ABSTRACT
Early modern courts were complex institutions and the courtiers who inhabited them differed from each other in both their social backgrounds and political roles. The more public spaces of courts were places of ceremony and magnificence, where relations between the sovereign, his nobility and other powerful individuals were constantly displayed and negotiated. By contrast, rulers had much greater control over their private apartments and the courtiers who staffed them, allowing these rooms to become the setting for a ‘politics of intimacy’ based on relations of personal trust more than inherited rank and power. Royal favourites invariably emerged from this inner sphere. But there were in practice many ways of seeking royal intimacy and the influence which flowed from it, giving rise to complex concepts of courtly skills and behaviour.
