More Festival books from Ghent
Prior to Charles VI’s entry into their town, Ghent and the other cities of the United Provinces had to negotiate their requests with the central authority (Van Gelder 2011). Ghent’s long-standing capacity to organize magnificient ceremonies could thus testify to its power and importance in such negotiation.
1582. Ghent had already hosted a grand ceremonial royal entry for Francis, Duke of Anjou in 1582, when a similar event was also organized by the city of Bruges. However, despite the effort put into organizing such displays, the Catholic soveraign was never able to gain the favour of the United Provinces. He even opted to use force in order to take control of other cities of the region such as Antwerp where his proclaimed ‘joyous entry’ into the Flemish city was in fact a deceitful – yet ineffective – strategy to surprise the city with a military attack.
1744. Opposition to the succession of Charles VI by Maria Theresa, his second-born daughter, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, as well as the ruler of the Habsburg Monarchy, led to the War of the Austrian Succession. Her victorious (?) entry into Ghent in 1744 was celebrated by the printing of a festival book whose layout and format are surprisingly similar to those of the Festival book made some 30 years earlier for her father, even thought the printers are different.
