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Afterword


The fictionalization of historical characters is always a challenge. The basis available for a depiction may vary widely, even for the same time period, which is the case here.


There is no comprehensive biography of Frederik, duke of Holstein, who in our timeline became king of Denmark as Frederik III in 1648—not even in Danish. He was a man who spoke little, wrote little, and was not given to explaining himself. As a basis for his writing style in regard to his notes to his private secretary and correspondence with his father as they appear in this book, since he was close to his father, King Christian IV, I have used Carl Frederik Bricka and Julius Albert Fridericia, eds., Kong Christian den Fjerdes Egenhaendige Breve 1632-1635 (Copenhagen: Rudolph Klein, 1878-1880) and 1636-1640 (Copenhagen: Rudolph Klein, 1882).

For his situation in Denmark, the best introduction in English is Paul Douglas Lockhart, Denmark 1513-1660: The Rise and Decline of a Renaissance Monarchy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). For more detail to the immediate period, by the same author, Paul Douglas Lockhart, Denmark in the Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648: King Christian and the Decline of the Oldenburg State (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, and London: Associated University Presses, 1996).

For some background in regard to his position as a Lutheran prince-bishop and prince-archbishop in Bremen and Verden, the following books are of some use: Robert Kolb, ed., Lutheran Ecclesiastical Culture 1550-1675. Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition, Volume 11 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008) and Arnd Reitemeier, Reformation in Norddeutschland: Gottvertrauen zwischen Fürstenherrschaft und Teufelsfurcht (Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2017).

For far northwestern Germany generally, see Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze, eds., assisted by Michael Ehrhardt and Norbert Fischer, Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser. Band III: Neuzeit (Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtumer Bremen und Verden, e. V., 2008). In the general category of “probably more than you ever wanted to know” there are the 642 pages of a superb foray into local history, Armin Schöne, Die Erzbischöfe von Bremen und ihr Haus und Amt Langwedel: Geistliche und weltliche Herrschaft im Alten Reich, Band 1 (Bremen: Edition Falkenberg, 2016).

For the Calvinism of the city of Bremen, the best currently available is Leo van Santen, Bremen als Brennpunkt reformierte Irenik: Eine sozialgeschichtliche Darstellung anhand der Biografie des Theologen Ludwig Crocius (1586-1655). Brill’s Series in Church History, Volume 69 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2016). It was a pity that I could not make any significant room for Crocius in this book without skewing the plot in a theological rather than political direction.

For the situation he faced in Münster, Wilhelm Kohl, ed., Westfälische Geschichte, Band 1: Von den Anfängen bis zum Ende des Alten Reiches (Düsseldorf: Schwann, 1983) has less than a hundred pages covering the century from 1517-1618 and Manfred Wolf’s essay on the seventeenth century in it devotes only 20 pages to the Thirty Years War. To supplement this, see Bastian Gillner, Freie Herren - Freie Religion: Der Adel des Oberstifts Münster zwischen konfessionellem Konflikt und staatlicher Verdichtung 1500 bis 1700. Westfalen in der Vormoderne: Studien zur mittelalterlichen und frühneuzeitlichen Landesgeschichte Band 8 (Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2011). For the activities of the Jesuits in Niedersachsen under the Edict of Restitution, it unfortunately provides almost no information.

For the challenges likely to confront the fictional USE’s new policy of religious toleration, there is background in Thomas Max Safley, ed., A Companion to Multiconfessionalism in the Early Modern World. Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition, Volume 28 (Leiden: Brill, 2011). Specifically for the confused situation faced by the fictional Frederik in his role as governor, see David M. Luebke, Hometown Religion: Regimes of Coexistence in Early Modern Westphalia (Charlottesville, University of Virginia Press, 2016).

There is some background on Lutheran Damenstifte (canoness foundations), a concept which most American Lutherans of the twenty-first century find utterly alien, in Hans Otte, ed., Evangelisches Klosterleben: Studien zur Geschichte der evangelischen Kloster und Stifte in Niedersachsen. Studien zur Kirchengeschichte Niedersachsens Band 46 (V&R Unipress, 2013).

In regard to the underlying circumstances of Frederik’s alternate history military campaign in Holstein, see Georg Hanssen, Die Aufhebung der Leibeigenschaft und die Umgestaltung der gutsherrlichen-bäuerlichen Verhältnisse überhaupt in den Herzogthümern Schleswig und Holstein (St. Petersburg: Commissionäre der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1861). There is also Otto Ulbricht, “‘Angemaßte Leibeigenschaft.’ Supplikationen von schleswigschen Untertanen gegen ihre Gutsherren zu Beginn des 17. Jahrhunderts” (Demokratische Geschichte: Jahrbuch fur Schleswig-Holstein 6: 1991, pp. 11ff., online at www.beirat-fuer-geschichte.de › pdf). Additionally, see “Leibeigenschaft in Schleswig-Holstein am Beispiel des Gutes Depenau/Kirchspiel Bornhöved” (online at www.riecken-online.de; also at http://genwiki.genealogy.net/Benutzer:Riecken/Gut_Depenau).

Hedwig, Frederik’s aunt, has an extensive section in Ute Essegern, Fürstinnen am kursächischen Hof: Lebenskonzepte und Lebensläufe zwischen Familie, Hof und Politik in der ersten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts: Hedwig von Dänemark, Sibylla Elisabeth von Wurttemberg und Magdalena Sibylla von Preußen. Schriften zur sächsischen Geschichte und Volkskunde Band 19 (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag GMBH, 2007). In English, but far briefer, there is Mara R. Wade, “Widowhood as a Space for Patronage: Hedevig, Princess of Denmark and Electress of Saxony (1581-1641),” in Renaissance Women as Patrons of Art and Culture (Renaessanceforum 4, 2008).

For readers who would like additional bibliography on any topic in this novel, please go to 1632 Tech on Baen’s Bar (http://bar.baen.com/) and I will be delighted to provide.


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Framed