Note 42 — II EARLY WOMANHOOD AND MARRIAGE (HEIDELBERG, 1650-1658)

The celebrated Wildfangsstreit, which was carried on by Charles Lewis in the years 1665 and 1666, is passed by in the text, where few readers would probably care to find it discussed. This strange dispute turned on the rights of the Electors Palatine over bastards and aliens (Wilden) in their own and adjoining territories, and troubles which had thence arisen between Charles Lewis and his neighbours, in which the Great Elector of Brandenburg was involved through his alliance of May, 1661, with the Elector Palatine. The Great Elector’s efforts brought about a settlement on the whole favourable to his ally. (See Urkunden und Aktenstücke zur Gesch. d. Grossen Kurfürsten Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg, Vol. xi. (Polit. Verhandl. Vol. vii.). Ed. F. Hirsch, Berlin, 1887).