Armin Kohnle

Writing about the history of Germany's Kurpfalz is like writing about a Jackson Pollock painting where each splash of paint is in motion. Kohnle warns his readers about the challenges of writing about an entity that was geographically all over the map, had a fluctuating ruling family, and kept changing its religious orientation. This constant flux is a real challenge for readers that do not already have a good foundation in German history and the detailed geography. The Kurpfalz territory is splashed, like a Pollock painting, across southern Germany (and a little bit of Holland). Then, every hundred years of so, it changes shape.

My complaints are really with the Kupfalz and its complicated history and geography - my complaints are not with this book. Armin Kohle promises a short history of the Kurpfalz and he delivers on this promise with a short, very readable and mostly understandable history. The book is recommended for people interested in the history of this important region of Germany but requires a good background before starting to read it. Armin Kohnle has written a similar short history of Baden and this book has inspired me to look at that one as well.… (mehr)