RAVENSCAR, MARQUIS OF: see Comstock, Roger.

ROSSIGNOL, ANTOINE: 1600-1682. “ France’s first full-time cryptologist” (David Kahn, The Codebreakers, which buy and read). A favorite of Richelieu, Louis XIII, Mazarin, and Louis XIV.

ROSSIGNOL, BONAVENTURE: d. 1705. Cryptanalyst to Louis XIV following the death of his father, teacher, and collaborator Antoine.

RUPERT: 1619-1682. One of the numerous princely offspring of the Winter Queen. Active as a Cavalier in the English Civil War.

DERUYTER, MICHIELADRIAANSZOON: 1607-1676. Exceptionally gifted Dutch admiral. Particularly effective against the English.

VONSCHONBORN, JOHANNPHILIPP: 1605-1673. Elector and Archbishop of Mainz, statesman, diplomat, and early patron of Leibniz.

SHEERNESS, COUNT: see Anglesey, Phillip.

SOPHIE: 1630-1714. Youngest daughter of the Winter Queen. Married Ernst August, who later became duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg. Later the name of this principality was changed to Hanover, and Ernst August and Sophie elevated to the status of Elector and Electress. From 1707 onwards, she was first in line to the English throne.

SOPHIECHARLOTTE: 1668-1705. Eldest daughter of Sophie. Married Frederick III, elector of Brandenburg and son of the Great Elector. In 1701, when Brandenburg-Prussia was elevated to the status of a kingdom by the Holy Roman Emperor, she became the first Queen of Prussia and spawned the House of Prussia.

STUART, ELIZABETH: 1596-1662. Daughter of King James I of England, sister of Charles I. Married Frederick, Elector Palatinate. Proclaimed Queen of Bohemia briefly in 1618, hence her sobriquet “the Winter Queen.” Lived in exile during the Thirty Years’ War, mostly in the Dutch Republic. Outlived her husband by three decades. Mother of many children, including Sophie.

STUART, JAMES: 1688-1766. Controversial but probably legitimate son of James II by his second wife, Mary of Modena. Raised in exile in France. Following the death of his father, styled James III by the Jacobite faction in England and “the OId Pretender” by supporters of the Hanoverian succession.

UPNOR, EARL OF: see Anglesey, Louis.

VILLIERS, BARBARA(LADYCASTLEMAINE, DUCHESS OFCLEVELAND): 1641-1709. Indefatigable mistress of many satisfied Englishmen of high rank, including Charles II and John Churchill.

WALBROOK, EARL OF: see Ham, Thomas.

WATERHOUSE, ANNE: 1649-. Nee Anne Robertson. English colonist in Massachusetts. Wife of Praise-God Waterhouse.

WATERHOUSE, BEATRICE: 1642-. Nee Beatrice Durand. Huguenot wife of Sterling.

WATERHOUSE, CALVIN: 1563-1605. Son of John, father of Drake.

WATERHOUSE, DANIEL: 1646-. Youngest (by far) child of Drake by his second wife, Hortense.

WATERHOUSE, DRAKE: 1590-1666. Son of Calvin, father of Raleigh, Sterling, Mayflower, Oliver, and Daniel. Independent trader, political agitator, leader of Pilgrims and Dissidents.

WATERHOUSE, ELIZABETH: 1621-. Nee Elizabeth Flint. Wife of Raleigh Waterhouse.

WATERHOUSE, EMMA: 1656-. Daughter of Raleigh and Elizabeth.

WATERHOUSE, FAITH: 1689-. Nee Faith Page. English colonist in Massachusetts. (Much younger) wife of Daniel, mother of Godfrey.

WATERHOUSE, GODFREYWILLIAM: 1708-. Son of Daniel and Faith in Boston.

WATERHOUSE, HORTENSE: 1625-1658. Nee Hortense Bowden. Second wife (m. 1645) of Drake Waterhouse, and mother of Daniel.

WATERHOUSE, JANE: 1599-1643. Nee Jane Wheelwright. A pilgrim in Leiden. First wife (m. 1617) of Drake, mother of Raleigh, Sterling, Oliver, and Mayflower.

WATERHOUSE, JOHN: 1542-1597. Devout early English Protestant. Decamped to Geneva during reign of Bloody Mary. Father of Calvin Waterhouse.

WATERHOUSE, MAYFLOWER: 1621-. Daughter of Drake and Jane, wife of Thomas Ham, mother of William Ham.

WATERHOUSE, OLIVERI: 1625-1646. Son of Drake and Jane. Died in Battle of Newark during English Civil War.

WATERHOUSE, OLIVERII: 1653-. Son of Raleigh and Elizabeth.

WATERHOUSE, PRAISE-GOD: 1649-. Eldest son of Raleigh and Elizabeth. Immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony. Father of Wait Still Waterhouse.

WATERHOUSE, RALEIGH: 1618-. Eldest son of Drake, father of Praise-God, Oliver II, and Emma.

WATERHOUSE, STERLING: 1630-. Son of Drake. Real estate developer. Later ennobled as Earl of Willesden.

WATERHOUSE, WAITSTILL: 1675-. Son of Praise-God in Boston. Graduate of Harvard College. Congregational preacher.

WEEM, WALTER: 1652-. Husband of Emma Waterhouse.

WHEELWRIGHT, JANE: see Waterhouse, Jane.

WILHELMINACAROLINE: see Caroline, Princess of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

WILKINS, JOHN(BISHOP OFCHESTER): 1614-1672. Cryptographer. Science fiction author. Founder, first chairman, and first secretary of the Royal Society. Private chaplain to Charles Louis, Elector Palatinate. Warden of Wadham (Oxford) and Master of Trinity (Cambridge). Prebendary of York, Dean of Ripon, holder of many other ecclesiastical appointments. Friend of Nonconformists, Supporter of Freedom of Conscience.

WILLESDEN, EARL OF: see Waterhouse, Sterling.

WILLIAMIIOF ORANGE: 1626-1650. Father of the better-known William III of Orange. Died young (of smallpox).

WILLIAMIIIOF ORANGE: 1650-1702. With Mary, daugher of James II, co-sovereign of England from 1689.

WINTERKING: see Frederick V .

WINTERQUEEN: see Stuart, Elizabeth .

WREN, CHRISTOPHER: 1632-1723. Prodigy, Natural Philosopher, and Architect, a member of the Experimental Philosophical Club and later Fellow of the Royal Society.

YORK, DUKE OF: The traditional title of whomever is next in line to the English throne. During much of this book, James, brother to Charles II.

DE LAZEUR: Eliza was created Countess de la Zeur by Louis XIV.

A work like this one hangs in an immense web of dependencies that cannot be done justice by a brief acknowledgments page. Such a project would be inconceivable were it not for the efforts of scholars and scientists dating back to the era of Wilkins and Comenius, and extending into the present day. Not to say as much would be unjust. But in a work of fiction, which necessarily strays from historical and scientific truth, acknowledgments can backfire. Serious scholars mentioned below should be applauded for their good work, never blamed for my tawdry divagations.

The project would not have happened it all were it not for serendipitous conversations several years ago with George Dyson and Steven Horst.

The following scholars (again in alphabetical order) have published work that was essential to the completion of this project. While eager to give them due credit, I am aware that they may be chagrined by my work’s many excursions from historical truth. Readers who want to know what really happened should buy and read their books, while blaming the errors herein on me: Julian Barbour, Gale E. Christianson, A. Rupert Hall, David Kahn, Hans Georg Schulte-Albert, Lee Smolin, Richard Westfall, D. T. Whiteside.

Particular mention must go to Fernand Braudel, to whose work this book may be considered a discursive footnote. Many other scholarly works were consulted during this project, and space does not permit mentioning them here. Of particular note is Sir Winston Spencer Churchill’s six-volume biography of Marlborough, which people who are really interested in this period of history should read, and people who think that I am too long-winded should weigh.

Special thanks to Bela and Gabriella Bollobas, Doug Carlston, and Tomi Pierce for providing me with access to places I could not have seen (Bollobas) or worked in (Carlston/Pierce) otherwise. George Jewsbury and Catherine Durandin and Hugo Durandin DeSousa provided timely assistance. Greg Bear lent me two books; I promise to return them! And for talking to me about gunpowder, and listening equably to the occasional rant about Alchemy, thanks to Marco Kaltofen, P. E., of the Natick Indian Plantation and Needham West Militia Companies.