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A courtier is a person who attends the court
Noble court

A royal or noble court, as an instrument of government broader than a court, comprises an extended household centred on a patron whose rule may govern law or be governed by it....
 of a monarch or other powerful person
Executive (government)

Sorry, no overview for this topic
. Historically the court was the centre of government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
 as well as the residence
Official residence

An official residence is the House at which heads of state, heads of government, gubernatorial or other senior figures officially reside. They may or may not be the same location where they conduct their work-related functions....
 of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together. Monarchs very often expected the more important nobles to spend much of the year in attendance on them at court. Courtiers were not all noble
Nobility

Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary or for a lifetime. Titles of nobility exist today in many countries although it is usually associated with present or former monarchies....
, as they included clergy
Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
, soldier
Soldier

A soldier is a general English term that refers to a land component of national armed forces.In most societies of the world, "soldier" is also a general term for any member of the land forces including Commissioned officer and non-commissioned officers....
s, clerk
Clerk

Clerk, the vocational title, commonly refers to a white-collar worker who conducts general office or, in some instances, sales tasks. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service counters and other administrative tasks....
s, secretaries
Secretary

A secretary is either an administrative assistant in administration , or a certain type of mid- or high-level governmental position, such as a Secretary of State....
, and agents and middlemen of all sorts with regular business at court.






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A courtier is a person who attends the court
Noble court

A royal or noble court, as an instrument of government broader than a court, comprises an extended household centred on a patron whose rule may govern law or be governed by it....
 of a monarch or other powerful person
Executive (government)

Sorry, no overview for this topic
. Historically the court was the centre of government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
 as well as the residence
Official residence

An official residence is the House at which heads of state, heads of government, gubernatorial or other senior figures officially reside. They may or may not be the same location where they conduct their work-related functions....
 of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together. Monarchs very often expected the more important nobles to spend much of the year in attendance on them at court. Courtiers were not all noble
Nobility

Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary or for a lifetime. Titles of nobility exist today in many countries although it is usually associated with present or former monarchies....
, as they included clergy
Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
, soldier
Soldier

A soldier is a general English term that refers to a land component of national armed forces.In most societies of the world, "soldier" is also a general term for any member of the land forces including Commissioned officer and non-commissioned officers....
s, clerk
Clerk

Clerk, the vocational title, commonly refers to a white-collar worker who conducts general office or, in some instances, sales tasks. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service counters and other administrative tasks....
s, secretaries
Secretary

A secretary is either an administrative assistant in administration , or a certain type of mid- or high-level governmental position, such as a Secretary of State....
, and agents and middlemen of all sorts with regular business at court. Promotion to important positions could be very rapid at court, and for the ambitious there was no better place to be. As social divisions became more rigid, a divide, barely present in Antiquity or the Middle Ages, opened between menial servants and other classes at court, although Alexandre Bontemps
Alexandre Bontemps

Alexandre Bontemps was the valet of King Louis XIV and a powerful figure at the Chateau de Versailles, respected and feared for his exceptional access to the King....
, the head valet de chambre
Valet de chambre

Valet de chambre, or varlet de chambre, was a noble court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards....
 of Louis XIV was a late example of a "menial" who managed to establish his family in the nobility. The key commodities for a courtier were access and information, and a large court operated at many levels - many successful careers at court involved no direct contact with the monarch himself.

The largest and most famous European court was that of the Chateau de Versailles in its heyday, although the Forbidden City
Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the China imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, People's Republic of China, and now houses the Palace Museum....
 of Beijing
Beijing

is a metropolis in northern China and the Capital of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the four municipality of China, which are equivalent to province in China's Political divisions of China....
 was even larger and more isolated from national life. Very similar features marked the courts of all very large monarchies, whether in Delhi
Delhi

Delhi , sometimes referred to as Dilli , is the List of most populous cities in India metropolis in India and, with over 11 million residents, the List of metropolitan areas by population....
, Topkapi Palace
Topkapi Palace

The Topkapi Palace or in Ottoman Turkish language: ?????? ?????, usually spelled "Topkapi" in English)is a palace in Istanbul, Turkey, which was the official and primary residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans, from 1465 to 1853....
 in Istanbul
Istanbul

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....
, Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, Byzantium
Byzantium

Byzantium was an Ancient Greece city, which was founded by Greeks colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas ....
, or the Caliph
Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah....
s of Baghdad
Baghdad

Baghdad is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous. With a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq, and the second largest city in the Arab World....
 or Cairo
Cairo

Cairo , which means "the triumphant", is the Cairo and largest city of Egypt.It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world....
. However the European nobility generally had independent power and was less controlled by the monarch until roughly the 18th century, which gave European court life a more complex flavour.

In modern literature, courtiers are often depicted as insincere, skilled at flattery and intrigue, ambitious and lacking regard for the national interest. More positive representations of the stereotype might include the role played by the court in the development of politeness and the arts.

In modern English, the term is often used metaphorically for contemporary political favourite
Favourite

In historical writings, when used in reference to a person, favourite, also spelled favorite , means the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person....
s or hangers-on.

Examples of famous courtiers

  • Anne Boleyn
    Anne Boleyn

    Anne Boleyn was List of English consorts as the Wives of Henry VIII of Henry VIII of England. She was also Earl of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the English Reformation....
  • The princesse de Lamballe
  • The duc de Luynes
  • The marquis de Cinq-Mars
    Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars

    Henri Coiffier de Ruz?, Marquis de Cinq-Mars was a favourite of King Louis XIII of France who led the last and most nearly successful of the many Conspiracy against the king's powerful first minister, the Cardinal Richelieu....
  • The duc de Saint-Simon
    Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon

    Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon , France soldier, diplomatist and writer of memoirs, was born at Versailles. The dukedom-Peerage of France granted to his father, Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon , is a central fact in his history....
  • Madame de Pompadour
    Madame de Pompadour

    Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour , was a talented and beautiful lady who exerted strong cultural, intellectual and political influence at the French court, and was installed as one of the official mistresses of Louis XV from 1745 to 1750....
  • Sir Walter Raleigh


See also

  • The Book of the Courtier
    The Book of the Courtier

    The Book of the Courtier was written by Baldassare Castiglione over the course of many years beginning in 1508 and published in 1528 just before he died....
    , by Baldassare Castiglione
  • Favourite
    Favourite

    In historical writings, when used in reference to a person, favourite, also spelled favorite , means the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person....
  • Royal mistress
    Royal mistress

    A royal mistress is the historical position of a Mistress to a monarch or senior Royal. Some mistresses have had considerable power. The prevalence of the institution can be attributed to the fact that Royal marriages were until recent times conducted solely on the basis of political and dynastic considerations, leaving little space for the...
  • Sycophant
    Sycophant

    A sycophant is a servile person who, acting in his or her own self interest, attempts to win favor by flattering one or more influential persons, with an undertone that these actions are executed at the cost of his or her own personal pride, principles, and peer respect....


External links