Chapter Page I In the Elector’s Castle 11 II An Unquiet Night 20 III In November of the Same Year 29 IV Two Princesses 31 V The Battle 38 VI Baron and Chancellor 44 VII The Departure 51 VIII The Sixteenth of February 55 IX The Runaway 58 X The Hunting-Castle 63 XI The Stag Hunt 67 XII A Retrospect 75 XIII The Imperial Soldiers 84 XIV The Restitutions Edict 87 XV Colonel von Burgsdorf 91 XVI Gustavus Adolphus 98 XVII In a Garden House at Berlin 102 XVIII At Walgast 108 XIX In Holland 111 XX In the Park 116 XXI Sweden’s Revenge 124 XXII The Prince’s Flight 126 XXIII The Message 131 XXIV Mother and Son 135 XXV The Great Elector 137 Appendix 144 Illustrations Page The Great Elector in his tenth year _Frontispiece_ In the dark days 78 Soldiers at the time of the Thirty Years’ War 84 The Youth of the Great Elector Chapter I In the Elector’s Castle All golden flashes the princely crown, symbol of the highest earthly power, yet terrible, often crushing, is its burden. This was the experience of George William, Elector of Brandenburg, who ascended the throne of his father in 1619. The political sky was thick with gathering clouds, which now and then threatened to let loose the Thirty Years’ War. Hardly a ray of sunlight shone upon this sovereign during his twenty-one years’ reign.