Valet de chambre
Valet de chambre (French pronunciation:
For some this brought entry into the lucrative court business of asking for favours on behalf of clients, and passing messages to the monarch or lord heading the court. Valets might supply specialized services of various kinds to the patron, as artists, musicians, poets, scholars, librarians, doctors or apothecaries and curators of collections. Valets comprised a mixture of nobles hoping to rise in their career, and those—often of humble origin—whose specialized abilities the monarch wanted to use or reward.
The title of valet enabled access to the monarch or other employer; the "chambre" originally referred to rooms such as the throne room, or the Privy chamber where the ruler conducted his more private meetings, but services extended to the bedroom as well. Sometimes, as in Spain and England, different bodies of valets were responsible for the bedroom and the daytime rooms. Often, the moment the ruler went outdoors a whole new division of staff took over.
From the late 14th century onwards the term is found in connection with an artist, author, architect, or musician's position within a noble or royal circle,[1][2] with painters increasingly receiving the title as the social prestige of artists became increasingly distinct from that of craftsmen.[3] The benefits for the artist were a position of understood status in the court hierarchy, with a salary, livery clothes to wear (in the early period at least), the right to meals at the palace, often in a special mess-room, and benefits such as exclusion from local guild regulations, and, if all went well, a lifetime pension. The valet would frequently be housed, at least when working in the palace, but often permanently. Lump-sums might be paid to the valet, especially to provide a dowry for a daughter; sons were often able to join the court as well.
National terms
In the English
Other countries used other terms: in Italian usually cameriere, in German-speaking courts Kammerjunker or Hofjunker were the usual titles, though it was Kammerer in the
Valets from the arts
The patron retained the services of the valet de chambre-artist or musician, sometimes exclusively, but often not. The degree to which valets with special skills were expected to perform the normal serving tasks of valets no doubt varied greatly, and remains obscure from at least the earlier records. Probably many were expected to be on hand for service on major occasions, but otherwise not often. The appointment gave the artist a place in the court management structure, under such officials as the Lord Chamberlain in England, or the Grand Master of France, usually via an intermediate court officer. In turn the valets were able to give orders to the huissiers or ushers, footmen, pages, and other ordinary servants.
There were some female equivalents, such as the
In England the
Some courtier artists took their courtly careers very seriously. Geoffrey Chaucer held a number of roles as a diplomat and what we would now call a civil servant. Diego Velázquez was appointed "King's painter" in 1623, at the age of 24, and held this position until his death at the age of 61. In addition, he progressed through the hierarchy of courtiers as "usher in the royal chamber" in 1627 (equivalent to valet de chambre), "Assistant in the Wardrobe" (1636) and "Assistant in the Privy Chamber" (ayuda de cámera) in 1643. These appointments put him in the "select group" of some 350 top royal servants, out of about 1,700 in total, and probably used up much of his time.[8] In fact Velázquez perhaps saw more of the King than any other servants, as Philip spent long hours in his studio watching him paint. Finally, after the King's first application on his behalf was rejected, and some probable falsification of his family background and career, Velázquez managed in 1659 to obtain entry to the chivalric Order of Santiago, the pinnacle of his courtly ambitions.[9]
In the Baroque court
When Jean Poquelin arranged for his 18-year-old son, better known as the dramatist Molière, to follow in his footsteps as one of the eight "Tapissiers ordinaires de la chambre du Roi", with a valet de chambre's rank, he had to pay 1,200 livres. But the title required only 3 months' work a year, looking after the royal furniture and tapestries, for a salary of 300 livres, with the opportunity to take commission on a number of lucrative contracts. Poquelin senior ran his successful shop in Paris when not on royal duty. Molière retained the office of valet until his death. The court duties of many valets, specialized or otherwise, followed regular cycles, rotating every quarter between four holders.[10]
During the Baroque age the role of valet largely ceased to be a career step for noble courtiers aiming for the highest offices, although the Premier Valets of the Kings of France, now a role usually passing from father to son, were themselves ennobled and wealthy. Livery clothes and the right to meals were converted into extra cash payments by several courts. Constant, valet de chambre to
Notable holders of the office
Artists
Mainly painters, unless otherwise stated.
- Jacques de Baerze, woodcarver to Philip the Good.[12]
- Christina of Sweden
- Henri Bellechose
- Hue de Boulogne, one of many painter-valets in the Burgundian accounts of Duke Philip the Bold.
- Jean Bondol, artist from Bruges, recruited by the French court, now best known as an illuminator (see picture), and for the design of the Apocalypse tapestries at Angers.[13]
- Jean Bourdichon, most famous as an illuminator.[14]
- Melchior Broederlam
- François Clouet, French portraitist, like his father
- Jean Clouet
- Jean de Court, painter and valet to Mary, Queen of Scots
- Daniel Dumonstier (1574-1645 or 46), French portraitist and collector.
- Barthélemy d'Eyck, to René of Anjou
- Hubert van Eyck
- Jan van Eyck
- Bartolomeo Ghetti, Italian who worked for Francis I of France
- Gerard Horenbout, illuminator
- Paul de Limbourg – Illuminator
- Gerard Loyet
- Jean Malouel
- Philippe de Mazerolles, Frenchman appointed as Burgundian court illuminator, possibly identical with the Master of Anthony of Burgundy
- Jean Nocret
- Jean Perréal, also a sculptor and architect.
- Raphael was a papal valet
- Claus Sluter, sculptor, also succeeded his master Jean de Marville
- Bartholomeus Spranger for Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
- Robinet Testard – Illuminator [15]
- Georges Trubert, illuminator for René of Anjou.[16]
- Willem van Vleuten goldsmith to Philip the Good.[12]
- Klaas van der Werve sculptor to Philip the Good.[12]
Similar court positions were held by many court painters, notably Andrea Mantegna and Diego Velázquez.
Musicians
- Adrien Basin
- Baltasar de Beaujoyeulx, virtuoso violinist and master of ceremonies for Catherine de' Medici's court festivals, he created the Ballet Comique de la Reine, the first ballet.
- knighthood.
- Antoine Busnois
- Hayne van Ghizeghem
- Pieter van Maldere appointed as late as 1758
- Marco Marazzoli Roman composer, aiutante di camera to Cardinal Antonio Barberini, later cameriere extra to Pope Alexander VII.
- Julien Perrichon
- Thomas Purcell, English singer, violist, and minor composer, probably uncle of Henry Purcell, was Groom of the Robes from 1661, eventually holding seven court posts simultaneously, mostly musical, but also as "underhousekeeper" at Somerset House.[17]
- Johannes Tapissier
- Jacobus Vide
Literary men and actors
- George Bryan Elizabethan actor with the Lord Chamberlain's Men, who seems to have become a regular Groom of the Chamber on his retirement from the stage - or perhaps that was just a way of giving him a pension.
- Geoffrey Chaucer, poet and courtier, became a page to the king's daughter-in-law in his early teens, and married one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting; he progressed to higher offices at court.
- Charles Rivière Dufresny, dramatist
- Stephen Hawes, poet and Groom of the Chamber in 1502, under Henry VII.[18]
- Elizabeth I of England
- The James I and Charles I of England, were "grooms extraordinary of the chamber".[19]
- Clément Marot, poet, and his father Jean (below). Like Thomas Sternhold (see below) he published an influential vernacular verse translation of the Psalms.
- Jean Marot poet, and secretary (escripvain) to Anne of Brittany.
- tapestriesand furniture, before going into acting and becoming court dramatist.
- Bonaventure des Périers, author and secretary to Marguerite de Navarre
- William Shakespeare, as a key member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men and later the King's Men, had this status as part of the English habit of making the whole of court theatrical companies Grooms of the Chamber. He occasionally participated in great ceremonial occasions, wearing livery at James I's royal entry to London in 1604.[20]
- Edward VI.
Other specialists
- Marin le Bourgeoys (c. 1550–1634) French gunsmith, inventor (or perfector) of the flintlock mechanism firing action.
- Jean-Baptiste Baillon III, (d. 1772), French clockmaker
- Court Jews, usually either physicians or financiers, were often appointed, especially in the German lands.
- Nicholas Fleury, embroiderer to Henry IV of France
- Jean-Roland Malet, economist
- Balthazar Martinot (1636-1714) French clockmaker.
- balloonist and curator; the first person to make an untethered balloon flight (in the presence of the king), and two years later the first person to die in an aviation accident.[21]
- Andries van Vesel, apothecary to the Vesalius
- Jehan du Vivier, French royal goldsmith, paid in 1390 for a reliquary.[22]
Courtiers, soldiers and politicians
In fact the majority of valets fell under this category in the earlier period. All these appear to have had functional, rather than purely honorary, positions.
- Yorkist soldier, diplomat and courtier, made Usher of the Chamber in 1461, on Edward IV's accession, then Esquire of the Body1465–69
- Friedrich von Canitz (1654–99), Prussian diplomat who entered court as a Kammerjunker. His poems were published posthumously.
- Freemason.
- Anne de Montmorency, at the start of his very distinguished career
- Sir Henry Neville was made Groom of the Privy Chamber 1546, five years after being knighted, then Gentleman of the Privy Chamber in 1550, and Member of Parliament for Berkshire five times, from 1553- 1584. A typical moderately successful courtier's career.
- William Brereton, a Groom of the Privy Chamber.
- Jean de Saint Yon
- Pierre Sala , (1457-1529) French courtier and poet
- Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff (1626–92), scholar and statesman, a protege of the duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha who made him hofjunker after university. He wrote an influential work on the administration of small principalities.
- Ludwig von Siegen, aristocratic soldier and amateur artist, who invented the mezzotint. In the small court of the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, then a minor, his title of kammerjunker seems to have equated in fact to Chamberlain and head of the palace guards.
- Étienne de Vesc
- coup d'etatof 1741.
- Royal Danish Life Guards.
See also
- Artists of the Tudor Court
- Esquire of the Body
- Groom in Waiting
- Papal Gentlemen
References
- ^ a b Reginald Blomfield and L. C., "Valet de Chambre," The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, vol. 21, no. 109 (Apr., 1912), p. 55.
- ^ For musicians as valets de chambre, see Jeanne Marix, "Hayne van Ghizeghem: Musician at the Court of the 15th-Century Burgundian Dukes," The Musical Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 3 (Jul., 1942), pp. 276-287 (esp. 279).
- ^ Rab Hatfield, review of The Rise of the Artist in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance by Andrew Martindale, The Art Bulletin, vol. 57, no. 4 (Dec., 1975), pp. 577-580.
- OED
- OED"Groom-Porter", first use 1502
- ^ Perlingieri, Ilya Sandra, "Lady in Waiting", Art and Antiques, April 1988
- ^ Halliday, F. E. A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964. Baltimore, Penguin, 1964, p. 460; spellings modernized.
- ISBN 1-85709-303-8
- ^ Carr:22
- ISBN 226202135X
- ^ Adamson, op. cit. pp.170 and 198. In Munich the number inflated from the low teens around 1600, to about 130 by the mid-17th century, and over 400 by the end of the 18th century.
- ^ a b c Leiden thesis, p.2
- ^ Cleveland Museum
- ^ V&A
- ^ Patrick M. De Winter, "Testard, Robinet [Master of Charles of Angoulême]," Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press [accessed 16 April 2008]
- ^ "Getty". Archived from the original on 7 August 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
- ISBN 0-19-816341-X online
- ^ Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1891). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 25. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 188.
- ISBN 1-84188-097-3
- ^ Adamson op. cit.:107
- ISBN 0-394-55948-7.
- ^ Google book