Like in Hollin's Love Life and Countess Dolores, Die Kronenwächter addresses a fundamental political issue - the legitimization of power - using the example of the turning point around 1500. It explores the principle of restoration politics after 1815, which confirmed the claims of the old noble houses to power. In Die Kronenwächter, Arnim absurdly illustrates this principle by depicting a secret society working towards the re-inthronization of a past ruling family, the Staufer, in an effort to restore an exalted monarchy. Thus, the contemporary Staufer dreams were revealed as an illusion. This volume presents a work that is rediscovered as one of the great literary achievements of Romanticism, while also serving as an early and vivid testimony of the historical and legendary poetry that later became so popular.