Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

Bohemia – a court of high aristocracy and, at least in the beginning, even higher expenditure 278
– and on several diplomatic trips to Flanders, Germany and Friesland. 279 Christiaan’s letter to
Lodewijk after a weeklong wedding in Germany shows that the twenty-three-year old did not
move solely among mathematicians:
ii. Attempt nr 2?
The wedding [of Count Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz, Stadholder of Friesland, with
Albertina Agnes, sister of the deceased Willem II of Orange] took place on the second. It was
splendid, with ceremonies that are quite customary in Germany. If you wish to imagine it, just
think back to all you saw in Kassel, and then many times more splendid. On the sixth I saw the
procession, which quite outdid the wedding of Mr van Brederode. The one half, under the
leadership of the Elector, came dressed as Romans, the other half as Moors with the Count of
Waldeck. They marched in perfect time, and the three leaders brought up the rear, I think you
can guess how. (…) But I have forgotten to tell you about the magnificent fireworks on the
fourth, when often three to four hundred rockets would be let off into the air, all in one go. On
the eighth there was a ball, but that was nothing special for those who have attended such balls
here in The Hague. (…) But here it was only princes and counts who danced (indeed, there
were so many of these), so that the nobles and their ladies must be satisfied with the spectacle
alone. Sometimes I ate with the nobles, at three or four tables, or else with the ladies – there
were quite a number of these, and now and again with my father and Count Maurits, who
always dined at his leisure in his hotel, with just a few servants in attendance. 280
Christiaan, like his brothers, thus learned to feel comfortable among aristocrats and
courtiers and to behave with civility before princes, princesses and kings – all important assets
for a public function. His own, his brother Lodewijk’s, and his cousin Philip Doublet’s
curriculum vitae would further be very well served by a law-degree and further involvement in
important diplomatic and courtly networks. With this in mind, Constantijn Sr. sent them out in
278 GODFREY, E. (1909) A sister of Prince Rupert : Elizabeth princess Palatine and abbess of Herford, London,
H. Lane., p86, 122 and KEBLUSEK, M. (1997) The Bohemian Court at The Hague. IN KEBLUSEK,
M., ZIJLMANS, J. & MUSEUM, H. H. (Eds.) Princely display: the court of Frederik Hendrik of Orange and
Amalia van Solms. The Hague; Zwolle, Historical Museum; Waanders., p47-57. Until 1650, Princess
Elizabeth Palatine’s “drawing room was the resort of many clever men” – amongst others Descartes,
Charles Cavendish and father and brothers Huygens.
279 HUYGENS, C. & JORISSEN, T. (1873) Mémoires de Constantin Huygens : publiés pour la premiére fois,
d'apres̀ les minutes de l'auteur, preécédes d'une introduction, La Haye, Nijhoff., p86, 90. These trips were in
1652 and 1654, bringing their paths along several nobles and foreign dignitaries.
280 HUYGENS, C. (1888) OC., Vol. I, No 126 (1652). Translation in: ANDRIESSE, C. D. (2005)
Huygens : the man behind the principle, Cambridge ; New York, Cambridge University Press.
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