Rosette from cap of Prince Philip II (1573-1618)

The whole outfit was of beautiful floral golden cloth, with golden yellow silk stockings and garters, trimmed with gold lace: On the head the same cap, adorned with a ribbon set with beautiful large precious diamonds and a bunch of the black heron feathers*. That is how the account of the funeral ceremony of the Pomeranian Duke Francis I describes the clothes in which he was buried. This description agrees with the Duke’s posthumous image from 1621, preserved in the collection of the Cathedral in Merseburg. The unknown artist rendered the Duke's attire with extreme precision, including the jewels adorning his cap: an aigrette and a set of thirteen rosettes decorated with coloured enamel, diamonds and pearls, attached to a ribbon around the cap. Francis I’s sepulchral costume consisted mostly of the same elements that made up the Duke's representative attire worn during his lifetime. Some of its parts, including the jewels decorating the cap, can be identified on a full-page portrait of the Duke from 1616, created by the court painter, Johann Leonisch (Leninisius). Other Pomeranian dukes were also buried mostly in the clothes they wore during their lives. Francis I’s attire, like his brother Philip II, was black and gold, very fashionable at the turn of the 16th/17th century, but the attire of other rulers buried in the Castle Church crypt was also in various shades of green or red. However, they were always representative clothes, richly decorated with gold haberdashery or embroidery, and expensive jewels. The idea was that the ruler should present himself with all the splendour due to him during the final ceremony.

Monika Frankowska-Makała

*Die Personalien und Leichen-Processionen der Herzoge von Pommern und ihrer Angehörigen aus den Jahren 1560 bis 1663, ges. v. U. von Behr Negendank-Semlow, J. von Bohlen-Bohlendorf, Halle 1869, p. 347.