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    104 DOMESTIC IJFE OF GERMAN LADIES

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    . Mam ^ The Roll Which The Muse Of Histo...

    his horse , the princess was lifted down by her bride -leaders , and the bridegroom saluted the bride . The processions joined , they

    wound slowly tip the Geisberg , the cavalcade vanished under the castle gateway , and there was to be no more show that day for the people of the town . Let us hope for them that though there was

    no more show , there might be good cheer , and plenty of it too ; but on this head our chronicle is silent , these old yellow archives of court

    life have very little to say about the people . As for the peasantry , their condition at this period was even more intolerable than it had been before they rose in 1522 . They were oppressed with the most

    cruel tyranny and extortion under the pretence of feudal rights , and might think themselves fortunate if their share in these festivities

    was not to whip the moats and ditches all night long ' , lest the sleep of their lords should be broken through , the croaking * of the frogs . Early next morning , Sunday morning , —the German princes

    especially favored Sunday in their choice of a wedding day , —there was tapestry flying from all the houses , flowers flung down in abundance in the streets , and who shall say how many pairs of eyes to

    stare at the marriage procession to the church . The bridegroom , preceded by a herald , rode first , the proxy for the Emperor Charles V . on his right , that for the King of the Romans on his left ;

    then princes , dukes , and nobles , according to their rank ; these were followed by a number of richly-dressed pages _, with fifteen

    counts and knights , all bearing lighted torches . After a pause , the princess appeared on her white palfrey , its crimson housings changed for snow white , fringed with gold ; her wedding dress was white

    satin , wrought with silver flowers ; on her head she wore a crown of pearls . Her cortege was entirely composed of royal and noble ladies . The bride-leaders rode by her side and supported her to the altar ,

    where Duke Frederick was waiting to receive her , accompanied , of course , by those eternal trumpets and kettle-drums . These martial

    instruments figure considerably in the chronicle ; they seem to have been quite as indispensable to a wedding as the bride herself . They go to meet her , they follow her to church , they din the wectding

    party back into the castle ; and afterwards , when we have had hardly an hour ' s rest , they start afresh , in aeconrpaiiixnent to the duke ' s herald who rides thrice round the great court to summon all that

    troop of the fair and the brave into the castle court to take part in , or to witness , the tourney and other mimic feats of arms . The Princess Dorothea herself , seated ui _iv a canopy of cloth of gold ,

    gave each victor his reward . Duke Frederick broke a lance in honor of his bride ; the bold Count Philip of the Rhine won a golden

    spear , one of the duke ' s courtiers a sword of gold , the knight Von Leenrode a golden scabbard ; and John of Heidek , who appeared

    as proxy for Duke Pldlip the Warlike , was graced with a golden gauntlet . The tourney over , the guests were marshalled in great state to

    the banquet , where a wild boar , roasted whole , formed one of the

    104 Domestic Ijfe Of German Ladies

    104 DOMESTIC IJFE OF GERMAN LADIES

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1860, page 104, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041860/page/32/