The Great Elector

At the time of his death Frederick William's Brandenburg was an absolute monarchy second only to Austria in the German lands. This biography roots him in his own time, a dynastic protestant ruler gifted with toughness and opportunism to overcome the hostility of his local nobles.

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In this first biography in English for fifty years, Derek McKay avoids the limitation of seeing Frederick William primarily as precursor of the 'Enlightened' Frederick the Great. Instead, he roots him firmly in his own time, a dynastic, protestant ruler like many another in Germany, but gifted with the toughness and opportunism to overcome the hostility of his local nobilities and of the surrounding great powers.