win their support in the event of a war with the Emperor, a plan complicated by the fact that Frederick Henry does not want to reciprocate by aiding France in any conflict between that kingdom and the Emperor.
A lingering dispute over tax revenues from the Wurzener Country escalates sharply, threatening to plunge Frederick Henry into war with his first cousin the Duke Maurice of Saxony, leader of the Albertine line of Saxon rulers. Landgrave Philip of Hesse and Martin Luther attempt to mediate, but succeed only in preventing the start of armed hostilities.
As the Reformers’ frustrations with Frederick Henry’s peace policy grow, he is the subject of the bitterly satirical pamphlet The Lion of Christendom, which questions his willingness to defend the Reformation. Frederick declines to order the suppression of the pamphlet thinking it will only provoke further hostility between himself and the Protestant churches, which is understood by the Catholic Church and the court of the Holy Roman Emperor as advertising his personal weakness.
John Frederick marries Sybille of Cleves. Hans Holbein the Younger is lured to Wittenberg with the promise of an extraordinary commission to paint the wedding party. Frederick Henry then offers Holbein a position as the Wettin family's court painter, which he accepts because of dissatisfaction with his current employer, and in which role he will serve for almost the next twenty years. Cranach the Elder and Cranach the Younger, the long-serving and respected painters of the court, are retained as well but given the focus of depicting religious subject matter.
After the wedding, John Frederick is given permission from Frederick Henry to go to Cleves and fight in the army of his brother-in-law William IV of Julich-Cleves-Berg in his war with Charles V over Guelders.
1543
The reformer Justus Jonas’ leadership of the Reformation at Halle leads the Emperor to ask Frederick Henry to suppress Jonas in order to maintain peace. Not just because doing so would permanently alienate Frederick Henry from the Reformers, but because of his personal territorial ambitions with respect to Halle, he instead extends Jonas his protection and to garrison troops at Halle in defense of the Reformation there. This is understood as just short of an invitation to the Emperor to begin armed conflict. The other mark of Frederick Henry’s increasing confidence was his command that the Saxon army eject the forces of Henry of Brunswick-Luneburg and Prince of Wolfenbuttel from the town of Goslar to prevent the suppression of reformers. Frederick Henry then with the aid of Landgrave Philip of Hesse occupies Wolfenbuttel. Henry of Brunswick-Luneberg flees to Bavaria.
Frederick Henry’s new willingness to commit his army to the defense of the Reformation and his lingering feuds with neighboring princes leads Charles V to contract alliances against Frederick Henry with Duke Maurice, who is promised the Electoral dignity and much of the Ernestine Wettins’ lands, as well as Duke Eric II of Calenberg and the Margrave Albert Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Ostensibly, this alliance was formed to help the Emperor prosecute a war against the French, and in fact Frederick Henry was invited to participate but declined because he did not want to alienate the French or waste his men and treasury before the anticipated final confrontation with the Emperor.
The Electress Elizabeth bears Frederick Henry a son and heir, named Alexander following the growing vogue for Hellenic names, and implicitly analogizing the Greeks’ struggle against the Persians to the Protestant princes’ burgeoning conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor and the Habsburgs.
With the conclusion of the war between William IV of Julich-Cleves-Berg and the Emperor, John Frederick returns and begins taking part in the preparations for war.
1544
As Charles V’s war against France continues and the Elector Frederick Henry of Saxony still refuses to contribute men or resources to the war effort, Charles V increases the pressure on Frederick Henry and the other members of the Schmalkaldic League. In the Fourth Diet of Speyer, Charles V makes extraordinary doctrinal concessions to the Lutheran princes in exchange for their assistance against France. It is necessary for Saxony to accede to the arrangement for Charles’ concessions to be formalized, but nonetheless following the Diet at Speyer the Saxons still refuse in practice to contribute to the effort against France. This triggers the resolve of Charles V to bring the controversy with the wayward Lutheran princes to a head as soon as possible.
Frederick Henry now begins openly readying for war, as his younger brother John Frederick is installed with his volunteer army of Protestant fanatics, the Schwarmers, at the Coburg Veste in the western reaches of the Ernestine Saxons’ lands.
The Electress bears Frederick Henry a second child, a daughter, Elizabeth. Almost immediately Frederick Henry begins discussing the possibility of a match between Elizabeth and one of the sons of King Gustav I of Sweden.
1545
With war between the Schmalkaldic League and the Emperor’s Alliance all but certain, Frederick Henry requests large loans from the Kings of England and Denmark to fund new additions to his army. Likewise, preparations for war begin on the opposing side.
Martin Luther, fearful of the outcome of the anticipated war, begins writing a hagiographic biography of Frederick Henry intended to bolster his support throughout Lutheran Germany.
A third child of the Elector Frederick Henry and the Electress Elizabeth, Anna, is born. In England, the Duke of Suffolk dies. This makes Henry Brandon the Earl of Lincoln the Second Duke of Suffolk, and he is recalled to England to handle his father’s estate.
1546
The Emperor takes the long-anticipated step of imposing the imperial ban on the Elector Frederick Henry, thereby stripping him of all titles, dignities and possessions. He gives Duke Maurice of Saxony the responsibility of executing the ban and securing Frederick Henry’s lands. The news reaches Wittenberg only a few days after it does Maurice’s capital of Dresden, and Frederick Henry beats Maurice into the field with an army of 11,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry. He seizes the town of Meissen without a fight and marches on Dresden, defeating Maurice’s army in a pitched battle outside its gates. In the west, John Frederick marches on Leipzig with an army of 4,000, almost all Schwarmers, and an additional 1,000 cavalry. Leipzig falls after a brief siege. At this point almost the entirety of ducal Saxony is in Frederick Henry’s power, without even the armies of the Schmalkaldic League fully mobilized.
Duke Maurice flees to Prague along with 2,000 soldiers of Albertine Saxony loyal to him. This frustrates Frederick Henry’s immediate goal of capturing Maurice and forcing him to assign all his titles and lands to him and unify the Saxon lands under the Ernestine line.
It is to Dresden Frederick Henry summoned the armies of the Schmalkaldic League for an assault against the Kingdom of Bohemia itself. In the meantime, John Frederick secures the town of Chemnitz and prepares for an invasion of Brunswick-Luneburg.
1547
An army led by Emperor Charles V makes its way north from Prague, as another Imperial army marches east from the Netherlands towards Hesse. Frederick Henry dispatches the Schwarmers under John Frederick to aid in the defense of Hesse and the Saxon lands in Thuringia, while he himself leads the attempt to head off the Holy Roman Emperor.
In the gap beneath the ducal Saxons’ ancient Konigstein citadel, on the frontier between Saxony and Bohemia, Frederick Henry’s Schmalkaldic army intercepts that of Charles V as it is crossing the Elbe from west to east. Despite superior Habsburg armaments and equal numbers, the tenacity of the Saxon forces—especially the Schwarmers, who distinguish themselves by their daring—ultimately breaks the resolve of the imperial army and forces a retreat.
A second force advancing on the west shore of the Elbe under the Landgrave Philip of Hesse chases the disorganized Imperial army south and defeats it handily a few days later at Decin, inside Bohemia, almost capturing the Holy Roman Emperor and utterly scattering his forces. Capitalizing on the opportunity presented by his defeat of Charles V, Frederick Henry races south toward Prague.
Charles V’s army re-forms itself but lags behind Frederick Henry’s. On June 12, 1547, Prague falls to the Schmalkaldic League almost completely without a fight. In recognition of the solidarity between Prague’s Protestants and the Schmalkaldic armies, Frederick Henry restrains his armies from sacking the city but loots Prague Castle.
The Emperor Charles V camps at the nearby town of Pilsen and begins plotting to retake Prague by siege. At this point Frederick Henry faces a crucial choice: he can fight Charles V for Bohemia, and thus wage a prolonged war against a superior foe who will likely wear him down over time, or he can cut a deal with Charles V that will enable him to declare victory and keep his winnings. Several factors other than his military prospects suggest the inadvisability of continuing the war: first, Charles V's brother Ferdinand as King Bohemia is a monarch elected by the nobility of that country, the same nobility on whose authority and good will Frederick Henry would rely if he were to rule Bohemia, and from whom the act of deposing Ferdinand would quite likely alienate him; and second, Bohemia, while a territory that somewhat friendly to Protestants and to religious dissent generally, is culturally and religiously different from the rest of Frederick Henry’s realm. Always a more prudent decision-maker than a bold one, Frederick Henry chooses to negotiate.
Thus, Frederick Henry sends emissaries with terms to Charles V: he proposes that the German princes be completely free to decide matters of faith within reasonable limits, that he would receive the Saxon ducal lands, and with Landgrave Philip of Hesse other territories besides, and that he would be allowed to leave Prague with treasures looted from Prague Castle. In return, Charles V would get in all other respects the situatio quo ante bellum: he would continue as King of Bohemia and receive the loyal support of the Protestant princes as Emperor. Both rulers could thus sidestep the possibility of years of violent deadlock.
Between the time Charles V receives Frederick Henry’s emissaries and the time he responds, word reaches Prague and Pilsen that the army of the Duke of Calenberg had been routed by John Frederick at Fulda, and that Calenberg and Brunswick-Luneburg (from which Duke Henry had fled and which has been virtually undefended) is now occupied by the Saxons. Realizing that the military prospects for recovering Prague in the near term is very slight, Charles V agrees to negotiations with Frederick Henry and Landgrave Philip. Meeting in Prague Castle, the three leaders engage in protracted talks under a flag of truce.
Pending a final peace treaty to be decided later, Frederick Henry’s demand for princely autonomy on religious questions is granted. The Saxon Elector’s territorial demands are also granted: his rule over the Saxon ducal lands is validated by the Emperor, as Saxony also absorbs the Duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg, Wolfenbuttel, and the Archbishopric of Madgeburg and the imperial cities of Halle and Goslar. For the Landgraviate of Hesse, Philip wins the lands of the Bishoprics of Mainz, Wurzburg and Fulda and the Duchy of Calenberg. Frederick Henry’s deportment at the negotiations is notable for his extreme courtesy towards Charles.
News of the Treaty of Prague rocks Europe. Frederick Henry’s Schmalkaldic allies are to varying degrees overjoyed and furious, glad of the victory Frederick Henry has won for them and frustrated that he has robbed them of even grander triumphs to come. The French, English and Danish monarchs who had denied Frederick Henry more substantial assistance are quick to congratulate him on his resounding success. Brandenburg is also disappointed that its participation had resulted in substantial territorial boons to its potential competitors in northern Germany. And Frederick Henry himself begins the time-consuming task of transporting the substantial loot of Prague north to Saxony. It barely arrives in Dresden before the winter makes the roads impassable.
The Electress bears a fourth child to the Elector, a son named John Frederick after his brother. Henry VIII dies, and is succeeded by his son Edward VI. In Wittenberg, the ascent of Edward is seen in a cautiously optimistic light, in that Edward is without issue, making it very possible that the Earl of Lincoln might ascend to the throne.
1548
In Dresden, Frederick Henry proclaims the new disposition of Saxony. The former Duke Maurice is to be conveyed to a special prison keep being built at the Coburg Veste, far from his realm, where he will reside until death as a traitor to his family and his faith. His wife is returned to her father, the Landgrave Philip of Hesse. Frederick Henry grants his brother John Frederick and his descendants the lands of the former Duke Maurice as a vassal of himself. Furthermore, he proclaims the basic law that henceforth the Electors of Saxony must consent to rule and bequeath the land undivided before they assume power. Younger brothers of the heirs to the Electorate are to be born with the responsibility of serving in the army as John Frederick did and expanding the Saxon state thereby, with the promise of receiving title to their conquests as vassals of the Elector.
The German princes convene at Augsburg for a general council that most attendees assumed would confirm the terms of the previous year’s Treaty of Prague. However, Charles V arrives renouncing the crucial term of the treaty asides from the territorial changes, his grant of religious autonomy, pending a final settlement to be decided still later. Obviously, this change is the result of pressure on Charles V from the Pope not to concede to the Protestant princes, no matter the military consequences. Charles V attempts to formalize this arrangement in the Augsburg Interim, which is roundly denounced by all the Protestant princes, who all vow to disregard it.
Brunswick-Luneburg and Wolfenbuttel are reorganized as the Duchy of Lower Saxony, and the region fully occupied by Frederick Henry’s forces. In a side-agreement with the Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg, Frederick Henry gives agrees to give Brandenburg money and treasure seized from Brunswick-Luneburg in lieu of actual territory, a situation that well serves the interests of the heavily indebted Joachim II Hector.
At year’s end Frederick Henry rules a state running from the northern frontier of Bohemia along the Elbe almost all the way to the North Sea and stretching as far south as Franconia.
1549
The momentous changes in the Saxon state continue, as Martin Luther dies. At the funeral in Wittenberg, attended by Luther’s most prominent colleagues among the Reformers and the leading Protestant princes, Frederick Henry delivers one of the eulogies. The printed version of the eulogy, printed as a pamphlet and widely distributed throughout Germany, includes the first recorded reference to Saxon-Germany (Sachsen-Deutschland), which will henceforth be elaborated as the nationalistic concept of Saxony as the kernel around which the German state will emerge.
In more immediate political concerns, Frederick Henry responds to Charles V’s partial renunciation of the terms of the Treaty of Prague by expelling Julius von Pflug from the Bishopric of Naumberg. Frederick Henry has only tolerated his presence until now because previously its only alternative was straightaway and immediate war at a time when Saxony had seemed unprepared. Julius Von Pflug is one of the authors of the hated Augsburg interim— from the bishopric of Naumberg.
Frederick Henry commissions plans for a new palace, while John Frederick commissions his own for the remarkable expansion of an additional floor to the top of his new residence near Dresden, the hunting lodge Schloss Moritzburg built for the now-deposed Duke Maurice.
1550
Frederick Henry founds new gymnasia (now conventionally called “Martin’s schools”) at Wurzen, Madgeburg and Dresden. Also, construction begins on the Elector’s large new hunting lodge in Wittenberg and John Frederick's enlargement of Schloss Moritzburg in Dresden. Frederick Henry also announces he will fund the construction of a monument to Martin Luther in the city center of Wittenberg.
Frederick Henry orders the Saxon Post to expand its functions to include serving as a deposit bank for merchants anxious to keep their money safe. Work begins on large and well-guarded depositaries in Wittenberg and Dresden.
The two elder sons of the deposed Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg—Charles Victor and Philip—lead an uprising against the Saxon acquisition of the Duchy that Frederick Henry puts down with uncharacteristic ferocity. They are conveyed to the Coburg Veste where they are imprisoned in apartments near the former Duke Maurice, giving the Veste prison its bitterly sarcastic nickname “The Ducal Palace.”
The youngest son of the former Duke Henry V, Julius, had refused to participate in the rebellion and declared his allegiance to Frederick Henry—even though he was a Catholic—because of enmity between he and his father. As a result of this unusual loyalty of the son to Frederick Henry over even his own father, Frederick Henry allows Julius to come into his inheritance after a fashion by making him Duke of Lower Saxony as a vassal to the Elector, parallel to John Frederick’s status as the Duke of Saxony (now, Upper Saxony). The most crucial marker of Julius’ submission to Wittenberg is that he is not permitted under any circumstances the command of military forces, and the soldiers garrisoned there are trusted veterans who have spent significant time in the Ernestine Wettins’ service.
Misfortune befalls the family of the Elector when the Elector’s daughter Elizabeth dies. A few months later, the Electress bears the Elector’s fifth and fourth surviving child, Henry. The son’s namesake is his uncle by marriage Henry Brandon the Second Duke of Suffolk, who in this year is declared by Edward VI to be his heir as King of England.
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Dr Waterhouse
Very interesting. Think I can see another subscription coming on.
Know fair too little of the period to comment much but am a little concerned about "The Electress bears Frederick Henry a second child, a daughter, Elizabeth. Almost immediately Frederick Henry begins discussing the possibility of a match between Elizabeth and one of the sons of King Gustav I of Sweden.". Given that Frederick Henry has marriage links with the Danes and in the next paragraph is asking them for support in the forthcoming conflict is this either likely or wise? There was a great degree of tension and mistrust traditionally between Denmark and Sweden so I would suspect he had good chances of alienating the Danes without really winning support from the Swedes.
On a point you mentioned in an earlier post about a possible Saxon king of Poland-Lithuania. Think this involved the Saxon king renouncing Lutherism and formally becoming Catholic. This wasn't too great a problem in the more relaxed 18thC for a Saxony that was still in the 2nd rank of states. Don't think that circle would be as easy to square for a Saxon king who is the leader of a state increasingly dominating Germany and the leader of the Protestant church, even if your still talking about a couple of centuries ahead. In fact I would suspect that for that reason both the Poles and other states in Europe would seek to prevent a Saxon-Polish joint kingship.
Steve
Very interesting. Think I can see another subscription coming on.
Know fair too little of the period to comment much but am a little concerned about "The Electress bears Frederick Henry a second child, a daughter, Elizabeth. Almost immediately Frederick Henry begins discussing the possibility of a match between Elizabeth and one of the sons of King Gustav I of Sweden.". Given that Frederick Henry has marriage links with the Danes and in the next paragraph is asking them for support in the forthcoming conflict is this either likely or wise? There was a great degree of tension and mistrust traditionally between Denmark and Sweden so I would suspect he had good chances of alienating the Danes without really winning support from the Swedes.
On a point you mentioned in an earlier post about a possible Saxon king of Poland-Lithuania. Think this involved the Saxon king renouncing Lutherism and formally becoming Catholic. This wasn't too great a problem in the more relaxed 18thC for a Saxony that was still in the 2nd rank of states. Don't think that circle would be as easy to square for a Saxon king who is the leader of a state increasingly dominating Germany and the leader of the Protestant church, even if your still talking about a couple of centuries ahead. In fact I would suspect that for that reason both the Poles and other states in Europe would seek to prevent a Saxon-Polish joint kingship.
Steve
Dr Waterhouse
Very interesting. Think I can see another subscription coming on.
Know fair too little of the period to comment much but am a little concerned about "The Electress bears Frederick Henry a second child, a daughter, Elizabeth. Almost immediately Frederick Henry begins discussing the possibility of a match between Elizabeth and one of the sons of King Gustav I of Sweden.". Given that Frederick Henry has marriage links with the Danes and in the next paragraph is asking them for support in the forthcoming conflict is this either likely or wise? There was a great degree of tension and mistrust traditionally between Denmark and Sweden so I would suspect he had good chances of alienating the Danes without really winning support from the Swedes.
On a point you mentioned in an earlier post about a possible Saxon king of Poland-Lithuania. Think this involved the Saxon king renouncing Lutherism and formally becoming Catholic. This wasn't too great a problem in the more relaxed 18thC for a Saxony that was still in the 2nd rank of states. Don't think that circle would be as easy to square for a Saxon king who is the leader of a state increasingly dominating Germany and the leader of the Protestant church, even if your still talking about a couple of centuries ahead. In fact I would suspect that for that reason both the Poles and other states in Europe would seek to prevent a Saxon-Polish joint kingship.
Steve
All of this is why the Baltic is what gives me such heartburn trying to plan this scenario out. The War of the English Succession is going to be a piece of cake (oh, did I let that slip?) compared to Poland even just a few decades forward in the timeline. The Jagiellonian monarchs get along fine with the Wettins in my timeline because they don't suppress the Lutherans under their rule and everyone is making money off trade. But after the Jagiellonians the threat of a Habsburg Poland-Lithuania or a strongly Counter-Reformation Poland-Lithuania compels the Wettins to interfere, and Poland-Lithuania has some strong feelings about that.
Also, one of the strong currents in my timeline is that while the Wettins are always cautious they don't see other Protestant, certainly not other Lutheran, princes as enemies. And that means Gustavus II Adolphus is going to be a big unwelcome surprise for them they don't quite know how to deal with, especially considering everything else they're going to be dealing with when he hits the scene. And later, there's Peter. So for the Wettins the East is a perpetual headache.
But the short answer is that I agree with you: in the arc of events I'm plotting it's going to be pretty much impossible for the Elector of Saxony to be elected King of Poland-Lithuania.
As to Frederick's little daugher Elizabeth, sadly that problem takes care of itself. See the last paragraph in the events for 1550. I wanted to represent the attrition among even royal children in the sixteenth century.
If Henry VIII gets involved in the Protestant League, that also means that he would be fully embracing a longer-term anti-Hapsburg alliance system, which would include a French alliance. That is going to do interesting things to English foreign policy. For instance, if the English are really committed to the anti-Hapsburg alliance system, then the Scots are going to need to find themselves a new foreign sponsor. Charles V's Hapsburg Empire would be the only option.
If you're planning an English "War of Succession", it wouldn't probably be seen as a separate war. Rather, it would be seen as a continuation of the "War of the Roses." The Hapsburgs would have the opportunity to impact this. If the POD allows Richard de la Pole to survive the Battle of Pavia in 1525, then the Hapsburgs have a real live York claimant.
Having THE York claimant and the fact that Scotland is probably going to be throwing its lot in with Charles V could be brought together, possibly with a match between de la Pole and a Scottish royal.
If you're planning an English "War of Succession", it wouldn't probably be seen as a separate war. Rather, it would be seen as a continuation of the "War of the Roses." The Hapsburgs would have the opportunity to impact this. If the POD allows Richard de la Pole to survive the Battle of Pavia in 1525, then the Hapsburgs have a real live York claimant.
Having THE York claimant and the fact that Scotland is probably going to be throwing its lot in with Charles V could be brought together, possibly with a match between de la Pole and a Scottish royal.
Making him an offer he can't refuse
1551
Frederick Henry states in letters to his chief allies—Philip of Hesse, Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg, and Frederick II, Elector Palatine—his desire to see the Schmalkaldic League evolve from a defensive union within the Holy Roman Empire towards the core of a new Protestant union of German states. Responses to Frederick Henry’s proposal range from either the direct and tactless refusal of Philip to the polite silence of Frederick II. Each of the other rulers understand that Frederick Henry’s plan is for Saxony to be the first among equals in any more centralized union of the German Protestant princes.
Frustrated in his foreign policy, Frederick Henry begins work on the fortifications of the Festung Konigstein, with the intention that his realm will be defended by two impregnable fortresses—on the western edge, the Coburg Veste, and on the east, the Festung.
The Saxon Elector begins his first literary pension to the poet Everard Schiele, author of the epic poem Leonidas, a widely admired allegory of the struggles of German Lutheranism that presents a flattering portrayal of the Elector.
The Emperor Charles V, Frederick Henry’s archenemy and the leading opponent of the German Reformation, is plunged into another war, this time in Italy against France’s King Henry II. This again provides Frederick Henry and the other Protestant princes with needed leverage to use against Charles V.
The Electress Elizabeth, widow of John I the Steadfast, mother of the Elector Frederick Henry and the last surviving child of Henry VII, dies.
1552
A scheme by Albert Alcibiades to break the former Duke Maurice out of the Coburg Veste fails when the townspeople of Coburg and the fortress's Schwarmer garrison repulse his attack on the Veste.
Negotiations between the Protestant princes and Henry II of France fall apart over Henry’s demand of territorial concessions from the Empire in return for his support against the Emperor. Frederick Henry departs the negotiations at Chambord disgusted over the suggestion that he actively aid a foreign king acquire German lands. Nonetheless, he and the other members of the Schmalkaldic League provide no assistance to Charles V either, pending the resolution of the Emperor’s abrogation of the terms of the Treaty of Prague.
Frederick Henry attends negotiations at Regensburg for a final peace in which the Imperial side is represented not by Charles V but his brother Ferdinand, the official king of Bohemia and Hungary. There, the Catholic princes of Germany express a willingness to make major concessions to ensure an end to hostilities, including the recognition of the seizure of ecclesiastical lands by the Protestant princes and some autonomy on religious affairs. These concessions are memorialized as the Treaty of Regensburg.
In another diplomatic triumph for the year, Frederick Henry and the English ambassador sign treaties betrothing the English princess Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and sister of the current king Edward VI, to her first cousin and Frederick Henry’s heir, the prince Alexander. If Alexander and Elizabeth marry and she bears an heir, that child—if both Elizabeth’s brother Edward and sister Mary die without issue, and depending on the state of the law of succession at that time—could conceivably rule both England and Saxony and dominate northern Europe. This arrangement surprises and displeases the Duke of Suffolk, who had understood that he was to be the sole vessel of Saxony’s dynastic ambitions in England and who was completely circumvented in the discussions. Essentially, Frederick Henry is attempting to make sure that he can influence English rulers in any number of scenarios involving the suggestion, leading to the common joke that if he had a son acceptable to her that he could marry to the Catholic Mary Tudor, he would do that too.
1553
Saxony is in mourning following the passing of both the Chancellor Spalatin and the current Electress Elizabeth, who dies in childbirth bearing what would have been the couple’s fifth child. The baby, a boy, also does not survive. As his new Chancellor Frederick Henry picks the young savant Julius of Brunswick-Luneburg, the Duke of Lower Saxony, who had proven his loyalty in helping to quash the revolt of his brothers and his immense intelligence in years since.
During his period of mourning, the Elector is forced to intervene militarily in support of his ally the Landgrave Philip of Hesse. Philip’s lands in Franconia, formerly the Bishopric of Wurzburg, is being invaded and looted by Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. In a bizarre turn of events, because Albert Alcibiades had fought on the side of France in that kingdom’s continuing war against the Emperor Charles V, Charles V had imposed the imperial ban on Albert Alcibiades. So Charles V now appoints Frederick Henry to execute the ban against Albert Alcibiades, knowing it is the only way he can put the powerful Saxon military into the field against his enemies.
At Sievershausen, the Saxon army led by Frederick Henry combined with the Hessians under Philip annihilate the forces of Albert Alcibiades. Frederick Henry and Philip pursue Albert Alcibiades to Bayreuth, where they capture him as he tries to hide in a stable. Frederick Henry notifies Charles V of his intent to hold the territories of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and the imperial city of Nuremberg, which had fallen under Albert Alcibiades’ power. Albert Alcibiades himself is killed, in what is explained to the public at large is an escape attempt.
1554
The death of England’s Protestant King Edward VI and the ensuing dynastic turmoil devastates Saxony’s foreign policy and bloodies the Wettin family itself, stripping the Electorate of its closest major ally in Europe and seriously imperiling Saxony’s dynastic plans.
On Edward VI’s death, Protestant nobles who claim to be acting on behalf of the King’s will crown his designated heir Henry Brandon King Henry IX. Anticipating a struggle for the English crown, Frederick Henry begins efforts to gather troops and move them into England to support his brother-in-law’s claim. However, before they arrive the people of London rise up on behalf of Henry VIII’s eldest surviving daughter, Mary. Henry IX flees Westminster and attempts to muster soldiers and retake the city, but the army, overwhelmingly loyal to Mary, attacks him before he can organize a sufficient force and defeats him in the Battle of Reading.
Taken in chains to the Tower of London, Henry is quickly tried and beheaded for treason. By the time the Danish ships leased by Frederick Henry at great expense to convey his forces to England to support Henry IX arrive in London, the country is solidly under Mary’s control and preparations for her coronation are under way. Henry IX’s wife Catherine, the Elector’s sister, had fled separately to France in a fishing boat with a few trusted guards, her four children and a nurse. Found by the French on the coast of Normandy, she and the children are conveyed to the Saxon fleet returning to their origin-point of Hamburg when they stop at Antwerp. The Saxon fleet also bears in its return trip some of England’s leading Protestant nobles, including many of those responsible for Henry’s unsuccessful effort to take power, such as various Seymours, Dudleys and Wyats. These include Henry’s sisters Frances and Eleanor and his nieces Jane, Catherine and Mary Grey. The sorry spectacle of their arrival at Wittenberg caused mass public mourning and hysterical expressions of grief, and ministers throughout Saxony inveigh against Mary as a vicious fratricidal and regicidal tyrant.
The Protestant princes of Germany convene at Wittenberg to plan their negotiating position for the general council planned at Augsburg the next year. Frederick Henry argues that the Protestant princes should agitate not just for the religious freedom of Lutherans but for the freedom of Zwinglians, Anabaptists and the followers of Calvin so as to build a single community among all the Reformation churches. This effort is in recognition of the Schwarmer’s efforts on his behalf in the Schmalkaldic War, and reflects Frederick Henry’s role as the leading patron of the fanatic communities among the German princes. Nevertheless, he is voted down by the Lutheran princes, who argue for maintaining the model of a state religion and the spiritual conformity of subjects to the prince.
Frederick Henry continues the war in support of both the Emperor Charles V and Prince Philip of Hesse against Wilhelm Von Grumbach, who is in the pay of France, the last remaining ally of Albert Alcibiades and an adventurer-general who had campaigned against Frederick Henry in the first Schmalkaldic War and thus earned his enmity. Von Grumbach is defeated by the Saxons in the Battle of the Main. Captured by Frederick Henry’s army, he is tried briefly, and beheaded despite his bizarre claims of magical powers and his proclamation as he is about to die that he has put a curse on Frederick Henry.
1555
The year is dominated by the Council at Augsburg, in which the Protestant and Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire attempt to hammer out a compromise to prevent further religious bloodshed. Though Frederick Henry once again proposes a more complete policy of religious tolerance that would embrace the possibility of multiple concurrent churches within one territory and permit the recognition of confessions of Christian faith other than Catholicism and Lutheranism, he is overruled. However, his treatise in support of these ideas, The Community of Christ in His Churches, is printed in pamphlet form and widely circulated.
In the final terms agreed upon at Augsburg, each German prince is permitted to choose between Catholicism and Lutheranism. That choice is obligatory for all those living within his country, but people who find themselves living in the territory of a prince who has chosen a faith inconsistent with their own are free to cross into the lands of their co-religionists. No German prince may wage war against any other for religious reasons. Imperial and free cities, imperial knights, and towns in ecclesiastical areas that had been practicing their own religion are given the freedom to continue practicing their customary form of worship. Finally, all ecclesiastical lands taken by the Lutheran princes as of the time of the Treaty of Regensburg are to be retained by those princes, but there would no further Catholic ecclesiastic lands would go to the Protestant princes for reason of the conversion of the Catholic ecclesiastical prince (archbishop or bishop). This last provision is accepted by the Protestant princes only reluctantly, and only after Frederick Henry gives it his support, largely as a personal gesture of princely generosity toward the Emperor Ferdinand.
The Peace of Augsburg adjourns with much good feeling among all the German princes, with all sides expressing relief that a general war of faith in Germany has been avoided.
Frederick Henry begins contemplating with the exiled English nobles at Wittenberg the future marriage of his nephew, also Frederick Henry. It is quickly decided the bride should also be English, and from the Protestant expatriate community. One choice is Frances Cromwell, on her father’s side grand-daughter of Thomas Cromwell, and on her mother’s side the niece of Henry VIII’s queen Jane Seymour. The other is Frances’ first cousin Mary Seymour, who is both the niece of Jane Seymour and the daughter of Catherine Parr, also a queen of Henry VIII. Ironically, both girls come from noble families dispossessed of their wealth by accusations of treason: Frances, by the dishonor of her grandfather Thomas, and Mary by the execution of her father Thomas. The younger Frederick Henry is 17, Frances 11, and Mary 7.
1556
While hunting with his brother in the forests near Dresden, Frederick Henry is hit in the head and knocked from his mount by a tree branch. He breaks several ribs in the fall, and spends much of the rest of his reign ailing.
Nevertheless, Frederick Henry labors intensively over his last great accomplishment, the Saxon Religious Law, which codifies and amends all his previous proclamations on religion. This is inconsistent with the Peace of Augsburg in that it permits Catholic and other forms of Protestant worship alongside the Lutheran Church, although the Lutheran Church is officially adopted for the purposes of Augsburg as the state religion. Moreover, all remaining non-religious properties of the Catholic Church of all the territories that now comprise Saxony are summarily confiscated by the state. All remaining religious properties of the Catholic Church are entrusted to the Lutheran Church. Catholic Church services may continue, and religious orders may continue to operate in a circumscribed capacity, although they must build or purchase new structures in which to practice and operate. Fanatic sects meeting the requirements of Saxon law are also permitted to practice freely. Frederick Henry even contemplates a limited freedom of worship for the Jews in Wittenberg, but finds opposition to the idea in the Lutheran leadership so intense he is forced to abandon it. Finally, the Lutheran Church is given the legal and institutional responsibility of educating the children of Saxony.
Response to the Saxon Religious Law is more muted in the other German states than anticipated. The other Protestant princes are loath to criticize their acknowledged leader and the military hero of their movement, and the Catholic princes are too glad for his unanticipated concessions to their faith in Saxony to criticize the similar concessions he makes to the non-Lutheran Protestant sects.
Following the Augsburg Settlement, Charles V abdicates his titles and realms, dividing them between his son Philip II of Spain and his brother Ferdinand I, Philip receiving Spain, its colonies in the New World, Burgundy, and the Netherlands, and Francis I receiving the title of Holy Roman Emperor in addition to his lands in Bohemia, Austria and Hungary.
Frederick Henry Brandon, who styles himself King Frederick I of England, is betrothed by the arrangement of the Elector Frederick Henry to Frances Cromwell.
1557
With the Elector’s health now in steep decline, he is forced to curb his activities at the same time he desires to make the most of his legacy. The new Electoral Palace in Wittenberg is completed at around the same time as John Frederick’s lavish additions to Schloss Moritzburg. As a final gift to his brother, the Elector Frederick Henry founds the University of Duke John Frederick in Dresden, a new and richly endowed institution. Other major projects race forward, as gymnasia are founded in Leipzig and Chemnitz. The Elector Frederick Henry also announces plans to build a large new cathedral in Wittenberg, the Electors’ Church. Space inside it is reserved for his tomb.
Frederick Henry’s only significant acts of overseas diplomacy in the year are his warning to Mary of England that any violent acts towards his son Alexander’s betrothed, the princess Elizabeth, would result in war between Saxony and England, and to her cousin Ferdinand the Holy Roman Emperor to inform him that Elizabeth’s death would likely reignite religious war on the continent. The nature of the diplomatic contacts is terse and without ordinary courtesy—reflecting the lingering rage at the death of Henry IX, and Frederick Henry makes plain that one of the courses open to him is to recognize Henry IX’s son Frederick Henry, his namesake, as the rightful king of England.
1558
Frederick Henry spends much of his remaining fortune (much of which originated from the imperial treasure looted from Prague) founding the University of Coburg, housed in the Coburg Veste overlooking the city. Gymnasia are also founded in the cities of Bayreuth, Meissen and Freiburg.
As news spreads throughout Europe of Mary of England’s increasing infirmity, the English succession becomes uncertain. Fears that Mary might kill her Protestant sister and heir, Elizabeth, or that after Mary’s death the Catholics might act to prevent Elizabeth’s becoming queen, also spread. Frederick Henry begins agitating among the German princes to organize a sea-borne force capable of preventing the overthrow of Elizabeth, who is betrothed to his son Alexander, or in the alternate situation in which Elizabeth is already dead, to install on the throne of England his nephew Frederick Henry. The idea finds almost no support at all among the German Protestants, who see no benefit to themselves in the project, and are glad to finally have a peace with Catholic Europe with their rights recognized.
Chancellor Julius of Brunswick-Luneburg, Duke of Lower Saxony appoints a commission to begin recommending improvements to the realm’s roads, and areas of rivers the dredging of which would facilitate commerce, as part of his plan to spur the mining industry and other trades. The first step in his plan is dredging the Oker River between Wolfenbuttel and the Harz mountains to make it navigable for shipments of lead and copper downstream.
1559
Mary I of England dies and Elizabeth becomes Queen, which leads to an unanticipated and abrupt foreign policy reversal for Frederick Henry when she cancels the engagement with Alexander, virtually without explanation. This also creates the sudden necessity of finding a suitable dynastic match for Alexander, as Frederick Henry begins scouring the ranks of Protestant noblewomen in Europe for a suitable future Electress.
Even though the spurning of Alexander brings the Brandon faction at court no closer to the actual throne of England, it strengthens their hand with respect to Frederick Henry and his son because they now represent the sole viable option for securing Saxon influence there. Nonetheless, most of the Protestant nobles who had fled England following the suppression of Henry IX’s rule return to lend their support to Elizabeth. Thomas Wyat the Younger leads the faction that remains at Wittenberg, intent on serving the Elector Frederick Henry, who he regards as the great defender of Protestantism in Europe.
Many of Frederick Henry’s dearest construction projects are completed over the course of the year, including the vast park at the Electoral Palace at Wittenberg, and the Universities at Coburg and Dresden.
Chancellor Julius of Brunswick-Luneburg, Duke of Lower Saxony continues to run the day-to-day business of the country. At his suggestion, Frederick Henry as one of his final acts declares the formation of a Saxon national militia—each household would have to keep a weapon to defend itself, and the men of suitable age therein participate in military training and made available to defend the state as needed.
1560
In poor health, Frederick Henry’s only accomplishment for the year is the marriage of his daughter Anna as the second wife of William I the Silent, Duke of Orange. William, while a Lutheran, is nonetheless a trusted lieutenant of the Habsburgs in the Netherlands.
Frederick Henry dies after an extended illness at the age of only fifty. The Saxon nation is despondent with mourning. The Lutheran Church gives him the posthumous title of Defender.
Elector Alexander the Merciful,1560-1610
Alexander is raised to the dignity of an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire and invested with all the titles and lands of his father in a ceremony at Wittenberg attended by almost all the German princes. He retains Julius of Brunswick as Chancellor.
The most pressing business for the new Elector is the matter of a suitable marriage. Finally he settles on a match strongly championed by his aunt Sybille of Cleves to Marie Eleonore, the daughter of Duke William IV of Julich-Cleves-Berg. However, considering Marie Eleonore’s youth this engagement would delay Alexander’s marriage several years and the birth of an heir even longer, during which time his uncle John Frederick would be first in line to inherit the Electoral dignity. However, this same match would eventually place any heirs Alexander and Marie Eleonore would produce in line for the succession in Julich-Cleves-Berg.
While Alexander is still establishing himself as Elector, Saxony is rocked by the death of Philip Melanchthon, virtually universally recognized as the head of the Lutheran Church, and with whom the Saxon Electors have had a long, and in recent years stable, relationship. Melanchthon’s death opens to the door to a debate about the relationship of the Saxon state to the organization of the Lutheran Church, with Alexander seeing the matter as closely analogous to the Henrician Church of England, and the Lutheran theologians of Wittenberg understanding themselves as necessarily being answerable only to God. The matter goes unresolved.
Finally, once again at the suggestion of the Chancellor Julius, the Elector issues a tax reform that lightens the tax burden on farmers, which is also intended to win him good will and stabilize his reign.
1551
Frederick Henry states in letters to his chief allies—Philip of Hesse, Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg, and Frederick II, Elector Palatine—his desire to see the Schmalkaldic League evolve from a defensive union within the Holy Roman Empire towards the core of a new Protestant union of German states. Responses to Frederick Henry’s proposal range from either the direct and tactless refusal of Philip to the polite silence of Frederick II. Each of the other rulers understand that Frederick Henry’s plan is for Saxony to be the first among equals in any more centralized union of the German Protestant princes.
Frustrated in his foreign policy, Frederick Henry begins work on the fortifications of the Festung Konigstein, with the intention that his realm will be defended by two impregnable fortresses—on the western edge, the Coburg Veste, and on the east, the Festung.
The Saxon Elector begins his first literary pension to the poet Everard Schiele, author of the epic poem Leonidas, a widely admired allegory of the struggles of German Lutheranism that presents a flattering portrayal of the Elector.
The Emperor Charles V, Frederick Henry’s archenemy and the leading opponent of the German Reformation, is plunged into another war, this time in Italy against France’s King Henry II. This again provides Frederick Henry and the other Protestant princes with needed leverage to use against Charles V.
The Electress Elizabeth, widow of John I the Steadfast, mother of the Elector Frederick Henry and the last surviving child of Henry VII, dies.
1552
A scheme by Albert Alcibiades to break the former Duke Maurice out of the Coburg Veste fails when the townspeople of Coburg and the fortress's Schwarmer garrison repulse his attack on the Veste.
Negotiations between the Protestant princes and Henry II of France fall apart over Henry’s demand of territorial concessions from the Empire in return for his support against the Emperor. Frederick Henry departs the negotiations at Chambord disgusted over the suggestion that he actively aid a foreign king acquire German lands. Nonetheless, he and the other members of the Schmalkaldic League provide no assistance to Charles V either, pending the resolution of the Emperor’s abrogation of the terms of the Treaty of Prague.
Frederick Henry attends negotiations at Regensburg for a final peace in which the Imperial side is represented not by Charles V but his brother Ferdinand, the official king of Bohemia and Hungary. There, the Catholic princes of Germany express a willingness to make major concessions to ensure an end to hostilities, including the recognition of the seizure of ecclesiastical lands by the Protestant princes and some autonomy on religious affairs. These concessions are memorialized as the Treaty of Regensburg.
In another diplomatic triumph for the year, Frederick Henry and the English ambassador sign treaties betrothing the English princess Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and sister of the current king Edward VI, to her first cousin and Frederick Henry’s heir, the prince Alexander. If Alexander and Elizabeth marry and she bears an heir, that child—if both Elizabeth’s brother Edward and sister Mary die without issue, and depending on the state of the law of succession at that time—could conceivably rule both England and Saxony and dominate northern Europe. This arrangement surprises and displeases the Duke of Suffolk, who had understood that he was to be the sole vessel of Saxony’s dynastic ambitions in England and who was completely circumvented in the discussions. Essentially, Frederick Henry is attempting to make sure that he can influence English rulers in any number of scenarios involving the suggestion, leading to the common joke that if he had a son acceptable to her that he could marry to the Catholic Mary Tudor, he would do that too.
1553
Saxony is in mourning following the passing of both the Chancellor Spalatin and the current Electress Elizabeth, who dies in childbirth bearing what would have been the couple’s fifth child. The baby, a boy, also does not survive. As his new Chancellor Frederick Henry picks the young savant Julius of Brunswick-Luneburg, the Duke of Lower Saxony, who had proven his loyalty in helping to quash the revolt of his brothers and his immense intelligence in years since.
During his period of mourning, the Elector is forced to intervene militarily in support of his ally the Landgrave Philip of Hesse. Philip’s lands in Franconia, formerly the Bishopric of Wurzburg, is being invaded and looted by Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. In a bizarre turn of events, because Albert Alcibiades had fought on the side of France in that kingdom’s continuing war against the Emperor Charles V, Charles V had imposed the imperial ban on Albert Alcibiades. So Charles V now appoints Frederick Henry to execute the ban against Albert Alcibiades, knowing it is the only way he can put the powerful Saxon military into the field against his enemies.
At Sievershausen, the Saxon army led by Frederick Henry combined with the Hessians under Philip annihilate the forces of Albert Alcibiades. Frederick Henry and Philip pursue Albert Alcibiades to Bayreuth, where they capture him as he tries to hide in a stable. Frederick Henry notifies Charles V of his intent to hold the territories of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and the imperial city of Nuremberg, which had fallen under Albert Alcibiades’ power. Albert Alcibiades himself is killed, in what is explained to the public at large is an escape attempt.
1554
The death of England’s Protestant King Edward VI and the ensuing dynastic turmoil devastates Saxony’s foreign policy and bloodies the Wettin family itself, stripping the Electorate of its closest major ally in Europe and seriously imperiling Saxony’s dynastic plans.
On Edward VI’s death, Protestant nobles who claim to be acting on behalf of the King’s will crown his designated heir Henry Brandon King Henry IX. Anticipating a struggle for the English crown, Frederick Henry begins efforts to gather troops and move them into England to support his brother-in-law’s claim. However, before they arrive the people of London rise up on behalf of Henry VIII’s eldest surviving daughter, Mary. Henry IX flees Westminster and attempts to muster soldiers and retake the city, but the army, overwhelmingly loyal to Mary, attacks him before he can organize a sufficient force and defeats him in the Battle of Reading.
Taken in chains to the Tower of London, Henry is quickly tried and beheaded for treason. By the time the Danish ships leased by Frederick Henry at great expense to convey his forces to England to support Henry IX arrive in London, the country is solidly under Mary’s control and preparations for her coronation are under way. Henry IX’s wife Catherine, the Elector’s sister, had fled separately to France in a fishing boat with a few trusted guards, her four children and a nurse. Found by the French on the coast of Normandy, she and the children are conveyed to the Saxon fleet returning to their origin-point of Hamburg when they stop at Antwerp. The Saxon fleet also bears in its return trip some of England’s leading Protestant nobles, including many of those responsible for Henry’s unsuccessful effort to take power, such as various Seymours, Dudleys and Wyats. These include Henry’s sisters Frances and Eleanor and his nieces Jane, Catherine and Mary Grey. The sorry spectacle of their arrival at Wittenberg caused mass public mourning and hysterical expressions of grief, and ministers throughout Saxony inveigh against Mary as a vicious fratricidal and regicidal tyrant.
The Protestant princes of Germany convene at Wittenberg to plan their negotiating position for the general council planned at Augsburg the next year. Frederick Henry argues that the Protestant princes should agitate not just for the religious freedom of Lutherans but for the freedom of Zwinglians, Anabaptists and the followers of Calvin so as to build a single community among all the Reformation churches. This effort is in recognition of the Schwarmer’s efforts on his behalf in the Schmalkaldic War, and reflects Frederick Henry’s role as the leading patron of the fanatic communities among the German princes. Nevertheless, he is voted down by the Lutheran princes, who argue for maintaining the model of a state religion and the spiritual conformity of subjects to the prince.
Frederick Henry continues the war in support of both the Emperor Charles V and Prince Philip of Hesse against Wilhelm Von Grumbach, who is in the pay of France, the last remaining ally of Albert Alcibiades and an adventurer-general who had campaigned against Frederick Henry in the first Schmalkaldic War and thus earned his enmity. Von Grumbach is defeated by the Saxons in the Battle of the Main. Captured by Frederick Henry’s army, he is tried briefly, and beheaded despite his bizarre claims of magical powers and his proclamation as he is about to die that he has put a curse on Frederick Henry.
1555
The year is dominated by the Council at Augsburg, in which the Protestant and Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire attempt to hammer out a compromise to prevent further religious bloodshed. Though Frederick Henry once again proposes a more complete policy of religious tolerance that would embrace the possibility of multiple concurrent churches within one territory and permit the recognition of confessions of Christian faith other than Catholicism and Lutheranism, he is overruled. However, his treatise in support of these ideas, The Community of Christ in His Churches, is printed in pamphlet form and widely circulated.
In the final terms agreed upon at Augsburg, each German prince is permitted to choose between Catholicism and Lutheranism. That choice is obligatory for all those living within his country, but people who find themselves living in the territory of a prince who has chosen a faith inconsistent with their own are free to cross into the lands of their co-religionists. No German prince may wage war against any other for religious reasons. Imperial and free cities, imperial knights, and towns in ecclesiastical areas that had been practicing their own religion are given the freedom to continue practicing their customary form of worship. Finally, all ecclesiastical lands taken by the Lutheran princes as of the time of the Treaty of Regensburg are to be retained by those princes, but there would no further Catholic ecclesiastic lands would go to the Protestant princes for reason of the conversion of the Catholic ecclesiastical prince (archbishop or bishop). This last provision is accepted by the Protestant princes only reluctantly, and only after Frederick Henry gives it his support, largely as a personal gesture of princely generosity toward the Emperor Ferdinand.
The Peace of Augsburg adjourns with much good feeling among all the German princes, with all sides expressing relief that a general war of faith in Germany has been avoided.
Frederick Henry begins contemplating with the exiled English nobles at Wittenberg the future marriage of his nephew, also Frederick Henry. It is quickly decided the bride should also be English, and from the Protestant expatriate community. One choice is Frances Cromwell, on her father’s side grand-daughter of Thomas Cromwell, and on her mother’s side the niece of Henry VIII’s queen Jane Seymour. The other is Frances’ first cousin Mary Seymour, who is both the niece of Jane Seymour and the daughter of Catherine Parr, also a queen of Henry VIII. Ironically, both girls come from noble families dispossessed of their wealth by accusations of treason: Frances, by the dishonor of her grandfather Thomas, and Mary by the execution of her father Thomas. The younger Frederick Henry is 17, Frances 11, and Mary 7.
1556
While hunting with his brother in the forests near Dresden, Frederick Henry is hit in the head and knocked from his mount by a tree branch. He breaks several ribs in the fall, and spends much of the rest of his reign ailing.
Nevertheless, Frederick Henry labors intensively over his last great accomplishment, the Saxon Religious Law, which codifies and amends all his previous proclamations on religion. This is inconsistent with the Peace of Augsburg in that it permits Catholic and other forms of Protestant worship alongside the Lutheran Church, although the Lutheran Church is officially adopted for the purposes of Augsburg as the state religion. Moreover, all remaining non-religious properties of the Catholic Church of all the territories that now comprise Saxony are summarily confiscated by the state. All remaining religious properties of the Catholic Church are entrusted to the Lutheran Church. Catholic Church services may continue, and religious orders may continue to operate in a circumscribed capacity, although they must build or purchase new structures in which to practice and operate. Fanatic sects meeting the requirements of Saxon law are also permitted to practice freely. Frederick Henry even contemplates a limited freedom of worship for the Jews in Wittenberg, but finds opposition to the idea in the Lutheran leadership so intense he is forced to abandon it. Finally, the Lutheran Church is given the legal and institutional responsibility of educating the children of Saxony.
Response to the Saxon Religious Law is more muted in the other German states than anticipated. The other Protestant princes are loath to criticize their acknowledged leader and the military hero of their movement, and the Catholic princes are too glad for his unanticipated concessions to their faith in Saxony to criticize the similar concessions he makes to the non-Lutheran Protestant sects.
Following the Augsburg Settlement, Charles V abdicates his titles and realms, dividing them between his son Philip II of Spain and his brother Ferdinand I, Philip receiving Spain, its colonies in the New World, Burgundy, and the Netherlands, and Francis I receiving the title of Holy Roman Emperor in addition to his lands in Bohemia, Austria and Hungary.
Frederick Henry Brandon, who styles himself King Frederick I of England, is betrothed by the arrangement of the Elector Frederick Henry to Frances Cromwell.
1557
With the Elector’s health now in steep decline, he is forced to curb his activities at the same time he desires to make the most of his legacy. The new Electoral Palace in Wittenberg is completed at around the same time as John Frederick’s lavish additions to Schloss Moritzburg. As a final gift to his brother, the Elector Frederick Henry founds the University of Duke John Frederick in Dresden, a new and richly endowed institution. Other major projects race forward, as gymnasia are founded in Leipzig and Chemnitz. The Elector Frederick Henry also announces plans to build a large new cathedral in Wittenberg, the Electors’ Church. Space inside it is reserved for his tomb.
Frederick Henry’s only significant acts of overseas diplomacy in the year are his warning to Mary of England that any violent acts towards his son Alexander’s betrothed, the princess Elizabeth, would result in war between Saxony and England, and to her cousin Ferdinand the Holy Roman Emperor to inform him that Elizabeth’s death would likely reignite religious war on the continent. The nature of the diplomatic contacts is terse and without ordinary courtesy—reflecting the lingering rage at the death of Henry IX, and Frederick Henry makes plain that one of the courses open to him is to recognize Henry IX’s son Frederick Henry, his namesake, as the rightful king of England.
1558
Frederick Henry spends much of his remaining fortune (much of which originated from the imperial treasure looted from Prague) founding the University of Coburg, housed in the Coburg Veste overlooking the city. Gymnasia are also founded in the cities of Bayreuth, Meissen and Freiburg.
As news spreads throughout Europe of Mary of England’s increasing infirmity, the English succession becomes uncertain. Fears that Mary might kill her Protestant sister and heir, Elizabeth, or that after Mary’s death the Catholics might act to prevent Elizabeth’s becoming queen, also spread. Frederick Henry begins agitating among the German princes to organize a sea-borne force capable of preventing the overthrow of Elizabeth, who is betrothed to his son Alexander, or in the alternate situation in which Elizabeth is already dead, to install on the throne of England his nephew Frederick Henry. The idea finds almost no support at all among the German Protestants, who see no benefit to themselves in the project, and are glad to finally have a peace with Catholic Europe with their rights recognized.
Chancellor Julius of Brunswick-Luneburg, Duke of Lower Saxony appoints a commission to begin recommending improvements to the realm’s roads, and areas of rivers the dredging of which would facilitate commerce, as part of his plan to spur the mining industry and other trades. The first step in his plan is dredging the Oker River between Wolfenbuttel and the Harz mountains to make it navigable for shipments of lead and copper downstream.
1559
Mary I of England dies and Elizabeth becomes Queen, which leads to an unanticipated and abrupt foreign policy reversal for Frederick Henry when she cancels the engagement with Alexander, virtually without explanation. This also creates the sudden necessity of finding a suitable dynastic match for Alexander, as Frederick Henry begins scouring the ranks of Protestant noblewomen in Europe for a suitable future Electress.
Even though the spurning of Alexander brings the Brandon faction at court no closer to the actual throne of England, it strengthens their hand with respect to Frederick Henry and his son because they now represent the sole viable option for securing Saxon influence there. Nonetheless, most of the Protestant nobles who had fled England following the suppression of Henry IX’s rule return to lend their support to Elizabeth. Thomas Wyat the Younger leads the faction that remains at Wittenberg, intent on serving the Elector Frederick Henry, who he regards as the great defender of Protestantism in Europe.
Many of Frederick Henry’s dearest construction projects are completed over the course of the year, including the vast park at the Electoral Palace at Wittenberg, and the Universities at Coburg and Dresden.
Chancellor Julius of Brunswick-Luneburg, Duke of Lower Saxony continues to run the day-to-day business of the country. At his suggestion, Frederick Henry as one of his final acts declares the formation of a Saxon national militia—each household would have to keep a weapon to defend itself, and the men of suitable age therein participate in military training and made available to defend the state as needed.
1560
In poor health, Frederick Henry’s only accomplishment for the year is the marriage of his daughter Anna as the second wife of William I the Silent, Duke of Orange. William, while a Lutheran, is nonetheless a trusted lieutenant of the Habsburgs in the Netherlands.
Frederick Henry dies after an extended illness at the age of only fifty. The Saxon nation is despondent with mourning. The Lutheran Church gives him the posthumous title of Defender.
Elector Alexander the Merciful,1560-1610
Alexander is raised to the dignity of an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire and invested with all the titles and lands of his father in a ceremony at Wittenberg attended by almost all the German princes. He retains Julius of Brunswick as Chancellor.
The most pressing business for the new Elector is the matter of a suitable marriage. Finally he settles on a match strongly championed by his aunt Sybille of Cleves to Marie Eleonore, the daughter of Duke William IV of Julich-Cleves-Berg. However, considering Marie Eleonore’s youth this engagement would delay Alexander’s marriage several years and the birth of an heir even longer, during which time his uncle John Frederick would be first in line to inherit the Electoral dignity. However, this same match would eventually place any heirs Alexander and Marie Eleonore would produce in line for the succession in Julich-Cleves-Berg.
While Alexander is still establishing himself as Elector, Saxony is rocked by the death of Philip Melanchthon, virtually universally recognized as the head of the Lutheran Church, and with whom the Saxon Electors have had a long, and in recent years stable, relationship. Melanchthon’s death opens to the door to a debate about the relationship of the Saxon state to the organization of the Lutheran Church, with Alexander seeing the matter as closely analogous to the Henrician Church of England, and the Lutheran theologians of Wittenberg understanding themselves as necessarily being answerable only to God. The matter goes unresolved.
Finally, once again at the suggestion of the Chancellor Julius, the Elector issues a tax reform that lightens the tax burden on farmers, which is also intended to win him good will and stabilize his reign.
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Elector Frederick Henry the Temperate, An Appreciation
By any standard, the Elector Frederick Henry is a crucial figure in German history, and is frequently cited as the father of the modern German state for his notion--rejected at the time--of transforming the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes into a federal union that would replace the Holy Roman Empire. In his own time, his accomplishments were no less formidable: he tripled by territory and population the lands he inherited from his father John the Constant, won religious autonomy for the German princes by defeating the Emperor Charles V, and embarked on a forward-thinking program of building colleges, schools and highways for the bustling Saxon state.
It's not surprising therefore that the Elector Frederick Henry's legacy has been much fought over by the right and left over the ensuing 448 years since his death. With some justification, liberals have found Frederick Henry's pragmatically grounded policies of religious pluralism to be a milestone in the history of the freedom of conscience.
Likewise, Frederick Henry's instinctive distrust of offensive warfare, summarized in his terse advice to his son Alexander that "Invasions are never worth their gunpowder", has become orthodoxy for German statesmen in the centuries since his death.
At the same time, like Frederick I Barbarossa, Frederick's military successes has provided substantial inspiration to German right-wing parties as a symbol of the German people's indomitability.
Unfortunately, sometimes his historical role has been simplified or misunderstood, so much so that occasionally anti-Catholic or anti-semitic extremists--who thankfully, have not been the problem in the Germany of the past few hundred years that they have been elsewhere in Europe--have tried to make use of the legend of a man who risked his realm for his right to worship, and who argued strenuously for the right of all faiths to worship openly and unmolested in an era when precious few did.
So how then, to summarize the cultural meaning of Frederick Henry?
One lesson is gleaned from the official portrayals. Near the center of modern Wittenberg's teaming seven million people sits, in its spacious Duke Julius Park, the lovely baroque Palace of the German Staatengeneral. In the main annex leading to the floor of the German Parlament, four giant works by the famous nineteenth-century historical painter Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze hang, as if to remind the scurrying politicians of their responsibilities. Each is a scene from the life of Frederick Henry.
The first painting represents a manufactured scene that would be more accurate if it depicted Frederick Henry's father John or even his uncle Frederick in his pose. In the painting the Elector physically interposes himself between Charles V and the soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire, swords drawn, on one side and the unarmed (and fearfully cringing) Luther and Melanchthon on the other. Ambiguously, here he can be seen as defending religious freedom from coercive force or the true faith from the false one, depending on how one perceives the controversy.
The second, and perhaps most gorgeous image depicts a much-celebrated scene from the Battle of Konigstein where the armored Frederick Henry leads a cavalry charge against the forces of Charles V, while the porters bearing the Emperor's litter flee, overturning it with him inside.* The painting illustrates the value of leading from the front, the bearing of risk and sacrifice equitably: in the painting, Frederick has a rallying army at his back, whereas the Emperor's comfort and seclusion from the people he leads is transformed into humiliation before our eyes.
The conclusion of that very war is the subject of the third painting. It shows the Retrocession of Prague, at the famed moment when Frederick Henry courteously gives Charles V a deep bow as he readmits him to Prague Castle. Better than all the rest, this captures the great magnanimity of the prince so obsessed with humbleness he chose as his motto the words of the Book of Matthew, "so the last shall be first, and the first last." At a moment of great victory, Frederick Henry chose generosity and self-effacement, thereby facilitating the end of the Schmalkaldic War and the long-term well-being of his country.
The last painting depicts Frederick Henry's famous Ride from Chambord. The French king had invited the German princes to form an alliance against Frederick Henry's arch-enemy Charles, only to require as his price German cities on the Rhine. Frederick Henry was always willing to make common cause with foreign rulers against his Emperor, but could not bring himself to involve himself in an act that would undermine Germany itself, and so left even though his princely allies would not. In the painting the Elector Frederick Henry looks back over his shoulder contemptuously at the traitors he leaves behind. The message, succinctly, is that Germany must not be compromised, no matter the cost.
However, of all the paintings it is the third that best approximates the meaning of the German word friedrichheinrichlich, a term that had come into use even before the Elector's death and is still sometimes used as a term of art among German politicians. Briefly, it describes a way of acting, a type of meritorious modesty, a satisfaction at allowing others to notice one's talents without announcing them, a putting of others before self as a quiet demonstration of thoughtfulness and character.
If finally the word friedrichheinrichlich best expresses the contributions of the Elector to German culture, he has served Germany well. For despite the epic wars Germany has waged and the worldwide network of colonies it has won and lost, few nations have done so consistently well in the exigencies of the modern world as Germany. And fully one-third of Germans today asked to describe the place of their nation in the world with one word say friedrichheinrichlich.
As we explore the Wettin family and its influences on today's world in the coming months, we will present several similar retrospectives on important figures in Germany's ruling house. The next will be of Frederick Henry's son, the far more controversial Elector Alexander. We hope as part of this series to present interviews at a relevant point both with the current German Chancellor Ngozi Friedman, as well as His Imperial Majesty Frederick XI.
*The scene is of course made famous in the English-language Richard Burton-James Mason film account of the Schmalkaldic War, 500 Days in Saxony.
By any standard, the Elector Frederick Henry is a crucial figure in German history, and is frequently cited as the father of the modern German state for his notion--rejected at the time--of transforming the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes into a federal union that would replace the Holy Roman Empire. In his own time, his accomplishments were no less formidable: he tripled by territory and population the lands he inherited from his father John the Constant, won religious autonomy for the German princes by defeating the Emperor Charles V, and embarked on a forward-thinking program of building colleges, schools and highways for the bustling Saxon state.
It's not surprising therefore that the Elector Frederick Henry's legacy has been much fought over by the right and left over the ensuing 448 years since his death. With some justification, liberals have found Frederick Henry's pragmatically grounded policies of religious pluralism to be a milestone in the history of the freedom of conscience.
Likewise, Frederick Henry's instinctive distrust of offensive warfare, summarized in his terse advice to his son Alexander that "Invasions are never worth their gunpowder", has become orthodoxy for German statesmen in the centuries since his death.
At the same time, like Frederick I Barbarossa, Frederick's military successes has provided substantial inspiration to German right-wing parties as a symbol of the German people's indomitability.
Unfortunately, sometimes his historical role has been simplified or misunderstood, so much so that occasionally anti-Catholic or anti-semitic extremists--who thankfully, have not been the problem in the Germany of the past few hundred years that they have been elsewhere in Europe--have tried to make use of the legend of a man who risked his realm for his right to worship, and who argued strenuously for the right of all faiths to worship openly and unmolested in an era when precious few did.
So how then, to summarize the cultural meaning of Frederick Henry?
One lesson is gleaned from the official portrayals. Near the center of modern Wittenberg's teaming seven million people sits, in its spacious Duke Julius Park, the lovely baroque Palace of the German Staatengeneral. In the main annex leading to the floor of the German Parlament, four giant works by the famous nineteenth-century historical painter Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze hang, as if to remind the scurrying politicians of their responsibilities. Each is a scene from the life of Frederick Henry.
The first painting represents a manufactured scene that would be more accurate if it depicted Frederick Henry's father John or even his uncle Frederick in his pose. In the painting the Elector physically interposes himself between Charles V and the soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire, swords drawn, on one side and the unarmed (and fearfully cringing) Luther and Melanchthon on the other. Ambiguously, here he can be seen as defending religious freedom from coercive force or the true faith from the false one, depending on how one perceives the controversy.
The second, and perhaps most gorgeous image depicts a much-celebrated scene from the Battle of Konigstein where the armored Frederick Henry leads a cavalry charge against the forces of Charles V, while the porters bearing the Emperor's litter flee, overturning it with him inside.* The painting illustrates the value of leading from the front, the bearing of risk and sacrifice equitably: in the painting, Frederick has a rallying army at his back, whereas the Emperor's comfort and seclusion from the people he leads is transformed into humiliation before our eyes.
The conclusion of that very war is the subject of the third painting. It shows the Retrocession of Prague, at the famed moment when Frederick Henry courteously gives Charles V a deep bow as he readmits him to Prague Castle. Better than all the rest, this captures the great magnanimity of the prince so obsessed with humbleness he chose as his motto the words of the Book of Matthew, "so the last shall be first, and the first last." At a moment of great victory, Frederick Henry chose generosity and self-effacement, thereby facilitating the end of the Schmalkaldic War and the long-term well-being of his country.
The last painting depicts Frederick Henry's famous Ride from Chambord. The French king had invited the German princes to form an alliance against Frederick Henry's arch-enemy Charles, only to require as his price German cities on the Rhine. Frederick Henry was always willing to make common cause with foreign rulers against his Emperor, but could not bring himself to involve himself in an act that would undermine Germany itself, and so left even though his princely allies would not. In the painting the Elector Frederick Henry looks back over his shoulder contemptuously at the traitors he leaves behind. The message, succinctly, is that Germany must not be compromised, no matter the cost.
However, of all the paintings it is the third that best approximates the meaning of the German word friedrichheinrichlich, a term that had come into use even before the Elector's death and is still sometimes used as a term of art among German politicians. Briefly, it describes a way of acting, a type of meritorious modesty, a satisfaction at allowing others to notice one's talents without announcing them, a putting of others before self as a quiet demonstration of thoughtfulness and character.
If finally the word friedrichheinrichlich best expresses the contributions of the Elector to German culture, he has served Germany well. For despite the epic wars Germany has waged and the worldwide network of colonies it has won and lost, few nations have done so consistently well in the exigencies of the modern world as Germany. And fully one-third of Germans today asked to describe the place of their nation in the world with one word say friedrichheinrichlich.
As we explore the Wettin family and its influences on today's world in the coming months, we will present several similar retrospectives on important figures in Germany's ruling house. The next will be of Frederick Henry's son, the far more controversial Elector Alexander. We hope as part of this series to present interviews at a relevant point both with the current German Chancellor Ngozi Friedman, as well as His Imperial Majesty Frederick XI.
*The scene is of course made famous in the English-language Richard Burton-James Mason film account of the Schmalkaldic War, 500 Days in Saxony.
Let's see what this post tells us of the future...
Well, to begin with, we now know for certain that a united Germany (of sorts, at least) with a parliament located in Wittenberg, and that the Wettins are the ruling house of that Germany.
We also know that the Parliament is the Staatengeneral, which might suggest Dutch influence... altough that might not mean Low Countries membership in this Germany, necessarily (not that it would be impossible, either).
I also note that we know that Germany will have a Chancellor named Ngozi Friedman, which would seem to suggest some future Igbo connection for Germany...
Well, to begin with, we now know for certain that a united Germany (of sorts, at least) with a parliament located in Wittenberg, and that the Wettins are the ruling house of that Germany.
We also know that the Parliament is the Staatengeneral, which might suggest Dutch influence... altough that might not mean Low Countries membership in this Germany, necessarily (not that it would be impossible, either).
I also note that we know that Germany will have a Chancellor named Ngozi Friedman, which would seem to suggest some future Igbo connection for Germany...
There's also mention of the size of the capital, at 7 million, definitely not a Bohn. That Germany has won and lost a lot of colonies, possibly suggesting despite its continental location it has settlered a number of places outside Europe. Also, possibly most intriguing Frederick Henry's last words to his son about the advantages of the defence in warfare. This would fit in with the considerable effort put in during his life on fortifications. Also mentions that this became the orthodox viewpoint for German chancellors. Sound like it means that this Germany was not one for blitzkrik warfare but has probably proved a very tough opponent for any attacker.
Looks like this will be a very interesting timeline. .
Steve
Let me just take this time to say thank you to everyone who has been reading this timeline. Specifically, I would like to thank those who have commented, whether just to offer their support or who have given me constructive advice or criticism (and I'm especially appreciative of the fact that all the criticism I've received thus far has been very constructive). So, thanks to
Matthais Corvinus, Merry Prankster, Ofaloaf, Fearless Leader, rcmcciii, Jotun, Susano, NCW, Lord Grattan, stevep, john, LordInsane, minifidel and helga (indeed--I think as last night's post suggests, Zwickau has in the long run made out quite all right!)
Lastly, recognizing the fact that this is a detail-rich, expansive timeline that is probably going to be moving at a glacial pace for the foreseeable future, I've decided to spice things up a bit by including occasional magazine articles (written in my best imitation of "The Economist"'s house-style) that talk about the contemporary world these events have produced. I don't know--if I get particularly confident, I might write a scandal sheet about what that timeline's royals happen to be doing. Lord Insane and minifidel are generally on their money with their guesswork, though there's one other clue I can't tell whether it was too obvious to be described, or just not really noticed.
The key of course is not to get too far ahead of myself. To a huge extent I'm figuring this out as I go along. For instance the Netherlands' fate really just popped into my head tonight (and I do mean fate).
Anyway, my next post will take us into the reign of the Elector Alexander I. Hopefully, all my Saxon rulers will have their own personalities, psychologies, ambitions and hang-ups. The difference between Frederick Henry I and Alexander I should be easy to spot.
Matthais Corvinus, Merry Prankster, Ofaloaf, Fearless Leader, rcmcciii, Jotun, Susano, NCW, Lord Grattan, stevep, john, LordInsane, minifidel and helga (indeed--I think as last night's post suggests, Zwickau has in the long run made out quite all right!)
Lastly, recognizing the fact that this is a detail-rich, expansive timeline that is probably going to be moving at a glacial pace for the foreseeable future, I've decided to spice things up a bit by including occasional magazine articles (written in my best imitation of "The Economist"'s house-style) that talk about the contemporary world these events have produced. I don't know--if I get particularly confident, I might write a scandal sheet about what that timeline's royals happen to be doing. Lord Insane and minifidel are generally on their money with their guesswork, though there's one other clue I can't tell whether it was too obvious to be described, or just not really noticed.
The key of course is not to get too far ahead of myself. To a huge extent I'm figuring this out as I go along. For instance the Netherlands' fate really just popped into my head tonight (and I do mean fate).
Anyway, my next post will take us into the reign of the Elector Alexander I. Hopefully, all my Saxon rulers will have their own personalities, psychologies, ambitions and hang-ups. The difference between Frederick Henry I and Alexander I should be easy to spot.