ABSTRACT
Traditional noble solidarities of honour, rank, royal service, clientage and seigneury changed, and new noble solidarities of career and sociability appeared. As a national meeting place for the nobility, and for the king and the nobility, the royal court was a vast stage where everyone was on display. Going to court was socially prestigious, and nobles went to court to see and be seen. Dramatic self-presentation was a form of self-marketing that could help to secure the patronage needed for advancement. Daniel Chamier, a Protestant minister from the Dauphine, went to the court at Fontainebleau in November 1607, to obtain royal letters authorizing a Protestant college at Montelimar of which he was to be rector. Honour became politeness, good taste and social adaptability, while an honourable gentleman became someone who knew and observed the social conventions; he was well-mannered, discrete, charming, well-spoken and adaptable.
