On the diverse duties of the servants of princes: Lorenz Beger (1653-1705), librarian, antiquarian, and court poet in Heidelberg

The career of Lorenz Berger (1653-1705), active at both the Palatine and Br andenburg courts, highlights the diverse demands made on the university-edu cated middle-class official employed at the seventeenth-century court and t he benefits that this employment brought to both the prince and his servant . Particular emphasis is given to Berger's work as poet and organizer of fe stivities at the court of Elector Karl II of the Pfalz (1651-85). The enter tainments are examined with regard to their function, their connection to t he contemporary political situation, and their relationship to the festivit ies of the Protestant Union.