Major Player: Martin Luther
Of all the historical characters referenced in my series, Martin Luther is the only one who doesn’t fit in the time period. But I have an excuse, aside from it being fantasy so I can do what I want. While …
Category: history
Major Player: Karl I Ludwig, Elector Palatine
Calling Karl Ludwig a major player is a bit of a stretch, since he played a pretty minor role in the events of the Thirty Years War. Still, he’s a historical figure upon which I base a major character, so …
Major Player: Emperor Ferdinand III
While the Emperor Ferdinand II played a big part in kicking off the Thirty Years War, he died in 1637, eleven years before its end. By then, his son and heir, Ferdinand III had long been active in both fighting …
Major Player: Albrecht von Wallenstein
Wallenstein is one of the more interesting historical figures to emerge from the Thirty Years War and possibly the most notorious.
Major Player: Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden
For someone who was involved in the Thirty Years War a mere two years, Gustav Adolf left an oversized impression. But that was par for for course for a man who spent his life virtually racing from one unqualified success …
Real Historical Figures Turned into Fantasy Characters
One of the great joys of writing the Desolate Empire series has been fictionalizing real people. There are some huge benefits to this approach. I can turn about half of them into women and/or I can slander them egregiously. It’s …
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Major Player: Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duke of Richelieu and of Fronsac, sometimes called the Red Cardinal, was one of the most important political figures in French history. He’s had some pop culture fame by virtue of being portrayed as the arch-villain …
Book Review: Memoirs of a Cavalier by Daniel Defoe
I have to confess that I was temporarily bamboozled by this book. It’s written so realistically, and Defoe (of Robinson Crusoe fame) claimed he stumbled upon this memoir and published it after cleaning it up a bit. It follows the adventures …
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Major Player: King Louis XIII of France
Anyone who’s read Dumas’ The Three Musketeers (read it, it’s great!) or seen one of the many film adaptations will have a passing familiarity with this French king. Often portrayed as a benign nincompoop, the real guy was in fact considerably …
The Thirty Years War- a Condensed Version
This is another sort-of reblog of a post from days long past. The original had some inaccuracies I now know enough to correct. Thankfully, hardly anyone saw it- one of the advantages of blogging in obscurity. As some- or maybe …