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For alternative meanings of the word "court", see: Court (disambiguation).
A
royal or
noble court, as an instrument of
government broader than a
court of justice, comprises an extended
household centred on a patron whose rule may govern
law or be governed by it. A
Royal Household is the highest ranking example of this. A
regent or
viceroy may hold court during the minority or absence of a hereditary ruler, and even an elected
head of state may develop a court-like entourage of unofficial, personally-chosen advisors and "companions", a position first raised to semi-official status in the entourage of
Alexander the Great, based on
Persian conventions (Fox 1973).
The English and French word "companion" connotes a "sharer of the bread" at table, and indeed the court is an extension of the great individual's household; wherever members of the household and bureaucrats of the administration overlap in personnel, it's sensible to speak of a "court", whether in
Achaemenid Persia,
Ming China,
Norman Sicily, the
Papacy before 1870 (see
Curia) or the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. A group of individuals dependent on the patronage of a great man, classically in ancient Rome, forms part of the system of "clientage" that's discussed under
vassal.
Individual rulers differed greatly in tastes and interests, as well as in political skills and in constitutional situations. Accordingly, some founded elaborate courts based on new
palaces, only to have their successors retreat to remote
castles or to practical administrative centres. Personal retreats might arise far away from official court centres.
Etiquette and
hierarchy flourish in highly-structured court settings and may leave conservative traces over generations.
History
After the collapse of the
Roman Empire in the West, a true court culture can be recognized in the entourage of the
Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great and in the court of
Charlemagne. In the Roman East, a brilliant court continued to surround the
Byzantine emperors.
In
Western Europe, consolidation of power of local magnates and of kings in fixed administrative centres from the mid-13th century led to the creation of a distinct court culture that was the centre of intellectual and artistic patronage rivalling the
abbots and
bishops, in addition to its role as the apex of a rudimentary political bureaucracy that rivalled the courts of counts and dukes. The dynamics of hierarchy welded the court cultures together.
Local courts proliferated in the splintered polities of
medieval Europe and remained in
early modern times in
Germany and in
Italy. Such courts became known for intrigue and
power politics; some also gained prominence as centres and collective patrons of
art and
culture. In medieval
Spain (
Castile), provincial courts were created. Minor noblemen and
burguesie allied to create a system to oppose the monarchy on many policy issues. They were called "las Cortes de Castilla". These courts are the root of the current Spanish
congress and
senate.
As
political executive functions generally moved to more
democratic bases, noble courts have seen their function reduced once more to that of a noble household, concentrating on personal service to the household head,
ceremonial and perhaps some residual politico-advisory functions. If
republican zeal has banished an area's erstwhile ruling
nobility, courts may survive in
exile.
Court officials
Court officials or office-bearers (one type of
courtier) derived their positions and retained their titles from their original duties within the courtly household. With time such duties often became archaic, but titles survived involving the ghosts of arcane duties, generally dating back to the days when a noble household had practical and mundane concerns as well as high politics and culture. Such
court appointments each have their own histories. They include:
Former seats of courts
Because the
German word
hof, meaning an enclosed
courtyard, can apply to a rural farmstead with outbuildings and walls forming the perimeter, it has also been used for the
palatial seat where the court was held. Thus
hof or "court" can become transferred to the building itself. For example, though the grand residence
Hampton Court on the
Thames above
London has been a palace, where
Thomas Wolsey held court as Catholic cardinal (build after the Italian ideal for a cardinal's palace) till his fall and its confiscation by Henry VIII and where
William and Mary held court, 1689–94—and though it's built round two main courts—the structure itself, however, is no longer the seat of a court in the sense of this article.
As an example, ambassadors to the
United Kingdom are still accredited to the
Court of St. James's, and courtiers of the monarchy still have offices in
St James' Palace, London. The present monarch, however, holds court at
Buckingham Palace, where dignitaries are received.
Some former seats of power (see
official residence):
Castile, medieval Christian province in central current Spain
Alhambra in Granada, seat of the last Muslim dynasty in current Spain
The Forbidden City, imperial palace complex walled off from Beijing
Wawel Castle (Kraków) and Warsaw's Royal Castle (Poland)
Château de Versailles near Paris in France
Sanssouci in Potsdam near Berlin
The Vatican in the Papal States
Urbino, seat of a duchy in the MarcheFurther Information
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