Saturday, May 13, 2006

Flaming Leopold







[click for larger versions]

This anonymous 1667 German festival book is online at the University of Bielefeld (the image quality after about page 60 is awful). The title is: 'Von Himmeln entzündete und durch allgemeinen Zuruff der Erde sich himmelwerts erschwingende Frolockungs-Flammen zu höchstfeyerli..' for which the translation is rather useless: 'From skies caught fire and by general Zuruff of the earth sky value erschwingende Frolockungs flames too more hoechstfeyerli..'

I am relatively confident it records the celebrations surrounding the first marriage in 1666 of Habsburg Emperor Leopold I of Austria/Hungary/Bohemia to his neice Margarite Theresa, daughter of King Phillip IV of Spain. A number of different hands were likely responsible for the engravings, which vary in quality through the work.

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