PG Edition of Netherlands series — CompleteMotley, John Lothrop
History
PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete
Motley, John Lothrop
Netherlands -- History
After the delay occasioned by these private formalities, the bridal
procession, headed by the court musicians, followed by the court
marshals, councillors, great officers of state, and the electoral family,
entered the grand hall of the town-house. The nuptial ceremony was then
performed by "the Superintendent Doctor Pfeffinger." Immediately
afterwards, and in the same hall, the bride and bridegroom were placed
publicly upon a splendid, gilded bed, with gold-embroidered curtains, the
Princess being conducted thither by the Elector and Electress. Confects
and spiced drinks were then served to them and to the assembled company.
After this ceremony they were conducted to their separate chambers, to
dress for dinner. Before they left the hall, however, Margrave Hans of
Brandenburg, on part of the Elector of Saxony, solemnly recommended the
bride to her husband, exhorting him to cherish her with faith and
affection, and "to leave her undisturbed in the recognized truth of the
holy gospel and the right use of the sacraments."
Five round tables were laid in the same hall immediately afterwards--each
accommodating ten guests. As soon as the first course of twenty-five
dishes had been put upon the chief table, the bride and bridegroom, the
Elector and Electress, the Spanish and Danish envoys and others, were
escorted to it, and the banquet began. During the repast, the Elector's
choir and all the other bands discoursed the "merriest and most ingenious
music." The noble vassals handed the water, the napkins, and the wine,
and every thing was conducted decorously and appropriately. As soon as
the dinner was brought to a close, the tables were cleared away, and the
ball began in the same apartment. Dances, previously arranged, were
performed, after which "confects and drinks" were again distributed, and
the bridal pair were then conducted to the nuptial chamber.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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