Molly Taylor-Poleskey: The Manner of the Meal.
Assessing Court Dining Culture Beyond Festival Literature
20.06.2013 um 16:00 Uhr
The 17th-century court of Brandenburg-Prussia has been portrayed by historians as considerably less opulent than other -- even Protestant -- courts of the same period. However, this is not the impression given by visitors to the Prussian court in Berlin in the later part of the reign of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (1640-1688)—a visitor in 1667 went so far as to call it, “the most magnificent and polished court of Germany.” What accounts for this disparity in assessments? The parsimonious picture of court culture in Brandenburg-Prussia has been encouraged by the court's failure to publish festival descriptions, the most frequently used sources for scholars of court ceremonial culture. But what conclusions can we draw about the court's dining culture from other sources? This talk investigates both the everyday and ceremonial dining culture during Friedrich Wilhelm's reign, and offers a reassessment of his court's dining culture on the basis of travelers' descriptions, ambassadorial reports and household consumption records.
Zeit: 20.06.2013, 17:00 Uhr
Ort: Seminarraum 1402 im Bibliotheksbau des Deutschen Museums