Introduction: Rank and Ritual in the Early Modern Court

Abstract

I n an essay entitled ‘Body, Brain, and Culture’, Victor Turner examined the question relating to the origin of human behaviour, asking whether it was genetically inherited, the result of social conditioning or a combination of both, adding that ‘one of those distinctive human features may be a propensity to the ritualization of certain of our behaviors’. Rituals, he argued, were transformative performances, ‘where symbols and values representing the unity and continuity of the total group were celebrated and reanimated’. However, Catherine Bell concludes that ritual is not a basic, genetically derived feature of human behaviour, but rather a cultural and historical construct used to ‘help differentiate various styles and degrees of religiosity, rationality, and cultural determinism’. Furthermore, rituals are not only moments of change, but also serve to affirm the entire order: for example in a hierarchical, monarchical society a coronation ritual defines the subjects’ status as well as that of the king or queen. Thereby, rank and ritual are linked: while rank is expressed in the formation of people and their respective stationing during a ritual, taking part in a ritual at a certain place — for example in a parade— affirms the individual rank a person holds in a society. Rank and ritual need to be analysed together. To discern ranks and the role hierarchical status played in early modern societies, the analysis of rituals is paramount, whereas rituals and their function need the context of rank to be fully understood. Most early modern territories in Europe were monarchies or at least dominated by dynastic rule. A central feature of monarchy and dynastic rule is the court, as a place of residence, government and society as well as a meeting place for members of the political, military, social and religious elite of a country. The articles of this special issue of The Court Historian address the topics of rank and ritual at early modern courts. The authors focus on factors that changed rank and/or ritual, influenced one or the other or challenged pre-existing notions regarding rank and ritual. The case studies range from fifteenth-century Burgundian succession rites (Andrew Murray), Jacobean court masques in England (Nathan Perry), codifications of Ottoman ceremony in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Tülay Artan), changes in English hunting rituals (Tara Greig), to rituals relating to sexual dalliances at the court of George II (Stephanie Koscak). At court, rituals were and are foremost a means of organising day-to-day life as well as special occasions such as dynastic events (weddings, baptisms, deaths) or political events (declarations of war, signing of peace treaties), which provided monarchs with opportunities to demonstrate their status and power to subjects and visiting dignitaries. Rank and ritual