ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we explore narratives constructed about the House of OrangeNassau through the life stage of death, examining how grief, loss and re-building of the dynastic line were articulated through a range of material culture, ritual and personal expressions. Death could be a moment of dynastic crisis, an event that occurred more than once for the early modern House of Orange-Nassau, and required careful management of strategies and representations to ensure the continuation of the House. Here, as with the previous chapters in this section, we pay attention to the individuals who helped to create and support the narratives, both family members within the House, and the courtiers, designers and officials who stood to gain from their development. We also consider how the House forged connections to other branches and the wider dynasty at the moment of death, and what role there was for individuals to craft a personal presentation of their lives, identities and memories through the rituals and material culture of their own or others’ deaths. Furthermore, as an aspect of the material culture of death, we explore particularly the gendered nature of spaces for grief and the forms of affective articulations that were presented within them. Death could be a disaster, or an opportunity, depending on one’s position in the hierarchy of the House.
