The Princess was wearing "a white and silver dress richly set with diamonds; royal crown on her head, she was led by Prince Jakub on the right and Prince Aleksander on the left, her royal coat made of white and silver fabric and hemmed with ermine fur was carried by three senators' wives and the veil - by miss Wielopolski, daughter of former Grand Chancellor of the Crown."
This is the description of royal daughter Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska (1676-1730) on the day of her marriage per procuram to Maximilian II Emanuel (1662-1726), Elector of Bavaria, by the author of the German account of the event published in Theatrum europaeum and reprinted by the historian and lawyer Johann Christian Lünig (1662–1740) in Theatrum ceremoniale. The wedding took place in Warsaw on 15 August 1694.
The author is interested not only in the details of the bride's appearance. With almost pedantic precision, he reports the number of horses drawing the carriages of magnates, describes who sat where at the table, notes every bow and lists the order of the royal procession that first went to the Kazimierz Palace and then from the castle to the church of Saint John.
None of the above details is non-essential for the European court community, always looking forward to such news. All these ceremonial elements spoke of the social structure and distribution of power on the scene of the spectacle and at the same time they aroused utmost interest of politically engaged European court elite.
The Polish magnates arrived at Teresa Kunegunda's wedding in six-horse carriages as was becoming of high nobility. In the Commonwealth, the same privilege was shared by members of the Senate. Only the king and the queen could represent their social position by travelling in a richly ornamented eight-horse carriage, which was an easy to understand symbol for the spectators of a public show.
Everyone had his or her place in the royal procession, determined by the distance from the person of the highest social rank. In the centre of the procession walking on a red carpet to the church of saint John was King Jan III. The retinue attending the king stepped one after the other, in pairs, in the order determined by the rank of their office and social position. The King was preceded by representatives of the nobility and courtiers, lay senators, bishops, the Grand Chancellor of the Crown and Grand Royal Treasurer and, immediately next to the King - the Grand Marshal of the Crown and the Grand Marshal of Lithuania, both carrying in front of them richly ornamented Marshal maces. The Marshals had the honour of representing the King, which is why they walked just in front of him during various public ceremonies. An important factor in creating the political image of King Jan III on the European arena were his relations with Rome, which is proven by the fact that the Papal Nuncio walked in the wedding procession between the Marshals and the King. The place behind Jan III was reserved to his beloved daughter and bride. She was preceded by representatives of the Elector of Bavaria, whose presence symbolised her union with Maximilian Emanuel and the moment of passage of from the position of a royal daughter to the Electress of Bavaria.
It was not a coincidence that she was led by her two eldest brothers and that prince Jakub walked on the right of the bride. The privileged place is associated with the position of the king's oldest son, who substituted the Elector of Bavaria during the ceremony.
The author of the account emphasises the significance of the privilege of the right hand also during the wedding feast that followed the church ceremony. The entire European court community waited for news about who was seated on the King's right-hand side. The seat on the King's right side not only distinguished the individual there but was also one of the many elements of creating the ruler's image. It often expressed his political preferences and had far-reaching consequences. During the wedding feast, the same as during the procession, the King was in the centre of affairs. To his right sat the new Electress, the oldest son, Prince Jakub and the Papal Nuncio. To the King's left sat the Queen and two younger sons, Princes Aleksander and Konstanty. Using these visual symbols understandable for broad European elites, Jan III confirmed that for him and his family, the union with the Wittelsbach family and good relations with the papacy were of crucial importance. The fact that the bride's right hand was given to the oldest son Jakub also had political significance: he played a double role, that of the first royal descendant and substitute of the Elector of Bavaria. The purpose of using the visual symbols was to legitimise Jan III's attempts to establish in the Commonwealth a throne inheritance system for his family. The European community, sensitive to such symbolic communication, many times accepted visually created social positions as a fact, regardless of relevant legal regulations.
Louis XIV's court was not the only one where the social hierarchy of elites was built by granting courtiers and foreign ambassadors with privileges - depending on their rank - associated with their access to the king and expressed, among others, in relevant gestures and spatial distance. The social distance was also created by various elements of interior design, for example furniture. So-called fauteuil, i.e. an elaborate chair, played a special role during public ceremonies. Depending on the rank, one sat on a chair with a back and arms or with a back but no arms, or on so-called tabouret. Who could sit during Teresa Kunegunda's wedding feast on an "elaborate, thickly gilded chair with arms, covered with crimson silk fabric with gold tassels" other than King Jan III himself?
The power of the Sobieski family as well as Jan III's belonging to a group of European sovereigns was supposed to be emphasised by the splendour of the wedding ceremonies. In order to secure his position on the European arena, the king had to adapt these ceremonial models, which determined and many times legitimised the social and political relations of the European court community. Thus, the wedding of the King's only daughter could not do without a table laden with food, French, Italian and Polish music interspersed with sounds of drums and trumpets, and cannons, whose number was very carefully calculated and symbolic, ceremonial dances, fireworks presenting an allegory of a ship and a voyage of the newlyweds and opera and theatre performances.
The author of the German account describes the feast in the following way: "Food was opulently served and everything was of truly royal grandeur [...], the feast was accompanied by French, Italian and Polish vocal and instrumental music, and in the meantime, you could hear drums and trumpets, and cannons fired on the banks of the Vistula. The feast was followed by ceremonial dances." The dances were very carefully planned, as every single bow and the order of dancers reflected the social hierarchy of the courtiers and guests, and emphasised the rank of the royal couple. "First, the King and the Queen as well as the Princes and Princess danced a Polish dance." They were followed by cavaliers and senators and by the Queen and Princess Jadwiga Elżbieta Amalia von Pfalz-Neuburg (1673-1722), wife of Prince Jakub. Dances continued to four in the morning.
On the fourth day of the wedding feast, fireworks were shot in honour of the new Electress of Bavaria and Maximilian Emanuel. The union of the royal family of Sobieski and the Wittelsbach family was symbolised by an allegory created on the Vistula, presenting the royal and Bavarian coats of arms andilluminated initials of Teresa Kunegunda and the Elector.
Every spectator of the royal wedding could at once guess the hierarchy of the ceremony attendants. The European courts impatiently waited for stories relating such events and at the same time for answers to the most important political questions concerning the order of priority among the court community attending the event. What was the position of the King, respective ambassadors and other dignitaries in the procession? Who took the place on the king's right-hand side? Who entered the church first? Who started the ball? Who bowed before the king?
The number of bows, toasts and cannons was carefully calculated. All these elements were indispensable symbols that signified the monarch's political power and political ambitions.
Translation: Lingua Lab
