Aliénor de Poitiers
Encyclopedia
Aliénor de Poitiers , flourished late 15th century, Poitiers
, France
, was the daughter of the countess of Poitiers. It is known she was also the widowed Viscountess of Veurne.
Aliénor de Poitiers is noted as the author of Les honneurs de la cour (Honors of the Court), a book of court etiquette written between 1484 and 1491. The book gives the structures and rules of court
ritual and the etiquette
appropriate to different social classes and situations. She was particularly interested in the conventions observed when ladies of various ranks were lying in the birthing chamber.
Her mother was Isabel de Sousa who had been Lady in Waiting
to Isabella of Portugal
, Duchess consort of Burgundy
. Alienor had resided with her mother at the Burgundian court. In addition to her own observations, she gives those of her mother, and those of another noble lady, Jeanne d'Harcourt, married in 1391 to the Count William de Namur. She had been considered the best authority on court etiquette in the kingdom of France. The resulting collection of the customs of the court forms a kind of family diary embracing three generations, and extending back over more than a century.
The book should not be confused with the similarly titled Honneurs de la Cour, a peerage-book established in France in the 18th century to decide a noble's rank.
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, was the daughter of the countess of Poitiers. It is known she was also the widowed Viscountess of Veurne.
Aliénor de Poitiers is noted as the author of Les honneurs de la cour (Honors of the Court), a book of court etiquette written between 1484 and 1491. The book gives the structures and rules of court
Noble court
The court of a monarch, or at some periods an important nobleman, is a term for the extended household and all those who regularly attended on the ruler or central figure...
ritual and the etiquette
Etiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
appropriate to different social classes and situations. She was particularly interested in the conventions observed when ladies of various ranks were lying in the birthing chamber.
Her mother was Isabel de Sousa who had been Lady in Waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
to Isabella of Portugal
Infanta Isabel, Duchess of Burgundy
Isabella of Portugal was a Portuguese infanta of the House of Aviz, the only surviving daughter of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster. Her most notable siblings were Henry the Navigator, Peter, Duke of Coimbra, and King Edward of Portugal...
, Duchess consort of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy was a title borne by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, a small portion of traditional lands of Burgundians west of river Saône which in 843 was allotted to Charles the Bald's kingdom of West Franks...
. Alienor had resided with her mother at the Burgundian court. In addition to her own observations, she gives those of her mother, and those of another noble lady, Jeanne d'Harcourt, married in 1391 to the Count William de Namur. She had been considered the best authority on court etiquette in the kingdom of France. The resulting collection of the customs of the court forms a kind of family diary embracing three generations, and extending back over more than a century.
The book should not be confused with the similarly titled Honneurs de la Cour, a peerage-book established in France in the 18th century to decide a noble's rank.