LIFE OF THE COURT
Grand ceremonies and festivals
In addition to the splendour of his palace, and his imposition of courtly ritual, Leopold sought to project power and strengthen his dynastic pretensions through public display, in festivals, ceremonial and entertainments. The grand fêtes which punctuated the life of the Court are discussed in a lecture which given at the Château in 2020 by Caroline Loillier, from the Municipal Archives in Lunéville (video available on Vimeo or Youtube), from which this section is summarised.
0.22. Fêtes in the service of princely power: Leopold's arrival at Lunéville and entry into Nancy
In 1697, following the War of the League of Augsburg, the Treaty of Ryswick restored the exiled Duke Leopold to his hereditary lands. He left the Imperial court on 11th May 1798, having delayed his entry into Nancy until after the departure of the last French troops. During his progress, the nobility who had remained faithful to the House of Lorraine joined the cortège. It was three days later, on 14th May, that he made his entry into Lunéville. The 19th-century historian Gaston Maugras describes the rejoicing which attended his appearance:
The citizens of the town, organised into companies d'honneur, rushed up from all directions; the country folk, dressed in their best, arrived from the furthest points and filled the streets with their exuberant cries. Joy became delirium when the sumptuous cortege of riders and carriages was sighted. At its head, on a splendid horse, rode the young duke of Lorraine, Leopold, who was at last taking possession of his hereditary lands.....Long acclamations greeted his passage; the crowd pressed around him; they took his hands..... Gaston Maugras
La Cour de Lunéville au xviiie siecle (1904), p.1-3.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2057422/f11.item The procession impressed and dazzled the inhabitants of Lunéville, particularly the horses, which had been captured from the Turks, and the brilliantly caparisoned camels, animals which the people had never before encountered.
On the occasion of his formal entry into Nancy on 10th November the Duke received the keys of the town from his chief minister and former tutor, the Earl of Carlingford, with the magistrates and officials in attendance.
Leopold used the military achievements of his father, Charles V, generalissimo of the Imperial armies, to legitimise his position. The "duc sans duché" had distinguished himself in the fight against Ottoman expansion. At the seige of Timișoara in 1694 the seventeen-year old Leopold had himself led several cavalry charges against the Turks. (According to his tutor the abbé Le Bégue, he had shown great courage and conducted himself as befitted a prince of his rank.)
At the time of his "Joyeuse entrée" into Lorraine, Leopold's iconography centred on this heritage. The painter Charles Herbel (1656-1703), who had accompanied Charles V on his campaigns, was commissioned to create a series of paintings celebrating his victories, sixteen of which were displayed on the two triumphal arches set up in Nancy to welcome Leopold. (In 1700, the paintings adorned the walls at the church of the Cordeliers for Charles's funeral, and later they formed the basis for a first series of tapestries created by Charles Mité. Seven surviving canvasses are now on display in the Hofburg in Innsbruck.)
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| Attributed to Charles Herbel, The triumphal entry of Charles V into Budapest in 1686. Musée Lorrain, Nancy.[Wikimedia] |
Festivities lasted until Lent of 1699. The highlight on 3rd March, was a Mascarade in which the Duke himself and his entourage dressed up as the Sultan and Ottoman dignitaries. Leopold thus claimed symbolically his place among the sovereigns who had liberated the Christian West.
5.25: Dynastic celebrations: the baptism of Prince Louis
The major landmarks of the ducal family - personal fêtes, baptisms, marriages - provided further opportunity to reinforce the image of dynastic power.
Fourteen children in total were born to Leopold and Élisabeth-Charlotte - five sons and nine daughters - though only four reached adulthood. On 24th June 1704 the baptism of their second son Louis, heir presumptive following the death of his elder brother, was the first major festive occasion to take place in Lunéville itself. A grandiose ceremony at the parish church of Saint-Jacques was followed by a sumptuous banquet, ball and firework display:
On 28th January 1704, the duchess fulfilled the wishes of Leopold, who had suffered the loss of his first son, by giving him a second. The child had the King of France for a godfather and the Empress of Germany for his godmother, even though the two states were at war. Louis XIV was represented by his Grand-Écuyer, the comte de Brionne and the Empress by princess Élisabeth-Charlotte of Lorraine, who was only three-and-a-half years old. Fountains of wine were set up and silver coins thrown to the people; but it was noted during the passage of the cortege, that the inhabitants of Lorraine were so filled with joy at the birth of the royal prince that they let the wine flow and did not stoop to collect the silver. After the baptism, there entered a deputation from the Vosges mountains, composed of six boys and six girls, on a chariot decorated with branches of fir and diverse emblems. They recited solemn compliments to the child of five months and, having descended from the chariot, performed bucolic dances. There followed a banquet for eighty; the diners noted admiringly that the napkins were folded in the shapes of different animals. In the evening there were fireworks. A fulsome and ridiculous "Letter from a French officer" containing an account of the ceremony was published a few days later.
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| Jacob van Schuppen, Prince Louis de Lorraine, c.1710. |
A formal portrait by Jacob van Schuppen in the Musée Lorrain, shows the tiny tot in full princely regalia.
Sadly, Prince Louis was to fall victim to smallpox and die in his turn in 1711.
https://musee-lorrain.nancy.fr/.../portrait-du-prince-louis-de-lorraine
The centrepiece of the firework display, the "Machine à feu d'artifice", is known from an engraving by Claude Charles, Court painter to the Duke (left, now in the Musée du Château). This ephemeral structure was decorated with allegoric scenes which alluded to contemporary events: beneath the protective gaze of Jupiter and Juno, Hope succours two women, who personify the duchies of Lorraine and Le Bar. The diffusion of the engraving in itself served Leopold's dynastic purpose.
See: "Notice sur Claude Charles", Mémoires de la Société d'archéologie lorraine (1895), No. 5206
Caroline Loillier observes that, following after the entry into the capital, the Mascarade of 1699 and the funeral of Charles V in 1700, the baptism of Prince Louis concluded "with brio" the splendid ceremonies in honour of the reestablishment of the dynasty.
7:50: Other dynastic occasions - two marriages
These in contrast, date from the last years of the dynasty, during the brief reign of Leopold's son Francis.
The marriage of Francis III and Maria-Theresa of Austria provided an opportunity for the display of splendour, but also heralded the end of Lorraine as an independent duchy. The nuptial blessing took place in Vienna on 12th February 1736. Élisabeth-Charlotte, now Regent, organised sumptuous festivities to celebrate the marriage of her son. A grand mass in the chapel was followed by a banquet seating 400, comedy at the theatre, fireworks, a ball and games. The architect Jean-Nicolas Jadot, with the assistance of the artists Chéron and Girardet (d.1778), created a magnificent machine à feux, 80 feet tall, which stood between the two wings of the Château. Even more spectacular ceremonies took place at Nancy.
The second marriage of major dynastic importance at this time was that Élisabeth-Thérèse, the eldest daughter of the dowager duchess, to Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia. At the betrothal ceremony on 5th March 1737 the king was represented by his cousin the Prince de Carignan who was resident in Paris. The festivities were brilliant. The Superintendent of Music Henri Desmarets, the artificier Varenne and sculptor Guibal all distinguished themselves. The Court received numerous. letters of felicitations, including one from Louis XV. However, it was on the very day after that Élisabeth-Charlotte, accompanied by the ducal family and the Prince de Carignan, was obliged to leave Lunéville.
11.20 Fêtes and receptions
Receptions and entertainments, in the magnificent setting of the palace and its gardens, contributed to the prestige of the sovereign and his influence both within and beyond his frontiers.
As a patron Leopold attached to himself artists of great reputation. Music contributed to the prestige of the Prince and the young Duke sought a successor of renown to succeed Jean Regnault. Henri Desmarets, considered as the successor to Lully, had seen his career ruined due to a scandalous love affair which forced him into exile. In 1707 he became the Superintendent of the Duke's Music. He became reacquainted with Élisabeth-Charlotte, who was passionate about music and dance, and whom he had known previously at Versailles. For important ceremonial occasions, Desmaret's grand Mottets resounded in the palace chapel. He adapted the tragedies of Corneille and the comedies of Molière, the Duchess's favourite playwrights. His repertoire was completed by series of French operas, ballets and divertissements such as
Le temple d'Astrée, performed in 1709. He also staged the lyric tragedies of Lully, four of them at Lunéville. Although the scores are mostly lost, published programmes indicate the distribution of roles.
Prologues which were initially destined to glorify Leopold were often suppressed or adapted to the context of an independent Lorraine. As was the custom at Versailles, the Duke and his household often participated in the performance. Thus for Lully's tragedy of Thésée performed in 1708 the venue ws transposed to the banks of the Vesoul and the Duchess took centre stage for the first act.
The culture of display and performance is described in the lecture as projecting "l'Union pluricellulaire d'un peuple et d'une dynastie" (11:03) Leopold courted broad-based support among the urban population of Nancy and Lunéville by restating popular festivities. Apart from grand dynastic occasions, the annual Carnival was the main context for general celebrations. A surviving official account from 1702 informs us that the Carnival that year was brilliant, since the theatre of the Court was now organised enabling "a continual succession, a agreeable chain of pleasures" - feasts, comedies, balls and operas (Baumont,
Études sur le règne de Léopold, p.261). The play
Fêtes de la Malgrange was staged for the first time in 1702, often to be repeated in subsequent years. The music was by Régnault, "master of music to his Royal Highness", the ballets by Magny, "valet de chambre and dancing master" and, following practice of Louis XIII and XIV, the ducal family themselves took the principal roles.
A tradition of participation was already strong, particularly in the prosperous town of Nancy, where it was reported that at popular fêtes the women of quality refused invitations to observe from neighbouring balconies or accept tickets to enter public buildings, preferring to mingle with the crowds. The Duke and Duchess themselves often joined in. For instance, Leopold revived the rustic fête des brandons, where newly weds paraded through the streets and in 1699 the ducal couple led the procession. The fête commemorated Lorraine's victory over the Burgundians in 1477 was also resinstated, with feasting in in the streets; accompanied by the seigneurs of the Court, the Duke drank a glass with the bourgeois of Nancy.
More generally, Leopold made himself accessible and proved himself affable towards to his subjects of all classes. He tolerated a degree of familiarity which scandalised the French emissary d'Audiffret. The bourgeois of the town were invited to his fêtes and spectacles; carriages were even sent out to convey them. (see Baumont, p.259)
Both the Court and the public at large freely attended the sovereign's theatre. We read - and no doubt it was true - that the revival of the theatre was much appreciated after the disruptions of the 17th-century wars. Although the main venue was the splendid opera in Nancy designed by Francesco Bibiena, the town of Lunéville was not neglected. In 1707 Leopold had a salle de comédie built in behind the Hôtel de Ville. It comprised a parterre, amphitheatre, lodges with a gallery above, and rooms destined for "the usage of Her Royal Highness" accessible from the Hôtel de Ville by a private staircase. So anxious was the Duke to have the work completed swiftly, that he required the builders and artists to work at night. This theatre was demolished in 1733 when Élisabeth-Charlotte as one of her last acts as Regent, set about building a dedicated salle des spectacles within the palace itself. There was also a small salle d'opéra at Einville. (See Albert Jacquot, "Notes pour servir a l'histoire du theatre en Lorraine", p.599).
Although the accounts registers mention sums payed to the "comédiens de la cour", it is to be noted that for a longtime Leopold did not have personal actors but merely paid itinerant troupes. The famous tragedienne Adrienne Lecouvreur began her career with a brilliant debut on the stage of the theatre at Lunéville in 1710, a success which paved her way to entry into the Comédie-Française (See Baumont, p.261).
Leopold's entertainments were not always so sophisticated:
According to the Gazette de Holland, for his fête in 1706 Leopold decided to set loose a bull on his dogs in the palace courtyard: "The animal became enraged, killed several of the dogs and, sensing himself pursued by others, vaulted the barrier and mounted the staircase to the gallery containing his Royal Highness with all the lords and ladies of the court, who only just managed to escape into the apartments." The journalist reported that no further harm was done, although several of the women present were so frightened they imagined themselves in premature labour. (Quoted Baumont, p. 264)
Sport, games and entertainments
As with all the Courts of Europe, Lunéville had its round of hunting, sports and gaming. Leopold was an active man, passionate about horses and an enthusiastic huntsman. Despite the limits of his revenues, he maintained a large stables at Luneville, with seven or eight hundred horses and created the famous stud at Sarralbe (haras de Sarralbe).. By 1720 this represented an agreeable domain, with one of the largest areas of grassland in Lorraine. It is reported that the Duke and his household visited often. [See:
Histoire du Haras de Sarralbe en Lorraine (home.blog)]
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Claude Jacquart, Equestrian portrait of Duke Leopold, c.1720
Musée du Château de Lunéville |
At Lunéville itself, Léopold ordered construction of a tennis court in 1705 and the new wing which contained the royal apartments was also furnished with a billiard room. According to Henri Baumont the whole Court habitually gambled, often for large stakes. Leopold himself would stake huge sums, and usually lost; he often found himself unable to pay his debts: in 1709 d'Audiffret reported that the Duke owed 300,000 écus and had played for three days without funds. No-one resisted, not even the Duchess who had a passion for the German betting game lansquenet. On 15th September 1730 she wrote to the Duchess d'Aulede from Commercy, "We entertain ourselves well here with gaming, hunting and chasing birds (la pipée)". In 1731 the German traveller Keysler, on his way through Lunéville, reported that the new arrival was always able to try his fortune in the salons of the Regent. (Baumont, p.276)
References
Château de Lunéville "Fêtes et cérémonies à Lunéville aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles",
Conference in the series "Les Vendredis du Musée", held on 2nd December 2022. By Caroline Loiller, municipal archivist in Lunéville. [VIDEO]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk1uw5X5U44
See also:
Henri Baumont, Études sur le règne de Léopold, duc de Lorraine et de Bar (1697-1729) (1894), p.261-64.
" Desmarest, Henry" on Musicologie.org. (Includes catalogue of works and recordings)
Available details of the various theatrical productions are conveniently given in:
Albert Jacquot, "Notes pour servir a l'histoire du theatre en Lorraine", Réunion des sociétés des beaux-arts, 1892, p.561-688: p.594ff.
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