Here, from historian David Ross Campbell, are the extraordinary stories of five of the most important of the independent monarchs who ruled parts of Germany during the many centuries before it finally united into a single nation. From bloody battles to fairy-tale castles, from brutal madness to patronage of the arts, each of these kings—Otto the Great, Albert of Bavaria, Augustus the Strong, Frederick the Great, and Mad King Ludwig—played a vital role in creating the Germany that exists today.