Alexandre Bontemps
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| - | :''[[The Book of the Courtier]], [[court]], [[courtesan]]'' | ||
| - | A '''courtier''' is a person who attends the [[noble court|court]] of a [[monarch]] or other [[Executive (government)|powerful person]]. Historically the court was the centre of [[government]] as well as the [[Official residence|residence]] 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 [[Nobility|noble]], as they included [[clergy]], [[soldier]]s, [[clerk]]s, [[secretary|secretaries]], 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]], the head [[valet de chambre]] 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]] of [[Beijing]] was even larger and more isolated from national life. Very similar features marked the courts of all very large monarchies, whether in [[Delhi]], [[Topkapi Palace]] in [[Istanbul]], [[Ancient Rome]], [[Byzantium]], or the [[Caliph]]s of [[Baghdad]] or [[Cairo]]. 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. | + | '''Alexandre Bontemps''' (1626 – 1701) was the valet of [[King Louis XIV]] and a powerful figure at the [[Chateau de Versailles|court of Versailles]], respected and feared for his exceptional access to the King. He was the second of a sequence of five Bontemps to hold the position of ''Premier valet de la [[Chambre du Roi]]'' ("First valet of the king's bedchamber") in uninterrupted succession between 1643 and 1766, when an early death, leaving no successor, broke the line. There were four head or Premier [[valets de chambre]], of whom Bontemps became the most senior in 1665, and thirty-two valets. {{GFDL}} |
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| - | 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. | + | |
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| - | In modern English, the term is often used metaphorically for contemporary political [[favourite]]s or hangers-on. | + | |
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| - | ==Examples of famous courtiers== | + | |
| - | * [[Brantome]] | + | |
| - | * [[Anne Boleyn]] | + | |
| - | * The [[Marie Thérèse Louise de Savoie-Carignan, princesse de Lamballe|princesse de Lamballe]] | + | |
| - | * The [[duc de Luynes]] | + | |
| - | * The [[Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars|marquis de Cinq-Mars]] | + | |
| - | * The [[Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon|duc de Saint-Simon]] | + | |
| - | * [[Madame de Pompadour]] | + | |
| - | * [[Sir Walter Raleigh]] | + | |
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| - | ==See also== | + | |
| - | *''[[The Book of the Courtier]]'', by Baldassare Castiglione | + | |
| - | *[[Favourite]] | + | |
| - | *[[Royal mistress]] | + | |
| - | *[[Sycophant]] | + | |
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| - | {{GFDL}} | + | |
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Alexandre Bontemps (1626 – 1701) was the valet of King Louis XIV and a powerful figure at the court of Versailles, respected and feared for his exceptional access to the King. He was the second of a sequence of five Bontemps to hold the position of Premier valet de la Chambre du Roi ("First valet of the king's bedchamber") in uninterrupted succession between 1643 and 1766, when an early death, leaving no successor, broke the line. There were four head or Premier valets de chambre, of whom Bontemps became the most senior in 1665, and thirty-two valets.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Alexandre Bontemps" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
