UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Presentation, Representation and Invisibility. Emperor Ferdinand I and his Son Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria in Prague (1547-1567) Simons, M. Publication date 2014 Document Version Final published version Published in Palatium e-Publications Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Simons, M. (2014). Presentation, Representation and Invisibility. Emperor Ferdinand I and his Son Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria in Prague (1547-1567). Palatium e-Publications, 1, 132- 147. http://www.courtresidences.eu/index.php/publications/e-Publications/ General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). 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UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:29 Sep 2021 TheHabsburgsandtheirCourts inEurope,1400–1700 ǡ Ƭ Ǥ À À PALATIUMeͲPublications Volume1 SeriesEditors:KristaDeJongeandPieterMartens TheworkreportedoninthispublicationhasbeenfinanciallysupportedbytheEuropean ScienceFoundation(ESF)intheframeworkoftheResearchNetworkingProgramme PALATIUM.CourtResidencesasPlacesofExchangeinLateMedievalandEarlyModern Europe(1400–1700),2010–2015. The European Science Foundation was established in PALATIUMissupportedby14organisationsfrom11countries: 1974 to provide a common platform for its Member Austrian Science Fund (FWF) • Austrian Academy of Sciences Organisations to advance European research (ÖAW)•ResearchFoundationFlanders,Belgium(FWO)•Czech collaborationandexplorenewdirectionsforresearch.It ScienceFoundation(GACR)•AcademyofSciencesoftheCzech is an independent organisation, owned by 67 Member Republic (ASCR) • Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Organisations,whichareresearchfundingorganisations, Innovation(FI)|TheDanishCouncilforIndependentResearch research performing organisations and academies from | Humanities (FKK) • National Centre for Scientific Research, 29 countries. 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Between Cosmopolitism and Regionalism, held in Vienna on 7–10 December 2011,receivedadditionalsupportfromtheAustrianAcademyofSciencesandthe SlovakAcademyofSciences. ©ÖsterreichischeAkademiederWissenschaften,KULeuvenandauthors,2014 ISBN978Ͳ94Ͳ6018Ͳ483Ͳ3 Copyright: This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionͲ ShareAlike4.0InternationalLicense(CCBYͲSA4.0),whichpermitsunrestricteduse,distributionandreproduction inanymedium,providedthattheoriginalauthorandsourceareproperlycreditedandthatanyadaptationsor derivativeworksaredistributedunderthesamelicense.Copyrightisretainedbytheauthors. Coverimage:TournamentontheBurgplatzinfrontoftheHofburginViennain1560.ColouredetchingbyHans Lautensack, in: Hans von Francolin, Rerum praeclare gestarum intra et extra moenia munitissimae civitatis Viennensis...(Vienna,1561).©ÖsterreichischeNationalbibliothek,HAD,662.700ͲCAltRara. Coverdesign:PieterMartens PALATIUMeͲPublication1 TheHabsburgsandtheirCourts inEurope,1400–1700 ǡ Ƭ Ǥ À À www.courtresidences.eu 2014 THEHABSBURGSANDTHEIRCOURTSINEUROPE,1400–1700.BETWEENCOSMOPOLITISMANDREGIONALISM Presentation,RepresentationandInvisibility Emperor Ferdinand I and his Son Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria in Prague (1547–1567) MadelonSimonsȋȌ The theme of this volume is,among others, how a (Habsburg) sovereign had himself represented withintheframeworkofhiscourtculture.Doesn’teveryroyalorprincelycommissioncontributeto theimageandthestampthesovereignwantstoputonhisresidence?Thiscertainlyappliedtothe KingofBohemiaatPragueCastleinthemidͲsixteenthcentury.Itwillneverthelessbecomeapparent thatthesovereigndidnotorcouldnotgivehiscommissionforthebuildingofthePragueCourta highpriorityandwhiletheworkdevelopedslowlytheKingaboveallseemedtowanttobeinvisible whileinresidenceinPrague.AtthesametimetheHabsburgresidenceinPraguewasalsoinuseas residence of the representative of the King. It can therefore be argued that Repraesentatio Maiestatis,picturingthesovereigninhishighandmightytasks,wasnotalwaystheprimaryaimof everycommissionattheRoyalCourt.EspeciallynotwhentheviceͲregent,theofficialrepresentative oftheKing,wasawilfulmanwhowouldleavehisownmark,amarkwithimaginativequalitiesofits own, on the Prague Court. However, I wonder if our reconstructive descriptions of these manifestationsdonotpresupposetoocomplicatedandtoohighlyintellectualasubstance.Whilethe sovereignKingFerdinandI(1503–1564)wasofcourserepresentedinallhisdignityandvirtueand this was emphasized in a scholarly manner in contemporary publications,1 there were of course differentlevelsofrepresentation.ThespectatorsatRoyaleventswerefascinatedorbewildered,but thingswerenotalwaysasseriousandonashighanintellectuallevelastheyhavesubsequentlybeen interpreted.Whilevirtuewasbeingportrayed,theremusthavebeenalotoflaughter.Peoplemust alsohavelaughedloudandfrequentlyatsomuch(moreorless)hiddendepravity. Prague1526 King Ferdinand I was the sovereign in Prague for thirtyͲeight years. In 1526 he became King of Bohemiaandin1556waselectedRomanEmperor.Atayoungageamarriageagreementhadbeen madeforthisverysuccessfuldescendantoftheHabsburgdynastywithPrincessAnnaJagiello(1503– 1547), the daughter of the Bohemian/Hungarian King. Anna and her husband contributed fifteen childrentothedynasty.FerdinandIclaimedandwasgrantedtheBohemiancrownafterthedeathof hisbrotherͲinͲlawLudwigJagiello(1505–1526).Thisclaim,however,wasnotanobviousoneforthe Bohemianpartiesandwasnotawardedwithoutdiscussion.AfterdifficultnegotiationsFerdinandI andAnnawerecrownedKingandQueenofBohemiainthechurchofSaintVitusin1526.2Thiswould seemtohavebeentheobviousmomentfortheHabsburgdynastytostartbuildingtheirownspecific courtcultureanddesignaspecialimageforKingandQueen(also)inPrague.3TheKingstartedthisby ©ÖAW,KULeuvenandauthors 132 ISBN978Ͳ94Ͳ6018Ͳ483Ͳ3 THEHABSBURGSANDTHEIRCOURTSINEUROPE,1400–1700.BETWEENCOSMOPOLITISMANDREGIONALISM orderingtheextensionoftheCastlewithagardencomplexandasummerpalacein1534.Andin 1556hissontookcareoftheCeremonialEntryofFerdinandIasRomanEmperor.TheCastlethus becameacentreofRepraesentatioMajestatis,inthesenseofitsrepresentingtheselfͲevidentglory andvirtueofthesovereign.Butthisisarathersuperficialandartificialimage.Oncloserinspection bothmembersoftheHabsburghousenamedFerdinandleftonPragueafairlymodest,butatthe sametimeambiguousstamp. PragueCastle The history of the Castle shows that the garden complex was the only large project King Ferdinandhadcommissioned.4ForthisextensionoutsidethefortresswallsItalianmigrantworkers werebroughttoPrague,whostayedforjustafewmonthsandinsummerreturnedtotheirvillages intheItalianAlps.Thisisoneoftheexplanationswhyprogresswasslow.Therecordsshowthatthe Kingwasdefinitelyinterestedintheproject.Heinsistedforexamplethatthebridgetothegardens shouldbefinishedasamatterofurgency,andwishedtochecktheprogressoftheworkhimself.5 ThisbridgeoverthesoͲcalled‘Stag’ditchbetweenthenorthernwalloftheCastleandthegarden areawasnotonlymeantforthetransportofgoodsbutalsocontainedaremarkableconstructionon theeasternside,acoveredcorridorcalledthe‘Gallerie’.6TheKinghimselfdescribeditsfunction:the corridorenabledhimtoenterthegardensunseen.Itbelongedtoawholecomplexofpassagesfrom the King’s palace in the western part of the Castle via the soͲcalled Western Palace, the fortress walls,thestablesandthebridgeintothegardens,justatthepointwheretheSummerPalacewas built.7 The wooden structures that were given so much priority played a dramatic role during the destructivefirewhichburnedlargepartsofPragueCastlein1541.8Thefirespreadviathewooden galleriesuptothebuildingsiteofthe SummerPalaceanddestroyedallthe plants.PragueCastle wouldshowthescarsofthisdisasterforyears.Notuntil1555,forexample,weretheapartmentsof the King and Queen in the soͲcalled Old Palace renovated, with the ceilings being raised and decorated,althoughtheywerenotfundamentallyaltered.9InthesameyearArchdukeFerdinandII ordered,asaprecaution,thewoodengallerieswithintheCastlewallstoberebuiltinstone.10Those in the garden complex were left in wood. As Emperor Maximilian II had these hardͲtoͲmaintain woodenstructuresrestoredandpartlyaltered,itseemsthataconcealedwalkintothegardenwas importantforhimtoo.11 There are no detailed images of Prague