On October 7, 1619, the couple, accompanied by 568 retinues and with 153 convoys, set off from Heidelberg in the direction of Prague. Elizabeth, seven months pregnant, sat in the carriage, Friedrich rode next to her on horseback. The children were left in the Palatinate with their mother-in-law for now.
Johann von Zweibrücken was left to look after the Palatinate, who was not the first to do this, because he had previously been the guardian of the minor Friedrich.
On November 4, 1619, in Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral, Frederick was crowned King of Bohemia, Elizabeth was crowned three days later.
Elizabeth - Queen of Bohemia:
In honor of the coronation, coins were minted with the image of the royal couple. Several of these coins were later found in the numismatic collection of their granddaughter, the Duchess of Orleans.
The royal couple settled in Prague Castle, the centuries-old residence of the kings of Bohemia.
Vladislav Hall of Prague Castle:
But as much as the people rejoiced at the arrival of Frederick and his wife, they quickly became disillusioned with them. The royal couple did not speak a word of Czech. The French lifestyle and traditions brought from the Heidelberg court were alien to the locals. French fashion and especially the queen's too bold neckline did not find understanding among the courtiers. Everyone was shocked that the king was swimming naked in the Vltava in front of the queen and the ladies of the court. It got even worse - Frederick’s court preacher tried to forcefully impose Calvinism (a type of Protestantism) on the Czechs. The new king ordered the removal of “idols” from St. Vitus Cathedral and Charles Bridge (they say idolatry is the lot of Catholics). Already a month after the coronation, there was a clear cooling in the king’s relations with the courtiers. And even the birth of Prince Rupert did not help strengthen the authority of the royal couple.
Frederick King of Bohemia:
In January 1620, the king complained to his advisers that his orders were not being carried out. To strengthen his authority, the king went on a fact-finding tour of his kingdom - to the provinces of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia. He visited churches (also Catholic), monasteries and tried to show his religious tolerance. He discussed the cult of relics in Catholicism with the Archbishop of Wroclaw Cathedral in Silesia. In the Moravian capital Brno, he visited the rebaptism community. It was this trip that rubbed the king's nose in the face showed the king the cruel reality of how unpopular he was. High officials, even entire cities, refused to take the oath to him. Sometimes the travel route in Silesia had to be changed due to the danger of running into mounted detachments of the Polish gentry.
Rumors began to circulate among the people that King Frederick would not hold his throne for long, that he was “a king for one winter,” and in the spring he would “swim away” with the melt waters... And although Frederick was king for longer than one winter (about a year in total), but nevertheless, the unflattering nickname “ winter king».
As expected, the Habsburgs did not accept the loss of Bohemia. Emperor Ferdinand of Habsburg, from whom the crown of Bohemia was taken away, decided to take revenge and instructed the Bavarian Elector Maximilian, leader of the Catholic League, to raise an army and oppose the Czech Protestants.
Prague Castle towering over the city:
On November 8, 1620, at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague, the future fate of the “winter” king and queen was decided. The Czech troops were commanded by Prince Christian of Anhalt (the one who persuaded Frederick to accept the Bohemian crown), and the troops of the Catholic League were commanded by Elector Maximilian. The Czechs were defeated in the battle; the promised military reinforcements from the Protestant Union were refused at the last moment.
On the day of this fateful battle, Frederick was in Prague Castle. He suddenly noticed that his soldiers, fleeing from the battlefield and seeking refuge in the castle, were arriving at the castle. Panic took over the entire yard... They began to hastily pack caskets, boxes, baskets and load them onto carts and carriages. Elizabeth constantly asked if her beloved monkey Jacko had been taken, while at the same time, in the chaos, little Prince Rupert was almost forgotten in the nursery.
Thus, in November 1620 - exactly a year after the solemn arrival in Prague - the king and queen moved in the opposite direction, and in the most shameful manner...
So the “Bohemian scam” failed. King Frederick of Bohemia was deposed. Those who hoped that this would all end were sorely mistaken. The Thirty Years' War - a war between Catholics and Protestants throughout Europe - was just heating up. This will be the most terrible, bloody, devastating war in Europe until the 20th century.
And again a portrait in his favorite pearl necklace:
The flight from Prague was like a scene from an adventure novel. Elizabeth (pregnant again) had to ride the 40 mile journey through the winter blizzard, sitting in a side saddle behind her English servant. Despite these trials, she maintained her composure and remained calm and balanced all the way.
In Breslau, Friedrich and Elisabeth's paths diverged. He headed south to Moravia in a (vain) search for help, she to Brandenburg, where her mother-in-law Louise Juliana of Orange had recently moved. She was “asked” from the Palatinate, and she moved to live with her daughter and son-in-law, taking her older grandchildren. The old mother never saw her son Friedrich again. She survived him, died at the age of 68 and was buried in the Kaliningrad Königsberg Cathedral.
By order of the Elector of Brandenburg, the Bohemian queen was placed in a semi-equipped castle in Küstrin.
There, on January 16, 1621, Elizabeth gave birth to her fifth child, Prince Moritz.
Everything turned out as Frederick's mother predicted - he lost EVERYTHING. He no longer had a home. Bohemia was lost, the Electoral Palatinate and the title of Elector were also lost. He himself was betrayed into “imperial disgrace” and expelled from the empire.
The news from Prague plunged the British into horror and indignation. Frederick was sympathized with, Elizabeth was pitied, and James I was condemned for not extending a helping hand to his daughter.
At first, it was generally unknown in London where Elizabeth was, only at the end of November a messenger from Kustrin arrived in London with a letter from her. One of the courtiers described the king’s reaction to his daughter’s letter as follows: “ He almost burst from anger" Rumors that his daughter allegedly wanted to seek asylum in England filled James I with fear. He was even more infuriated by the news that Frederick intended to demand the withdrawal of imperial troops from the Palatinate, recognition of him as king of Bohemia and payment of compensation for the damage caused.
And yet, there were enough young Englishmen who were ready to go to war for the honor of Queen Elizabeth - just as the knights of the Middle Ages went on military campaigns with the name of the lady of their heart on their lips. In England at that time there was a real cult of Princess Elizabeth. Even years later (she was already living in exile), fans came to her and asked for some small souvenir as a keepsake. The “Winter Queen” has become a real symbol of the fight for the Protestant faith. Some compared her to the beautiful Helen, because of whom the Trojan War began.
Elisabeth quickly recovered from the birth and headed to Westphalia, where she met with Frederick. Together they arrived in The Hague at the invitation of Moritz of Orange, Stadtholder of the Netherlands. Along their route, the entire population of the cities took to the streets to honor them, as if they had arrived in the triumph of victors, and not as pitiful refugees. They were already considered “martyrs” for the Protestant cause.
The Prince of Orange was very generous and kind and placed at their disposal two large houses in The Hague in the neighborhood of his own palace.
Binnenhof in the center of The Hague, which houses the Estates General (Parliament of the Netherlands):
Inventory documents from that time show that the best furniture was ordered for the couple: for example, Elizabeth slept in a bed covered in gold brocade under a luxurious canopy.
Much suggests that Elizabeth was not particularly ambitious, and in general her life was not bad. At the court of the Prince of Orange, she was treated like the first lady (because the prince did not have a wife, only a mistress). To distract the “winter” king and queen from gloomy thoughts, the Prince of Orange organized walks, performances, and hunting trips in their honor...
When Moritz of Orange died in 1625, he was succeeded as Stadtholder of the Netherlands by his younger brother, Frederick Henry of Orange, who had recently married Amalia Solms-Braunfelskaya, former lady-in-waiting of Elizabeth. Surprisingly, the former Queen of Bohemia reacted completely calmly to the increasingly slipping commanding notes in the voice of her former court lady, and now the newly-crowned Princess of Orange.
Fidrich tried to somehow get out of the situation. I went to the Netherlands and asked for military reinforcements. But all was in vain... The Habsburgs took the Bohemian crown back, and the Elector Palatinate and the Elector's dignity were given to Maximilian of Bavaria as a reward for victory and loyalty to the emperor.
Events surrounding the “winter” of the king and queen caused the first “media war” in history. Thanks to printing, invented 150 years earlier, it became possible to quickly disseminate news and opinions in the form of leaflets.
"Leave of the Palatine". A caricature of the “winter king” who escaped from Prague with his family. On Frederick's leg, the dropped stocking is a nod to his Order of the Garter.
Most of all, Elizabeth was worried about her husband. Frederick's condition filled her with fear. He could not come to terms with his political fiasco, with the loss of lands, title... He created a “government of Bohemia in exile” in The Hague, and the “winter” couple was now mostly financially supported by the United Republics of the Netherlands, which demanded that Frederick continue the war. The father-in-law in England, who helped his daughter with money, demanded, on the contrary, to make peace with the enemies. Also, his own Palatinate advisers did not stand aside with proposals and advice. The electors put forward their demands. In addition, Frederick constantly emphasized his “royal” rank, which, to put it mildly, found misunderstanding among the Netherlands, who sponsored his very expensive lifestyle. In a word, misunderstandings between the parties were inevitable, and Frederick was not a politician like his grandfather William of Orange to be able to resolve conflicts. Although it must be said that as the grandson of William of Orange and son-in-law of James I, he was highly respected in the Netherlands.
True, there was an option to get back the Palatinate and the Elector's dignity... It was necessary to simply... convert to Catholicism. But here Frederick was harder than granite, no matter how hard the emperor’s envoys tried. He also decisively rejected the offer of a personal “confession” to the emperor, who would (possibly) pardon him.
Doomed to inactivity, Frederick found consolation from the turmoil in his personal life. He and his wife still adored each other, and every year and a half a new little prince or princess was born. In The Hague, the couple had 8 more children. One of the daughters was named Hollandine, in honor of the country that sheltered them. countries. (It is noteworthy that of the 13 children of Elisabeth and Frederick, only three had legitimate offspring).
The children were raised by Frederick's old governess, Madame de Plessin.
With kids: 
A heavy blow of fate befell the couple in 1629, when the 15-year-old eldest son Henry Frederick, the heir and bearer of hopes not only of his parents, but also of many European diplomats, drowned on a ferry in Harlem.
Frederick's Catholic opponents knew that his son would sooner or later demand his Palatinate inheritance back, and they tried to organize his marriage with some Spanish infanta, so that if the father could not be persuaded to convert to Catholicism, then perhaps at least the son could be persuaded. And some Protestants, including Prince James I’s grandfather, saw in such a marriage a solution to problems and a benefit for the Protestant camp.
Frederick experienced the death of his son more difficult than his wife. He himself barely escaped with his life on that ferry. For many months he did not get out of bed. This grief completely broke him.
After her father's death, Elizabeth began corresponding with the new king, Charles I, her brother (yes, the one who would later be executed). Contrary to expectations, it was not possible to obtain any support from Karl.
Judging by many sources and evidence, in the last years of his life, Frederick came to terms with his fate. He spent a lot of time with his wife, went hunting, took long walks alone, and relaxed by swimming. In the Dutch town of Rhenen, far from the political turmoil, he built himself a palace on the banks of the Rhine - apparently to feel close to his native Palatinate Rhine.
He and his wife led a luxurious lifestyle, at the expense of Dutch and English sponsors.
Palace of the "winter" king in Renen:
In one of the letters to his wife at that time there are the lines: “Apparently, this is the will of the Lord for us to find a small corner in the world and live there in solitude, content with life. That's all I need."
In October 1632, Frederick had another hope of regaining the Palatinate with the help of the Swedish king, and he went to Mainz, occupied by the Swedes. Apparently, on the way he picked up some kind of infection (according to one version, he contracted the plague); he lay in a fever for two weeks. And on November 29, 1632, Frederick died at the age of 36, leaving behind a widow and 10 children who were alive at that time, the youngest of whom was only 9 months old.
It was not on his deathbed that Frederick asked the pastor to convey to his children his dying order - to remain faithful to Calvinism. But two of them subsequently did not obey their father’s will.
Friedrich's medical officer personally went to The Hague to prepare the widow for the sad news. When he arrived at the palace, Elizabeth was just posing for the artist Michiel van Mierevelt for your next portrait.
Portrait of Elizabeth Stewart by Michiel van Mierevelt (that is, one of her portraits by this artist):
(It is noteworthy that a very large number of portraits of Elizabeth Stewart have survived. She probably collected her portraits. Moreover, in the Netherlands at that time the density of artists per square kilometer was off the charts).
The doctor tried to inform her as tactfully as possible about the death of her beloved husband. She seemed petrified, showing no emotion. For three days she did not speak, did not take food or water, and did not sleep. “Although I put on a mask of decency in public, there will never be peace and satisfaction in my life again.”. The light of her eyes went out, and from then on the queen of Bohemia in exile always wore only black.
And the coffin with Friedrich’s body was lost. At first they wanted to bury him in his homeland, as a symbolic figure in the Thirty Years' War, but due to the war and the constant change of power in the Palatinate, the lead coffin had to be removed from the crypt and transported from city to city... Either it stood for days in the open air, then for weeks in the basements of monasteries, churches, and the houses of local burgomasters, he fell from the cart several times during hasty transportation. So it got lost...And the place where the remains of Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate are buried is still unknown.
The wedding, they say, was fabulously beautiful. After her, Elizabeth and her husband travel to the capital of the Electorate of the Palatinate, Heidelberg.
A few years later, in 1618, an uprising breaks out in Bohemia against the rule of the Habsburgs, and the crown is offered to Frederick, the head of the Evangelical Union (an association of German Protestant German princes and imperial cities). The Thirty Years' War begins.
Despite the fact that his father-in-law, James I, was against it, Frederick accepted the crown. His coronation took place in early November 1619, Elizabeth's coronation a few days later. So, from now on they are the king and queen of Bohemia.
But not for long. Almost exactly a year later, at the Battle of White Mountain, the Czechs were defeated and the troops of the Catholic Union entered Prague, and later occupied the Palatinate. Let's put it briefly - Friedrich lost everything.
The “winter” king and queen, who ruled for less than a year - under this nickname they will go down in history - are forced to go into exile. They find shelter with Friedrich's relatives in The Hague. They will spend many years in Holland. Portrait of Frederick, 1625:
Of course, Elizabeth’s court there could not be compared with the English one, or with her own lost one, but she did everything to maintain her royal dignity in exile.
So soon this small court, the pillar of Protestantism, played a certain cultural and political role. Elizabeth herself, as they say, kept her finger on the pulse of events in Europe and conducted extensive correspondence. It is believed that this portrait (1628) depicts Elizabeth:
And another portrait from 1628:
A rather evil irony of fate - along with Elizabeth, her maid of honor, Amalie von Solms, also moved to The Hague. Portrait of Amalia:
After the death of Stadtholder Moritz in 1625, his brother, Friedrich Heinrich, replaced him as head of state... and Countess Amalia married him to herself. Now she is not at Elizabeth’s court, but Elizabeth is at hers. A kind of rivalry begins, and quite intense. The situation only worsened when, in 1641, Elizabeth's niece, Princess Mary Stuart, became the wife of Amalia's son, William II. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
In the foreground is the family of Frederick Heinrich and Amalia, in the background is the Winter King with his family...
In just twenty years of marriage, Elizabeth gave birth to children 20 times (!). Thirteen children survived, although not all of these lived long enough. Portrait of Elizabeth and Frederick with children:
The first-born, Friedrich Heinrich, born a year after the wedding, drowned when he was only fifteen years old. The same fate befalls Moritz, the fourth son. The second son, Charles I Ludwig, would restore the Electorate of the Palatinate in 1648.
Ruprecht, Duke of Bawag, will be created Duke of Cumberland by his uncle, Charles I. He was to play an important role both during the Civil War in England and during the restoration of the monarchy.
There was also Ludwig, who lived only two years; Edward, Count Shimern, John Philip Frederick, and Gustavus Adolphus would all die young (between the ages of twenty and forty). Only three of the seven sons survived their mother. Elizabeth had to mourn often.
And five daughters - Princess Elizabeth, famous for her correspondence with Descartes, Louise, Henrietta Maria, Charlotte (died at the age of three), and finally Sophia.
More about her next time, but for now it’s enough to say that it was Sophia’s son, the grandson of Elizabeth Stuart, who would inherit the English throne under the name of George I and become the founder of the Hanoverian dynasty of English kings. Portrait of Sofia.
There were about 300-400 people killed in the battle. Catholics brought 25 thousand people to the battlefield, and their opponents brought 16 thousand people. After the battle of November 8, 1620, panic gripped those stricken, and many soldiers drowned in the cold waters of the Vltava as they fled the battlefield in despair. Friedrich Faltsky also showed no restraint that day. He left Prague Castle and settled with his family in the Old Town. The next night he decided to flee from Prague to Wroclaw. He escaped before noon on November 9th. It was an incredible failure in such a difficult situation. He left his subjects, the affected classes and property.
History called him the Winter King, but his contemporaries called him the same thing - they predicted that he would not last more than one winter on the Czech royal throne. And they were right.
On November 8, the winners gathered on the territory of Prague Castle left by him. In the yard stood the beautiful horses that Frederick loved so much, incl. and a Turkish stallion, a gift from the Hungarian ruler Gabor Bethlen. In the third courtyard of Prague Castle there were boxes that the fleeing people did not have time to load. They contained not only jewelry, but also an order with diamonds, which he received from his father-in-law, the English King James I.
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“He abandoned the kingdom without any significant reasons, because he had enough funds to gather scattered people and, for example, at night and together with his generals, strike at the enemy, as the Czechs knew how,” wrote Pavel Skala from Zgorze, Czech church historian, participant in the uprising against the Habsburgs.
The question is, what chances of success did Frederick have? What is known is that he and his wife were in a hurry to Wroclaw. Perhaps he recalled how Prague solemnly greeted him on October 31, 1619. His entire reign was distinguished by its own characteristics.
When on August 19, 1619, the estates of Ferdinand II were overthrown from the Czech throne in order to thus get rid of Habsburg rule, they had two candidates for his place - the Saxon Elector, Lutheran Jan Jiri, and the Elector of the Palatinate, the Calvinist Frederick.
He headed the Evangelical Union. On August 26, Frederick was elected. He was from the famous Wittelbach family, with which the position of Elector was associated from the mid-13th century. Friedrich was easy to manage and friendly.
“All we can do with Frederick is that he be guided by the right advice, otherwise he will never achieve the point of deciding something himself and doing something famous. His character is delicate, secretive, timid, but very greedy and arrogant,” the Duke of Sedan described the young Count Palatine in 1606. Frederick had an excellent education for his time - he spoke French no worse than German. He was interested in science and sports, climbed trees and went swimming. He was a handsome young man, more athletic than intellectual.
He was barely 16 years old when he was included in the marriage policy of the English king James I, who chose Frederick for his only daughter Elizabeth. The young man visited London in November 1612. He immediately fell in love with the graceful and licentious Elizabeth, who was one week older than him. Instead of allowing Friedrich to kiss the hem of the dress, she offered his lips to him with a laugh. It was a public offense. The young people got married on February 24, 1613, and in June they went to Palatinate Heidelberg.
Elizabeth was sweet, but she loved entertainment, and happily spent Palatinate money. She had a whole palace in Heidelberg. At the Elector's house they spoke only French. It never occurred to her to learn German.
Her royal background was often the cause of discord with her husband - she quarreled with him over priority in maintaining etiquette. For example, which of them should have a more important place at the banquet. Elizabeth bore Frederick 13 children.
Frederick's election as king caused confusion. He wanted to consult with the members of the Evangelical Union and his father-in-law, James I. Ultimately, he decided to accept the crown, and in early October 1619 he went to Prague. It was a magnificent procession, consisting of 153 carriages.
The road was not without accidents. A large stone fell on Elizabeth's carriage, which nearly killed their first-born son, Henry Friedrich. Elizabeth was pregnant again at that time. The trip to Prague lasted a whole week, through Cheb, Žatec, Louny and Busztegrad. She was full of entertainment. For example, Pan Jan Henryk from Stampach ordered a pergola to be built on the lawn on his estate, covered with fresh greenery, in which he laid expensive tables.
The king was politely greeted with breakfast or lunch, carefully laid out with luxurious dishes, game, and various fish. The king, queen and their entire escort were so entertained; the king and queen themselves never ceased to be amazed at such a wonderful reception.”
This was an expensive act, because the procession consisted of 569 people, including the military, and the same number of class processions that met the king at the border. The same thing happened in Prague.
On November 4, 1619, the king was solemnly crowned, and three days later the queen. However, Frederick was not a great strategist. His upbringing did not prepare him for this, and he knew little about the art of war. He was young and inexperienced. He was pleasant as a person, that's all.
He behaved quite democratically, which underestimated his authority in the eyes of Prague residents. For example, in the summer of 1620, he and his wife swam in the Vltava, which caused disdain among Prague residents. He smiled often, loved dancing, sports, hunting, and hiking. All this spoiled the impression, as did Elizabeth’s deep neckline. Frederick spent a year and a week in the Czech kingdom, and devoted little time to real rule.
He traveled a lot - to Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia. And, of course, to his army, because the disastrous war against the imperial one dragged on with varying degrees of success. And he constantly collected funds to pay civilian soldiers. Before the Battle of White Mountain, the mercenaries were paid for the last time on September 15, which did not improve their morale. Frederick asked for financial help; jewelry would also do. He asked for the bourgeoisie, and the queen asked for the bourgeoisie. It all ended in a fiasco - the townspeople refused to lend. Negotiated with foreign ambassadors about possible help. He turned many against himself.
The Calvinist king in October 1619 expelled the members of the Svyatovitsky Chapter from the temple and took away their estates. On the advice of his preacher Abraham, Skultetus ordered guards to be placed at the doors of the temple. The canons' houses were seized by Calvinist preachers. The main shrine of the country should be adapted for the royal court and nobility. Calvinists preached in the temple three times a week.
Moreover, back in December 1619, under pressure from Skultetus, images and works of art began to be removed from the temple. Scultetus even burned holy relics at home to “cleanse the temple,” because the Calvinists did not approve of the luxurious decoration of the church.
They even smashed the altar, epitaphs, and statues. They were joined by some Czech Calvinists and Lutherans. This did not do any good in the eyes of many Prague residents, not only Catholics, but most importantly the new Utraquists (radical chashniki), who were the majority in the Czech Republic. Frederick also ordered the removal of the Cross from the Charles Bridge, allegedly because “the queen, driving across this bridge, could not look at that naked bathhouse attendant.” Even the Hussites did not go to such lengths of violence.
However, on December 27, 1619, the kingdom celebrated the birth of the royal son Ruprecht in a magnificent manner. The battlefield was not as great. On the day of the Battle of White Mountain, November 8, 1620, the king was at Prague Castle, where he received envoys from the English king, his father-in-law, James I. At this time, he received a dispatch from his army that the hour of battle was approaching, and it was necessary for the king to come to the army and inspire him to win.
Frederick told the English envoys that he would not go to battle. Then I had lunch. It was exactly twelve. The battle began at half past eleven. At the Strahov Gate he met with his commanders, who fled from the battlefield without waiting for it to end. Friedrich understood everything immediately.
He immediately reported his defeat to the queen, who did not want to believe it. After this, the couple, together with the court, went to Stare Mesto.
Frederick doubted whether to stay and fight or leave Prague. Pregnant Elizabeth advised fighting. The indecisive king began to retreat. And the next morning he escaped with his men in the direction of Wroclaw, earning the nickname “Rabbit”.
The glorious history of the Czech noble uprising against the Habsburgs and their policy of establishing the Catholic religion in the Czech Republic lasted two and a half years. It is determined by two significant dates: In May 1618, representatives of the Protestant nobles threw the Habsburg governors Slavata and Martinitz out of the windows of Prague Castle, and in June 1621, 27 Protestant Czech nobles were executed in the Old Town Square in Prague. Everything that happened between these dates is sometimes called by historians the last rise of independent Czech politics before a long period of unfreedom. The famous Czech historical writer Aloys Jirasek called this period “darkness.”
Already in the fall of 1618, the first military forces of the beginning military conflict, which went down in the history of the world under the name of the Thirty Years' War, were formed. The Habsburgs sent two regiments against the Czechs, led by generals Bukvoy and Dampierre; the Czechs also had two armies, commanded by Counts Thurn and Hohenloge. The Czechs won at first, but within Europe they remained alone. In the spring of 1619, it became clear that one could not hope for help from other non-Catholic states. And the Habsburg coalition became stronger and stronger... In the end, the Czechs were supported only by the Elector of Falk, Frederick and the Duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel. They both wanted to become Czech kings. Apart from them, only the Netherlands reported support. The most severe blow for the Czechs was the fact that all of Moravia refused to take their side and declared neutrality.
And the Habsburgs had a very rich ally - the Spanish royal court. The Spanish king Philip III provided financial assistance to his Viennese relatives in the amount of 300,000 ducats. It came down to the need for military action. At the end of March 1819, Emperor Matthias died. His follower Ferdinand II, whom he himself appointed to the Czech throne, was a completely unacceptable ruler for the Czechs. In the spring, the Zemstvo Sejm was held in Prague, which decided to establish a new taxation of the Czech people, as well as confiscate the property of traitors - rich supporters of the Habsburgs from the ranks of the Czech nobility.
Ferdinand II also approached the Sejm with a proposal to take over power in the Czech Republic, since his coronation had already taken place two years ago. Despite the fact that he promised to comply with all Czech laws, even the legendary “Maestat” of his predecessor Rudolf II, the Czechs did not even open his letter and returned it to the sender. Such an action was already a real declaration of war. The Czechs first of all sought to replace the Habsburgs on the Czech throne with some other dynasty. To do this, it was necessary to unite the Czech military forces. In the end, the Czech nobles decided to take neutral Moravia by force. In the spring of 1619, Moravia, largely against its own wishes, joined the uprising of the Czech nobles. However, this action can hardly be called anything other than an intervention.
The main commander of the Czech troops, Count Jindrich Matthias Thurn, set off on a campaign against Vienna. His commander, and at the same time an excellent composer and writer, Kryštof Garant from Polžice and Bezdruzice, was already standing with an army in front of the gates of Vienna, but just at that time the Habsburgs managed to defeat the regiment of another Czech general Mansfeld in southern Bohemia. Count Thurn had to leave Vienna. Despite political successes, the military position of the Czechs was constantly deteriorating. The Habsburg general Bukvoy managed to conquer almost all of southern Bohemia. The last military success of the Czech troops was the defeat of the regiment of the Habsburg general Dampierre near the Moravian village of Vestonice.
In the summer of 1619, the General Diet of the Czech Kingdom was held in Prague, which decided to nominate Elector Frederick of Falck, son-in-law of the English King James the First and a prominent representative of the Protestant Union, to the Czech throne. In addition, the Sejm officially overthrew Ferdinand II from the Czech throne and approved a new constitution of the Czech state, reducing the powers of the ruler and strengthening the power of the nobles. The new Czech king Frederick was young, inexperienced, and he did not live up to the hopes that the Czechs placed in him. The war, meanwhile, had already cost too much for him to pay all his debts, and at the decisive moment all his former allies abandoned him.
Already at the end of spring 1620, the organized liquidation of the Czech uprising began. Ferdinand II attracted the Bavarian Duke Maximilian and with him the troops of the Catholic League to his side. Over the course of the summer, the Habsburgs conquered all of southern Bohemia. The Czechs constantly retreated all the way to Prague, which they considered safe. On November 8, 1620, on the outskirts of Prague, under the Star Belvedere, once designed by Duke Ferdinand of Tyrol, at a place called the White Mountain, a military skirmish took place, ending in the tragic defeat of the Czechs. The Czechs considered their position so advantageous that they did not even prepare for battle. The imperial army attacked them with such lightning speed that within a few hours it completely destroyed the entire defense of Prague.
The only truly brave Czech soldiers were the young Prince of Anhalt, the son of the Generalissimo, who bravely but hopelessly resisted the odds, and a regiment of mercenary German Landsknechts purchased by Count Schlick. Under the wall of the Zvezda belvedere, the Landsknechts resisted the enemy until the death of the last of them. King Frederick and the highest ranking officers meanwhile feasted quietly. After the battle, chaos began in Prague. The main reason for the defeat was the poor organization of the Czech defense and the entire army. In Prague and in the outskirts of Prague there was an army of sufficient strength, which the commanders forgot to call for battle. The imperial, as well as the Czech, landsknechts demanded their soldiers' salaries and, in the end, decided to get it through violence.
A brutal robbery began. King Frederick was seized with panic. He left Prague Castle and spent the night with his family in a common house in the Old Town. The next day he packed most of Prague's wealth into carts and, together with his wife, newborn son and his generals Anhalt, Thurn and Hohenloge, left Prague. True, he took the Czech St. Wenceslas crown out of Prague Castle and hid it in the Old Town Hall, but when he ran away, he forgot to take it with him. According to one legend, he took it, but the crown fell out of one of the carts on the Charles Bridge, and then it washed up on the bank of the Vltava near Prague. However, the fact remains that the Czech crown again passed into the hands of the Habsburgs. Their revenge turned out to be extremely cruel
Choosing a name is a responsible matter. Even the most ordinary people approach this issue with enthusiasm, leafing through lists of name meanings and advice on zodiac signs. In royal families, things are much more complicated. When choosing the name of the future monarch, all relatives along different lines were taken into account. Astrologers compiled horoscopes, astrologers determined by the stars...
Often the child received the name of previous kings - according to tradition - which was assigned a serial number (to avoid confusion). Or it consisted of the names of a good half of the ancestors. And all these efforts went to waste as soon as the child became king.
And all because the good people immediately gave the king their nickname - depending on the appearance, actions of the monarch during his reign, his habits, even mental abilities. And not always euphonious or beautiful. This is exactly what happened with two kings - Louis VI the Fat and Charles VI the Mad. But the parents chose...
The birth of a nickname
The king's nickname could have been born in the palace corridors and on the city streets. A truly folk creation, it could have arisen overnight, or it could have been chosen from a dozen others describing the qualities of the king or his appearance.
Louis VI the Fat is the king of France, the fifth of the Capetian dynasty. Son of King Philip I and Bertha of Holland.
Of all the king's nicknames, one was usually left, which remained in history as the official one. Most likely, there was not a single ruler without a nickname; it’s just that not all of them have come down to us, although they could very likely have been bright and original. Be that as it may, they could all be divided according to several principles.
Principle of appearance
The easiest way to earn a nickname from people is to have something special in your appearance. The first and simplest is to play up the appearance of the ruler. This is exactly how they got their prefixes to their official names:
Louis VI the Fat - it’s clear why,
Frederick I Barbarossa - for his gorgeous red beard,
Philip IV the Handsome - apparently for beauty by those standards,
Louis-Philippe d'Orléans - “The Pear King” and a caricature of him.
Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, The Pear King - the face shape has been the subject of many caricatures, not only because of its resemblance to a pear, the fact is that the French word la poire can mean both fruit and stupidity...
Almost everyone knows about Louis XIV - the Sun King, and there were also Harold I Harefoot, Sven I Forkbeard, Richard III the Hunchback, William II Rufus (Red), Edward I Longshanks (Longlegged) and... Viking King Harald II Bluetooth.
It may be true that he had blue teeth, but most likely BlueTooth is a corruption of the Scandinavian Bletand (black). Harald was not a typical Norwegian - he had brown eyes and black hair.
Hobbies of the King
Often the reason for assigning a nickname was what the monarch did most and his personal preferences. William the Conqueror - fought, Enrique the Navigator - walked the seas, Henry I the Birdcatcher - caught birds when he received the news that he had become king.
Henry of Navarre, nicknamed “Gallant Vigorous.”
But the first place in the originality of the nickname is shared by the King of France Henry IV and the Romanian King Carol II. For his demeanor, Henry of Navarre received the nickname Gallant Vigorous. King II was known as the Playboy King because of his romantic adventures.
He was married three times, the number of his girlfriends is legendary. In the end, the Romanian king completely abdicated the throne and fled the country with an ordinary girl, leaving a Greek princess for her.
Personal qualities and generalizations
Nicknames received due to personal qualities have preserved for us the true face of their bearers. Brave warriors like Charles the Bold of Burgundy, Philip the Brave of Burgundy and Richard the Lionheart of England or those who suffered failures during their reign like the English king John the Landless, who lost almost all the French territories of the Plantagenets in the wars.
Charles VI the Mad is the king of France since 1380, from the Valois dynasty.
Character traits could also become the king's nickname - good or bad: Pedro the Cruel of Portugal or Alfonso the Meek of Aragon, Pedro the Ceremonial of Aragon or Charles the Mad of France.
Piety in the behavior of the monarch was especially noted: Louis the Pious of France, Stephen the Saint of Hungary, Louis the Saint of France. Far-sighted rulers were called Wise: Sancho the Wise of Navarre, Charles the Wise of France, Alfonso the Wise of Castile.
Lionheart and Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty is actually the real nickname of the English King Richard III, and not just a character from a famous poem. The story is also reliable. He was not loved for his ugliness, but the nickname was born after a battle in which his legs were cut off and no one from the army was able to come to his aid.
Richard III - King of England since 1483 from the York dynasty.
There were common nicknames - a whole series of Great, Just, Evil and Good kings: Charlemagne, Knut the Great, John the Good of France, Philip the Good of Burgundy, Charles the Evil of Navarre and others. Even an entire royal dynasty – the Lazy Kings (Merovingians) – was given the nickname for never cutting their hair.
Harold I Harefoot
The reign of this English king began in 1035 and lasted 5 years. During this time, he became famous mainly for his hunting skills and fast running, for which he was called Hare's Paw.
Edmund II Ironside
King of England since 1016, Edmund tirelessly showed courage in battles with the Danes. He found himself in the center of battle so often that his subjects almost never saw him without armor. This is what made him Ironside.
John I Posthumous
Alas, the 13th king of France died just five days after ascending the throne, for which he was named so by the people. Even more sadly, he was proclaimed king on the same day that he was born.
Pepin III the Short
The king of the Franks of the mid-8th century received his nickname for a rather prosaic reason - he was rather short in stature.
Louis XV Beloved
During one of the wars that fell during the long reign of the 65th King of France, Louis became very ill. The people were seriously alarmed, but when the ruler recovered, France was so pleased with his healing that she nicknamed Louis the Beloved.
Russian rulers
Our princes and kings also had nicknames that they deserved for one reason or another.
Vasily Kosoy and Vasily II the Dark
The cousins fought for a long time for the place of the Grand Duke of Moscow. In their struggle they did not shun self-harm. Vasily Yuryevich was blinded by order of Vasily Vasilyevich, for which he received the nickname Oblique.
Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark - Grand Duke of Moscow since 1425, the fifth son of the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow Vasily I Dmitrievich and Sofia Vitovtovna.
When Vasily II himself was captured, he was overtaken by equal revenge, and he, also blinded, began to be called the Dark One.
Vladimir I Red Sun
The Grand Duke who baptized Rus' had many nicknames - Saint, Great, Baptist. But more than others, Vladimir Svyatoslavich received the nickname from the epics - Red Sun.
"Vladimir the Red Sun and his wife Apraxia Korolevichna." 1895. Illustration for the book “Russian epic heroes”
In folklore it was reflected in a collective image, which was, among other things, the personification of natural phenomena.
Yury Dolgoruky
The founder of Moscow was pretty tossed around various principalities. Twice he became the Grand Duke of Kyiv, fought for Pereyaslavl, and himself founded many cities besides Moscow.
Yuri Vladimirovich, nicknamed Dolgoruky - Prince of Rostov-Suzdal and Grand Duke of Kiev, son of Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh.
He received the nickname Dolgoruky not only for his disproportionately long arms, but also for his love of annexing the lands of weaker rulers.
The Prince of Kyiv Svyatoslav was nicknamed Leopard by his enemies. More than once he emerged victorious, having a much smaller number of troops...
Prince Yaroslav was nicknamed wise. Through dynastic marriages, he strengthened ties with European countries and founded a number of new cities.
Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible
The Tsar of Moscow Ivan IV was called the Terrible for his ferocity, and Peter I became the Great for many great and glorious deeds.
The nicknames of the kings were also given based on merit. Thus, Alexander I quite officially received the prefix Blessed from the Synod in 1814, Alexander II was called the Liberator, for the abolition of serfdom, and Alexander III was called the Peacemaker, for the fact that Russia did not wage wars under him.
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