Obraz zaślubin Radziwiłłów birżańskich w piśmiennictwie okolicznościowym i w korespondencji z pierwszej połowy XVII wieku

Abstract

In the Calvinist line of the powerful Radziwiłł family, the familial celebrations were organised with great circumstance. Manuscripts are extant of a report on the wedding of Janusz I and Zofia Słucka, and we have detailed descriptions of Janusz II and Maria Mohylanka’s wedding. The latter match was also commemorated in the published wedding sermon by Piotr Mohiia, and in the emblematic publication by Filip Bajewski. The wedding of Katarzyna Radziwiłłówna and Jerzy Karol Hlebowicz is mentioned in Albrecht Radziwill’s diary, and there is also a copy of the wedding speech delivered on that occasion by Stefan Pac. A lot of information on the way such weddings were organised can be found in the correspondence of the Birża circle: in reports by Naborowski, who prepared the solemn entry of the newly-weds, i.e. Janusz I and his second wife Elżbieta Zofia, and in very interesting letters by Bogusław Radziwiłł to his fiancée on the subject of their prospective wedding. Duke Radziwiłł expressed in them his strong objections to a sumptuous and costly wedding reception. Generally speaking, however, the Radziwiłłs in the first half of the 17th c. gave way to the contemporary fashion of organising sumptuous wedding feasts.