Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

Palatine Electorate in 1748, during the reign
of Elector Carl Theodor, the Palatine court
would leave Mannheim in the spring in
order to spend the summer in Schwetzingen.
There is clear evidence of this in the missives
of the Saxon envoy. Saxony’s ambassador
Count Andreas Riaucour regularly reported
on the migration of the Palatine court to
the country at Schwetzingen, as he did on
30 April 1771: “Mgr. L’Electeur part demain
pour Schwezingen avec les personnes qui
ont été nommées pour l’accompagner à celle
Campagne, ou il restera pendant l’été jusqu’a
l’arriere saison”. 16 Or on 23 April 1772: “Leur
A.S.E. sont arrivées a cette compagne hier
martin avec les personnes qui ont l’honneur
de les accompagner du nombre des quels je
me trouve Msg. L’Electeur y passera tout les
tems de la belle saison”. 17 Schwetzingen even
has its own court regulations worked out for
the aristocracy, as Riaucour reports: “La cour
d’ici a fait imprimer et publier un Reglement
pour la Noblesse d’ici par rapport aux jours de
cour et des tables pendant la Campagne d’Eté
à Schwezingen de l’equel j’ai l’honneur de
joindre ici un Exemplairem mais la Noblesse
n’en est pas tops content.” 18
The date of the move depended on the
weather, but continually took place around
the end of April and October respectively. At
the very latest, the court needed to be back in
Mannheim for the Elector’s name day on 4
November, the day of St. Charles Borromeo,
as this was when the gala commenced with
great ceremony. Once, due to a “vent de Nord”,
as Riaucour recounts, one May the Elector
even retraced his steps to Mannheim, which
presumably was easier to heat than the
summer residence at Schwetzingen. 19
An enormous logistical effort was required to
move the residence to the countryside for half
16 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden. Loc 2626 Vol XXIV of
23 April 1771.
17 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden. Loc 2627 Vol XXV of
23 April 1772.
18 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden. Loc 2626 Vol XXIII of
1 May 1770.
19 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden. Loc 2627 Vol XXV of
12 May 1772.
II. Schwetzingen – Elector Carl Theodor’s Summer Residence
the year (May to October). Food and firewood
were brought in as corvée, since even items
for everyday usage were not stored at the
summer residence, but had to be delivered
from Mannheim or those villages and offices
charged with its supply. The baggage train
from Mannheim carried linen, furniture,
crockery and people in great quantities to
Schwetzingen. The English music critic
Charles Burney reports: “The number of those
who follow the Elector to Schwetzingen of a
summer approaches fifteen hundred, all living
in this tiny place at the Prince’s expense”. 20
These 1,500 people descending onto the
market village of Schwetzingen in one fell
swoop cannot be verified by other sources,
but is presumably realistic. The year 1776 saw
639 people recorded in the court calendar,
all of whom were in the employ of the
Palatine court. 21 Most household servants
were married. However, their families were
not entitled to live at the palace and would
have had to find accommodation in town.
It can safely be assumed that their families
would not wish to spend half the year apart
on a regular basis, and would therefore
20 Charles Burney, Tagebuch einer musikalischen Reise durch
Frankreich und Italien, durch Flandern, die Niederlande und
am Rhein bis Wien, durch Böhmen, Sachsen, Brandenburg,
Hamburg und Holland 1770 – 1772, reprint Wilhelmshaven
1980, p. 228.
21 Stefan Mörz p. 82.
II.
Fig. 2: The summer residence
of Schwetzingen, aerial
photograph. East (top) to west
(bottom): The town, the palace,
the gardens (Photo: LAD
Esslingen, 2005).
17