Court life and art of living

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Selection of images from the Qantara corpus

In Byzantium

In the Byzantine Empire, where all the power was concentrated around the Emperor, the court was primarily political. The Emperor was God’s lieutenant on earth and court life was an intriguing mystery that was organized around the Emperor. Our knowledge of court life is particularly extensive, thanks to many books from the period. The most famous is The Book of Ceremonies, compiled under the orders of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. He had to relinquish power to his father-in-law, Romanos I Lekapenos (reigned 920–944), for twenty-four years. Reigning without governing, with a great liking for studying and culture, Constantine compiled several works, including The Book of Ceremonies. It’s a very authoritative book on court culture, which explains the reasoning behind it thus: “When imperial power is exerted in a consistent and orderly way, it is the image of the harmony and movement that the demiurge gave the Universe”.

The aristocrats in the Emperor’s entourage were the primary players in and beneficiaries of this way of life. They therefore took great interest in ensuring that everyone in the entourage respected the taxis (order). They therefore wrote—up until the time of the Palaeologan dynasty—taktika (treatises on the order of precedence), which not only tell us about the order of the offices and dignities, but also the main royal ceremonies, beginning with the banquets that took place in the Palace during the most important festivals. The Imperial Court, with its gold and purple splendour, was the centre of political life. So, in the gold dining hall in the Palace, the chrysotriklinos, the Emperor sat at a special raised table, surrounded by twelve guests, like Christ at the Last Supper. Admittedly, in the final days of the Empire, they were obliged to replace the gold dishes with gilt and then silver dishes, but the ceremonial remained.

This mystery was played out in costumes. According to Constantine VII, the imperial clothing was brought to Constantine by an angel. White and purple clothing, including purple slippers, was reserved for the Emperor. The dignitaries also had their own particular clothing, which constituted part of their salary. The imperial majesty imposed silence at meetings. The official meetings, in which the Emperor communicated his decisions, were known as silentia. The Emperor never spoke directly, but communicated through gestures and a dignitary, who acted as intermediary. He took part in a ceremony of adoration with religious overtones: the ceremonial was accompanied by candles and incense. Subjects and other visitors had to prostrate themselves before the Emperor: they fell down flat to the floor. They were eventually allowed to kiss the Emperor’s feet and knees.

A special body was responsible for ensuring that court etiquette was respected: these were the eunuchs of the court—a tradition that went back to Antiquity. Their condition did, in fact, enable them to move about more freely in the Palace—since they posed no threat, they could approach the women in the imperial family, especially the empress. They conducted the ceremonial. This gave them considerable political influence, particularly when charged with guarding the cubiculum, the imperial chamber. The highest ranking eunuch was the parakoimomenos, thus called because he slept near the Emperor. In the tenth century, therefore, Joseph Bringas governed the Empire during the reign of Romanos II (959–963). The parakoimomenos Basil, the illegitimate son of Romanos I, and who, for this reason, was deprived of his virility, governed with Constantine Porphyrogenitus between 944 and 959. He then became the actual emperor of the Empire during the first years of Basil II (from 976), before the latter forced him from power in 985 and annulled all the decisions that had been taken under his reign.

Basil II was, in fact, a fine connoisseur of the arts, which was one of the characteristics of Byzantine court life, especially from the tenth century when there was a real court culture. The Emperor and his courtiers were lovers of art, particularly objects fashioned in gold—jewels were worn by both sexes—and ivory. In the ninth century, the renaissance of the University began in the court. Constantine Porphyrogenitus encouraged the development of the encyclopaedist movement that characterized the tenth century. In the eleventh century, Constantine IX Monomachos surrounded himself with a veritable coterie of intellectuals—to such a point that it was referred to as a “government of philosophers”—, the most famous of whom was the writer and jurist Michel Psellos. Court poetry developed during this period. But it was in the twelfth century, under the dynasty of the Comneni, that literature really developed in the court, including within the imperial family: Anna Komnene, daughter of Alexis I, wrote an epic account of her father’s life. The renaissance of the novel dates from this period with this readership. Literature developed further under the Palaeologus family, whose chief ministers were also writers and patrons of the arts. Towards the end of the Empire, the court of Manuel II Palaiologos (1391–1425), himself a writer, was full of talented writers. There were also music and dance shows in the court.

Court life wasn’t restricted to the Palace interior. The emperors liked to take a stroll around the Palace gardens, which were laid out in a very artistic way. They also had a polo field, when they didn’t feel like going on a hunt. The court even moved into the public arena, when it appeared around the Emperor to preside over the races in the Hippodrome, which was linked to the Palace.

This courtly way of life spread quite widely outside the Palace, especially in the palaces of the aristocrats, who created their own artistic life of splendour. Some shows, in addition to chariot races, were even put on for the public: in spite of the Church interdictions, which no one respected, the theatre continued, with mimes, in places of more restricted size. All those who had the means liked to dress well and, when the infrastructure was well maintained—which wasn’t the case after 1204—the population of Constantinople liked to stroll under the porticoes that lined the main roads of the capital and on the terraces above them. The Mese, which was the main thoroughfare of Constantinople, was the most popular place for this activity.

M. K.

In Islam

Courtly life and the art of living are two notions that, in Islamic lands, revolved around the figure of the prince. The cult of personality and the valorisation of the sovereign were at the heart of the conception of power and its exercise.

Court ceremonial, which originated during the Umayyad period, was an essential component of courtly life. The Umayyad, then the Abbasid caliphates corresponded to the period when the rules of functioning of this ceremonial, which were later considered models, were being formulated. Inspired by Sasanian and Byzantine practices, this highly codified ceremonial intended to glorify the monarch was implemented on various occasions including princely audiences, public or private, which played a key part.

It seems that, in the Islamic context, the birth of court ceremonial was related to religious practice. The first caliphs, claiming to be descended from the Prophet Muhammad, played a central role during prayer within the context of the mosque. From the Umayyad period, the setting of the ceremonial moved inside the palace. Numerous rules governed absolutely every element of the events, from the path that the audience had to take through the many rooms and gardens of the palace to the postioning of the members of the court around the caliph. Certain members of the court, whose numbers greatly increased under the Umayyads – notably during the reign of Abd al-Malik (685–705) – occupied posts that already existed in Sasanian Iran, such as that of chamberlain. Beginning in this period, eunuchs held privileged posts; this favour endured in the Mamluk, then the Ottoman courts centuries later.

During audiences, the caliph was behind a curtain; it was not known exactly when he stood up. He received in coloured clothing; white outfits were reserved for appearances at the mosque. He wore a crown adorned with gemstones (t?j) or a cap (qalansuwah), known earlier in Sasanian Iran.

During the Abbasid period, the ceremonial was known in part through the descriptions of the Kit?b al-T?j (The Book of the Crown)[1]. Umayyad practices endured, particularly that of the curtain. The caliph sported accessories emblematic of his office: the mantle of the Prophet and the Qur’an of Uthman, one of the “well-guided” caliphs of the early days of Islam, son-in-law of the Prophet. The account[2] of the reception of a Byzantine mission by the caliph al-Muqtadir in 917 allows us to reconstruct the route strewn with wonders taken by the visitors. The entire palace had been adorned for the occasion with thousands of hangings and carpets; objects made of gold, silver, precious stones and exotic woods had been placed around the building. The ambassadors were led through the palace through gardens dotted with quicksilver pools and filled with exotic animals. They went through at least fourteen different palaces before reaching the Palace of the Diadem, where the sovereign lived at the time. The caliph, surrounded by his court, finally gave the order to activate a mechanism: a mechanical fountain came out of the ground to the wonderment of the guests.

These practices were passed on to later periods, with variations due to the specificities of each cultural entity. The Seljuk Turks of Iran introduced, for example, the valorisation of military activities into the ceremonial, a trend that was also followed in Mamluk Egypt (1250–1517), where a weekly military parade led the sultan to the training ground. The Fatimids of Egypt reused elements of the Umayyad and Abbasid ceremonials, such as the curtain. They particularly favoured the public processions during which the caliph would appear underneath a parasol, surrounded by his dignitaries and his guard, following a protocol attested to in the Byzantine context. During these official outings, the honours of the crowd were periodically bestowed on the caliph.

Public holidays[3] were an interesting facet of court life; they represented, along with public processions, one of the rare occasions on which the court left the palace precinct or the royal city to show themselves to the people.

Diplomatic activity, which materialised in part through these audiences, comprised another aspect of courtly life. Contact with foreign courts, sometimes European, allowed political, economic and cultural exchanges to be established. The phenomenon is particularly well documented for the Ottoman period, during which relations between the Turkish court, established in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, and the European courts were flourishing: invitations of European artists to Istanbul[4], the reception of ambassadors, and exchanges of diplomatic correspondence concerning political or trade alliances[5]. The vision of foreign visitors and the accounts of their experiences inspired in the West a certain vision of the East, in which the luxury and splendour of the art of living were invariably emphasised.

Entertainments represented another aspect of the art of living in Islamic courts. While the notions of pleasure and luxury were closely related to this aspect of courtly life, these activities were also intended to augment the virtues of the prince and therefore to further valorise him. This is probably why princely pleasures had such a privileged part in the iconography of Islamic art.

Hunting, a princely activity that had been practised in the circles of power since antiquity (Assyria, Sasanian Iran), was one of the prince’s favourite pastimes. It took place in particular in the paradeisoi, gardens filled with animals intended for hunting whose existence was attested to in Sasanian Iran and the Byzantine Empire. The theme often appeared in the decorations of Islamic palaces[6].

Poetry was an art that was practised by the princes themselves from the Umayyad period[7]. Having played an important role in the intellectual life of Arabia before the advent of Islam, poets were particularly valorised in Islamic courts, notably during the Umayyad period in Syria and in Andalusia, where, by celebrating the lost East, they provided the dynasty newly established in Spain with, to a certain extent, legitimation. This phenomenon, attested from the Sasanian period, was also observed in Western courts, where poets practised their art first and foremost in the service of power.

Music and dance gave rhythm to courtly life, particularly during banquets, which one imagines, after studying sites such as Khirbat al-Mafjar (Palestine, eighth century), took place on the occasion of princely audiences. The mention of this palace complex allows us to broach the subject of the baths, inherited from ancient Rome, which found great favour in Islamic civilisation. To go back to music and dance, it should be noted that these activities were already very popular in Mecca and Medina in Arabia, as well as in Sasanian Iran where musicians and dancers belonged to the category of courtiers known as “masters of pleasure”.

The consumption of alcohol, which, despite the Qur’anic precepts, seems to have been an integral part of princely habits and of the ceremonial and to have had a symbolic meaning related to the exercise of power. Sources attest to the consumption of alcoholic beverages in the context of official life, as was already the case in Sasanian Iran. The theme of the goblet – perhaps filled with wine – visible in many figurative representations discovered in palatial contexts[8], probably had its origins in the ancient cults of Bacchus and Mithra.

C.S

In Western Europe 

The court 

The court was made up of the royal entourage, which interacted every day with the sovereign and assisted him in carrying out the tasks of royal government: its role was advisory, helping the king to carry out matters of justice and manage business. The court’s role was both private and public. Its composition changed over time; in late antiquity, it comprised a great many people, was highly structured, and took part in imperial ceremonies—this continued later, in the Byzantine Empire. The Merovingian kings, however, had smaller households, and their courts appear to have been less formal organizations. In imperial Rome, Charlemagne’s court was sumptuous, intellectually brilliant, and well organized, but its achievements didn’t outlast the downfall of the Carolingian dynasty at the end of the ninth century. Under the Capetians of France, aside from the familiars of the king (curia regis), the court comprised the royal officers: a steward (seneschal) responsible for the services, a constable (count of the stable) in charge of the stables and the army, assisted by marshals, a butler was in charge of serving at the table, and a chamberlain who was entrusted with supervising interior arrangements, clothes, and furniture. While laymen occupied these household offices, an ecclesiastic—being a literate man—held the office of chancellor, who wrote and sealed royal decrees.  

In thirteenth-century England and France, the royal household became increasingly structured. The sovereign’s personal servants became distinct (the king’s household was called the court) from those of the State (the Council), while new institutions were established. Thus, the gatherings at the court of Louis IX produced the institution of the Parlement (curia in parlamento), which helped him in matters of justice, counselled him, and participated in the elaboration of ordinances. It was an appeal court for tribunals in bailiwicks and sénéchaussées, except for royal causes, which concerned the most important people and matters. The rulings of this sovereign court couldn’t be appealed, but the king, from whom all justice emanated, had the power to override them. Very soon, this institution became specialized, with the introduction of three principal organs (the Grand Chamber, Chamber of Inquiries, and Chamber of Petitions) and professionalization of the offices (presidents, councillors, and legal assessors). Other courts appeared in the fourteenth century, like the Chamber of Accounts (controlling financial matters) and the Cour des Aides (board of excise, for the judgement of fiscal matters). 

The court continued to expand at the end of the Middle Ages. At the beginning of fourteenth century, the royal household comprised around 400 people, as did the pope’s court, while the king of Aragon’s entourage was 200 strong, and 150 people made up the court of the Majorcan king. At the start of the fifteenth century, Charles VI’s royal household comprised around 800 people, and his wife Isabeau had 36 dames, 30 chevaliers, clerks, and servants (the Queen’s household). The courts of the dukes of Berry, Orleans, and Guyenne were composed of around 200 to 250 people. It is clear that keeping up this sumptuous lifestyle became increasingly onerous for the kings and princes, and eventually they attained astronomical sums. In the mid fifteenth century, the duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good (Philippe Le Bon), one of Europe’s most powerful princes, who led an independent political life, also had one of the most extravagant courts. The painter Jan van Eyck was appointed to the Duke’s household as a varlet de chamber (valet of the chamber)—he found great favour with the Duke, and his death was to be an ‘irreparable loss’.  

Court life and aristocratic life

Court life had many facets that evolved over time, and was primarily intellectual, artistic, and spiritual. Until the thirteenth century, scientists, thinkers, and theologians were connected to the monastic or episcopal life. At the same time, they were part of the king’s entourage. Charlemagne’s court was an emblematic example: it brought together some of the finest minds of the era, like Alcuin, Peter of Pisa, Angilbert, and Theodulf. Each was attributed a name: Charlemagne was King Davis, Alcuin was the Latin poet Horace, and Angilbert was Homer. In the south of France, in the twelfth century, the troubadours, who were poets and musicians, were very much a part of court life. The duke of Aquitaine and the count of Poitiers, Guillaume IX, Eleanor’s grandfather, practised the grand chant courtois of the troubadours. And, the courtly romances that developed at the time (note that the term courtesy comes from the word court, as it was intended to embody refinement par excellence) were based on an aristocratic conception of love—the fin'amor, (fine) courtly love.

From the thirteenth century, the emergence of universities introduced specialized personnel into the royal entourage: henceforth, the king could consult with masters of civil law, as Philippe Le Bel (Philip the Fair) did with his ‘jurists’. Amongst the scientists, the king’s doctor had pride of place. Thus, while Gui de Chauliac, doctor to four popes in the fourteenth century, came from humble origins, he was educated at university, became a scholar, and wrote the largest surgical treatise of the era (Chirurgica magna). He also succeeded in finding scientific solutions for the terrible plague that he caught while treating the patients he cured. The ecclesiastics always had an essential role to play around the King and they gave dissertations on theology and spirituality. The King’s confessor or almoner often came from the mendicant orders (from the times of Louis IX), and had an influential role because of his hold on the monarch’s soul. Religious life was an essential part of court life, and at the end of the Middle Ages, the popes sometimes granted indulgence on the courts and religious institutions (in contrast, in the twelfth century, John of Salisbury likened the court of Henri II Plantagenet to Hell). In the sixteenth century, Philippe II’s residence, El Escorial, near Madrid, was both a palace and a convent. In the mid fifteenth century, the Flemish painting of Jan van Eyck conveyed the influence of spirituality at the court of Duke Philippe The Good: the court brought people together and fostered intellectual and artistic interchange. At the end of the Middle Ages, royal and princely entourages encouraged the emergence of artistic schools, to such an extent that a creative movement in the fourteenth century would be called ‘courtly art’. It was also up to the artists to set the scene for the court’s pleasures, celebrations, and entertainment.  

An important part of court life, like aristocratic and lordly life, was devoted to entertainment. However, these pleasures were often pretexts for imposing power and affirming one’s influence. Thus, hunting, which was practised by many sovereigns during the Middle Ages, was the exclusive right of kings and the aristocracy and was a means of asserting identity. It was also a way of marking out territory. Lastly, it provided an opportunity for military activities, as did jousting and tournaments, which constituted a noble activity par excellence that was glorified and staged. King René of Anjou and Provence, who wrote the famous Livre des Tournois (Tournament Book) in the fifteenth century, related that: Qui veult faire ung Tournoy, fault que ce soit quelque prince, ou du moins hault baron, ou banneret, lequel doibt faire ainsi que cy après sera devisé... (Whoever wishes to hold a tourney, whether he is a prince, or a less high baron, or a knight banneret, he ought to do it as is explained hereafter). Coats of arms were displayed ostentatiously, and even became a decorative theme that invaded architecture. The nobility withdrew into the courts, and their role became more theatrical. And, during the One Hundred Years’ War an army of professional soldiers was established, replacing the cavalry on the battlefield where its presence had become disastrous (particularly after the defeats at Crécy in 1345, Poitiers in 1356, and Agincourt in 1415). 

Lastly, festivities, banquets, games, dances, and pantomimes reinforced the social bonds of aristocratic society while providing amusing distractions. A costumed masquerade—charivari—has remained famous because of a tragic accident: the Bal des Ardents in 1393. King Charles VI and several of his companions had disguised themselves as wild men, complete with pitch, flax, and feathers. When the king’s brother accidentally came too close with a torch, five young men were burned alive, and the king only just escaped the tragedy (but his already fragile mind was shaken by the event). These amusements provided the opportunity for meetings and the elaboration of matrimonial alliances in the princely entourage. The court only wished for great harmony around their king. At the same time, the great feudal lords could be kept busy and surveyed, which limited the risks of rebellion. This political role became increasingly important and reached its apogee at the time of Louis XIV, when his majesty’s grandeur was exalted by the permanent presence of the kingdom’s greatest lords within the court.

Th.S.