Etiquette And Ceremonial Life In The Valois’ Court

Abstract

During the reign of the Valois dynasty, which lasted two hundred and sixty-one years, etiquette and ceremonial life of courtesan life were created in France. As a monarchist state developed and stabilized, a centralization of real power took place, evolving towards an absolute monarchy. A new life in the court is established, inspired from the end of the 15th century by Princess Anne of Beaujeu, daughter of Louis XI, and by Anne of Brittany, remarried to Louis of Orleans, crowned with the name Louis XII. He marries his daughter Claude de France to the Duke Francis of Valois-Angoulême, who will reign under the name of Francis I. Thanks to the artistic and cultural achievements of the Renaissance and to the ambition of the king, a new nobility is born, which lives in the court and participates in the magnificence that surrounds the royal family. The court has become a political body and an instrument of power. It is also a school of discipline and behaviour. With Henry II and Catherine de Medici, the pomp and splendour reached its zenith. The regent, after the death of the king, kept up with the conveniences and good tone in the court during the reign of her three children. But it will be the last, Henry III, who finally defined court protocol and its rigid rules, which last until the expiry of the French monarchy in 1789.