The Glorification of Emperor Leopold I in Image, Spectacle and Text

This book is the first attempt to reconstruct the official image of the Emperor Leopold I who was head of the Holy Roman Empire for almost fifty years (1658-1705). Above all this is a study of the esthetics of power in German political culture of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. This study strives to achieve its goal through the interpretation of laudatory texts, pictorial images and theatrical performances glorifying Leopold. Relying on a wide scope of documents, the author discusses the main aspects of the emperor's image presented through various media of glorification, as well as the Habsburg tradition of representation and the institutions and persons who contributed to Leopold's glorification. The image of the emperor as a peaceful ruler, bringing about the flourishing of the domains, though facing a serious dynastic crisis, and as conqueror of the Turks and protector of Germany from Louis XIV are discussed parallel to the changes in Leopold's political situation. Contrary to the dominant interpretations, the "ideal" image of Leopold I as a model of virtue and as an exemplary Catholic monarch, purportedly derived in its entirety from dynastic tradition, is related to the changing political circumstances of the emperor's reign, while the "Leopoldine" model's reliance on the traditional Habsburg model is also acknowledged. By the time of his death Leopold had acquired the reputation of a beneficent and triumphant monarch in most of Germany - and this reputation was partly due to his glorification by subjects and allies.