courtier

English woodcut of an elaborately dressed courtier: My Feather, and my yellow Band accord / to proue me Courtier. (1620)

Le Courtisan suivant le dernier Edit : A French courtier exchanges his elaborate clothes after an edict (copper engraving, Abraham Bosse , 1633)

As a courtier (lat. Curtiens) refers to a most noble person of the courtly society of the pre-modern period , which therefore in medieval or early modern court of a monarchical ruler was present in the long term and often exercised certain functions or offices. Originally the court was the center of power of the government and was the seat of government of the monarch, which is why the courtiers could also have political functions.

The courtiers were in constant competition for the favor of the monarch (see favorite ) and thus in constant observation, which Norbert Elias has shown in his classic study of court society ( royal mechanism ). This situation made for particularly strict requirements for externally visible forms, actions and ways of speaking, which in court criticism has often led to accusations of insincerity and pretense.

The behavioral traits that a courtier should ideally display have become more and more refined and standardized over time. A font that was effective throughout Europe and that for the first time summarized this ideal in a largely binding manner in a habitus pattern was Il Libro del Cortegiano , the book by the courtier Baldassare Castigliones (printed in 1528).

A female courtier was called a lady-in-waiting or courtesan , the latter being linguistically narrowed to the sexual dimension (see also mistress ).

literature

Peter Burke : The courtier. In: Eugenio Garin (ed.): The man of the Renaissance. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1996, pp. 143ff.

Web links

Wiktionary: Courtier - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

supporting documents

↑ See for example Mark Hengerer : Power through favor? On the relevance of attributions at the early modern court. In: Václav Bůžek, Pavel Král (ed.): Šlechta v habsburské monarchii a císaršký dvůr (1526–1749) (= Opera historica. Vol. 10). Editio Universitatis Bohemiae Meridionalis, České Budějovice 2003, pp. 67-100 (PDF) .
↑ Ronald G. Asch : The courtier as a hypocrite? Insincerity, conversational fellowship and friendship at the early modern court. In: Wolfgang Reinhard : Crooked tours. Anthropology of communicative detours (= publications by the Institute for Historical Anthropology. Vol. 10). Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-205-77572-0 , pp. 183–203 (preview) .

[1] See for example Mark Hengerer : Power through favor? On the relevance of attributions at the early modern court. In: Václav Bůžek, Pavel Král (ed.): Šlechta v habsburské monarchii a císaršký dvůr (1526–1749) (= Opera historica. Vol. 10). Editio Universitatis Bohemiae Meridionalis, České Budějovice 2003, pp. 67-100 (PDF) .

[2] Ronald G. Asch : The courtier as a hypocrite? Insincerity, conversational fellowship and friendship at the early modern court. In: Wolfgang Reinhard : Crooked tours. Anthropology of communicative detours (= publications by the Institute for Historical Anthropology. Vol. 10). Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-205-77572-0 , pp. 183–203 (preview) .