ABSTRACT
As was typical for noble women in the Early Modern period, Caterina Sforza’s first major public appearance was during her wedding, a series of events that took place over several weeks and in numerous locations. During the wedding ritual, a bride usually traveled from her home to that of her spouse, where she then took up residence. The physical move underscored the symbolic transfer of her loyalties: she left her father’s jurisdiction and entered into her husband’s. For a noble bride, this journey might require days or even weeks to cover the distance from one principality to another. In the process, the bride not only married her husband, but was transformed from daughter to wife and consort with authority over territories. Her new status required acknowledgement from peers and subjects alike, and so along the way, she would honor the cities and territories sympathetic to her natal and marital families with ceremonial visits. The festivities provided by each city expressed its support of the bride and her family and, of course, the cities within her husband’s territories would stage the most extravagant celebrations as: official welcome to her new role.2 This was the case for Caterina Sforza in 1477 when she entered her husband’s territory of Imola, as described above in a letter to her step-mother, and for countless other noble brides. The ceremonial enacted during the wedding journey derived from long-standing rituals that forged complex webs of alliance and possessionamong the bride, the subjects, and the land-that were ultimately about the display of both established and recently contracted power relationships.
