“It is not a great confusion to compete for a decent lady, even without the desired success, because ne se point risquer without a proper understanding of matters”1, 2. The quoted statement of the Crown Secretary Jakub Dunin (died in 1730), written in one of the letters to the Lithuanian Deputy Master’s wife Anna Potocka née Dunin (died in 1717), perfectly reflects the approach to courtship that guided the eighteenth-century marriage policy. Finding a suitable candidate for marriage could determine both one’s own success and be an important element in building the prestige of the family...weiterlesen