Levee (ceremony)
The levee (from the French word lever, meaning "getting up" or "rising")[1] was traditionally a daily moment of intimacy and accessibility to a monarch or leader, as he got up in the morning. It started out as a royal custom, but in British America it came to refer to a reception by the sovereign's representative, which continues to be a tradition in Canada with the New Year's levee; in the United States a similar gathering was held by several presidents.
History
France
In Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, the author recounts the Emperor's practice, when he was dressing and putting on his shoes, to invite his friends to come in and, in case of a dispute brought to his attention, "he would order the disputants to be brought in there and then, hear the case as if he were sitting in tribunal and pronounce a judgement."[2]
By the second half of the sixteenth century, it had become a formal event, requiring invitation.[3] In 1563 Catherine de' Medici wrote in advice to her son, the King of France, to do as his father (Henry II) had done and uphold the practice of lever. Catherine describes that Henry II allowed his subjects, from nobles to household servants, to come in while he dressed. She states this pleased his subjects and improved their opinion of him.[4]
This practice was raised to a ceremonial custom at the court of King Louis XIV.[5] In the court etiquette that Louis formalised, the set of extremely elaborate conventions was divided into the grand lever, attended by the full court in the gallery outside the king's bedchamber, and the petit lever that transpired in degrees in the king's chamber, where only a very select group might serve the king as he rose and dressed.[5] In fact, the king had often risen early and put in some hours hunting before returning to bed for the start of the lever. Louis's grandson, King Philip V of Spain, and his queen typically spent all morning in bed, as reported by Saint-Simon, to avoid the pestering by ministers and courtiers that began with the lever.
The king's retiring ceremony proceeded in reverse order and was known as the coucher.
The successors of Louis XIV were not as passionate about the monarch's daily routine and, over time, the frequency of the lever and coucher decreased, much to the dismay of their courtiers.[6]
Great Britain
When the court of Charles II of England adopted the custom, first noted as an English usage in 1672,[7] it was called a levée. In the 18th century, as the fashionable dinner hour was incrementally moved later into the afternoon,[8] the morning reception of the British monarch, attended only by gentlemen, was shifted back towards noon.
The practice of holding court levées was continued by the British monarchy until 1939. These took the form of a formal reception at St James's Palace at which officials, diplomats, and military officers of all three armed services, were presented individually to the sovereign. Full dress uniform or court dress was worn by all participants, who formed a queue in the Throne Room before stepping forward when their names and ranks were called. Each then bowed to the king who was seated on a dais with male members of his family, officials of the Royal Household and senior officers behind him.[9]
Levees in the British Empire and Commonwealth
Levée ceremonies were held by regal representatives of the British Empire, such as the
United States
By the 1760s, the custom was being copied by the colonial governors in
I saw one ambassador after another enter with his suite; the Judges of the Supreme Court; the majority of the members of both Houses of Congress; and intermingled with these, the plainest farmers, storekeepers, and mechanics, with their primitive wives and simple daughters. Some looked merry; some looked busy; but none bashful. I believe there were three thousand persons present. There was one deficiency,—one drawback, as I felt at the time. There were no persons of colour.[12]
Abraham Lincoln held a levee on New Year's Eve 1862.[13]
Louis XIV's lever
The ceremony at
Grande entrée
Then the curtains of the bed were drawn once again and, at a quarter past eight, the Grand Chamberlain was called, bringing with him the nobles who had the privilege of the grande entrée, a privilege that could be purchased, subject to the king's approval, but which was restricted in Louis' time to the nobles. The King remained in bed, in his nightshirt and a short wig. The
Première entrée
When the King had them recalled, now accompanied by those who had the lesser privilege of the première entrée, his process of dressing began. Louis preferred to dress himself "for he did almost everything himself, with address and grace", Saint-Simon remarked. The King was handed a dressing-gown, and a mirror was held for him, for he had no
The crowd in the chambre du Roi can be estimated from Saint-Simon's remark of the King's devotions, which followed: the King knelt at his bedside "where all the clergy present knelt, the cardinals without cushions, all the laity remaining standing".
The King then passed into the cabinet where all those who possessed any court office attended him. He then announced what he expected to do that day and was left alone with those among his favourites of the royal children born illegitimately (whom he had publicly recognised and legitimated[16]) and a few favourites, with the valets. These were less pressing moments to discuss projects with the King, who parcelled out his attention with strict regard for the current standing of those closest to him.
Grand lever
With the entry of the King into the Grande Galerie, where the rest of the court awaited him, the petit lever was finished, and with the grand lever the day was properly begun, as the king proceeded to daily Mass, sharing brief words as he progressed and even receiving some petitions. It was of these occasions that the King habitually remarked, in refusing a favour asked for some noble, "We never see him", meaning that he did not spend enough time at Versailles, where Louis wanted to keep the nobility penned up, to prevent them interesting themselves in politics.
For the aristocracy
Among the aristocracy, the levée could also become a crowded and social occasion, especially for women, who liked to put off the donning of their uncomfortable formal clothes, and whose hair and perhaps make-up needed prolonged attention. There is a famous depiction of the levée of an 18th-century Viennese lady of the court in Richard Strauss's later opera Der Rosenkavalier, where she has her hair dressed while surrounded by a disorderly crowd of tradesmen touting for work or payment, and other petitioners, followed by a visit from a cousin. The second scene of William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress shows a male equivalent in 1730s London.
In the French engraving Le Lever after Freudenberg, of the 1780s, gentle social criticism is levelled at the lady of the court; that she slept without unlacing her stays, apparently, perhaps can be seen as artistic licence. Her maids dress her with deference, while the wallclock under the hangings of her lit à la polonaise appears to read noon.
In popular culture
In
References
Notes
- ^ "levee". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. Accessed January 10, 2013.
- ^ Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, §24.
- ^ Elliott, J.H. Europe Divided 1559-1998, Fontana History of Europe (New York: Harper Torchbooks 1968) p.70
- ^ Letter to the King (8 September 1563?) LCM. Vol. II, p. 90, cited in Potter, David, The French Wars of Religion: Selected Documents (New York 1997) p. 14
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 505–506.
- ^ Official website of the Palace of Versailles
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary: "Levée".
- ^ Sherrie McMillan, "What Time is Dinner?" History Magazine on-line).
- ISBN 0-340-15817-4.
- ^ "Governor's Levee". Trove. The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1889 - 1931). p. 15. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
- ^ "Levees (Receptions)". Digital Encyclopedia. Mount Vernon, Virginia: Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ Martineau, Harriett, Society in America, Vol.II, p.220 New York, 1837) (retrieved Dec. 17, 2022).
- ISBN 978-0-306-82525-5
- ^ The ceremonies were abbreviated when the king was at Marly or one of his other occasional retreats, providing a sense of intimacy that was only comparative, but engendering struggles among courtiers to be invited on such occasions, precisely the kind of competition Louis fostered.
- ^ The comparison with the communion rail that separated the sanctuary in a church was not unintentional. The chambre du roi marked the centre of the château de Versailles.
- ^ These eventually were five in all.
Bibliography
- Saint-Simon, duc de. "Chapter LXXVIII". Memoirs of Louis XIV. Vol. 11. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- Norbert Elias, The Court Society (1969) translation 1983 pp. 78–104. An analytical description.
Further reading
- O'Neill, John P., ed. (2006). Dangerous liaisons : fashion and furniture in the eighteenth century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (see essay: The Levee: The Assiduous Admirer / Cabris Room)