Buzási Enikő szerk.: In Europe' Princely Courts, Ádám Mányoki, Actors and venues of a portraitist's career (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2003/1)

János Kalmár: POWER AND THE PRINCELY COURT IN EARLY 18th-CENTURY EUROPE

Antoine Trouvain: King Louis XIV of France plavs billiards in the castle of Versailles in 1694. Engraving Paris, Bibliothèque National, Cabinet des Estampes French novel of 1644, the perfect ruler should be in love in order to be loved, because virtuous love produces many good qualities. After all, whoever is affected will strive for perfection: he will become eloquent, refine his wit, and be skilled in dance and the handling of weapons; he will endeavour to perform virtuous and heroic acts in order to win the esteem of others; he will be brave and triumphant in order to win the heart of the woman who has stolen his.

128 Gallantry did not elude Rákóczi either in the French royal court. As he wrote: "as a result of my visit to court, I have conversed with women, and made friends with them, since I fall in love too easily. [...] I desired that secret, true and real friendship that so few women are suitable for. [...] It was never physical desire that drove me, but I accepted with some kind of natural sympathy that sudden impression, which made me indifferent to the rest of the women in the world. I yearned for clandestine, but courteous conversations. [...] That's why I felt that my heart, which does not usually yearn for forbidden things, truly begin to beat at the sight of a certain woman, who left me amazed, bashful, and speechless. I tried to see her more and more frequently; her glance and her manner of speaking was altogether too sweet for me; I was restless when far away from her; I was afraid to speak to her for fear I should give offence. That's why I spoke to her with my eyes and my sighs, which I was frequently obliged to suppress, to prevent someone from discovering the secrets of my heart. My chief endeavour was to win her approval; my greatest desire was to give her something nice, and my greatest fear was that I should offend her; I felt this love to be so pure and not at all carnal, this love, which day by day held me even greater captive. [...] two presented themselves as the object of my love at the same time [...]. The modesty of the other gripped me with fear mixed with respect, the first with her flirtatious charm gave me greater hope of requited love, but if her affection sparked some kind of hope, the other's constancy allowed me to expect more. Of the two women, one wanted to be liked by everyone, the other desired no such thing."

129 Rákóczi's Confessio [Confession] sheds