RUPERT, or ROBERT, of Bavaria, PRI/4CE : b. Prague, 18 Dec. 1619; d. London, 29 Nov. 1682. He was the son of Frederick V, elector palatine and titular king of Bohemia, by the Princess Elizabeth of England, daughter of James I; was educated at Leyden and early engaged in military service in the Thirty Years' War. During the Civil War in England he had the command of a corps of cavalry, at the head of which he distinguished himself at the battle of Edgehill in 1642, at Chalgrove Field in 1643, and also at Marston Moor and at Naseby; but his impetuosity and imprudence contributed to the disastrous result of these latter engagements. In 1648 he was made com mander of that part of the fleet which still adhered to Charles. Prince Rupert for some time carried on a predatory warfare against the English; but in an engagement with Blake, off the Spanish coast, he was worsted, and his whole squadron destroyed, with the exception of four or five ships, with which he escaped to the West Indies, where he supported himself by capturing English and Spanish merchantmen.
Later he joined Charles II at the court of Ver sailles, where his time was chiefly devoted to scientific studies till the Restoration, when he returned to England. In 1664 he was appointed with Monk, to the command of a fleet against the Dutch, and in the next war with Holland, in 1673 was made admiral of the fleet. Many useful inventions resulted from his studies, among which are the invention of prince's metal, and although the discovery of the method of engraving in mezzotinto is not due to him, as was erroneously supposed, he introduced the art into England. He also introduced the curious glass drops that have been named after him, Prince Rupert's drops. He was likewise one of the founders and the first governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, incorporated in 1670, and a founder of the Royal Society. Rupert's Land (q.v.) was named after him.