Albrecht von Waldstein (Wallenstein) (1583–1634)

Albrecht von Wallenstein (or Waldstein, 1583–1634) was the supreme commander of the armies of the Holy Roman Empire and a major figure of the Thirty Years' War. His ambition earned him the suspicion of Emperor Ferdinand II and Wallenstein was assassinated with the emperor's approval. A legendary figure and subject of a trilogy of plays by Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) as well as other works of art and literature, Wallenstein’s military significance lay in his devising a system of “war taxes”, whereby the costs of war were to be borne by both sides.

Unknown artist, Albrecht von Waldstein; source: Fürstlich Waldecksche Hofbibliothek (ed.), Klebebände (vol. 2), ca. 1600–1800, p. 169; digital copy: © Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/fwhb/klebeband2/0175  Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-SA 3.0).