1632 universe background history
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1632 is the lead novel in a book series set in the Holy Roman Empire about a small American town of three-thousand 'Hillbillies' sent back to May 1631 by historian-writer-editor Eric Flint, which has spawned worldwide interest and a wide following in less than five years. While initially not a best seller, and originally available only as a paperback, the alternate history set in 1631—1632 Europe during the heyday of the Thirty Years' War has remained continuously in print.
While it was originally intended to be a single volume, the novel has become the first work of an open-ended series numbering seven published works in print, and three others as ebooks in under five years. The first, second, and fourth works are novels; the others are collections of short stories edited by Flint. They are all set in the German States of the late mediaeval world.
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[edit] History and premise
[edit] The historical setting
It was a century and a quarter after the Council of Trent when the new role of the Roman Catholic Pope had been established as an absolute ruler (in name) over the priesthood as was strongly characteristic of the new age of absolutism ushered in by the sixteenth century. At that time the Pope had new and effective army of "Foot Soldiers of Christ", the much-feared, well-educated Society of Jesus (Jesuits — established in 1534) which had for nearly a hundred years the institutional goal of stamping out Judaism, Protestantism and heresy where and whenever they occurred. But the fractured religious landscape was but a background factor, usually only important as a pretext for the wars ripping through the European Kingdoms which had the primary cause of furthering the power of the nation-state, or diminishing that of another. Like today, that deadly dance was accomplished at times by using proxy states, rather than engaging head to head, major power to major power.
Politically, the era was wedded to authoritarianism rooted in the Divine Right of Kings, and Spain was the pre-eminent power rich from the gold and silver of the new world, dominating in both Europe and on the world stage at large while the other sea faring nations raced to grab territories of their own in the middle of the Age of Exploration. The Roman Catholic Church had settled well into the path of the counter-reformation, the Puritan revolution was on the horizon. It was the heyday of the Dutch Merchantile Empire and somewhat past the beginning of Poland's decline and the ascension of Russia, while the Swedish empire was at its zenith.
There were seven prince-electors enjoying the greater temporal power in the Germanies, but in that time, three of them were Arch-Bishops wielding princely world power as the feudal system had yet to go away, and these Bishops weren't very much interested in listening to Rome, or the Pope, or anyone else including their sworn feudal superiors. Neither were many of the other Bishops and Cardinals all that interested in the Pope's wishes. Life was good, they had a lot of power and so if they could mask their actions with intrigue and schemes, they just give lip service to obedience, which was most of the time. In this they behaved much like the Prime Minister of France, his Eminence the Cardinal Richelieu, the heavy weight schemer of the World, saying one thing while pressing and advancing an entirely different agenda out of sight. His well focused goal was to increase the power and Glory of France whatever the cost, while reducing the dynastic Hapsburgs power in both Spain and the Holy Roman Empire.
So as the Jesuits became better educated in large numbers, they increasingly contributed to the reinvigoration of the Counter-Reformation Church, seducing Europe's nobles away from protestantism by a variety of measures culminating in the Edict of Restitution — the papal proclamation that all propery of Protestant churches was to be confiscated for the Church. Consequently, the Jesuits had done nothing but grow more powerful as the century passed, and many of its members were the heart and soul of the Office of the Holy Inquisition, but they were also sworn agent-soldiers of the Pope, anxious to intrigue and sway any Protestant ruler by any means, including war. When the Jesuits were banned upon pain of death from living in the Holy Roman Empire, this (in part) created the conditions leading to the Thirty Years' War, the geopolitical background into which author Flint paints yet a bleaker picture—Faith wasn't the real cause behind the death of millions, but a mere pretext—the real causes were politics, internal and international—power politics and power struggles rooted in selfishness and greed with a heavy dose of intrigue and national self-interest.
The Catholic church had two other big guns. The first was the ultra-religious Spanish Hapsburg Monarchy, which believed you were better off dead than to be a non-Catholic. (Native Americans, Jews, Protestants, please take note—the inquisition is coming!) But more importantly and of far wider scope was the doctrine of Cuius regio, eius religio — 'The people take on the faith of the Ruler'. It was far easier to convert one prince (or conquer him) than a hundred thousand individual peasants.
So the wars spread and grew. The armies increased in size, became more mercenary and the peasants took the brunt of the dying as armies foraged wherever they fought (taking most all the food leading to mass starvation), raped whomever they liked, and burned (after looting) whatever took their fancy. If you were lucky, they took you as forced labor, slaves in truth, or as a whore, but at least as one of these camp followers you might get the odd meal while they needed you. For thirty years this is what happened, leading to the death of tens of millions.
[edit] The creative twist (story-line premise)
While the historical picture above may seem to be anti-Catholic, this is historical, which Flint turns on its head. Into this cauldron of multiple risks Flint drops a sleepy mid-sized West Virginia town from our time, complete with powerplant, coal mine and a sizable union leaning. Not to mention a few scraps of paper—which happen to favor free speech, free press, freedom of religion, free this, free that and free habits antithetical to authoritarian rule and monolithic 'revealed' truths. The inhabitants have a union tradition, doctors, shotguns, and SUVs. Should be a fair match, the odds are only 70,000:1 or so.
This time-travel is the premise posed in this book (and series) by historian/author Eric Flint. Technically, a branch of speculative fiction the 'What if' of this setting is simple: what might happen in one of history's most turbulently vile and machiavellian periods should modern political thought backed by some modern knowledge and technology (rapid fire firearms, power plant, personal computers, a modern library, internal combustion engines, knowledge of flight, of medicine, of... et. al.) were to land in the midst of the most troubled region during one of the most troubled times.
Flint further departs from the stock motif typical of time travel stories which normally deal with only a few central characters empowered or trapped by the gulf of years by instead postulating a significantly large town population peopled with likable, lovable folks-next-door characters, so that no one man acts as 'A Hero' in the traditional sense (typical in adventure sub-genres of science fiction), but the whole town goes through the adventure and emerges collectively as heroes. As do their adopted German friends—new Americans. While the premise, as with all alternate histories places the tale in the science fiction genre (Answering the characteristic 'What IF' question), the wide success of the book is because its appeal goes far beyond people interested in science (or impossibilities) into a rich, one might say overly ripe, important historical era that is painted in depth by its historian creator.
[edit] In the beginning
Flint created the fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia (modeled on the real town of Mannington) and dropped it and its powerplant abruptly into the new time-space, through a side effect (An accident, in truth) of an alien technology (The Assiti Shards). A spherical section of land about three miles in radius measured from the town center was transported back in time into the middle of the Thirty Years' War, in the German province of Thuringia in the Thuringer Wald. This occurred during the middle of a wedding (accounting for the presence of a few characters not native to the town, including an extra doctor and his daughter, a nurse). He created another nearby fictional German free city, (Badenburg) and plunged both populations into tentative contact. Real Thuringian municipalities located close to Grantville were posited as Weimar, Jena, Saalfeld and the more remote Erfurt, Arnstadt, and Eisenach; all located in the valley of the Saale River East of the Palatinate (Rhine) well to the south of Halle and Leipzig.
[edit] Interesting circumstance
Grantville, led by Mike Stearns, President of the local United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), and a supporting cast of characters widely diverse in background and viewpoint coped with the town's space-time dislocation, the surrounding raging war (with several of its minor armies), language barriers, class conflict, witchcraft, Woman's Lib, the reformation and the counter-reformation and strife (at its peak) among many other factors. Once complication was a compounding of the town's food shortage when the town was flooded by refugees from the war. Flint mixed in sexual shocks (Cheerleaders, miniskirts and blue jeans) experienced by down-time stalwarts, as well as shock at American style rah-rah political rallies. In a more serious vein, the plot covered short-term survival of the town, as well as the long-term question of how to maintain technology sundered from twenty-first century resources.
Flint develops the plot mainly through character interactions and jocular bantering rather than dry narrative. Add in a lot of significant Jewish and European history (The central of several developed romances in the novel occurs between the daughter ('Becky') of a historically powerful and real Jewish extended family clan, the Abrabanels, and UMWA workers/New USA president Mike Stearns) as the new USA begins to evolve from a flag with but one star.
Flint paints the armed conflicts by the era's superpowers as a pretext for less noble machiavellian Affairs of State which are themselves being guided, manipulated, and used by the power behind the throne (in particular, Cardinal Richelieu). His depiction of the armies of mercenaries of the time is too strong for the generally upbeat tale to be totally pleasant, but serves to create tension and generate a series of crises.
[edit] Characters imagined and historical
[edit] Historical figures in the book
Several historical figures occupy prominent or supporting roles in the novel include King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden, Johan t'Serclaes, Count of Tilly, and Albrecht von Wallenstein, all general officers of note and fame. And Cardinal Richelieu, takes on the role of the ultimate villain forced by circumstance in the later third of the work.
[edit] Characters of more than minor note
To the historical personalities, Flint adds a rich mix of well developed believable characters of local origin (down-timers) including some with a real person basis like the various members of the Abrabanel family (composite characters), or the holder of this or that office. He then creates action by introducing up time Americans (i.e. those caught by the Ring of Fire from the future) in conversations large and small:
- Balthazar Abrabanel
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- Jewish Doctor, Spy, Financier to Kings
[edit] Publishing history
1632 was first published in New York by Baen Books in 2001 with ISBN 0-671-31972-8 . The full text of the novel is available from the Baen Free Library (see below).
[edit] Impact of the novel — sales and reader interest
Within the series, there are at least five books under advanced contract beyond the seven books already published in print media (over half available in pricey hard cover editions), plus an additional three related ebooks that are likely to follow later in print.
This growth is likely fueled by two factors:
- Alternate history novels set in the past do not read like hard science fiction, but instead share settings more common to classics and mainline novels. This leads to wider appeal.
- Conceived as a stand-alone novel published about the same time Baen Books launched a fan forum, Baen's Bar, the buzz thereon among Sci-Fi fans, quickly lead to discussions of likely subsequent events. This led Flint to invite other authors to 'play in his sandbox', and most unusually, to help define it; The initial results were the novel 1633 co-written with David Weber, and the anthology Ring of Fire. Each helped shape the other and matured the early development of the milieu.
Additional stories in the Grantville Gazette are side-stories which don't complicate the main storyline. Flint, who likes to co-write, decided to take the step of inviting not only other published authors, but also his fans to participate. The resulting complexity is perhaps the heart of the reason 1632 succeeded in garnering so much attention.
A large number of short stories have been added to follow on.
[edit] The series so far
- 1632 by Eric Flint; Starts in the early (new) summer of 1631 with climax in 1632
- 1633 by Eric Flint & David Weber; Big name best selling author Weber has agreements to co-write no less than five novels in the series.
- Ring of Fire anthology ed. by Eric Flint; Stories within written in the timeframe spanned by 1631—1634 by well established authors are integral to the development of the series background.
- 1634: The Galileo Affair by Eric Flint & Andrew Dennis
- 1634: The Ram Rebellion by Eric Flint & Virginia DeMarce (In production; Scheduled HC release May 2006)
- 1634: The Baltic War (forthcoming) by Eric Flint & David Weber; Weber indicates he has scheduled his part of the writing for July 2006, implying a released HC edition no sooner than November/December 2006 or later.
- Grantville Gazette (Anthologies) ed. by Eric Flint; Five all available as ebooks, Vol I as PB edition, Vol-II as HC as well. Similar to the Ring of Fire, these stories are also shaping the general development of the series. The difference is ROF is a compilation of stories by established authors invited to contribute by Mr. Flint, while the GG-I—GG-VII anthologies are primarily written by new authors with occasional contributions by established writers. The Grantville Gazette also contains occasional articles on factual matters that resulted from the impetus of discussions on Baen's Bar by interested parties (Bar Flies).
[edit] External links
| 1632 series | ||
| Web page links: | Comments and Content notes | |
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| Baen Books in the 1632 series | List of 1632 Series Books grouped by the series by Baen Books. Includes the first few chapters of each. |
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| 1632 full text | Full text of the novel 1632 from the Baen Free Library. |
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| Baen Books catalog for Eric Flint | List of Eric Flint books published by Baen Books. Includes the first few chapters of each. |
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| baen.com/library/eflint.htm | List of Eric Flint books available in toto in the Baen Free Library. |
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| http://bar.baen.com/ | Baen's Bar is an official fan-forum with several specific sections (sub-forums) dedicated to the 1632 universe. These are: 1632 Tech Manual, and 1632 Slush for manuscript submission (Slushpile in publishing: Stack of manuscripts for vetting) and 1632 Comments where Peer review feedback, suggestions, and comments on the slushpile submissions are posted. The two together form a collective collaborative workshop for wannabe authors. |
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| http://ericflint.net/ | Eric Flint's website, which has much about his work currently in progress or upcoming (in publication, in planning, under contract, in process) matters in the publication cycle. |
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| http://www.1632.org | The official web site by Eric Flint's 1632.org on and about the 1632 universe and related matters. It is run by the 1632 Research Committee in conjunction with the 1632 Editorial Board. It includes the canonical references for the entire book series available for browsing and download by any participating in the collaborative writing process in the series. Eric's partners that are also professional writers use the same data. If you want to write a contribution to The Grantville Gazettes, this is a must-visit site. Additional Technical articles resulting from 1632 Tech Manual discussions and the Research Committee are also posted here. |
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| klaus-leiss.de/1632Tech | 1632 universe dedicated German Wikiproject organized to cross reference and encyclopediatize matters and characters pertaining to the 1632verse. Another must-browse site for would-be contributors to The Grantville Gazettes and students of Collaborative writing projects. | |
| Fan Page collecting 1632 research | 1632verse Commonwealth of Two Nations Resource Page - a webpage about Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 1632 universe, but especially valuable for 1632 fans for its many period maps and links to other resources. | |
| 1632 parallel universe (1632-verse) series by Eric Flint, et.al. |
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Main threads: | 1632 | 1633 | Ring of Fire | The Galileo Affair | The Ram Rebellion | The Cannon Law | The Baltic War The Grantville Gazettes: | Grantville Gazette I | Gazette II | Gazette III | Gazette IV | Gazette V | Gazette VI | Gazette VII | |
