Court and courtiers

The royal court and court culture in early modern Europe has been for the past 25 years ‘an important and exciting area of study in history, literature and political theory’. ¹ Previously considered a topic ‘suited only for reactionaries and eccentrics’, ² the court was roused from its historiographical somnolence mostly through the efforts of Norbert Elias whose ‘epoch-making studies restored the relevance and legitimacy of the court as a theme of research’. ³ However, it has been approached from multiple angles and has appropriated many models so that it can be difficult ‘to achieve a proper perspective on the functions of the court as a whole’. ⁴ The main historiographical developments have focused first, on the ritual and symbolic aspects of rulership as part of the political system and second, on the personal and domestic world within which the prince lived. According to one scholar, ‘court and state are now seen as contemporary, confused, or identical, and no longer as separate worlds’. ⁵