Before we start taking apart identities and social boundaries during the European seventeenth century, we first need to put George Jenatsch's life together. What happened to him and around him during the tumultuous years from 1596 to 1639, and how did he experience these events? Answering such questions requires that we first look at the region and the time in which Jenatsch's life took place, and then recount the major events he participated in between his birth in 1596 and his murder by axe. Of course, even the simplest chronological list of events rests on assumptions about what the real turning points in a life were, for better or for worse. With a figure as ambivalent and complex as Jenatsch, trying to tell his story simply soon becomes quite complicated. Still, every story must start somewhere, and this one will begin with a place, a time, and a life.

Graubünden, the Three Leagues, and the Engadine

Jenatsch's life allows us to trace the boundaries of identity in early modern Europe in part because of the distinctive region where he lived, acted, and died. This region is known by several names, reflecting the diverse languages spoken by its inhabitants. All the common names reflect the region's political structure, though, and they all mean the same thing: the “Grey Leagues”—Graubünden in German, Grigioni in Italian, and Grischuns in Romansh. French speakers used their own version of the name, Grisons, which has also become the preferred version in England.