German Imperial Knights: Noble Misfits between Princely Authority and the Crown, 1479-1648

The German imperial knights were branded disobedient, criminal, or treasonous, but instead of finding themselves on the wrong side of history, they resisted marginalization and adapted through a combination of conservative and progressive strategies. The knights tried to turn the elite world on its head through their constant challenges to the princes in the realms of both culture and governance. They held their own chivalric tournaments from 1479-1487, and defied the emperor and powerful p...