Why a Booktrail?
1600s: He’s a trickster, his handshake’s like a pact with the devil – Tyll Ulenspiegel is here!
Tyll
What you need to know before your trail
In a village like every other village in Germany, a scrawny boy balances on a rope between two trees. He’s practising. He practises by the mill, by the blacksmiths; he practises in the forest at night, where the Cold Woman whispers and goblins roam. When he comes out, he will never be the same.
Tyll will escape the ordinary villages. In the mines he will defy death. On the battlefield he will run faster than cannonballs. In the courts he will trick the heads of state. As a travelling entertainer, his journey will take him across the land and into the heart of a never-ending war.
A prince’s doomed acceptance of the Bohemian throne has European armies lurching brutally for dominion and now the Winter King casts a sunless pall. Between the quests of fat counts, witch-hunters and scheming queens, Tyll dances his mocking fugue; exposing the folly of kings and the wisdom of fools.
Travel Guide
Travel back in time to the 30 Years War
The Thirty Years’ War was a war fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. It was an extremely destructive conflict and it killed more than eight million fatalities not only from military engagements but also from violence, famine, and plague.
The deadly clashes ravaged Europe; 20 percent of the total population of Germany died during the conflict. A result of this time was how people started to realise that it served as an example of the dangers of a divided Germany. This later became a key justification for the 1871 creation of the German Empire.
Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties that were signed between May and October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster
Tyll
“Tyll Ulenspiegel first crops up in a German jokebook – the gratifyingly evocative German word is Schwankbuch – from the early 16th century. Eulenspiegel is a native of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg whose picaresque career takes him to many places throughout the Holy Roman Empire.”
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Tyll
Destination/location: Germany Author/guide: Daniel Kehlmann Departure Time: 1600s
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