ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the early stages of the Thirty Years' War from the standpoint of one of its most prominent protagonists, Frederick V, the Elector Palatine. It considers the war from Frederick's perspective and experience and argues that it is best to understand it as an extended constitutional conflict, entailing religious and political factors together, fought within the Holy Roman Empire. The chapter presents the Holy Roman Empire and its constitution, the Palatinate and its prince, Frederick V, and his neighbors, allies, and enemies. It begins with the outbreak of the Bohemian rebellion, which at first was a local quarrel over the constitutional religious rights of Protestants under the Habsburg Bohemian monarchy. The chapter also argues that Frederick V engaged in a battle to protect the Imperial constitution: its electoral character, its guarantees for Protestant worship, and, above all, his own status within it as a prince of the Empire.
