Person in attendance of a royal court
"Courtiers" redirects here. For the brush-footed butterflies, see
Sephisa
.
A
courtier
(
) is a person who attends the
royal court
of a
monarch
or other
royalty
.
[1]
The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the
retinues
of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of
government
as well as the
official residence
of the monarch, and the social and political life were often completely mixed together.
Background
[
edit
]
Monarchs very often expected the more important nobles to spend much of the year in attendance on them at court. Not all courtiers were
noble
, as they included
clergy
,
soldiers
,
clerks
,
secretaries
, agents and middlemen with business at court. All those who held a
court appointment
could be called courtiers but not all courtiers held positions at court. Those personal favourites without business around the monarch, sometimes called the
camarilla
, were also considered courtiers. As social divisions became more rigid, a divide, barely present in
Antiquity
or the
Middle Ages
, opened between menial servants and other classes at court, although
Alexandre Bontemps
, the head
valet de chambre
of
Louis XIV
, was a late example of a "menial" who managed to establish his family in the nobility.
[2]
The key commodities for a courtier were access and information, and a large court operated at many levels: many successful careers at court involved no direct contact with the monarch.
The largest and most famous European court was that of the
Palace of Versailles
at its peak, although the
Forbidden City
of
Beijing
was even larger and more isolated from national life. Very similar features marked the courts of all very large monarchies, including in
India
,
Topkapı Palace
in
Istanbul
,
Ancient Rome
,
Byzantium
or the
Caliphs
of
Baghdad
or
Cairo
. Early medieval European
courts
frequently travelled from place to place following the monarch as they travelled. This was particularly the case in the early French court. But, the
European nobility
generally had independent power and was less controlled by the monarch until around the 18th century, which gave European court life greater complexity.
History
[
edit
]
The earliest courtiers coincide with the development of definable courts beyond the rudimentary entourages or
retinues
of rulers. There were probably courtiers in the courts of the
Akkadian Empire
where there is evidence of court appointments such as that of
cup-bearer
which was one of the earliest court appointments and remained a position at courts for thousands of years.
[3]
Two of the earliest titles referring to the general concept of a courtier were likely the
?a r?si
and
mazz?z p?ni
of the
Neo-Assyrian Empire
.
[4]
In
Ancient Egypt
a title has been found that translates to
high steward
or great overseer of the house.
[5]
The courts influenced by the court of the
Neo-Assyrian Empire
such as those of the
Median Empire
and the
Achaemenid Empire
had numerous courtiers
[6]
[7]
After invading the
Achaemenid Empire
,
Alexander the Great
returned with the concept of the complex court featuring a variety of courtiers to the
Kingdom of Macedonia
and
Hellenistic Greece
.
[8]
The
imperial court
of the
Byzantine Empire
at
Constantinople
would eventually contain at least a thousand courtiers.
[9]
The court's systems became prevalent in other courts such as those in the
Balkan
states, the
Ottoman Empire
and
Russia
.
[10]
Byzantinism
is a term that was coined for this spread of the Byzantine system in the 19th century.
[11]
Examples
[
edit
]
In modern English, the term is often used metaphorically for contemporary political
favourites
or hangers-on.
Gallery
[
edit
]
In literature
[
edit
]
In modern literature, courtiers are often depicted as insincere, skilled at flattery and intrigue, ambitious and lacking regard for the national interest. More positive representations include the role played by members of the court in the development of politeness and the arts.
[
citation needed
]
Examples of courtiers in fiction:
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Courtier"
.
dictionary.reference.com
.
Archived
from the original on 2010-12-06
. Retrieved
2010-12-24
.
- ^
"
Brokerage at the Court of Louis XIV
, by Sharon Kettering; The Historical Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Mar., 1993), pp. 69-87; JSTOR"
.
Archived
from the original on 2016-04-14
. Retrieved
2017-12-12
.
- ^
Radner, Karen (2011).
The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture
. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 358?379.
ISBN
978-0-19-955730-1
.
- ^
Groß, Melanie; Pirngruber, Reinhard (September 2014).
"On Courtiers in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: ?a r?si and mazz?z p?ni"
(PDF)
.
Imperium and Officium Working Papers (IOWP)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 3 March 2016
. Retrieved
24 February
2015
.
- ^
Stephen Quirke:
Titles and bureaux of Egypt 1850?1700 BC
, London 2004,
ISBN
0-9547218-0-2
, pp. 50?51, 61
- ^
Dandamayev, Muhammad.
"Courts And Courtiers. In the Median and Achaemenid periods"
.
Encyclopædia Iranica
. Encyclopædia Iranica.
Archived
from the original on 24 February 2015
. Retrieved
24 February
2015
.
- ^
Maria Brosius (2007). "New out of old? Court and court ceremonies in Achaemenid Persia". In Spawforth, A.J.S. (ed.).
The Court and Court Society in Ancient Monarchies
. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1?57.
ISBN
978-0-521-87448-9
.
- ^
Tony Spawforth (2007). "The court of Alexander the Great between Europe and Asia". In Spawforth, A.J.S. (ed.).
The Court and Court Society in Ancient Monarchies
. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 93?97.
ISBN
978-0-521-87448-9
.
- ^
Kazhdan, Alexander P.; McCormick, Michael (1995).
"The Social World of the Byzantine Court"
(PDF)
. In Maguire, Henry (ed.).
Byzantine Court Culture from 829 to 1204
. Harvard University Press. p. 175.
ISBN
9780884023081
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
Angelov, Dimiter G. (2003). "Byzantinism: The Imaginary and Real Heritage of Byzantium in Southeastern Europe".
New approaches to Balkan studies
. Brassey's. pp. 3, 11.
ISBN
1574887246
.
- ^
Angelov, Dimiter G. (2003). "Byzantinism: The Imaginary and Real Heritage of Byzantium in Southeastern Europe".
New approaches to Balkan studies
. Brassey's. p. 8.
ISBN
1574887246
.
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