A SAVAGE MAGNIFICENCE: OTTOMANIZING FASHION AND THE POLITICS OF DISPLAY IN EARLY MODERN EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE

On October 29, 1645, after many weeks of travel and preparation, the Polish ambassador Krzysztof Opaliński (d. 1655) led a spectacular procession into Paris.1 Opaliński's arrival, to officiate the wedding by proxy of Marie Louise Gonzaga (d. 1667) to the Polish king Ladislaus IV Vasa (r. 1632-48), attracted keen interest from Parisian society. Francoise de Motteville (d. 1689), ladyin- waiting to the regent of France, Anne of Austria (r. 1643-51), recorded in her diaries that in their fashion and overall appearance, the Poles "who are now the neighbours of the Turks, seem inclinable in some measure to ape the grandeur and majesty of the seraglio." In describing the "richly apparell'd" riders, she noted that "there is something in their magnificence, which looks very savage." Although Motteville found the arriving foreigners "for the most part so fat and slovenly, that they are loathsome," she nevertheless admitted that the ambassador's entree was performed "with abundance of solemnity, and the best decorum in the world." She seemed almost surprised that "our French people instead of laughing at them, as they had intended, were forced to commend them ... that their entry was very well worth our regard.".