Seeking Peace, Finding War: Supplication and Negotiation in Electoral Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War

Through an analysis of correspondence from the towns of Neustadt Brandenburg and Neuruppin in Electoral Brandenburg in the 164os, this essay argues that the townspeople sought to blunt the disruptive force of the Thirty Years' War by combining traditional appeals to authority with creative alternative methods of redressing grievances. This essay aims at broadening our understanding of the nature of civilian agency in Brandenburg during the war and underscoring the importance of traditional forms of supplication and local action.