Notions of Privacy at Early Modern European Courts

Reassessing the Public and Private Divide, 1400-1800

Dustin M. Neighbors, Lars Cyril Nørgaard, Elena Woodacre

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040791813
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia europea

Grand, extravagant, magnificent, scandalous, corrupt, political, personal, fractious; these are terms often associated with the medieval and early modern courts. Moreover, the court constituted a forceful nexus in the social world, which was central to the legitimacy and authority of rulership. As such, courts shaped European politics and culture: architecture, art, fashion, patronage, and cultural exchanges were integral to the spectacle of European courts. Researchers have convincingly emphasised the public nature of courtly events, procedures, and ceremonies. Nevertheless, court life also involved pockets of privacy, which have yet to be systematically addressed. This edited collection addresses this lacuna and offers interpretations that urge us to reassesses the public nature of European courts. Thus, the proposed publication will fertilise the grounds for a discussion of the past and future of court studies. Indeed, the contributions make us reconsider present-day understandings of privacy as a stable and uncontestable notion.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Reassessing the Public/Private Nature of European Court Cultures : An Introduction
• 1. Considering Privacy at Court
• 2. Privacy at Court? Reconsidering the Public/Private Dichotomy
• 3. The Monarch Exposed: The Negotiation of Privacy at the Early Modern Court
• 4. Institutionalised Privacy? The Need to Achieve and Defend Privacy in the Frauenzimmer
• 5. Public Displays of Affection : Creating Spheres of Apparent Royal Intimacy in Public
• 6. The Translation of Court Culture from the Burgundian Court to the Kingdom of Castile: The Sovereign’s Privacy and Relationship with Court Artists
• 7. On Privacy—or Rather the Lack Thereof —at Court in the Polish Literature of the Sixteenth Century
• 8. ‘Au Milieu d’une Cour Superbe & Tumultueuse’ : Devotional Privacy at the Court of Versailles
• 9. Private Justice or Ducal Power? Testing the Strength of Public Authority and Dynastic Loyalty among Transnational Nobles at the Court of the Duke of Lorraine
• 10. The Politics of Privacy : Examining Influence and Personal Relationships at the English and Holy Roman Imperial Courts
• Index