This masterly novella into the period after the Battle of Pavia. The Pope and the Italian princes want to renounce the Emperor Charles V to unite Italy. Select the imperial generals Pescara to their leader, but try in vain to get him to drop by the emperor. In psychological struggle between honor, fame and love and his conscience and the sworn fealty he remains steadfast and resist the temptation. At the end he collapses dead.
To give an immediate insight into the key, read from Meyer source works, some inserts are printed from the works of Ranke and Gregorovius, also the history and detailed comments.