Wallenstein the Devil

The Remarkable Fate of the Duke of Friedland

Few figures in our history have received as much attention from historians, writers, and artists as the Duke of Friedland and Generalissimo of the Imperial armies, Albrecht von Wallenstein. His truly extraordinary and dramatic fate, which seems to have been foretold by the horoscope cast by the renowned astronomer, mathematician, and then-astrologer Johannes Kepler, continues to thrill us to this day. It seems to be filled with a wondrous mystery.
Few things are as fascinating as Wallenstein's dizzying rise to the highest echelons of secular power and glory, followed by a steep fall branded as a traitor and an outcast. He had a legitimate chance to become the greatest military leader of the Thirty Years' War, and he allegedly even reached for the Bohemian crown, but he ended up as a “notorious imperial rebel,” for whom there was no other punishment than a treacherous death at the hands of an Irish mercenary. Yes, Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein, as was his full name, far surpassed the borders of Bohemia with both his earthly life and his posthumous fame. Indeed, by 1910, the Wallenstein bibliography reportedly contained over two and a half thousand titles!
But what was the Duke of Friedland really like, if we peel back the widely spread—and usually unflattering—legend? The well-known writer and populariser of history, Jan Bauer, answers this question with his engaging biography. And as is his good custom, he manages to delve beneath the “official” facts to paint for us a timeless personality that was far from being merely dark and negative. After all—as the author writes—although Wallenstein was exceptionally conceited, arrogant, and ruthless, he also had a more pleasant side (which is usually kept quiet). However, Jan Bauer has knowledgeably and humanely described all his facets in the XVIII volume of the Český ČAS Edition, which you are now holding in your hands.