The French royal court at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

Student: Lyashhenko Dar`ya

Educational Programme: Bachelor

Year of Graduation: 2014

The present work aims to consider the French Royal court at the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries.The objectives of the work include analysis of the social structure of the royal court in France; the consideration of the court in its evolution in the period of the reign of the last Valois and the first Bourbon; identification of changes that have been made by Henry IV and the determination of the level of influence which the royal court had on the policy of the monarch.The work is based on the sources of private origin - the memoirs of contemporaries “Notes...” de Sully, “Memoirs” Marguerite de Valois, “Memoirs” the cardinal de Richelieu, and “Memoirs-journaux” Pierre D'Estoile.During this work we have found that the court of Henry of Navarre was formed including his military comrades, when he was not the king of France. After the monarch took the throne, he drew his military friends to the court, although most of them were Protestants. Many of these military comrades received public office under the king.However, the new king has not left without attention the employees of Henry III – at the first time they took pride of place in the Council, and in future, they could also be involved in politics, if their professional activities arranged Henry IV.In this work we considered the question of continuity of the court of Henry IV from the court of the last Valois. Henry III, the predecessor of the king of Navarre, had a large court state, sought to voluminous and complicated procedure. Great influence on policy had The Guise, The Montmorency. The king was depended on his court.The court of Henry IV was different from the court of Henry III by absence lavish ceremony. It was not also an intellectual centre, despite the court of the last Valois.In our work were also considered innovations of Henry IV, which related to the royal court. After official permission from the sale of posts, their number increased, however, the owners of these posts did not play a decisive role in governing the state. The king of Navarre relied on his advisors, whose number was small.In addition, it should be noted that after the adoption of the Edict of Nantes in 1598 in the policy could participate representatives both Catholics and Protestants - we can see it by the example of career of Sully.The study made it possible to demonstrate how contemporaries understood the essence of the royal court life and activity, and to show the growth of absolutist tendencies in France at the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries.

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