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 …
Tag: ferdinand II
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 …
Real Historical Figures Turned into Fantasy Characters Read more »
Major Player: Christian IV of Denmark
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts, but now that I’m in the process of editing Valley of the Shadow, it’s time to start introducing some of the new characters and the historical figures they’re based …
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 …
Character Profile: Teodora
We’ve given the good guys their due; now it’s time for the more villainous. Since Ferdinand II was the last historical figure discussed, it stands to reason that I’ve based a character on him. Of course, its a given that …
Major Player: Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Since the majority of my main characters are based on historical figures, I thought I’d profile some of them, and then let you figure out who’s who. No, actually I’ll totally hit you over the head with the who’s who. …
Bohemia Part 3: The Winter King
Some of you might have noticed that my book is tentatively titled The Winter King. That’s just a working title for now until I find something better. After all the changes I’ve made, there will be neither winter nor a king …
Bohemia Part 2: Battles in the Land of Beer
So, I jumped the gun a bit in my last post. Before the Bohemians could elect a new king, a bunch of other stuff happened. When I first started to write my book, I wanted to cover all of this. …