The Orders of Knighthood and the Formation of the British Honours System, 1660-1760
The Orders of Knighthood and the Formation of the British Honours System, 1660-1760

Author: Antti Matikkala

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 488

ISBN-13: 1843834235

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`Sheds considerable new light on the nature, development and functions of the orders in a key phase of their history, and goes a long way to explaining how such archaic institutions could flourish in a culture that is commonly thought anti-traditional and especially hostile to the "middle ages"'. Professor JONATHAN BOULTON, University of Notre Dame. This is the first comprehensive study to set the British orders of knighthood properly into the context of the honours system - by analysing their political, social and cultural functions from the Restoration of the monarchy to the end of George II's reign. It examines the revival of the Order of the Garter and the proposals to establish the Orders of the Royal Oak and the Esquires of the Martyred King at the Restoration, the foundation (1687) and the revival (1703-4) of the Order of the Thistle as well as the foundation of the Order of the Bath (1725). It establishes just how central a part the orders played in the British high political life and its comprehensive and multidimensional approach carefully contrasts the idealistic discourse of virtue and honour to the real workings of the honours system; it also makes the case for the 'Chivalric Enlightenment'. The 'orders over the water', the Garter and the Thistle conferred by the Jacobite claimants, are discussed for the first time in the context of the established British honours system. Overall, the comparison between the socially very restricted British and the increasingly meritocratic Continental orders highlights the isolation of the British honours system from the European tendencies.

Power and reputation at the court of Louis XIII
Power and reputation at the court of Louis XIII

Author: Sharon Kettering

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2018-02-28

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 152613036X

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This book seeks to rehabilitate the reputation of Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, the controversial favourite of Louis XIII often maligned by historians. Kettering argues that the traditional historical interpretation of Luynes is significantly influenced by the testimony of Richelieu, who subjected Luynes to a devastating character assassination in his memoirs. Richelieu’s malice and the bias in histories based upon his memoirs justify another look at Luynes’ career. This book sifts through the historical evidence to offer a new perspective on Luynes, arguing that his contributions to the early years of Louis XIII’s government have been insufficiently appreciated, and in the process throws light upon a dark, unpleasant corner of Richelieu’s personality often ignored by historians. As well as advanced students and historians of early modern France, this book should interest those specialising in the history of the European courts, power politics, patronage and printed pamphlet literature.

Versailles
Versailles

Author: Tony Spawforth

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2010-03-16

Total Pages: 407

ISBN-13: 1429928786

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The behind-the-scenes story of the world's most famous palace, painting a picture of the way its residents truly lived and examining the palace's legacy, from French history through today The story of Versailles is one of historical drama, under the last three kings of France's old regime, mixed with the high camp and glamour of the European courts, all in an iconic home for the French arts. The palace itself has been radically altered since 1789, and the court was long ago swept away. Versailles sets out to rediscover what is now a vanished world: a great center of power, seat of royal government, and, for thousands, a home both grand and squalid, bound by social codes almost incomprehensible to us today. Using eyewitness testimony as well as the latest historical research, Spawforth offers the first full account of Versailles in English in over thirty years. Blowing away the myths of Versailles, he analyses afresh the politics behind the Sun King's construction of the palace and shows how Versailles worked as the seat of a royal court. He probes the conventional picture of a "perpetual house party" of courtiers and gives full weight to the darker side: not just the mounting discomfort of the aging buildings but also the intrigue and status anxiety of its aristocrats. The book brings out clearly the fateful consequences for the French monarchy of its relocation to Versailles and also examines the changing place of Versailles in France's national identity since 1789. Many books have told the stories of the royals and artists living in Versailles, but this is the first to turn its focus on the palace itself---from architecture and politics to scandal and restoration.