Spectacular Marriages: Early Modern Festival Books and the 1568 Wedding of Wilhelm V of Bavaria and...

0274903 Spectacular Marriages | 1

Spectacular Marriages: Early Modern Festival Books and the

1568 Wedding of Wilhelm V of Bavaria and Renata of

Lorraine

History Dissertation, University of Edinburgh

Exam Number: 0274903

Supervisor: Dr Monica Azzolini

Word Count: 12,458

Date of Submission: 03 April 2012


Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge my supervisor Dr Monica Azzolini for her helpful advice, many

kind words and unending enthusiasm.


Table of Contents

Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 2

List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ 4

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 5

Chapter One

Drey Schöne und Lustige Bücher: Early Modern Festival Books ............................................ 10

Chapter Two

Theatrum der Selbst-Darstellung: Patronage Strategies at the Munich Court during the

Sixteenth Century ..................................................................................................................... 20

Chapter Three Hochzeit der beide Halbgötter: the 1568 Wedding Festival of Wilhelm V of Bavaria and

Renata of Lorraine .................................................................................................................... 28

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 38

Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................... 41

Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................................... 43

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 46

[Frontispiece: the coats of arms of Wilhelm V of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine. Detail from

the title page of H. Wagner’s Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung]


List of Figures

Figure 1: Pantalone serenading with a lute, next to him Zanni, detail from

Narrentreppe, mural by Padovano

p. 43

Figure 2: Kübelstechen on Marktplatz, engraving by Nikolas Solis p. 44

Figure 3: Kübelstechen, woodcut by anonymous p. 45


Introduction

Until the 1980s the rich resources of festival books were totally neglected and therefore it

is a relatively recent and very exciting field for scholars of social, cultural as well as political

history.1 These lavishly designed accounts enable historians not only to explore the self-

fashioning and image-making of early modern European courts but in case of this dissertation,

how and why dynastic unions were forged. I have chosen the 1568 wedding festival of

Wilhelm V of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine as the central event of this dissertation for two

reasons. Firstly, this wedding festival lends itself easily to analysis and interpretation as it is

highly unusual for an early modern court festival to have three different accounts or

Festbeschreibungen to commemorate it. The three primary sources that this dissertation is

based on are Massimo Troiano’s Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568 (The Munich

Ducal Wedding of 1568), Hans Wagner’s Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung (Short but

Authentic Description) and Heinrich Wirre’s Ordenliche Beschreybung (Careful Description).

These three sources are very different both in form and content and if they were to be

considered in isolation the reader would have a very lopsided view of the events. The number

of available sources enables us to get a much more detailed and accurate overview and insofar

as possible I have tried to juxtapose all three accounts to provide a comprehensive and

unbiased analysis. Secondly, in a sense this wedding is the epitome of an early modern court

festival, because it included almost every imaginable element from bridal entry and marriage

ceremony to tournaments, theatre performances and fencing demonstrations and the level of

cultural and artistic sophistication was extremely high.

It has to be reiterated that the pre-eminence of the Habsburgs within the Holy Roman

Empire was by no means a given, as their dominance on the imperial throne began only at the

1 See the pioneering article by H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Festival books in Europe from Renaissance to Rococo’,

The Seventeenth Century 3 (1988), pp. 181-201.


end of the fifteenth century.2 The Wittelsbach dynasty, on the other hand, dated back to at

least the twelfth century and Louis the Bavarian, the Holy Roman Emperor from 1328 to

1347, stemmed from the House of Wittelsbach.3 In the sixteenth century the Munich

Wittelsbachs clearly established themselves as a dynasty with imperial ambitions, and

Wilhelm’s father Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria took his son’s future marriage very seriously.4

Paula Sutter Fichtner has shown that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was ‘a

tendency toward repeated intermarriage among a restricted number of families’ in the ruling

dynasties of the Holy Roman Empire.5 Marrying within one’s rank or even into a higher rank

was highly desirable, as this was an essential precursor for maintaining or increasing one’s

own status and advancing the political, cultural and religious interests of one’s dominion.

Dynastic marriage was regulated by contracts, which were often subject to several years of

negotiation, and as the marriage ensured the continuation of a legitimate line of succession,

the potential partner was chosen with great care.6 Duchess Christina of Lorraine preferred a

marital union between Wilhelm and her younger daughter Dorothea, but a thorough physical

examination revealed that she had ‘einen Mangel an einem Schenkel’ and was thus declined

by Albrecht.7 Even the 100,000 extra gulden promised for Dorothea’s dowry made no

impression on Albrecht, although as will emerge from the second chapter of this dissertation,

he would have needed the money.

Religion was another constraint upon the forging of dynastic alliances. Due to the influence

of the Reformation, the courts developed a different ‘cultural and intellectual temper

2 H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, ’Literature and the court, 1450-1720’ in M. Reinhart (ed.) Early Modern German

Literature 1350-1700, p. 622. 3 A. M. Dahlem, The Wittelsbach Court in Munich: History and Authority in the Visual Arts (1460-1508) (PhD

thesis, Glasgow University, 2009), pp. 34-5, pp. 38-9. 4 S. Maxwell, The Court Art of Friedrich Sustris: Patronage in Late Renaissance Bavaria (Farnham, 2011), p.

147. 5 P. S. Fichtner, ‘Dynastic marriage in Habsburg diplomacy and statecraft: an interdisciplinary approach’, The

American Historical Review 81 (1976), p. 249. 6 B. Baader, Der Bayerische Renaissancehof Herzog Wilhelms V (Leipzig, 1943), pp. 28-32.

7 Ibid., p. 28.


according to the religion of the ruler’.8 The Munich Wittelsbachs played an important role in

the Counter-Reformation and envisaged themselves as the protectors of Catholic faith in

Europe north of the Alps.9 The re-alignment of European cultural and religious networks

meant that through dynastic marriages the Wittelsbach court in Munich aimed to reinforce its

ties with other Catholic courts, such as the imperial court in Vienna, northern Italian courts

and Spain. The Duchy of Lorraine was no aberration from this pattern, because similarly to

Bavaria, Lorraine became increasingly Catholic in the sixteenth century and belonged to a

league of Counter-Reformation states.10

Before Wilhelm’s sister Maria of Bavaria married

Archduke Karl of Inner Austria in 1571, there were talks about her marrying Henry of

Lorraine, Duke of Guise.11

At the end of the sixteenth century, close ties between Munich and

Nancy were once again reinforced through the marriage of Wilhelm’s son Maximilian I and

Elizabeth of Lorraine, the granddaughter of King Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici.12

In the 1970s Roy Strong identified the royal entry, the tournament and the indoor fête, a

hybrid genre often including actors, musicians and costumes, as the three primary forms of

court spectacle.13

More recently, Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly has elaborated on the early modern

court festivals and I have followed her differentiation between ceremonies and spectacles in

this dissertation. ‘Ceremonies are events that do not just demonstrate power relations in

symbolic fashion but actually bring power structures into being. Spectacles, on the other hand,

are theatrical events’ meant primarily for entertainment.14

Whereas royal entries, baptisms and

wedding ceremonies fall into the first category, the tournaments, fireworks displays, theatre

8 J. R. Mulryne, H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, M. Shewring (eds.), Europa Triumphans: Court and Civic Festivals in

Early Modern Europe, 2 vols (Aldershot and Burlington, 2004), vol 1, p. 5. 9 S. Maxwell, The Court Art of Friedrich Sustris, p. 33.

10 P. Choné, ‘Lorraine and Germany’ in A. Harper and I. Höpel (eds.), The German-Language Emblem in its

European context (Glasgow, 2000), p. 5. 11

K. Vocelka, Habsburgische Hochzeiten 1550-1600 Kulturgeschichtliche Studien zu anieristischen

e r sentations est (Vienna, 1976), p. 50. 12

D. Albrecht, Maximilian I von Bayern 1573-1651 (Munich, 1998), pp. 128-31. 13

See R. Strong, Splendour at Court: Renaissance Spectacle and Illusion (London, 1973), p. 19. 14

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Early modern European festivals – politics and performance, event and record’ in J. R.

Mulryne and E. Goldring (eds.), Court Festivals of the European Renaissance: Art, Politics and Performance

(Aldershot and Burlington, 2002), pp. 15-25.


and music performances and even the wedding feast can be regarded as spectacles. Although

the marriage ceremony itself falls into the first category, the Munich wedding festival of 1568

as a whole cannot be placed in either category, because the two-week celebration contained

both ceremonial and spectacular elements, with some events being accessible to a large

majority and others being accessible only to the highest nobility.

There is a reasonable amount of older German scholarship dedicated to sixteenth-century

court culture of the Wittelsbachs and the 1568 wedding festival.15

However, Anglo-American

scholarship has discussed only certain aspects of the festival within a specific context, such as

the early modern tournaments or the history of co edia dell’ arte, and an overall analysis is

so far lacking.16

This dissertation does not attempt to fill this gap, as the detailed discussion of

the whole wedding festival is beyond its scope. While the importance of bridal entry, wedding

ceremony and church Masses should not be downplayed, such ceremonies were ‘repeated

according to a pre-ordained pattern of words and gestures and always sanctioned by usage and

custom.’17

Thus, emphasis is placed on the spectacular elements of the wedding festival, such

as the wedding feast, the co edia dell’ arte performance and the tournaments, for it is in

these spectacles that we tend to find unique or innovative elements. Where possible,

comparisons have been made with another wedding festival, the 1571 wedding in Vienna of

Archduke Karl of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria. Karl Vocelka has argued that the 1568

wedding marks a high point in the specifically Bavarian Renaissance culture and therefore

occupies a much stronger position in Bavarian historiography and historic memory than does

15

See, for example B. Baader, Der Bayerische Renaissancehof Herzog Wilhelms V (Leipzig, 1943) and E.

Straub, e raesentatio Maiestatis oder hurbayerische Freuden este die hö ische Feste in der Münchner

Residenz vom 16. bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1969). 16

See for example H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, Triumphall Shews: Tournaments at German-speaking Courts in their

European Context, 1560-1730 (Mann, 1992) and M. A. Katritzky, The Art of Commedia: a Study in the

Co edia dell’Arte with S ecial e erence to the Visual ecords (Amsterdam, 2006). 17

Watanabe, ‘Early Modern European Festivals – Politics and Performance, Event and Record’, p. 15.


the 1571 wedding in the Austrian one.18

Hopefully, the reasons for this argument will emerge

in this dissertation.

The first chapter traces the historical development of the genre of festival book within the

Holy Roman Empire and the different purposes it came to serve in the sixteenth century. By

analysing the background of the authors of the three festival books with which this

dissertation is concerned, it will be revealed how each individual account was influenced by

the author’s background and expertise as well as the patron who commissioned the account.

Chapter two will provide the social and cultural background for the magnificent wedding

festival of 1568 through examining the patronage strategies of the Wittelsbach dukes during

the second half of the sixteenth century. Although none of the sixteenth-century rulers of

Bavaria should be underestimated as collectors and patrons of art, emphasis is placed on

Albrecht V, as his undertakings transformed the Munich court most radically and turned it

into a hub of learning and culture. That patronage had a profound influence on the level of

sophistication of the Munich wedding festival is revealed through Albrecht’s long-standing

patronage of Orlando di Lasso, who played a key role in organising its musical part. The

festival itself will be analysed through the three primary sources in the final chapter and for

previously mentioned purposes, emphasis is placed on the spectacular rather than the

ceremonial elements. It will emerge that although the 1568 wedding fits well into the general

tradition of early modern court festivals, by including elements with typically Bavarian

background as well as establishing a new theatrical tradition it was also unique and

innovative.

18

K. Vocelka, Habsburgische Hochzeiten 1550-1600, p. 55.


1

Drey Schöne und Lustige Bücher: Early Modern Festival Books

Diesen Bericht von Hochzeit und prunkvollen Festen,

Den du hier findest zum lob unseres bayrischen Herrn,

Nimm ihn mit freundlicher Huld, empfang ihn mit heiterer Miene,

Lies ihn auch, wenn du zuvor Galle und Zorn hast entleert.19

According to Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, currently the most authoritative historian of early

modern festival culture and festival books within the Holy Roman Empire, early modern

festival book had its origins in the illuminated manuscript tournament books of the Middle

Ages.20

The printed festival book first came into being in 1475, not long after the invention of

printing press; however, it did not become common until 1520s and 1530s.21 It was largely

thanks to Emperor Maximilian I and his efforts to immortalise his existence and record his life

to posterity that the tradition of illustrated festival book developed within the Holy Roman

Empire. During the first quarter of the sixteenth century Maximilian turned his life into a

series of three works, the Theuerdanck, the Weisskunig and the Freydal, in which he appeared

as a knight.22

Although these were not festival books, they established a tradition of book

illustration and even more importantly, established the printed book as one of the most

important forms of royal image-making. Since Italian festival culture led Europe in its

sophistication and had a profound influence on the development of court festivals in the Holy

Roman Empire, one would expect to find a similar tradition of illustrated festival books in

19

Apology of the printer in M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568. Massimo Troiano: Dialoge,

Italienisch, Deutsch., ed. and trans. by Horst Leuchtmann (Munich and Salzburg, 1980), p. 367. 20

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Literature and the court 1450-1720’, p. 642. 21

J. R. Mulryne, H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, M. Shewring (eds.), Europa Triumphans, vol 1, p. 6. 22

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Festival books in Europe from Renaissance to Rococo’, p. 182.


Italy.23

However, this is certainly not the case, as the festival books emanating from the

German-speaking courts far outshine the simple books produced by northern Italian courts.

Thus, it was not the sophistication of their festival culture but the development of printing and

the tradition of book illustration that established the illustrated festival books as an

inseparable part of German court festivals. Here, like in many other aspects of court culture,

the Munich court was at the forefront of innovation, as the tradition of fully illustrated festival

accounts began with Hans Wagner’s folio volume of the 1568 wedding festival.24

Festival books did not always strictly describe the events of a certain festival but were

often influenced by and borrowed from pre-established genres, such as works of heraldry,

genealogy and historic chronicles. This is exemplified well by the festival accounts that depict

the 1568 Munich wedding. The coats of arms of the noble families with which Heinrich

Wirre’s Ordenliche Beschreybung begins were clearly an influence from earlier

Wa enbücher, where both text and visual imagery played equally important roles.25

Additionally, his lengthy descriptions of different tournaments continued the tradition of

medieval tournament books.26

In Massimo Troiano’s account the Italian gentlemen Fortunio

and Marinio have a long discussion about the history of Bavaria, and Horst Leuchtmann has

traced these passages to the Bayerischen Chronik by Johannes Aventinus, which was

compiled in the 1520s but remained unpublished until 1566.27

Therefore, the festival book

was by no means a new and radically different genre, but developed out of and relied heavily

on a pre-established tradition.

It is very easy to take these festival books ‘at face value and to assume that their apparently

factual quality, their straightforward baldness, is the same thing as impartiality. This would be

23

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Literature and the court 1450-1720’, p. 636. 24

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Festival books in Europe from Renaissance to Rococo’, p. 184-5. 25

K. Vocelka, Habsburgische Hochzeiten 1550-1600, p. 34. 26

H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 37-fol. 52. 27

See H. Leuchtmann’s afterword in M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 444; A. R.

Gustafson, The Artistic Patronage of Albrecht V and the Creation of Catholic Identity in Sixteenth-Century

Bavaria (PhD thesis, Ohio University, 2011) p. 52.


a grave mistake.’28 Although the majority of them claim to be truthful, they were first and

foremost an instrument of court propaganda, meant to record the ephemeral festivals and their

magnificence both for the contemporaries and the future generations. Therefore, these

accounts often portray their patron, the ruler that commissioned the work, in the best possible

light and constantly pay tribute to him and his magnificence.29

Additionally, the three primary

sources analysed in this dissertation clearly served a further purpose that also explains the

emphasis on the ruler’s magnificence. Namely, by the middle of the fifteenth century the

Wittelsbachs had divided Bavaria into four duchies and only after the War of Landshut

Succession (1503-5) were the two remaining Duchies of Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-

Landshut reunified under Duke Albrecht IV, grandfather of Duke Albrecht V.30

Even sixty

years later these accounts emphasised the legitimacy of the Munich Wittelsbachs in Bavaria

and linked the past to the present through identifying them with Bavarian history.31

The official account of the 1568 wedding festival of Wilhelm V of Bavaria and Renata of

Lorraine was written at the behest of Duke Albrecht V by Hans (also Johann or Johannes)

Wagner, a Kanzleibeamten at the Munich court.32 His Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung is

a chronological description of the wedding festival. Unlike Heinrich Wirre’s rhymed verse or

Massimo Troiano’s dialogue, both discussed below, Wagner’s prose description provides a

systematic overview of the Munich court personnel and the wedding guests: what their names

are, how many horses they have, what is their occupation or function and so forth.33

28


See for example M. Troiano Die Münchner Füstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 93. According to Fortunio, the most

illustrious Albrecht V was created by God so that he could save the music that had become so vile and depraved

on earth. 30

A. R. Gustafson, The Artistic Patronage of Albrecht V, p. 46; A. M. Dahlem, The Wittelsbach Court in

Munich, p. 68. 31

See M. Troiano’s Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568 for an extensive overview of Bavarian history

where Bavarian rulers are linked to Roman emperors, especially pp. 47-53. In his description of Frauenkirche,

Heinrich Wirre mentions the gravestone of Louis the Bavarian, the Holy Roman Emperor from the House of

Wittelsbach, who was buried in Frauenkirche. See Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 31v. 32

H. Leuchtmann in M. Troiano Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 430, Wagner, Kurtze doch

gegründte beschreibung, fol. 3v. 33

Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung , fol. 4-30v.


Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that Wagner had been in Albrecht’s service for a

considerable period of time, was well informed of the happenings at the court and had access

to documents concerning the wedding festivities. Although earlier German scholarship tended

to categorise Wagner’s account, like Wirre’s, as a Pritschenmeisterdruck, this is certainly

untrue, because not only was his occupation entirely different, his description differs both in

form and content from Wirre’s.34 On the other hand, similarly to Wirre Wagner mentioned

parts of the festival such as the music, the co edia dell’ arte performance and the great

wedding feast only in passing. The inclination of both authors towards the tournaments is not

only revealed by their detailed descriptions but by the fact that in Wagner’s account seven

engravings of the fifteen are of the tournaments and notwithstanding the coats of arms, in

Wirre’s account the woodcuts solely depict the tournaments.

Educated in theology and liberal arts, Hans Wagner appears to have been an experienced

writer with wide-ranging interests.35

In 1574 he wrote his second wedding account

commemorating the wedding of Duke Philipp Ludwig of Pfalz-Neuburg and Duchess Anna of

Jülich, Cleve and Berg in Neuburg.36 However, his other works are far more revealing about

his personality. In 1571 he wrote a tract called Positiones Logicae, Physicae et Metaphysicae

together with Jesuit Paul Vizanus, and in 1591 a funeral elegy called Elegia Funebris ad

Carolum Palatinum Rheni.37

His final pamphlet, titled Ursachen warumb Johannes Wagner

die newen Formulam Concordiae der Augspurgischen Confession verlassen unnd die alt

ö isch Christliche Con ession und Glauben angeno en and written in 1595, is of greatest

interest, because it appears to be a personal justification for his decision to convert from

Lutheranism to Catholicism. Although the Munich court is not mentioned directly in the short

34


H. Wagner, Ursachen warumb, fol. A1r. 36


H. Wagner and P.Vizanus, Positiones Logicae, Physicae et Metaphysicae (Ingolstadt, 1571); H. Wagner,

Elegia Funebris ad Carolum Palatinum Rheni 1591 (Frankfurt, 1591).


work, Wagner’s case might provide a telling example of the strengthening of Catholicism and

Catholic ideology at the Munich court, discussed in the following chapter. The exact time of

his conversion is unknown but perhaps he felt the pressure to convert to Catholicism in 1560s

in order to pursue or continue his career at Albrecht’s court.

According to Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, Heinrich Wirre or Wirrich was one of the most

well-known Pritschenmeister of the second half of the sixteenth century. Karl Vocelka has

defined the profession of Pritschenmeister as follows:

Pritschenmeister waren eine im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert verbreitete Klasse von

Gelegenheits- und Stegrei dichtern, die bei hö ischen und bürgerlichen Festlichkeiten

als Sprecher auftraten . . . Ein Pritschenmeister war also eine Art Festordner,

S aßmacher und Festpoet.38

In addition to the Festbeschreibung commemorating the wedding of Wilhelm and Renata,

three other accounts by him are known from the 1560s and 1570s, of the coronation of

Maximilian II as King of Hungary and Croatia in 1563, of a shooting contest held in Vienna

at Maximilian’s behest in 1568, and the wedding account commemorating the 1571 wedding

in Vienna of Archduke Karl of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria.39 Apparently, by the

1560s it was already a renowned occupation, for Wirre identifies himself as ‘obrister

Pritschenmeister inn Osterreich’ on the first page of his account.40

Therefore, he actively

sought to advertise his skills and maintain his reputation and was definitely more professional

as a writer of festival accounts than either Wagner or Troiano.

Both M. A. Katritzky and Susan Maxwell have suggested that Heinrich Wirre’s patron was

Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, the younger brother of Emperor Maximilian II.41

According to

38

Vocelka, Habsburgische Hochzeiten 1550-1600, p. 33. 39

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly and A. Simon (eds.), Festivals and Ceremonies. A Bibliography of Printed Works

relating to Court, Civic and Religious Festivals in Europe 1500-1800 (London, 2000), p. 6. 40

H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. A1r. 41

M. A. Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, p. 46; S. Maxwell, ‘A marriage commemorated in the Stairway of

Fools’, The Sixteenth Century Journal, 36 (2005), p. 734.


Karl Vocelka, however, Ferdinand had a personal Pritschenmeister, the renowned Lienhart

Flexel.42 More importantly, there is direct evidence that Wirre wrote Ordenliche

Beschreybung for the Emperor, because it begins with his address to the Emperor, whom he

calls ‘Groß chtigister/ Durchleuchtigister/ Unüberwindtlichister Kaiser’.43

Archduke

Ferdinand would have undoubtedly been aware of Wirre and his earlier account of the

coronation of his older brother; however, he attended the wedding festival personally and if he

knew his brother had already commissioned Wirre’s account, perhaps he thought it

unnecessary to request his own Pritschenmeister to write up a similar account. Additionally,

in the closing lines of the 1571 wedding account Wirre asserts that as long as he lives, he will

serve the Emperor.44 Therefore, it is very likely Wirre was commissioned not by Ferdinand

but by the Emperor, who was unable to attend the festivities personally.

It is worth mentioning that Wirre was aware of the fact that Duke Albrecht had

commissioned Wagner to write the so-called official Festbeschreibung. Namely, Wirre

concludes his account with yet another apology for his unpolished verses but assures the

readers, ‘Den Thurnier wie er ist triben/ Wurde in ain Chronick geschriben./ Mit sampt der

Fürstlichen hochzeit/ Wie gwesen sei all ding bereit.‘45

Thus, although there was no conscious

plan to publish two accounts that would parallel each other like it was done three years later in

Vienna, Wirre was aware that his account could not rival Wagner’s in its detail and

preciseness and he consciously aimed to do something different. Evidently, his knowledge

about the wedding guests was much more limited than Wagner’s because his narrator relies

heavily on other people to introduce him to different nobles; we can only imagine how

pleased the nobles must have been to discover that they were known well enough to be

42


H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. A2r. 44


H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 52v.


mentioned in the account.46

Thus, Wirre’s aim was not to note everything down exactly as it

was but to convey the jovial atmosphere and give a taste of overwhelming magnificence that

surrounded him.

Four explanations can be offered for Wirre’s disregard of the wedding feast, music and

theatre and his emphasis on the tournaments. As the Pritschenmeister were often employed as

heralds or masters of ceremonies at the courtly festivals and especially tournaments, it can be

speculated that Wirre might have been involved somehow in the Munich tournaments.47

In

that case, he was able to see everything personally and narrate it with great vivaciousness.

Unfortunately, his account is written from the perspective of a relatively naïve unknown

narrator and therefore provides no direct evidence for that assumption. Secondly, Wirre must

have taken into consideration his patron’s tastes, and perhaps the Emperor was mostly

interested in tournaments. Thirdly, even though it might have been as spectators, more people

had access to the tournaments and the audience towards whom this account was aimed would

have been more interested in the tournaments as well. Fourthly, whether or not he was

involved in the organisation of the Munich tournaments, Wirre’s expertise in them was

undoubtedly the profoundest and like Massimo Troiano, he simply chose to focus on what he

knew best.

Duke Albrecht V decided to increase the size of his Hofkapelle for the 1568 wedding

festival and it is because of him that Massimo Troiano arrived in Munich early in 1568.48

Besides the fact that he originated from Naples, little is known of his background and life

before he arrived in Munich, but his awareness of classical mythology and literature reveals

that he must have received at least some formal education. It is most impressive that Troiano,

who spoke no German, won Wilhelm’s affection and support so quickly that the latter

46

Ibid., fol. 14v, fol. 23v. 47


H. Leuchtmann in M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 429. For an overview of what is

known about Troiano’s life, his activities at the Munich court and a detailed analysis of his festival account, see

pp. 428-64.


commissioned Troiano to write an account of his wedding and that Troiano continued in

Wilhelm’s service when the newlyweds moved to Trausnitz Castle in Landshut.

Unfortunately, his promising career as a musician and potentially fruitful patron-client

relationship with Wilhelm was cut short in 1570 when he disappeared after having murdered a

fellow court musician.49

Troiano’s account is written in the form of a dialogue between two Italian gentlemen, a

literary form very much favoured by Humanists throughout Europe at the time.50 Fortunio,

having been present at the wedding festival retells the events to Marinio, who supplements the

dialogue with general knowledge about Bavarian history, family trees and poetry.51

By

borrowing from the Bayerische Chronik of Johannes Aventinus the passages that discuss the

history of Bavaria and the Wittelsbach dynasty, Troiano’s account goes beyond the typical

chronicle-style festival books.52

Additionally, Troiano also borrowed from the panegyric

entitled Principum Boiariorum et Palatinorum Sylvula, written by a German lawyer and

scholar Nikolaus Reusner for the same wedding.53

This type of wedding oratory, written in

the tradition of ancient epithalamium or panegyric, was revived during the fifteenth century in

Italian courts and often employed during courtly wedding ceremonies.54

It is important to

emphasise that Troiano’s account contrasts the accounts of Wagner and Wirre, because he had

little idea of the workings of tournaments, but he was exceptionally detailed in his discussions

of food, music, musicians at Albrecht’s court, the theatrical performances and the gifts

presented to the bride.

Whereas the accounts of Wagner and Wirre were aimed towards German readers,

Troiano’s Italian account, translated into Castilian the following year, was clearly intended to

49

Ibid., p. 429. 50


See for example M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, pp. 35-55. 52

H. Leuchtmann, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 444-5; for the parts that Troiano borrowed from

Aventinus, see ibid., pp. 35-41. 53

Ibid., p. 51, p. 55; for the same extracts in N. Reusner see Principum Boiariorum et Palatinorum Sylvula:

accessit Epithalamium in Nuptias . . . Guilhelmi boiard. (Lauingen, 1568), fol. L4r, fol. M4r, fol. N1v. 54

A. D’Elia, The Renaissance of Marriage in Fifteenth-Century Italy (London, 2004), p. 35.


introduce the magnificence of the Munich court to the rest of Europe. The extracts about

Bavarian history mentioned in the previous paragraph were evidently a necessary addition for

a foreign audience. The account was clearly meant to be biased, as its aim was to portray the

Bavarian dukes as benevolent patrons of culture and the wedding festivities as an exceptional

masterwork where no expense was spared. Although the account contains many mistakes,

compared to both Wagner and Wirre’s relatively dry and repetitive accounts, Troiano’s

Festbeschreibung has a sense of unity and richness. It is entertaining and at times humorous

even to the modern reader, although here a great deal is owed to Horst Leuchtmann’s high-

quality translation. Interestingly, both the 1568 Munich edition and the Venetian edition

printed a year later are exceptionally modest in their design, because there is no illustrative

material depicting the festivities and the only decoration in the Venetian edition is Troiano’s

portrait.55

An interesting comparison can be drawn between the Munich accounts and the festival

accounts written for the 1571 Vienna wedding. Robert Lindell has suggested that both official

accounts for the Vienna wedding, the Latin prose description in manuscript form and the

printed German account in verse were so closely related that they were undoubtedly planned

as parallel publications to reach a wider audience.56

There was no such consideration behind

the wedding accounts of 1568 but nonetheless they seem to have fulfilled a similar purpose

successfully. Both Wagner and Wirre wrote their accounts in German for their German

patrons, but Troiano’s account was written in Italian for two reasons: he did not know any

German and his intention was to introduce the Munich court to the rest of Europe. For this

purpose, a second edition was published in 1569 in Venice that had the Italian original text on

the verso sides and a Castilian translation on the recto sides. From a note by a certain Alfonso

55

For the 1568 Munich edition see M. Troiano, Discorsi delli triomfi, giostre, apparati, é delle cose piu notabile

atte nelle Nozze dell’ Illustrissi o e eccellentissi o Signor Duca Gugliel o (Munich, 1568). 56

R. Lindell, ‘The wedding of Archduke Charles and Maria of Bavaria in 1571’, Early Music 18 (1990), p. 254.


Ulloa emerges that Troiano himself wanted the work to be translated into Castilian.57

It

remains unclear whether the translation was dedicated to anybody in particular, but the

Bavarians were on good terms with the Spanish and a representative of King Philip II was

also present at the wedding.58

Therefore, there can be no doubt that as a result of Troiano’s

Italian account and the Castilian translation the splendour of the Munich wedding festival and

by extension the Munich court as a whole became available for a significantly larger

audience.

In summary, the illustrated festival book developed in the Holy Roman Empire because of

the printing tradition and was a continuation of earlier traditions of heraldic, genealogical and

historical writing. As the analysis of the three primary sources reveals, these accounts were

usually biased and their viewpoint depended on who had commissioned the account as well as

how well the author was acquainted with different aspects of the festival. Occasionally, two or

more accounts were commissioned for one festival with the intention of making them

available to a wider audience. Although there was no such motive behind the three accounts

that commemorate the Munich wedding, these three accounts nonetheless served this purpose

successfully, as in addition to two accounts in German Massimo Troiano’s Festbeschreibung

was written in Italian and later translated into Castilian.

57

M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 356. 58

H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 29r; H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschbreybung, fol. 21r.


2

Theatrum der Selbst-Darstellung: Patronage Strategies at the Munich

Court during the Sixteenth Century

Uns zieret auch sein Verdienst; so soll er it tönender Sti e

echtens uns Chor ührer sein, göttlicher Musenregent.

Nimmermehr endendes Lob von unseren Lippen erschalle:

Albrecht von Bayern vivat! Lang lebe Albrecht! Vivat!59

Adam Gustafson has suggested that as Bavaria was united into one duchy only at the

beginning of the sixteenth century, prior to Duke Albrecht V patronage was mostly concerned

with the political aim of portraying the Munich Wittelsbachs as legitimate rulers of Bavaria

and ‘maintaining the family’s acceptance by the larger structure of Bavarian society.’60

Although by the 1560s the threat of geographic division was not imminent, emphasis on the

dynastic legitimacy of the Munich Wittelsbachs is still visible in the three wedding accounts

of 1568.61

Albrecht V was responsible for ‘the creation of the splendid court establishment’,

whereby the Munich court increased both in size and sophistication.62

Because of the imperial

ambitions mentioned in the introduction Albrecht’s primary objective was to enhance his

reputation and rival the imperial court in Vienna through aggressive collecting strategies and

patronage of artists, architects and musicians from all over Europe. Not only did Munich

become one of the most important courts in Europe in the later sixteenth century, it became a

59

A poem by Nicolò Stopio in M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 99. 60

A. R. Gustafson, The Artistic Patronage of Albrecht V, p. 42. 61

See footnote 31 of this dissertation. 62

R. Babel, ‘The Courts of the Wittelsbachs c. 1500-1750’, in J. Adamson (ed.), Princely Courts of Europe, p.

190; between 1508 and 1571 the membership of the Munich court grew from 162 to 866 members, see D.

Albrecht, Maximilian I von Bayern 1573-1651, p. 37.


truly European court itself. ‘One of the unique aspects of this particular place and time is its

international style, which defies categories of country and court.’63

What really made Albrecht V stand out from other noble collectors of the sixteenth century

was that rather than imitating somebody else’s collections or collecting strategies, he led the

innovation. In the 1560s he commissioned a separate building for his Kunstkammer and

Antiquarium and by doing that essentially founded the first two museums north of the Alps.64

By creating an individual space for his collection he went beyond the imperial Kunstkammer

in Vienna, because although the latter was founded slightly earlier, it was housed in a less

suitable building.65

This reveals that in addition to amassing a huge collection of valuables,

Albrecht also thought about how it was best to house his collection so that it would be

aesthetically pleasing both to himself and his guests. What also differentiated the Munich

collection from the Habsburg Kunstkammern in Salzburg, Prague and Vienna was the

important role of Bavaria in the collection through the display of such objects as town models

and topographical presentation of the duchy’s five largest towns.66

It is difficult to say

whether it had been Albrecht’s intention from the beginning, but it underlines the fact that he

considered the Duchy of Bavaria to be as important as the exotic objects from Mexico or the

Far East and presented it to his guests as a vital part of his collection. Finally, in his will

Albrecht established his collections as inalienable household treasures.67

This meant that the

collection was ensured continuity within the ducal household and would serve as a display of

the knowledge and wealth of all the future Wittelsbach dukes.

63

S. Maxwell, ‘The pursuit of art and pleasure in the secret grotto of Wilhelm V of Bavaria’, Renaissance

Quarterly 61 (2008), p. 423. 64

S. Maxwell, The Court Art of Friedrich Sustris, p. 4. 65

L. Zeelig, ‘The Munich Kunstkammer, 1565-1807’ in O. Impey and A. MacGregor (eds.), The Origins of

Museums: the Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-century Europe (Oxford, 1985), p. 81. 66

Ibid., p. 84. 67

Ibid., p. 77.


The whole complex was meant to not just house the ducal collection but to be shown to

princes, ambassadors, artists and academics interested in them.68

Although the collection was

housed in purpose-built rooms, there seems to have been no systematic organisation of objects

within these rooms; instead, ‘on entering the princely Kunstkammer, the visitor was to obtain

an overall impression of the objects, which were distributed in lavish abundance.’69

Thus,

here too the primary purpose of the collection was not to catalogue the valuables and organise

them according to a chronological or a geographical principle but rather to display the ducal

wealth publicly and overwhelm the onlooker. Albrecht’s significance as a patron and collector

was enhanced further by his artistic advisor Samuel Quiccheberg, who dedicated his

Inscriptiones vel tituli theatre amplissimi, a ground-breaking treatise on museology and

collecting, to Albrecht.70

This, together with the innovations in the physical space of

Albrecht’s collections, also put the Munich court at the forefront of debates about the nature

of art and knowledge.71

Until the end of the sixteenth century the ducal collections were more

or less accessible to everyone interested in them, which means that a significant number of

people would have seen them.72

The splendour and sophistication of the Munich court thus

spread across Europe and its reputation as a hub for knowledge and learning increased

considerably. Antoine Schnapper has disapproved of the uncritical approach that every act of a ruler

served the purpose of demonstrating the power and wealth of the prince in the eyes of his

subjects, of foreigners and of posterity. Instead, he argues, the culture represented in

collections like the Kunstkammer was that of scientific curiosity and utility.73

Although this

approach poses an alternative argument for princely patronage and collection, at the Munich

68

Ibid., p. 79. 69

Ibid., p. 81. 70

S. Maxwell, The Court Art of Fridrich Sustris p. 4. 71

Ibid., p. 9. 72

R. Babel, ‘The Courts of the Wittelsbachs c. 1500-1750’, p. 192. As part of the concept of his role as

sovereign Wilhelm’s son Maximilian I decided to withhold his artistic possessions from the public eye. 73

T. DaCosta Kaufmann, The Mastery of Nature: Aspects of Art, Science and Humanism in the Renaissance

(Princeton, 1993), p. 176.


court scientific curiosity and utility considerations seem to have taken a back seat. Although

housed in a special building, Albrecht’s collections were not catalogued or displayed

systematically. Secondly, the collection of scientific devices in the Munich collections was

very unimpressive and Albrecht took a personal interest in antique statues, precious stones

and jewellery, in other words objects that had aesthetic value but no immediate utility.74

Moreover, Albrecht relied heavily on a circle of dealers and art collectors to make the

necessary additions to his collections; however, their expertise varied greatly and so it was

impossible to ensure consistent quality of his collection. On the one side was the imperial

Antiquarius Jacopo Strada, on the other side was Otto von Truchsess, the Cardinal-Bishop of

Augsburg, who had a profound interest in arts and sculpture yet had no problem with sawing

statues into pieces when it facilitated better transportation.75

Thus, it seems this alternative

approach does not explain Albrecht’s collecting strategies, which emphasised quantity rather

than quality and physical appearance rather than usefulness.

In addition to collecting expensive and rare artefacts, patronage was one of the most

important means of early modern rulers to enhance the reputation of themselves and their

court. In retrospect, the most important achievement for Duke Albrecht V was undoubtedly

the arrival of Orlando di Lasso in Munich in 1557, where he remained until his death in

1594.76

Sharon Kettering, who has written extensively on patronage in early modern France,

has defined this type of relationship as fidelity clientage; unlike ordinary clientage, the most

common type of patron-client relationship in early modern Europe, it was more informal,

affectionate and longer lasting.77

Just how intimate their relationship was is revealed by a

private gift presented to Albrecht V by di Lasso in 1570, a compilation called Penitential

74

L. Zeelig, ‘The Munich Kunstkammer, 1565-1807’, p. 82, p. 85. 75

S. Maxwell, The Court Art of Friedrich Sustris, p. 4; N. M. Overbeeke, ‘Cardinal Otto von Truchsess von

Waldburg and his role as art dealer for Albrecht V of Bavaria (1568-1573)’, Journal of the History of Collections

6 (1994), p. 177. 76

C. Wearing, ‘Orlandus Lassus (1532-1594) and the Munich Kapelle’, Early Music 10 (1982), p. 147. 77

S. Kettering, ’Friendship and clientage in early modern France’, French History 6 (1992), p. 146.


Psalms, which took twelve years to complete. The result, with intricate miniatures painted by

Hans Mielich, is regarded as one of the most expensive music books ever produced.78

Albrecht reciprocated before his death in 1579 and ensured a lifetime salary for di Lasso.

Moreover, the Wittelsbachs continued the patronage of di Lasso’s family for the next two

generations.79

Although this type of relationship was an exception rather than a rule in the

patronage strategies of early modern Europan rulers, Orlando di Lasso’s talent and his

friendship with both Albrecht and Wilhelm caused the transformation of a purely business

relationship into something more equal and unofficial.

Di Lasso’s contribution towards the 1568 wedding festival cannot be overemphasised. Iain

Fenlon has suggested that Wilhelm and Renata’s wedding was one of the most elaborate

festivals of sixteenth century in terms of musical provision.80

In this light, it is very interesting

that not all contemporaries perceived it to be of such importance; Hans Wagner scarcely

mentions music in his account and Heinrich Wirre ignores it altogether. The discussion of

musical entertainments during the wedding is only preserved through Massimo Troiano’s

account.81

It is evident that di Lasso played a major part in the entertainments, because not

only was he a composer, conductor, singer and instrumentalist, he also had time to create and

perform in a co edia dell’ arte performance, which will be discussed in the following

chapter of this dissertation. On the other hand, although Troiano mentions a seven-voice

motet, a six-voice mass and a further eight-voice mass by di Lasso, he is not specific about

how many of these di Lasso wrote specifically for the wedding.82

It is clear, however, that

without di Lasso’s contribution the wedding festival would have been average, at best.

78


Ibid., p. 60. 80


For Troiano’s detailed description of Albrecht’s musical patronage and his Hofkapelle, see M. Troiano, Die

Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, pp. 95-111. 82

Ibid., p. 139, p. 175, p. 239.


During the sixteenth century there was ‘a distinct shift in the way that religion was

presented and promoted at the Wittelsbach court in Munich, and disregarding the

collaboration of government and religion in this region during this time fails to capture many

of the innovations of Albrecht V.’83

Early on in his reign Albrecht had been at best a half-

hearted Catholic and his patronage strategies had had very little or no religious motivation.

For example, he named Ludwig Daser, the openly Protestant singer as Kapellmeister in 1552

and it has been suggested that his later dismissal might have had more to do with making

room for Orlando di Lasso’s talent than with Daser’s religious beliefs.84

However, by the late

1560s there was a strong Catholic identity emerging at the Munich court. Massimo Troiano’s

wedding account closely links Albrecht’s patronage activities with the preordained fate that

God had given him.85

Moreover, the 1568 wedding festival also displayed a sense of

heightened religiosity; at least five Masses were heard, every Sunday during the festival and

also on February 21 and 23.86

Additionally, whereas in the 1550s the relationship between

Albrecht V and the Jesuits had been complicated, in 1568 they were cordially received at the

festivities where they performed one of their plays.87

Significantly, unlike the commedia

performance, the Jesuit play about the life of Samson is mentioned in all three wedding

accounts.88

In 1577 the Jesuit priest Petrus Canisius dedicated his defence of Virgin Mary, De Maria

virgine incomparabili to Albrecht and Wilhelm, whom he praised heavily in the introduction

for their piety.89

In light of the lavish lifestyle Wilhelm led at Trausnitz Castle, his religious

83

A. R. Gustafson, The Artistic Patronage of Albrecht V, p. 35; for an overview of Catholic confessionalisation

in Bavaria and church and religious reforms see D. Albrecht, Maximilian I von Bayern 1573-1651, pp. 74-86. 84


M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 93-5. 86

H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol 32r, fol. 34r, fol. 38v, fol. 56v, fol. 64r. 87


H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 54r; H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 45r; M.

Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, pp. 255-9. 89

D. Crook, Orlando di Lasso’s I itation Magni icats or Counter-Reformation Munich (Princeton, 1994), p.

69.


transformation in the 1570s is even more remarkable.90

Under the influence of the Jesuits

Wittelsbach patronage shifted during the second half of the sixteenth century from the support

of artists whose works celebrated the political greatness of the Wittelsbach family to the

creation of religious art ‘that was intended for mass public consumption by every level of

Bavarian society.’91

On the other hand, these two types of patronage were not mutually

exclusive, as is exemplified by the Jesuit St. Michael’s Church in Munich, ‘one of the greatest

religious monuments of the Counter-Reformation.’92

Commissioned by Wilhelm V and built

between 1583 and 1597, the dynastic ambitions of the Wittelsbachs are manifested on the

façade:

Wilhelm occupies the same row as the four Holy Roman emperors. A direct line from

God at the apex of the church locates the source of his legitimacy and leadership in the

battle against heresy. In order to further demonstrate his worthiness as such a patron,

Wilhelm turned the façade of the church into an ancestral family tree which invoked his

biological heritance as well as his spiritual one.93

Therefore, in St. Michael’s Church Wilhelm explicitly linked his patronage strategies and

especially religious patronage with his political and dynastic aims.

Unfortunately, the collecting activities and patronage of arts and architectural work went

hand in hand with immense debts and by the end of Albrecht’s reign the duchy was almost

bankrupt.94

As Albrecht was determined to surpass the 1565 wedding of Francesco de’ Medici

and Johanna of Austria, the youngest daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I, the wedding festivals

he organised for his son Wilhelm in 1568 and his daughter Maria in 1571 left a gaping hole in

the duchy’s budget, because as will emerge from the following chapter, no expense was

90

B. Baader, Der Bayericshe Renaissancehof Herzog Wilhelms V, especially pp. 51-121 provide a good

overview of Wilhelm’s life at Trausnitz Castle from 1568 to 1579. 91


S. Maxwell, The pursuit of art and pleasure in the secret grotto of Wilhelm V of Bavaria’, p. 424. 93

S. Maxwell, The Court Art of Friedrich Sustris, p. 112-4. 94

Ibid., p. 6.


spared in these magnificent displays of power and cultural sophistication.95

Wilhelm managed

no better than his father and his spendthrift lifestyle led him to a financial catastrophe in 1575,

which provoked a nearly fatal physical collapse.96

His desperation is exemplified by the case

of a self-proclaimed Cypriot alchemist Marco Bragadino, who was executed rather

ineffectively in April 1591 after he had failed to make gold for Wilhelm.97

Wilhelm’s debts

and inability to rule efficiently led to his early abdication in favour of his son Maximilian,

allowing him and Renata to lead a more religious and ascetic lifestyle they both desired.98

Thus, although the previous discussion has revealed that both Albrecht and Wilhelm were

avid collectors and patrons and realised the important role of systematic art politics in courtly

image-making, they lacked the skills to develop and maintain a system that would have been

financially feasible.

95

For the cost of 1568 wedding festival see M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 333 and p.

416. 96

D. Crook, Orlando di Lasso’s I itation Magni icats, p. 70. 97

T. Nummedal, Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire (Chicago, 2007), pp. 147-8. 98

From 1593 to 1597 Wilhelm and Maximilian ruled jointly and in 1597 the official document of abdication was

signed. See D. Albrecht, Maximilian I von Bayern, 1573-1651, pp. 123-4.


3

Hochzeit der beide Halbgötter: The 1568 Wedding Festival of Wilhelm

V of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine

17. Februar 1568! Überall Frost und Schnee, verschal ene Bauernh user, vor den

Poststationen ürrische Hausknechte, it Winterkotzen und Pudelhauben. I Gebirge

sind alle Strassen verweht und i Wald bl st der böh ische Wind . . . Und trotzde

reiten und ahren von allen Hi elsgegenden die Festg ste der Stadt München zu . . .

in München wird n h lich Hochzeit ge eiert – die Hochzeit des bayerischen Erbprinzen

Wilhelm mit der Prinzessin Renata von Lothringen. 99

The guests were an essential part of every early modern festival. They began to arrive in

Munich on February 17 not merely to see the festival and pay their respects to the happy

couple but to be seen themselves.100

The wedding festival served the guests with the purpose

of displaying their wealth through such things as their wedding entourage, the gifts they

presented to the bride and clothing.101

In the 1568 festival accounts descriptions of clothing

occupied an important position for two reasons. Firstly, it was a means to display one’s wealth

and thus revealed the wearer’s socioeconomic standing. That Renata and Wilhem were the

two most important people was emphasised through their clothes; they were from the best

brocades, velvets and silks, woven through with gold or silver threads and richly decorated

with shining pearls and precious stones.102

Nicolò Stopio described Renata and Wilhelm as

99

B. Hubensteiner, quoted in K. Vocelka, Habsburgische Hochzeiten 1550-1600, p. 62. 100

For a detailed chronology of the whole wedding festival, see the Appendix of this dissertation. 101

M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, pp. 203-9. Troiano compiled a detailed list of the gifts

presented to the bride, adding the price of each gift. Apparently, price was more important than originality, as

Renata received at least ten necklaces. 102

M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, pp. 115-7; H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte

beschreibung, fol. 37r.


‘zwei Sonnen am irdischen Himmel’ and truthfully, he could not have been far off the mark.103

Secondly, clothing also served the symbolic purpose of displaying political support. For

example, when Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol arrived from Innsbruck with his company,

everyone was wearing white, yellow and crimson feathers on their hats.104

As these were the

colours of the House of Lorraine, this was clearly meant as a gesture of acknowledgement and

respect.

Much like now, eating and feasting were at the core of Renaissance weddings. The

wedding feast was held on February 22 in St. George’s Hall, the first of Neuveste’s Fests le

that was built between 1558 and 1562 specifically for court festivities.105

However, only in

Massimo Troiano’s account is the actual feast described in detail, perhaps because he had a

good overview from the minstrels’ gallery and because the meals were closely interconnected

with music, undoubtedly the most important aspect for him.106

Wagner touches upon the

exotic confectionery and lists all ‘Schaw und ander künstlich ge achte Essen’, while Wirre

briefly mentions the sugar sculptures.107

Instead, their accounts focus on the dance that

followed afterwards.108

It is evident that not all of them were present at the feast, because they

disagree about one of the most important aspects of the feast, namely the guests who were

seated in the central table with the bridal couple.109

The feast consisted of at least ten courses

and each course was accompanied by entertainments that the guests were able to both hear

and see. For example, during the first course the guests looked at three magnificent ships that

103


Ibid., p. 23. 105

S. J. Klingensmith, C. F. Otto and M. Ashton (eds.), The Utility of Splendor: Ceremony, Social Life and

Architecture at the Court of Bavaria, 1600-1800 (Chicago, 1993), p. 24. 106

For the detailed description of the wedding feast see M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568,

pp. 123-63. 107

H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 66; H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 55r. 108

H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 36-7; H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 34. 109

H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 35r; H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 33v; M.

Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, pp. 131-3. H. Leuchtmann considers the list provided by

Troiano the most credible, see ibid., p. 396.


depicted the ten ages of man, while listening to seven-voice motets by Orlando di Lasso.110

Thus, the great wedding feast was a spectacle in itself and its purpose was not simply to feed

the guests but to satisfy and overwhelm their every sense.

It is generally agreed that the play put on by Orlando di Lasso and Massimo Troiano

during Wilhelm and Renata's wedding festival was probably the first co edia dell’ arte

performed north of the Alps, as from the 1570s onwards travelling troupes of professional

Italian actors introduced co edia dell’ arte to northern European courts.111

It is therefore

remarkable that the play was put on by members of the court of Albrecht V who were

complete amateurs: Orlando di Lasso was a composer, Massimo Troiano a singer in the choir

and Giovanni Battista Scolari a goldsmith from Trent.112

According to Troiano, the nature of

this piece was entirely improvisational, as Wilhelm desired to see a comedy in Italian style

and asked Orlando di Lasso ‘ it inst ndigen Bitten’ to stage the performance. Di Lasso could

not desert his friend and the following evening the play was already performed.113

As most of

the guests did not speak Italian, the dialogue would have been quite improvisational and the

play itself quite physical. However, the fact that all costumes, masks, props and so forth were

readily available suggests that there must have been a previously established tradition at the

Munich court for this type of entertainment.

The central characters of this commedia play were the Venetian merchant Magnifico

Pantalone di Bisognosi and his Bergamasque servant Zanni.114

In addition to the full-length

play performed on the evening of March 8, three other occasions can be identified when

Zanni and Magnifico were present: firstly, they entertained the wedding guests on February

22 during the great wedding feast, secondly on February 24 during the running at the ring and

110


M. Katritzky, ’How did the co edia dell’ arte cross the Alps to Bavaria?’, Theatre Research International,

16 (1991), p. 201. 112

Ibid., p. 204. 113

For the detailed description of the play see M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, pp. 311-

319. 114

Ibid., p. 311; see also M. A. Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, pp. 92-102.


thirdly on February 27, when a play performed by Munich Jesuits was followed by a banquet,

where Magnifico was accompanied by two Zannis.115

Although he does not mention the

names of these actors, Troiano emphasises that this type of physical comedy or pantomime

was understandable to everyone and the guests were holding their sides from laughing so

hard.116

Despite the fact that none of the actors were professionals, they must have had a good

idea of what elements were included in this type of play, what the characters looked like and

how they behaved to entertain people successfully.

Susan Maxwell has suggested that Wilhelm himself took part of the commedia

performance.117

However, nowhere in his description of the performance does Troiano state

anything of the sort. In his account Fortunio merely mentions to Marinio that Wilhelm had

come up with the idea and almost begged Lasso to arrange everything for the following

evening. Additionally, Troiano lists all the actors and the parts they were playing.118

If

Wilhelm had really participated in the play, it would seem remarkable enough to merit

mention in Troiano’s account, especially considering that he had just arrived in Munich and

wanted to win favour with the Bavarian dukes.

That there was previous knowledge about the Italian commedia plays is further supported

by the fact that all three wedding chroniclers were acquainted with the characters of Zanni and

Magnifico. According to Wagner, when the festival wagon of Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol

entered during the running at the ring, there were four men with grey beards and long hair,

with long red cloaks and red Venetian caps, similar to those worn by the Magnifici.119

Moreover, the final costumed group that entered the arena consisted of Zannis and a

Magnifico and both Wagner and Wirre describe Magnifico as wearing a big blue beret and a

115

M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 153, p. 193, p. 259. 116

Ibid., p. 259. 117

S. Maxwell, ‘A marriage commemorated in the Stairway of Fools’, The Sixteenth Century Journal, 36 (2005),

p. 724. 118


H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 41v.


long red cloak.120

The Zannis were dressed in Bergamasque fashion and they were so

entertaining that they completely stole the show.121

Therefore, the authors described the

costumes they saw during the running at the ring by comparing them to costumes usually

worn by Zanni and Magnifico and so implied that the potential readers were also acquainted

with this type of comedy and its characters.

In 1576 Wilhelm V undertook a thorough refurbishment of Trausnitz Castle in Landshut

and had the Narrentreppe or Stairway of Fools decorated with co edia dell’ arte figures

designed by his court artist Friedrich Sustris (Figure 1). However, when it comes to the

interpretation of these vivid figures who ‘burst through doors, lean out of windows and

squabble over food’, the opinions are divided.122

M. A. Katritzky believes that there is no

direct connection between the play seen in 1568 and the co edia dell’ arte figures painted

on the walls of the staircase. Instead, the commedia figures should be seen within the wider

framework of frescoes intended to decorate the Italian wing.123

On the other hand, Susan

Maxwell has compellingly argued that this stairway, constructed for the private use of

Wilhelm and Renata, is an echo of the entertainments seen during the wedding.124

Even

though these frescoes do not depict the exact same characters as seen in the 1568

performance, the fact that Wilhelm had his private staircase decorated with these earthy

commedia characters reflects Wilhelm’s love for theatre and would have undoubtedly

reminded him of his own wedding. Additionally, these frescoes provide a good visual image

of typical commedia costumes and the characters as the contemporaries must have seen and

understood them.

120

H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 41v. 121

H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 42v; M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von

1568, p. 193. According to Wagner, there were four Zannis, according to Troiano, six. 122

S. Maxwell, ’A marriage commemorated in the Stairway of Fools’, The Sixteenth Century Journal 36 (2005),

p. 723. 123

M. A. Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, p. 50. 124

S. Maxwell, ’A marriage commemorated in the Stairway of Fools’, p. 739.


The other notable spectacle of the wedding festival was the tournament. The tournaments

were part of court festivals since the late 12th

century and Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly has

identified three important aspects of the equestrian festivities that developed from the

medieval tournament: war, sport and entertainment.125

Firstly, the tournaments provided an

opportunity for military training. Secondly, the tournament was a competition where the

contestants had the ability to show their skills in horse-riding, swordfight and so forth. For

example, each tournament held during the Munich festivities had judges, previously

determined set of rules and prizes.126

Thirdly, the music, costumes and the atmosphere of

excitement made these tournaments a suitable form of entertainment for numerous courtly

celebrations. To reduce the danger, in Munich the arena was covered with sand and straw so

that no contestant actually died.127

Moreover, the term ‘Ritterspil’ used by Wirre rather

downplays the danger and emphasises the playful and harmless nature of these tournaments

that suited this particular happy occasion.128

The tournaments of the 1568 wedding festival were held on the Marktplatz in the heart of

Munich and the whole programme included six different types of tournament: Ringrennen or

running at the ring, which was preceded by the entrance of decorated festival wagons and

costumed people; Fußthurnier or a foot combat with sword and lance over a barrier;

Palienrennen or a formal tilt on horseback; Kübelstechen or a humorous mock tournament;

Freyturnier or a joust at large and finally Scharfrennen/Kröndlgestech or a joust with lances

that had three-pointed metal crowns at the tip. The sharp weapons meant that this type of

tournament was also the most dangerous. There were no mock battles or re-enactments of

famous battles at the Munich wedding, a type of tournament becoming an increasingly

125

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, Triumphall Shews: Tournaments at German-speaking Courts in their European

Context, 1560-1730 (Mann, 1992), p. 13-4. 126

M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 221; see also H. Wagner Kurtze doch gegründte

beschreibung fol. 40-50 for a detailed description of the foot tournament. 127

H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 39r. 128

H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 38r.


popular form of entertainment at court festivals during the sixteenth century.129

Nevertheless,

essentially all popular types of tournaments were seen and enacted at the wedding and the

illustrated accounts of Wagner and Wirre provide historians with an excellent overview of

what a sixteenth-century tournament really looked like.

Running at the ring or Ringrennen was of medieval origin and involved dashing on

horseback down a predetermined course towards a ring hung up between two posts, and the

aim of this tournament was to carry it off on the point of the lance.130

However, in Munich the

contestants had to enter the arena in costumes, and a number of them had a decorated festival

wagon with a whole entourage, all costumed and often accompanying the contestant with

music.131

Heinrich Wirre identifies this as ‘Mummerey’. In the late Middle Ages the momerie

was a procession of masked persons who paraded the streets and entered neighbours’ houses

to act a kind of pantomime, but in the sixteenth century momerie, mummery and mumming

came to mean different types of entertainment that included some sort of disguising or

dressing up.132

Both Wagner and Wirre list all the individual festival wagons, although their

accounts contradict each other about the sequence of the contestants.133

Troiano presumably

describes the more humorous scenes, such as a peasant wedding and two knights riding their

horses while being dressed as a wolf and a bear. It is evident that as it was not very dangerous,

this type of tournament was intended primarily for entertainment. Apparently the costumes

were so amusing that ‘nicht nur die Menschen sondern selbst die Steine lachen ußten.’134

However, the most interesting tournament was undoubtedly Kübelstechen (Figures 2 and

3), which in the strict sense of the word was no tournament at all. When the two Italian

129

See for example the triumphal entries of Henri II into Paris, Lyon and Rouen in J. R. Mulryne and E.

Goldring (eds.), Court Festivals of the European Renaissance, pp. 51-55. 130

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, Triumphall Shews, pp. 18-21. 131

H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 40-42; H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 38-41;

M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, pp. 185-191. 132

P. Béhar and H. Watanabe-O’Kelly (eds.), Spectaculum Europaeum. Theatre and Spectacle in Europe (1580-

1750) (Wiesbaden, 1999), p. 525. 133

H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung, fol. 41-42; H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 38r-

41v. 134

M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 189.


gentlemen discuss this tournament in Troiano’s account, Fortunio describes it as a tournament

in costumes, where twenty-four combatants are wrapped in thick straw and instead of helmets

wear wooden barrels or Kübel atop their head, which are painted with monstrous grimaces.

Instead of a lance they carry long poles with a thick wooden knob at the tip.135

According to

Wirre, the saddles were left unfastened and consequently the majority of the contestants fell

off their horses, which caused great laughter amongst the audience.136

Kübelstechen was a

typically South German form of tournament, a harmless and good-humoured parody primarily

meant for entertainment.137

It is likely that Troiano himself, who had been at Albrecht’s court

from the beginning of 1568, had never seen anything like that before, and although it is

doubtful whether he was actually able to witness any tournaments because of his duties as a

singer he certainly must have heard people talking about them. Thus, like every other aspect

of the wedding festival, the tournaments displayed both incomparable magnificence and a

general atmosphere of excitement but acquired a distinctive German flavour with the

humorous scenes and costumes in both Ringrennen and Kübelstechen.

As to the utility of these tournaments, there is some disagreement amongst the historians of

early modern period. Karl Vocelka argued in the 1970s that by the second half of sixteenth

century the tournaments had become a mere entertainment and served no actual military

purpose.138

On the other hand, Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly maintains that although the

tournaments were an important part of the Renaissance festivities, they were not merely

another form of courtly entertainment but remained related to the practice of war at least up to

the Thirty Years’ War.139

It is evident from the primary sources that the various tournaments

held in Munich were all different in nature and therefore required very different skills, for

which systematic training was undoubtedly necessary. On the other hand, the costumed

135

Ibid., p. 263. 136

H. Wirre, Ordenliche Beschreybung, fol. 47v. 137

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, Triumphall Shews, p. 33-4. 138


H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, Triumphall Shews, p. 15.


running at the ring with its earthy animal costumes and scenes such as the peasant wedding,

and Kübelstechen reveal that humour, laughter and entertainment were seen as a crucial part

of the Munich wedding festivities.

When the Munich tournaments are compared to the tournament programme at the 1571

wedding of Archduke Karl of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria, it emerges that the former

were more varied as well as more light-hearted and humorous. In Vienna, the tournament

programme also began with the running at the ring, but it was preceded by an elaborate

allegorical battle between Europe and the other parts of the world. Additionally, there was a

Plankengestech that was similar to Palienrennen and a foot tournament.140

As mentioned

previously, six different types of tournaments were organised at the 1568 wedding, but as

some tournaments took place more than once, both the variety and the number of tournaments

held was greater in Munich. Moreover, rather than conveying a deep allegorical meaning the

animal costumes and barrels worn for Kübelstechen were devised more for the entertainment

of the audience. Thus, although the running at the ring was less elaborate in Munich, the

tournaments as a whole were more varied and therefore provided both light-hearted

entertainment and humour but also excitement when the more dangerous tournaments took

place.

The fourth distinguishable spectacle of the wedding festival was the fireworks display that

took place on the evening of February 27.141

If previously the fireworks displays had been the

province of towns, during the second half of the sixteenth century they became established as

an essential part of most court festivals, including weddings, princely christenings, military

140

R. Lindell, ‘The wedding of Archduke Charles and Maria of Bavaria in 1571’, Early Music 18 (1990), p. 261-

6. 141

M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 261; H. Wagner, Kurtze doch gegründte

beschreibung, fol. 54r. According to Wagner, the fireworks lasted for two hours, Troiano, perhaps exaggerating

a little, estimates this as three hours.


triumphs and royal entries.142

The fireworks often included mock battles or fights between

ships and during the seventeenth century developed into fully-fledged firework dramas. When

compared to the more elaborate firework combat that Archduke Karl of Inner Austria and

Maria of Bavaria enjoyed in 1571 for their homecoming to Graz, the fireworks display in

Munich was undoubtedly more conservative. During the fireworks display in Graz the sea

was simulated by means of blue cloth, through which the oarsmen walked invisibly while

their oars flashed with fireworks.143

The Munich fireworks display, on the other hand, had no

dramatic framework or unifying theme.

The Feuerwerksschloss or purpose-built wooden castle was a relatively common structure

in German lands, especially during the seventeenth century.144

Rather than appearing from

different places the rockets, fireballs and firecrackers emerged in a regulated manner from the

castle that served as the focal point of the display. For the Munich fireworks, a castle had been

built of wooden planks on a large open field so that it was visible from the whole town.

Although the wedding guests observed the show safely from the balcony, a number of women

were so frightened by the fire and noise they believed the city was on fire.145

When a

fireworks display lasting two or three hours ran faultlessly to the end it was an astonishing

accomplishment, because even a minor miscalculation might have caused a terrible accident.

Thus, the elaborate fireworks display was a visual manifestation of the scientific innovation

and learning that took place at the Munich court and like other spectacles of the wedding

festival was another salient example of Bavarian dukes being at the forefront of cultural

sophistication and learning.

142

P. Béhar and H. Watanabe-O’Kelly (eds.), Spectaculum Europaeum, pp. 732-33. For a comprehensive list of

fireworks displays that took place within the Holy Roman Empire between 1500 and 1800 see E. Fähler,

Feuerwerke des Barock (Stuttgart, 1974), pp. 198-230. 143

H. Watanabe-O’Kelly, ’Fireworks displays, fireworks dramas and illuminations – precursors of cinema?’

German Life and Letters 48 (1995), p. 339. 144

S. Werrett, Fireworks: Pyrotechnic Arts and Sciences in European History (Chicago, 2010), p. 19. 145

M. Troiano, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 261.


Conclusion

This dissertation has examined the 1568 wedding festival of Wilhelm V of Bavaria and

Renata of Lorraine through the three primary sources that were commissioned for it. Due to

the abundance of sources this wedding festival is the perfect case study for historians to

explore the relationship between early modern court festivals and the festival accounts that

commemorate them. Through a comparative analysis of the 1568 wedding festival one of the

aims of this dissertation has been to show the limitations of these festival accounts, which

although claiming to be objective and accurate, were often blatantly biased and very

dependent on who had commissioned the account, the author’s position within the court

establishment and knowledge about what was going on.

It is important to view the 1568 wedding festival within the wider cultural context of the

Wittelsbach court in Munich. The elaborate spectacles and the level of sophistication of

Wilhelm and Renata’s wedding was the direct result of Albrecht’s long-term patronage of the

best artists and musicians of their time, with Orlando di Lasso as the cream of the crop. Both

Albrecht V and Wilhelm V realised the role of systematic patronage in court propaganda and

the wedding festival of 1568 in Munich as well as the wedding festival of 1571 in Vienna

were an important means of Wittelsbach image-making through the display of wealth,

scientific learning and cultural superiority. The richly illuminated festival books

commemorating the 1568 wedding can only be seen as a part of this tradition. Although the

Munich court was constantly haunted by financial problems, innovations in collection and the

cultivation of patron-client relationships outweighed them, and as a result it is not an

exaggeration to claim that in the sixteenth century the Wittelsbach court was a preeminent

centre for learning and culture that attracted the best musicians, artists and architects from all

over Europe.


The two-week wedding festival of Wilhelm and Renata included traditional ceremonial

elements such as the bridal entry and the wedding ceremony in Frauenkirche, and spectacles

such as the wedding feast, the co edia dell’ arte performances, tournaments and a

fireworks display. The importance of this wedding in the context of early modern festivals

and the development of court culture is revealed through many unique features, most notably

the spectacular wedding feast, the co edia dell’ arte performance and the extensive

tournament programme. The improvised co edia dell’ arte performance was the first of its

kind in northern Europe of which we have knowledge. It seems to have been entirely

improvisational in nature, yet it could not have materialised so successfully if there had been

no previous commedia tradition at the Munich court. When it comes to the tournament

programme, although the level of theatricality was undoubtedly superior in Vienna three years

later, both the number and variety of tournaments was greater in Munich. In addition to the

humorous costumed running at the ring, the usual tournament programme was complemented

by Kübelstechen, a harmless parody with no winners and losers, which was intended to

entertain both the participants and the audience. In summary, even if we take into

consideration the biased nature of the festival accounts, it has to be asserted that the 1568

wedding festival was one of its kind, for only in the last century German historian Benno

Hubensteiner exulted:

Aber die Feierlichkeiten, die hier [in Munich] einander jagten, waren wirklich eine

eise wert runkvolle Au züge und eierliche Gottesdienste; ittags eine Schlitten ahrt

in den altbayerischen Wintertag hinein; abends aber Tanz, Feuerwerk und Maskerade. .

. Und aus allem bunten Treiben stieg immer wieder der Triumph der Musik: Motetten,

Madrigale, achtstimmige Messen, Tisch- und Tanzweisen. Die Münchner Ho ka elle


war ja die erste in ganz Europa, und sie wurde auch von einem Meister dirigiert, wie es

wenige gegeben hat – von Orlando di Lasso.146

That there is still a lot of furore around royal weddings is revealed by the wedding of

Prince William and Kate Middleton, which was one of the most popular media events of

2011. Although nowadays there is significantly less emphasis on political alliances and

dynastic unions between the royal houses of Europe, the media attention reveals that royal

marriages are a very current issue and take place with as much pomp and circumstance as

ever. The festival books commemorating early modern court festivals have been replaced with

merchandise such as stamps, mugs, coins and bottle openers, but royal weddings are still

instruments of courtly image-making and propaganda, meant to create a sense of unity and

national identity. In this light, the 1568 wedding festival in Munich was a very modern affair

indeed.

146

B. Hubensteiner, quoted in K. Vocelka, Habsburgische Hochzeiten 1550-1600, p. 62.


Appendix 1

Chronology of the 1568 Munich wedding festival according to Hans Wagner:

Sunday, 15 February

the arrival of Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol and his entourage

Wednesday, 18 February

the arrival of Archduke Karl of Inner Austria and his entourage

Thursday, 19 February

the arrival of the envoy of the Holy Roman Emperor led by Walther von Mergenthal, later the

arrival of Dorothea of Denmark, Renata’s aunt147

Friday, 20 February

the arrival of papal legates led by the Archbishop of Salzburg, the arrival of Eberhard of

Württemberg, later that day the arrival of Christina of Denmark, the Duchess of Lorraine and

Renata’s mother

Saturday, 21 February

the arrival of Renata of Lorraine and her entourage, Mass in Frauenkirche

Sunday, 22 February

wedding ceremony in Frauenkirche, wedding feast in Neuveste followed by dance

Monday, 23 February

Mass in Frauenkirche, in the evening dance in the Munich Town Hall

Tuesday, 24 February

costumed running at the ring

Wednesday, 25 February

presentation of gifts to the bride, later a foot tournament

Thursday, 26 February

Palienrennen or the official tilt

Friday, 27 February

Jesuit play, in the evening fireworks display

Saturday, 28 February

Kübelstechen or a humorous mock tournament

Sunday, 29 February

a foot tournament in Neuveste, later ice-skating

147

According to Troiano, both arrived on February 18, see Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von 1568, p. 31.


Monday, 01 March

joust at large

Tuesday, 02 March

Scharfrennen and Kröndlgestech

Wednesday, 03 March

the first guests including Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol start leaving

Sunday, 07 March

a fencing performance in the courtyard of Neuveste, afterwards a second Kröndlgestech

Monday, 08 March

co edia dell’ arte performance

Wednesday, 10 March

ice-skating


Appendix 2

Figure 1: detail from Narrentreppe, Pantalone serenading with a lute, next to him Zanni,

mural by Padovano from a design by Friedrich Sustris, Trausnitz Castle in Landshut [Photo:

Bayerische Verwaltung für Schlossen, Gärten und Seen]


Figure 2: Kübelstechen on Marktplatz during the 1568 wedding festival [engraving by

Nikolas Solis in H. Wagner’s Kurtze doch gegründte beschreibung]


Figure 3: Kübelstechen [woodcut by anonymous in H. Wirre’s Ordenliche

Beschreybung]


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