Published Works
The Palatine Family and the Thirty Years’ War: Experiences of Exile in Early Modern Europe, 1632-1648
This book examines the experiences of exiled royal and noble dynasties during the early modern period through a study of the rulers of the Electorate of the Palatinate during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). The monograph investigates the attempts of the “Palatine Family” to recover the lands and titles lost by Elector Frederick V - the brother-in-law of King Charles I of England and Scotland - in the opening stages of the conflict.
This work demonstrates the influence of dynastic and familial obligations (such as those between the Palatine Family and the Stuart Dynasty) on the high politics of the period, as well as the importance of conspicuous display and diplomatic recognition for exiled regimes in seventeenth-century Europe. The book also situates the British Civil Wars of the 1630s-1650s in their broader European contexts, showing the influence of events in mainland Europe on developments in the British Isles (and vice versa) in a period of widespread political and religious upheaval and bloodshed.
Reviews
“Pert has written an exhaustive and well-researched study of the Palatine dynasty in exile, and his book will be valuable both for students of the Thirty Years’ War and for those interested in the English Civil War” - Austrian History Yearbook
“Pert offers readers a nuanced and meticulously detailed account of the trials and hardships the Palatine family encountered as they were forced into exile” - Central European History
"The book is well written and very readable, even for those less familiar with the history of the Thirty Years War and the Holy Roman Empire” - German Historical Institute London Bulletin
“An impressive and thoughtful study which does much to investigate the nuances of early modern exile in general and the history of one exiled family in particular” - History
Articles
‘If you make the people run away, you will starve’: the military significance of refugees during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648)
The Thirty Years’ War of 1618–1648 was the most devastating conflict in European history prior to the twentieth century and the greatest demographic crisis since the Black Death of the fourteenth century. Accordingly, many scholars have examined the ‘human cost’ of the Thirty Years’ War both in broader studies of the military and civilian experience of the conflict and with an increased focus on the multiple types of localised civil-military interactions which characterised the ‘small war’ or Kleinkrieg. This article takes these studies further, by examining how refugees – a neglected manifestation of the ‘human cost’ of the Thirty Years’ War – could in turn have a significant impact on how warfare was conducted locally and on the course of the conflict itself.
Image: Le Pillage by Jacques Callot (c.1633)
Published in War & Society, volume 43, issue 3 (2024): pages 237-252
‘I doe not find him, howsoever our great Enemy, to have deserved such an end’: Reactions to the Assassination of Albrecht von Wallenstein, c.1634–1700
Albrecht von Wallenstein was one of the most colourful and controversial figures of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), and his dismissal by the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and eventual assassination was one of the most talked about events of the conflict. This article examines how the downfall of the imperial generalissimo and massacre of his subordinate officers in Bohemia, were viewed and reported across Europe. In addition to assessing how Wallenstein’s demise was discussed in diplomatic circles, the article addresses how the assassination was reported in newsprint published in the German states as well as further afield in Sweden, England and the Italian states. The article also discusses how Wallenstein’s reputation had changed by the end of the seventeenth century, with the result that he was almost universally regarded as a notorious rebel and would-be regicide.
Published in German History, volume 41, issue 2 (2023): pages 170-192
Named one of Oxford University Press’s “Most Read in History” list for 2023.
‘The Great and Miserable Flight’: The Experiences of Refugees in Newsprint during the Thirty Years’ War
As the Thirty Years’ War was the greatest demographic crisis in Europe between the Black Death and the two World Wars, it is unsurprising that the conflict created the greatest number of refugees in the continent’s history prior to the twentieth century. However, the limited scholarship on displaced persons between 1618 and 1648 has been exclusively based on micro-level eyewitness accounts, diaries, and memoirs. This article broadens the scope of studies on refugees during the Thirty Years’ War beyond such individualistic sources through an examination of their treatment in newsprint, a source base which has hitherto been entirely overlooked. A case study based on over 200 newspaper reports allows this article to examine how the frequency of appearances of refugees in newsprint, as well as the language and vocabulary used to describe them, can provide a valuable insight into the experiences of displaced persons and the attitudes of contemporaries in mid-seventeenth century Europe.
Image: The Effects of War by Hans Ulrich Franck (1644) (The British Museum, London)
Published in Journal of Refugee Studies, volume 36, issue 3 (2023): pages 552-571
Divided Loyalties: The Elector Palatine and Charles I, 1638-1649
In August 1644, the eldest nephew of Charles I landed in England and publicly declared his support for parliament. Charles Louis, the exiled Elector of the Palatinate, has been accused by successive generations of scholars of either harboring ambitions for his uncle’s throne, or having a long-standing friendship with leading parliamentarians which made his eventual allegiance an inevitability. However, such interpretations ignore the influence of short-term developments in the British Isles and on the continent on the actions of this impoverished and exiled prince, who was dependent on English financial and diplomatic support and faced the very real risk of being permanently excluded from his ancestral lands and titles. This article therefore provides a valuable insight into how political and financial necessities could clash with the perceived obligations of dynastic loyalty between ruling elites in early modern Europe.
Image: Charles Louis, Elector Palatine by Anthony van Dyck (c.1637) (The National Gallery, London)
Published in Journal of Early Modern History, volume 26 (2022): pages 311-334.
Pride and Precedence: The Rivalry of the House of Orange-Nassau and the Palatine Family at the Anglo-Dutch Wedding of 1641
“They doe seek to get my eldest Neece but that I hope will not be granted it being too low for her”. These words of Charles I’s sister, Elizabeth of Bohemia, regarding Princess Mary’s upcoming nuptials with William of Orange-Nassau highlight the importance of precedence in the high politics of early modern Europe. This article will demonstrate that the Anglo-Dutch wedding of 1641 provided the backdrop to the competition for status between the family of the bridegroom, the House of Orange-Nassau, and Elizabeth’s court-in-exile based in The Hague. As the diplomatic stage was one on which every player’s conduct and reception was subject to intense scrutiny, it was essential for exiled regimes to safeguard their position in the hierarchy of European princes. However, such considerations are often overlooked in studies of the actions of Elizabeth’s son in London before and after the marriage celebrations, but can provide a valuable insight into diplomatic practices of the early modern period.
Image: Mary Stuart and William II of Orange by Anthony van Dyck (1641) (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Published in The Seventeenth Century, volume 36, issue 4 (2021): pages 561-578.