Court ceremony

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The court ceremony , also known as court etiquette , regulated the various ceremonies that take place at the court of a ruler or prince and generally all actions taking place at court, such as the processes of weddings , funerals , homage , audiences and the like. The ceremony determined the costume, rank, title and prescribed actions of the individual members of the court and was not infrequently very extensive and complicated. The court ceremony was led by an upper court marshal or master of ceremonies, who had tasks comparable to those of a modern chief of protocol . The court ceremony has its origins in the Orient. Essential components are the sacred exaltation of the ruler and the hierarchization of the court.

Late antiquity

After Augustus Caesar attained the highest priestly office of the Roman state as Pontifex Maximus , he and his successors received further sacred honors up to deification ( imperial cult , apotheosis ). After the imperial crisis of the 3rd century AD, Emperor Diocletian formalized these honors and introduced an oriental court ceremony: From then on, the emperor no longer wore the toga of a senator or triumphant, but a purple general cloak ( chlamys ) and a gold laurel wreath that was worn by his successor Constantine the Great was replaced by a gold diadem with a double-row pearl wreath. The only way to approach the emperor was through adoratio purpurae ( Proskynesis ). The ceremonial was developed further after the end of late antiquity in Byzantium . In the west it was taken over by the Roman bishops and transferred to the Pope, who still holds the title of pontifex maximus today .

middle Ages

The feudal and knighthood of the Middle Ages favored the emergence of own forms of court ceremonies.

In Germany it received new care as a result of the marriage of Emperor Otto II to the Byzantine princess Theophano . The ceremony was regulated by the golden bull of Emperor Charles IV since the late Middle Ages .

Spanish court ceremony

The Spanish court ceremony was developed in the 15th century at the court of the Dukes of Burgundy , a side branch of the French kings and rulers of the Netherlands. Duke Philip the Good created a detailed court ceremony, which also included the creation of an order of knights , the Order of the Golden Fleece , in order to integrate the elites of his heterogeneous country conglomerate from the Alps to the North Sea into a hierarchical system of rule. The external characteristic of this ceremony was the wearing of black clothing. The Netherlands passed by inheritance to the Habsburgs , who introduced this ceremony at the Spanish court under Charles V and in Vienna under his brother Ferdinand of Austria . Since Spain was the supreme power in Europe until 1650, the Burgundian court ceremony became known to the other European courts as the Spanish court ceremony. In Austria it was practiced until Joseph II . In Spain, with the exception of the interruption 1808–1814, the ceremonial was maintained in essential areas until King Amadeus I abdicated in 1873.

French court ceremony

The simpler French ceremonial became predominant under Louis XIV and has remained a model to this day. The powerful narrative , developed by Norbert Elias in particular in Die Höfische Gesellschaft , that this ceremony served as an instrument to rule the nobility, who were tamed in a “golden cage” at the royal court, is now in need of differentiation. The French Revolution of 1789 seemed to have done away with the court ceremony, but Napoléon Bonaparte renewed it, the Restoration and the July Monarchy adapted it, and Napoléon III. trained it further. In Scandinavia , some courts have moved to simpler forms of ceremonial.

See also

literature

  • Mark Hengerer: Court ceremony. In: Werner Paravicini (ed.): Courtyards and residences in the late medieval empire. Volume 3: Hof und Schrift (= Residency Research. Vol. 15, 3). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2007, ISBN 978-3-7995-4522-8 , pp. 433-455, online .
  • Christina Hofmann-Randall: The Spanish court ceremony 1500–1700 (= cultures - communication - contacts. Vol. 15), Frank & Timme, Berlin 2012 ISBN 978-3-86596-431-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Giora Sternberg: Status Interaction during the Reign of Louis XIV. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014.