Early Modern Dynastic Marriages and Cultural Transfer

Joan-Lluis Palos, Magdalena S. Sanchez, Joan-Lluis Palos, Magdalena S. Sanchez

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781472443212
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317200437
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early Modern History
• Index: History

Toward the end of the fifteenth century, the Habsburg family began to rely on dynastic marriage to unite an array of territories, eventually creating an empire as had not been seen in Europe since the Romans. Other European rulers followed the Habsburgs' lead in forging ties through dynastic marriages. Because of these marriages, many more aristocrats (especially women) left their homelands to reside elsewhere. Until now, historians have viewed these unions from a primarily political viewpoint and have paid scant attention to the personal dimensions of these relocations. Separated from their family and thrust into a strange new land in which language, attire, religion, food, and cultural practices were often different, these young aristocrats were forced to conform to new customs or adapt their own customs to a new cultural setting. Early Modern Dynastic Marriages and Cultural Transfer examines these marriages as important agents of cultural transfer, emphasizing how marriages could lead to the creation of a cosmopolitan culture, common to the elites of Europe. These essays focus on the personal and domestic dimensions of early modern European court life, examining such areas as women's devotional practices, fashion, patronage, and culinary traditions.

PART I

Princesses across Borders

CATALINA MICAELA (1567-97),
DUCHESS OF SAVOY

MARÍA TERESA (1638-83),
QUEEN OF FRANCE

ELISABETTA FARNESE (1692-1766),
QUEEN OF SPAIN

Chapter 1

“She Grows Careless”: The Infanta Catalina and Spanish Etiquette at the Court of Savoy^*

Magdalena S. Sánchez

When the infanta Catalina Micaela (1567-97), younger daughter of Philip II of Spain, married Carlo Emanuele I, Duke of Savoy, in 1585, she went to Turin and never returned to Spain. (See Figure 1.1 for her portrait and Figure 1.2 for their joint portraits executed in or soon after 1585.) How did she adjust to the court in Turin, and what does her case tell us about the cultural exchange that occurred through dynastic marriages? Despite cultural differences between a royal Spanish court and a ducal Savoyard court, Catalina quickly grew accustomed to life in Turin and to married life with Carlo. No doubt their common aspirations and their strong mutual affection helped Catalina adapt culturally to a new court. Nevertheless, her arrival at the court in Turin brought an initial clash between a rigid Spanish court etiquette and a much less formal etiquette at the Savoyard court. In the end, Spanish etiquette won out in Catalina’s household in Turin, but not without challenges.

The Etiquette Watchdog: Cristóbal de Briceño

My main source for documenting the conflicts over court etiquette is the correspondence of one of Catalina’s Spanish stewards (mayordomos), Cristóbal de Briceño, with Juan de Zúñiga (1536-86), mayordomo mayor (chief steward) of Philip II’s children, councilor of state, and a principal advisor to Philip II.¹ From December 1585 until July 1586, Briceño wrote Zúñiga once or twice a month informing him of difficulties at Catalina and Carlo’s court. Zúñiga had been instrumental in preparing Catalina’s household for Turin and in seeing to the written version of the etiquetas which she took with her. In addition to writing to Zúniga, Briceno also wrote letters defending his actions and voicing his complaints to Mateo Vazquez, Philip II’s secretary. His first two letters to Vázquez are from August and September 1585, and his two other surviving letters are from May and October 1586. Collectively, then, Briceno’s letters to Zúniga and Vázquez cover roughly Catalina’s first year at the court in Turin.²

Figure 1.1 Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (attributed), The Infanta Catalina, ca. 1585, oil on canvas, 112 × 98 cm. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

Figure 1.2 Johan Wierix, Portrait of Catalina Micaela and her husband, Carlo Emanuele I, Duke of Savoy, ca. 1585, pen and brown ink on vellum, 61 × 46 cm and 61 × 48 cm respectively (on same sheet of vellum). Fondation Custodia, Frits Lugt Collection, Paris. Inv. 6097A and 6097B.

Briceño was a comendador (knight commander) in the Knights of Saint John and had served in the Spanish embassy in Rome from 1580 to 1585.³ In 1585 he had been named caballerizo (groom) for Prince Philip (later Philip III), but he did not take up that court office; instead he was appointed mayordomo to the infanta.⁴ As such, he was only one of several mayordomos in Catalina’s household, but as a Spaniard he clearly saw himself as chiefly responsible for implementing Spanish etiquette within Catalina’s household—and for establishing greater order, even over fiscal matters (not usually under the purview of a mayordomo) at the court. In Briceño’s view, Catalina’s court in Turin often fell short.

In writing to Zúniga and Vázquez, Briceno was hoping to inform Philip II so that what he saw as the court’s disorder in Turin would be remedied, or at the very least, he—Briceno—would not be blamed. Briceno’s voice is decidedly cranky and long-winded (at an audience with Carlo and Catalina to voice his concerns about court life, Briceno “read and discussed his report” for more than an hour and a half and still had not finished making all his points), but the councilors of Philip II listened to his complaints and took them seriously.⁵ His concerns found a ready audience at the Spanish court.⁶

For Briceño, Spanish court etiquette gave royal status to the court in Turin; Catalina needed to be treated as the daughter of Philip II, not merely as the wife of a duke.⁷ Briceño’s views about Spanish etiquette were not original. In fact, he merely articulated the opinion of Philip II and his councilors. When Catalina married the duke of Savoy and left Spain, Philip II sent with her a copy of the rules of etiquette governing the household of Spanish queens. Under Philip II’s orders, the marquis of Ladrada, mayordomo mayor of Philip’s fourth wife, Anna de Austria, had painstakingly elaborated this etiquette from 1570 to 1575 and the rules were then applied to Anna’s household.⁸ This etiquette codified regulations governing the queen’s household as well as that of the royal children, since the two households were joined. The rules mandated very strict enclosure for the queen and her female household, sharply limiting access to her apartments and restricting interaction between the queen’s ladies and outsiders. Moreover, the etiquette included detailed instructions on how the queen and her ladies were supposed to behave both within the palace and outside, so that the queen’s household might be a model of decorous behavior. Finally, the rules established the queen’s mayordomo mayor as the overseer of her household—the person who would ensure that these rules were followed closely. The camarera mayor (chief lady-in-waiting), the feminine counterpart to the mayordomo mayor, helped monitor the queen’s rooms, sleeping (with several additional ladies) in the queen’s bedroom when the king was absent. Philip intended that this etiquette—designed for a queen’s household—be implemented in the ducal court at Savoy, helping to lend it royal status and enhance Catalina’s and the duke’s prestige.⁹

Catalina had grown up with this etiquette and was undoubtedly thoroughly familiar with its complicated features. Nevertheless, she herself was not charged with personally ensuring that her household conform to the rules; instead, her mayordomo mayor was charged to see to its implementation.¹⁰ Catalina’s mayordomo mayor was Baron Paolo Sfondrato, a Lombard.¹¹ Sfondrato had served as Emanuele Filiberto’s (Carlo’s father) ambassador in Milan and then as the Spanish ambassador to the court in Turin. In 1585, he was appointed Catalina’s mayordomo mayor (making him, in effect, Briceño’s boss), even as he continued to serve as Philip II’s ambassador in Turin. As mayordomo mayor, Sfondrato was supposed to implement Spanish etiquette and enforce its rules in Catalina’s household, yet he was not fully familiar with it (never having served at the court in Madrid), nor did he necessarily understand or appreciate its finer points. It is not surprising, therefore, that Briceño had frequent confrontations with Sfondrato, whom Briceño thought was overlooking crucial aspects of Spanish etiquette. Once, faced with specific criticism from Briceno, an annoyed and frustrated Sfondrato replied that he had to check the rules.

When he was appointed mayordomo mayor, Sfondrato asked for clarification of numerous issues of etiquette; no doubt he realized his lack of familiarity with Spanish court practices. Sfondrato had been shown the rules from 1575 from the Spanish queen’s household, but he wanted a copy of the rules signed by Philip II, specifically addressing the special case of the court in Turin because “the manners and customs” (trato y costumbres) in Savoy were so different from those in Spain.¹² Sfondrato, who accompanied Carlo to the wedding with Catalina in Zaragoza, received the instructions before he left Spain in June 1585, but he did not issue them to members of Catalina’s household until December 1585—six months after he had received them and four months after Catalina and the duke’s official entrance into Turin.¹³ This delay caused Briceño to write to Philip II’s secretary, Mateo Vázquez, in September 1585, complaining that Catalina’s servants still did not have any written directives from Sfondrato detailing the responsibilities of their specific office.¹⁴

His assignment to Catalina’s household was the first time that Sfondrato had served as mayordomo mayor. He was perhaps too preoccupied with juggling two offices (mayordomo mayor and Spanish ambassador) and with questions of precedence between himself and the duke’s mayordomo mayor to be overly concerned about the minutiae of Spanish etiquette within the infanta’s household. Briceño noted, for example, that Sfondrato’s ambassadorial responsibilities kept him from attending the infanta’s meals—a feature of court life that in Spain was heavily governed by strict rules, which stipulated that Catalina’s ladies would serve the food.¹⁵ In Turin, however, the duke’s male servants put the meat on the table. Briceño was appalled by this irregularity and insisted that these male servants give the food to pages (meninos), who in turn would hand it to the infanta’s ladies, ensuring that men did not enter the room while Catalina was dining. Briceño told the duke that the practice of male servers was inappropriate (no parecia cosa decente), and the duke remedied it in order to conform to the instructions which Catalina had brought from Spain.¹⁶ Although Sfondrato had received a copy of the written rules, he had clearly not paid sufficient attention to them, either because he was too busy with his ambassadorial duties or because he did not think them important enough.

The difference in customs between Savoy and Spain, noted originally by Sfondrato and reported angrily by Briceño, would sometimes make Briceño seethe; his actions, in turn, would provoke a great deal of consternation at Catalina’s new court. Nevertheless, Sfondrato must not initially have anticipated problems with Briceno, because when the Spanish government suggested possible candidates to serve in Catalina’s household, Philip II’s councilors noted that Sfondrato was in favor of Briceno’s appointment. Sfondrato wanted a Spanish mayordomo and favored Briceño both because he had financial resources and because he was familiar with life at the Spanish court.¹⁷ No doubt Sfondrato thought that Briceño would help him in understanding and implementing Spanish etiquette in Catalina’s household, but Sfondrato did not know how difficult a character Briceño would be. (Sfondrato learned his lesson. When Briceño died, Sfondrato urged the Spanish government to find another Spanish mayordomo, but one with a milder character than that of Briceno.¹⁸) Interestingly enough, the Spanish government did foresee problems, not with Briceño in particular, but with a Spanish mayordomo. In suggesting people for Catalina’s household, Spanish councilors noted that no Spaniard would want to serve under an Italian mayordomo mayor.¹⁹ Although Sfondrato was Philip II’s ambassador to the court in Turin and might have seen himself as more Spanish than Italian, the Spanish court (and Briceno) saw him as decidedly Italian.²⁰

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Table of contents

• Cover-Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Content Page
• List of Illustrations
• List of Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction Bargaining Chips: Strategic Marriages and Cultural Circulation in Early Modern Europe
• Part I: Princesses across Borders
• Part II: Male Consorts
• Part III: Women’s Contribution to a Cosmopolitan Nobility
• Epilogue
• Index