1634: The Bavarian Crisis

epilogue.

The whole committee agreed that this would work. But which play? The most famous was the Cenodoxus. It was powerful, undoubtedly. When it was first performed, the actor who portrayed the protagonist had been moved to join the Jesuit order and more than a dozen Bavarian court officials had taken leave from their ordinary duties in order to make a retreat and perform St. Ignatius Loyola's Exercises.

Mary Ward, who had been drawn into the committee on the presumption that her school would supply the many flower-petal-scattering girl children who constituted part of any celebration, remarked that this was not, perhaps, precisely the effect that one wished to achieve during a wedding celebration.

Josephus? Not quite right. Philemon the Martyr? Umm, no, not this time. Jacob the Usurer? Off-topic.

Patiently, Duchess Mechthilde let the discussion proceed along its inconclusive way until everyone was getting tired and would welcome a decisive intervention. They should make the play a compliment to Duke Maximilian, she suggested. A compliment to his generalship of the troops of the Catholic League. Of all of Bidermann's plays, the best for this purpose would be…

Of course! Why hadn't they thought of it in the first place. Some time during the week before the wedding, Munich would put on a spectacular performance of Belisarius, Christian General.

However, Father Rader had insisted, there should be a new poetical prologue and epilogue that specifically referenced the wedding. That could certainly be achieved within the allotted time. Who? Well, young Balde would be the best choice.

"But," one of the city councilmen sputtered, "he's in Amberg. In the Upper Palatinate. Imprisoned by the heretics."

"He isn't imprisoned," Rader answered. "And the mails are going through. By somewhat roundabout routes, at times, but going through. The house of Thurn and Taxis is most ingenious. It shall be Balde."

Once this had been decided, all of the committee members took up their tasks with little additional discussion; most of them had taken part in the staging of a dozen or more plays of this type. There are many advantages to fielding a veteran team.

Duchess Mechthilde saw no reason to remind them of the play's full title. Not that her brother-in-law deserved to experience derision or misery. As far as Mechthilde could find out, based on the information she received from servants and various other informants she had placed judiciously here and there among the court personnel, Maximilian truly did wish to retire to a monastery. So, he clearly deserved all the assistance that she could give him in attaining his desire.

The misfortune was that there were others who were hindering his pursuit of that laudable and praiseworthy goal. Those others-yes, they did deserve whatever adverse fate could be brought to bear upon them. Munich would be performing A Tragi-Comedy of the Rise and Fall of Belisarius, Christian General, who Fell from the Highest Happiness of Fame into the Extreme Mockery of Misfortune under Emperor Justinian, about the Year of Christ 530.