“We are pleased to expect you on this joyful day...”. Weddings as an important part of family festivities of the Esterházys in the first half of the
“We are pleased to expect you on this joyful day...”. Weddings as an important part of family festivities of the Esterházys in the first half of the

Summary/Abstract: The study is a sounding into the family festivities of one of the most important families in Early Modern Hungary, the Esterházys. The picture of the wedding ritual is supplemented with examples from other aristocratic families. Aristocratic weddings were one of the important instruments of family policy and a potential source of increased power. The Palatine Nicholas Esterházy was a great strategist in the field of marriage in the first half of the 17th century. It is difficult to imagine that he would have gained the office of Palatine without his two advantageous marriages. Nicholas Esterházy conceived a family policy, in the context of which he planned the marriages of his descendants. He also organized and supported marriages at his court. Thanks to these marriages, he created a whole web of relationships at his court and in the counties where his properties were situated. Apart from marital politics, the study also examines the actual practices connected with weddings in this period, from engagement and banns to the actual ceremony.

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