Conrad von Bolanden

Born Joseph Eduard Konrad Bischoff in the Palatinate on August 9, 1828, he became known by the pen name Conrad von Bolanden. He studied in Speyer and at the University of Munich, was ordained a Catholic priest in 1852, and served in the Diocese of Speyer before leaving parish office and devoting himself mainly to writing.

Bolanden became known for novels and romances written for ordinary readers rather than a scholarly audience. Reference works describe his fiction as vivid in conception and simple in style, and note that he often used his stories to argue openly for Catholic ideas. Among the works associated with him are A Wedding Trip, Queen Bertha, and Historical Tales of Frederick II.

He lived a long life that stretched from the revolutions of the 19th century into the modern era, dying on May 30, 1920. Today he is remembered chiefly as a German Catholic novelist whose historical fiction aimed to entertain, instruct, and defend the values he believed in.