Courtier
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A courtier (
Background
Monarchs very often expected the more important nobles to spend much of the year in attendance on them at court. Not all courtiers were
The largest and most famous European court was that of the
History
The earliest courtiers coincide with the development of definable courts beyond the rudimentary entourages or
The courts influenced by the court of the
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
- Bagoas
- Anne Boleyn
- Alessandro Cagliostro
- John Dee
- Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
- Anne Hungerford
- Princess de Lamballe
- Dukes of Luynes
- Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars
- Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon
- Count of St. Germain
- Cardinal de Rohan
- Ja'far ibn Yahya
- Madame de Pompadour
- Petronius
- Walter Raleigh
- Cardinal Richelieu
- James Scudamore
- Angelo Soliman
- Wei Zhongxian
In modern English, the term is often used metaphorically for contemporary political favourites or hangers-on.
Gallery
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Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt as courtier around 1780, etching by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle
-
Portrait of a Persian courtier
-
Madame de Pompadour was a French royal mistress
-
Sir Walter Raleigh was a courtier favoured by Elizabeth I
In literature
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:
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
- Arthurian legend,
- Gríma Wormtongue from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
- Count Hasimir Fenring and Gaius Helen Mohiam from Frank Herbert's Dune.
- Petyr Baelish and Varys from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.
See also
- The Book of the Courtier, by Baldassare Castiglione
- Camarilla
- Courtesan
- Éminence grise
- Royal mistress
- Sycophant
- Courtly love
References
- ^ "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.
- ISBN 978-0-19-955730-1.
- ^ Groß, Melanie; Pirngruber, Reinhard (September 2014). "On Courtiers in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: ša rēsi and mazzāz pāni" (PDF). Imperium and Officium Working Papers (IOWP). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- 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.
- ISBN 978-0-521-87448-9.
- ISBN 978-0-521-87448-9.
- ISBN 9780884023081.[dead link]
- ISBN 1574887246.
- ISBN 1574887246.