Food and Culture at the Court of Friedrich Wilhelm (1640-1688), Great Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia

FAIN: FT-278568-21

Molly Taylor-Poleskey
Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN 37132-0001)

Research and writing toward a monograph examining the court of Prince Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (1640–1688) through its food and culture.

My forthcoming book, Food and Culture at the Court of the Great Elector, is an alternative to the traditional military and bureaucratic narratives about the composite state of Brandenburg-Prussia in the seventeenth century. The food consumption and policies of the court of Prince Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (1640–1688) offer a critical new perspective on how this ruler struggled for stability in the ashes of the Thirty Years War variously through collaboration, coercion, and in cahoots with a range of actors. Although a basic need, food was also a tool of lofty self-representation. At the same time, the need for food made the ruler dependent on his subject-suppliers and was therefore a leverage in the negotiations underlying the development of the state.