Etiquette is a collective term for the established ceremonies and usages of society, from the forms which are to be observed in particular places such as courts, levees, and public occasions, to the general forms of polite society. Amongst courts the Byzantine and Spanish courts, and the French court under Louis XIV and Louis XV, have been noted for the strictness of their etiquette.
Victorian social etiquette consisted in so many minute observances that a tolerable familiarity with it could be acquired only by a considerable intercourse with 'polite society'. It was often said during the Victorian era that all that is necessary to constitute good social manners is common sense and good feeling; but not to mention those formal rules of society which, though intrinsically worthless, demanded a certain amount of respect, there were also many difficulties and emergencies in social intercourse which required peculiar tact and delicacy of judgment. Hence quickness of sympathy and a certain fineness of observation were more needed for proficiency in this sphere than pure power of intellect.
During the Victorian and Edwardian eras in Britain the rules and rituals of etiquette became so complex and sophisticated that a general revolt against them took place. Today the rules are less laws than guidelines, the most reliable being contained in 'Debrett's' which offers advice on the correct terms of address for royalty and other members of the aristocracy. Research Etiquette
Family Compact was the name given to a compact organized by the Duke de Choiseul, first minister of Louis XV, between the various members of the Bourbon family, then sovereigns of France, Spain, the Two Sicilies, Parma, and Piacenza, mutually to guarantee each other's possessions. It was signed on the 15th of August, 1761, and entailed on Spain a war with England. Research Family Compact
Alexandre Dumas was a French novelist and dramatist. He was born in 1803 at born at Villers-Cotterets and died in 1870. He was the son of a republican general, and grandson of Marquis de la Pailleterie and a negress, Tiennette Dumas. In 1823 he went to Paris, and obtained an assistant-secretaryship from the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis Philippe. He soon began to write for the stage, and in 1829 scored his first success with his dramaHenry III. It was produced when the battle between the Romanticists and the Classicists was at its height, and hailed as a triumph by the former school. The same year appeared his Christine, and in quick succession Antony, Richard d'Arlington, Teresa, Le Tour de Nesle, CatharineHoward, Mile. de Belle-Isle, etc. Dumas had now become a noted Parisian character.
The critics fought over the merits of his pieces, and the scandalmongers over his prodigality and galanteries. Turning his attention to romance, he produced a series of historical romances, among which may be mentioned, Les Deux Dianes;
La ReineMargot; Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers), with its continuations Vingt Ans Apres, and Vicomte de Bragelonne. His Monte-Cristo (Count of Monte-Cristo) and several others are also well known to English readers through translations. Several historical works were also written by him: Louis XIV et son Siecle; Le Regent et Louis XV; Le Drame de '93; Florence et les Medicis, etc. The works which bear his name amount to some 1200 volumes, including about 60 dramas; but the only claim he could lay to a great number of the productions issued under his name, was that he either sketched the plot or revised them before going to press. He earned vast sums of money, but his recklessness and extravagance latterly reduced him to the adoption of a shifty, scheming mode of living. His Memoires, begun in 1852, present interesting sketches of literary life during the restoration, but display intense egotism. In 1860 he accompanied Garibaldi in the expedition which freed Naples from the Bourbons. Research Alexandre Dumas
Andre Hercule de Fleury was a French cardinal and prime minister. He was born in 1653 and died in 1743. In 1698 Louis XIV gave him the bishopric of Frejus, and shortly before his death appointed him instructor to Louis XV. After the death of the regent in 1723 he proposed the Duc de Borbon as first minister, but in 1726 he overturned the government which he himself had set up, and from then on directed affairs himself, in the same year being made a cardinal. Research Andre de Fleury
Bonaparte was the French form which the great Napoleon was the first to give to the original Italian name Buona-parte, borne by his family in Corsica. As early as the 12th and 13th centuries there were families of this name in Northern Italy, members of which reached some distinction as governors of cities (podesta), envoys, etc. But the connection between the Corsican Bonapartes and these Italian families is not clearly established, though probably the former descended from a Genoese branch of the family, which transplanted itself about the beginning of the 16th century to Corsica, an island then under the jurisdiction of Genoa. From that time the Buona-partes ranked as a distinguished patrician family of Ajaccio.
About the middle of the 18th century there remained three male representatives of this family at Ajaccio, viz. the archdeacon Luciano Bonaparte, his brother Napoleon, and the nephew of both, Carlo, the father of the Emperor Napoleon I. Carlo or Charles Buonaparte, born in 1746, studied law at Pisa University, and on his return to Corsica married Letizia Ramolino. He fought under Paoli for the independence of Corsica, but when further resistance was useless he went over to the side of the French, and was included by Louis XV amongst the 400 Corsican families who were to have rights in France as noble. In 1777 he went to Paris, where he resided for several years, procuring a free admission for his second son Napoleon to the military school of Brienne. He died in 1785 at Montpellier. By his marriage with Letizia Ramolino he left eight children: Giuseppe, or Joseph, king of Spain; Napoleon I, emperor of the French; Lucien, prince of Canino; Maria Anna, afterwards called Elise, princess of Lucca and Piombino, and wife of Prince Bacciocchi, Luigi, or Louis, king of Holland; Garlotta, afterwards named Marie Pauline, princess Borghese, Annunciata, afterwards called Caroline, wife of Murat king of Naples; and Girolamo, or Jerome, king of Westphalia. Research Bonaparte
The Bourbons were an ancient French family which has given three dynasties to Europe, the Bourbons of France, Spain, and Naples. The first of the line known in history is Adhemar, who, at the beginning of the 10th century, was lord of the Bourbonnais. The power and possessions of the family increased steadily through a long series of Archambaulds of Bourbon until in 1272 Beatrix, daughter of Agnes of Bourbon and John of Burgundy, married Robert, sixth son of Louis IX. of France, and thus connected the Bourbons with the royal line of the Capets.
Their son Louis had the barony converted into a dukedom and became the first Duc de Bourbon. Two branches took their origin from the two sons of this Louis, duke of Bourbon, who died in 1341. The elder line was that of the dukes of Bourbon, which became extinct at the death of the Constable of Bourbon in 1527, in the assault of the city of Rome. The younger was that of the counts of La Marche, afterwards counts and dukes of Vendome. From these descended Anthony of Bourbon, duke of Vendome, who by marriage acquired the kingdom of Navarre, and whose son Henry of Navarre became Henry IV of France. Anthony's younger brother, Louis, prince of Conde, was the founder of the line of Conde. There were, therefore, two chief branches of the Bourbons - the royal, and that of Conde.
The royal branch was divided by the two sons of Louis XIII, the elder of whom, Louis XIV, continued the chief branch, whilst Philip, the younger son, founded the house of Orleans as the first duke of that name. The kings of the elder French royal line of the house of Bourbon run in this way: Henry IV Louis XIIL Louis XIVLouis XVLouis XVI Louis XVII Louis XVIII, and Charles X. The last sovereigns of this line, Louis XVI, Louis XVIIL, and Charles X. (Louis XVII, son of Louis XVI., never obtained the crown), were brothers, all of them being grandsons of Louis XVLouis XVIII. had no children, but Charles X had two sons, viz. LouisAntoine de Bourbon, duke of Angouleme, who was dauphin until the revolution of 1830, and died without issue in 1844, and Charles Ferdinand, duke of Berry, who died, on the 14th of February 1820, of a wound given him by a political fanatic.
The Duke of Berry had two children: (1) Louise Marie Therese, called Mademoiselle d'Artois; and (2) Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonne, born in 1820, and at first called Duke of Bordeaux, but afterwards Count De Chambord, who was looked upon by his party until his death (in 1883) as the legitimate heir to the crown of France.
The branch of the Bourbons known as the House of Orleans was raised to the throne of France by the revolution of 1830, and deprived of it by that of 1848. It derives its origin from DukePhilip I of Orleans (who died in 1701), second son of Louis XIII, and only brother of Louis XIV. A regular succession of princes leads us to the notorious Egalite Orleans, who in 1793 died on the scaffold, and whose son Louis Philippe was king of France from 1830 to the revolution of 1848. His grandson Louis Philippe, count de Paris (born in 1838, died in 1894), after the death of Count de Ghambord the last male representative of the elder Bourbons, united in himself the claims of both branches, now vested in his son the present Duke of Orleans.
The Spanish-Bourbon dynasty originated when in 1700 Louis XIV placed his grandson Philip, duke of Anjou, on the Spanish throne, who became Philip V of Spain. From him descended the later occupant of the Spanish throne, Alphonso XIII, born in 1886.
The royal line of Naples, or the Two Sicilies, took its rise when in 1735 Don Carlos, the younger son of Philip V of Spain, obtained the crown of Sicily and Naples (then attached to the Spanish monarchy), and reigned as Charles III. In 1759, however, he succeeded his brother Ferdinand VI on the Spanish throne, when he transferred the Two Sicilies to his third son Fernando (Ferdinand IV), on the express condition that this crown should not be again united with Spain. Ferdinand IV had to leave Naples in 1806; but after the fall of Napoleon he again became king of both Sicilies under the title of Ferdinand I, and the succession remained to his descendants till 1860, when Naples was incorporated into the new kingdom of Italy. Research Bourbon
Carlo Goldoni was an Italian dramatist. He was born in 1707 at Venice and died in 1793 at Paris. Early in life he showed a taste for theatrical representations, and, when scarcely eight years of age, he ventured to sketch a comedy, which excited the wonder of his relatives. His father, who was a physician, intended that his son should follow the medical profession. But Carlo Goldoni, dissatisfied with this study, obtained permission to study law in Venice. Soon after, however, a relative procured for him a place in the Papal college at the University of Pavia, from which he was expelled for writing scurrilous satires.
After his father's death he settled as an advocate in Venice, but shortly took to a wandering life with strolling players, until in 1736 he married the daughter of a notary and settled down in Venice. Here he first began to cultivate that department of dramatic poetry in which he was to excel; namely description of character and manners. In this he took Moliere, whom he began to study about this time, for his model. For five years he visited various cities of Italy, composing pieces for different theatrical companies, and for a time renewing his legal practice. In 1761 the Italian players invited him to Paris, where many of his pieces met with uncommon applause. He became reader and master of the Italian language to the daughters of Louis XV and received latterly a pension of 3600 livres. At the breaking out of the French Revolution the poet lost his pension, and the decree of the national convention of the 7th of January, 1793, restoring it and making up the arrears, found him already dead. His widow received the arrears and a pension for herself. Many of his numerous pieces still retain possession of the stage in his native country, and, in translations, of the stages of foreign countries. Research Carlo Goldoni
Charles Edward Stuart, called the Pretender, was the grandson of James II king of England, son of James Edward and Clementina, daughter of Prince Sobiesld. He was born in 1720 at Rome and died in 1788. In 1742 he went to Paris and persuaded Louis XV to assist him in an attempt to recover the throne of his ancestors. Fifteen thousand men were on the point of sailing from Dunkirk, when the English admiral Norris dispersed the whole fleet. Charles Stuart now determined to trust to his own exertions. Accompanied by seven officers he landed on the west coast of Scotland, from a small ship called the Doutelle. Many Lowland nobles and Highland chiefs went over to his party. With a small army thus formed he marched forward, captured Perth, then Edinburgh on September the 17th 1745, defeated an army of 4000 British under Sir John Cope at Prestonpans on September the 22nd, and advancing obtained possession of Carlisle., He now caused his father to be proclaimed King, and himself Regent of England; removed his head-quarters to Manchester, and soon found himself within 100 miles of London, where many of his friends awaited his arrival. The rapid successes of the adventurer now caused a part of the British forces in Germany to be recalled. Want of support, disunion, and jealousy among the adherents of the house of Stuart, some errors, and the superior force opposed to him, compelled Prince Charles Stuart to retire in the beginning of 1746. The victory at Falkirk on January the 28th, 1746 was his last. As a final attempt he risked the battle of Culloden against the Duke of Cumberland, on April the 16th, 1746, in which his army was defeated and entirely dispersed.
The prince now wandered about for a long time through the wilds of Scotland, often without food, and the price of 30,000 pounds sterling was set upon his head. At length, on September the 20th, 1746, five months after the defeat of Culloden, he escaped in a French frigate. He received a pension of 200,000 livres yearly from France, and of 12,000 doubloons from Spain. Forced to leave France by the terms of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748 he went to Italy, and in 1772 married a princess of Stolberg-Gedern, from whom eight years later he was separated.. He latterly fell into habits of intoxication, and he died Jan. 31, 1788, and was buried at Frascati. After his death, his funeral service was performed by his only surviving brother, the Cardinal of York, with whose death in 1807 the Stuart line ended. The cardinal received a pension from Britain of £4000 a year until his death. Research Charles Stuart
Charles X (Comte d'Artois) was king of France. He was born in 1757 at Versailles and died in 1836. The grandson of Louis XV, he was the youngest son of the dauphin, and brother of Louis XVI. He left France in 1789, after the first popular insurrection and destruction of the Bastille, and afterwards assuming the command of a body of emigrants, acted in concert with the Austrian and Prussian armies on the Rhine. Despairing of success he retired to Great Britain and resided for several years in the palace of Holyrood at Edinburgh. He entered France at the Restoration, and in 1824 succeeded his brother, Louis XVIII as king. In a short time his reactionary policy brought him into conflict with the popular party, and in 1830 a revolution drove him from the throne, and he resided in Britain until 1832 when he moved to Hungary.
Claude Fleury was a French writer. He was born in 1640 and died in 1723. He was educated in the Jesuit College at Clermont, and after beginning to practise as a lawyer resolved to take orders. In 1672 he became the tutor of the young princes of Conti, and afterwards associated with Fenelon in the education of the young dukes of Burgundy, Anjou, and Berri. In 1716 he became confessor to Louis XV. He had procured admission into the Academy in 1696 by several important works, among which the best known are his Histoire du Droit Francais, Moeurs des Israelites, Moeurs des Chretiens, Institution au Droit ecclesiastique, Histoire Ecclesiastique. Research Claude Fleury
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
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