“The Palsgrave’s Holiday,” Caricature of the “Winter King” Frederick V of the Palatinate (1621)

The Battle of White Mountain on November 8, 1620 ended the brief rule of Frederick V of the Palatinate as King of Bohemia. Since he only reigned for one winter, he was mocked as the “Winter King” in Catholic propaganda, and this is how he is remembered in the historiography. Frederick lost not only the Bohemian throne but also the Palatinate and had to take his family into exile in England. Attempts to regain the Bohemian throne with England’s support failed. This caricature from a satirical pamphlet shows Frederick and his wife, the English princess Elizabeth Stuart, with two of their four children. The term “holiday” was meant as a mockery since it usually expressed the termination of a relationship, such as that between master and apprentice during an apprentice’s travel.