Pride and precedence: the rivalry of the House of Orange-Nassau and the Palatine family at the Anglo-Dutch wedding of 1641

ABSTRACT

“They doe seek to get my eldest Neece but that I hope will not be granted it being too low for her”. These words of Charles I’s sister, Elizabeth of Bohemia, regarding Princess Mary’s upcoming nuptials with William of Orange-Nassau highlight the importance of precedence in the high politics of early modern Europe. This article will demonstrate that the Anglo-Dutch wedding of 1641 provided the backdrop to the competition for status between the family of the bridegroom, the House of Orange-Nassau, and Elizabeth’s court-in-exile based in The Hague. As the diplomatic stage was one on which every player’s conduct and reception was subject to intense scrutiny, it was essential for exiled regimes to safeguard their position in the hierarchy of European princes. However, such considerations are often overlooked in studies of the actions of Elizabeth’s son in London before and after the marriage celebrations, but can provide a valuable insight into diplomatic practices of the early modern period.

KEYWORDS:

• Early modern
• diplomacy
• exiles
• dynasty
• Thirty Years’ War

Acknowledgement

I thank Peter H. Wilson, Grant Tapsell, and Martin Greig for their comments on an earlier draft of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Hinds, CSPV: 1640-42, 147; Loomie, Ceremonies, 313. John Leland reported that the private supper was attended by the bride and groom, the king and queen, the bride’s siblings Charles, James, and Elizabeth, and the Queen Mother. See Leland, Joannis Lelandi antiquarii de rebvs britannicis collectanea, 348.

2. Oman, Elizabeth, 355; Wedgwood, The King’s Peace, 386, 397-8; Ross, The Winter Queen, 121; Hibbard, Popish Plot, 176-7; Strachan, Sir Thomas Roe, 255; Keblusek, “The Bohemian Court,” 56; Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 953 n.2 and her Courtly Rivals, 73; de Lisle, White King, 131.

3. Quotation from Welch, Diplomacy, 33.

4. Mettam, Power and Faction, 117.

5. Hennings, Russia and courtly Europe, 112.

6. Stewart, “Bi-lateral Cipher,” 121; Osborne, “Surrogate War”, 4; Roosen, “Early Modern Diplomatic Ceremonial,” 452-76; Helmers, “Public Diplomacy,” 401-20; May, “Staged sovereignty or aristocratic values?,” 80-94.

7. Hennings, “Textual Ambassadors and Ambassadorial Texts,” 189; Welch, Diplomacy, 33-4; Levin, “A New World Order,” 235; Sowerby and Hennings, Practices of Diplomacy, 13; Osborne, “Surrogate War,” 4.

8. Osborne, “Surrogate War,” 4.

9. Birch, Thurloe, 250.

10. Keay, ‘‘The Shadow of a King?,” 108; Stewart, “Bi-lateral Cipher,” 121.

11. Birch and Williams, Court and Times, 206.

12. Wilson, Holy Roman Empire, 426; MacHardy, “Cultural Capital,” 47-8.

13. Corp, Jacobites, 92; The National Archives, Kew [TNA]: SP 81/42 ff.322-3: Considerations presented by Queen of Bohemia on marriage offered by King of Poland to her daughter Elizabeth, [Undated, 1634] and SP 81/53 ff.16-18: Proposal for marriage between the Elector of Brandenburg and Princess Palatine Louise, 22 Jan. 1642; Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 521, 1021; von Rohr, “Die Pfalz-Kinder,” 213.

14. Osborne, “Queen Mother,” 21-2 and his “Chimeres,” 157-8.

15. Hinds, CSPV: 1632-36, 191, 231.

16. Oman, Elizabeth, 248-9; Keblusek, “The Bohemian Court,” 48.

17. Mout, “Der Winterkönig im Exil,” 261; Thomas, A House Divided, 318; Israel, “Courts of the House of Orange,” 122; Keblusek, “The Bohemian Court,” 50.

18. Geevers, “The Nassau Orphans,” 198; Price, Holland, 247-8.

19. Price, Holland, 248; Prak, Dutch Republic, 180.

20. Mörke, “Orange Court,” 59.

21. Tiethoff-Spliethoff, “Role-Playing and Representation,” 164.

22. Akkerman, Correspondence, I, 730.

23. Keblusek, “The Bohemian Court,” 50.

24. Ottenheym, “Frederik Hendrik and architecture,” 105-6, 109-124; Israel, “Courts of the House of Orange,” 126-30; Rowen, Princes of Orange, 60.

25. Tucker, “Dutch Garden,” 211 and her “Art, Politics, and Princely Display,” 94-7; Prak, Dutch Republic, 180; Israel, “Courts of the House of Orange,” 125; Mörke, “Orange Court,” 59.

26. van der Ploeg and Vermeeren, “The Stadholder’s Art Collection,” 55.

27. Price, Holland, 253.

28. Israel, “Courts of the House of Orange,” 128.

29. Ibid., Hamilton, CSPD: Charles I, 1640-1, 561.

30. TNA: SP 84/153 f.193: William Boswell in The Hague to Secretary Coke, 5/15 Feb. 1638; Israel, “Courts of the House of Orange,” 128; Keblusek, “The Bohemian Court,”, 49-50 and Groeneweg, “Court and City,” 201.

31. Relation de ce qui s’est passé à la Haye au mois de Fevrier l’an 1638, 1-3; Becker, “Groote costen en magnificien,” 221; Keblusek, “The Bohemian Court,” 50.

32. Akkerman, Courtly Rivals, 73.

33. Wilson, Europe’s Tragedy, 594-5; Guthrie, Later Thirty Years War, 72-3.

34. Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 857-8; TNA: SP 81/48 f.147: Roe to Secretary of State, 1 Nov. 1639; Hinds, CSPV: 1636-39, 591.

35. A breakdown of the Palatine finances in this period can be found in a document presented to parliament in 1645: Bodleian Library, Oxford: MS Nalson 18 f.456: The humble remonstrance of James Harrington, concerning the affaires of His High:s the Prince Elector Palatine, 17 Feb. 1645.

36. Wilson, Europe’s Tragedy, 625.

37. For other expressions of concern see: Baillie, Letters, and journals, 5; Hinds, CSPV: 1640-42, 103, 106-7.

38. TNA: SP 16/472 f.67v: Charles Louis to Sir Richard Cave, 30 Nov./10 Dec. 1640; Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 943.

39. Wedgwood, The King’s Peace, 386, 397-8; Ross, Winter Queen, 121; Oman, Elizabeth, 355; Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 953 n.2; Strachan, Sir Thomas Roe, 255; Hibbard, Popish Plot, 176-7; Keblusek, “The Bohemian Court,”, 56; de Lisle, White King, 131.

40. Hinds, CSPV: 1640-42, 5, 36, 120; Sharpe, Personal Rule, 896; Hughes and Sanders, “Gender, Exile and The Hague Courts in the 1650s,” 49.

41. TNA: SP 16/472 f.67.

42. Hinds, CSPV: 1640-42, 103; TNA: SP 16/472 f.68v.

43. Broomhall and van Gent, Dynastic Colonialism, 43.

44. TNA: SP 16/472 f.68v.

45. Ibid.; Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 943.

46. TNA: SP 16/472 f.68v.

47. House of Lords, 157.

48. Hamilton, CSPD: Charles I, 1640-1, 468.

49. TNA: SP 84/153 f.193: William Boswell in The Hague to Secretary Coke, 5/15 Feb 1638.

50. Relation de ce qui s’est passé à la Haye au mois de Fevrier l’an 1638, 7.

51. TNA: SP 16/472 f.68v.

52. Loomie, Ceremonies, 304. Charles I’s Master of Ceremonies, Sir John Finet, recorded that Charles Louis was in London at the time that the Knights of the Order of the Garter celebrated the Feast of Saint George (although he did not attend despite being a member of the Order). This celebration was held between 1 and 3 March 1641. See Nicolas, Knighthood, 235.

53. Instructions to Richard Browne reproduced in Bray, Evelyn, II, 164-6.

54. Hinds, CSPV: 1640-42, 130.

55. Breslow, Mirror, 37-8; Miller, “The Henrician legend revived,” 310; Cressy, Dangerous Talk, 163-5.

56. British Library, London: Stowe MS 133 ff.303-4v. The committee appointed to negotiate the marriage treaty were Bishop Juxon, the Marquis of Hamilton, the Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Philip Earl of Pembroke, Edward Earl of Dorset, Henry Earl of Holland, and Secretary Vane: Hamilton, CSPD: Charles I, 1640-1, 501.

57. British Library: Stowe MS ff.303-4v.

58. Ibid.

59. Ibid., f.306.

60. Ibid.

61. Ibid., f.306-306v.

62.. Loomie, Ceremonies, 313; Hinds, CSPV 1640-42, 135, 147; Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 960.

63. Hinds, CSPV: 1640-42, 114.

64. Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 952, 958.

65. Ibid., 957.

66. In her annotations for Charles Louis’s letters of 17 and 28 May 1641, Nadine Akkerman claims that the elector had wanted to marry Mary himself: Ibid, 952, 958.

67. Osborne, “Surrogate War,” 4.

68. Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 958.

69. Ibid., 959.

70. Ibid., 964.

71. Loomie, Ceremonies, 188-9.

72. Israel, “Courts of the House of Orange,” 128.

73. Green, Lives, VI, 113.

74. Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 964.

75. Ibid.

76.. Ibid., 960. Sir Thomas Roe reported a conversation with Frederik Hendrik, in which the Prince of Orange told Roe of “unkindness conceived on his part” against Charles Louis regarding the young elector’s motives for travelling to England.

77. Groenveld, “Orange,” 958-9; Geyl, Orange and Stuart, 8; Cust, Charles I, 125; Wilson, Europe’s Tragedy, 594.

78. Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 964.

79. Akkerman, Courtly Rivals, 73.

80. Green, Lives, VI, 118-20; van Luttervelt, “Willem II en Maria Stuart,” 159-69.

81. Alsteens and Eaker, Van Dyck, 208.

82. van der Ploeg and Vermeeren, “The Stadholder’s Art Collection,” 47.

83. Akkerman, Correspondence, II, 1021; von Rohr, ‘Pfalz-Kinder’, 213.

84. McKay, The Great Elector, 36.

85. Roosen, “Early Modern Diplomatic Ceremonial,” 475; Geyl, Orange and Stuart, 323.