The Honneurs de la Cour were ceremonious presentations to the sovereign at the Royal Court of France

Palace of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....

 which were formal for women but more casual for men. It was a very prestigious honour

Honour

Honour or honor is an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or corporate body such as a family, school, regiment or nation...

 only granted to the families of ancient nobility. It allowed them to approach the King and the Queen of France.

Overview

In France, the Honneurs de la Cour

Formally such presentations were only granted to noble families able to prove a noble lineage dating back to 1400 A.D. without tracks of ennoblement. However the king could grant exemptions to families that had been dedicated to serve him. He could also refuse a valid candidate with sufficient nobility whose family was not involved enough in the king's wars as nobles were primarily mounted warriors who had sworn allegiance to their sovereign and promised to fight for him. On a list of candidates he would then place a remark next to the name of the refused applicant saying ne se peut or attendre (wait).

The Honors of the Court should not be mistaken for court's life. In fact the oldest nobility did not always match the court nobility. Many families living at court were descendant from less ancient nobility while many nobles of antique nobility did not stay at court. Moreover, life at the Royal Court of Versailles was extremely expensive and many family were unable to afford it.

The nobleman who was granted the presentation would follow a royal hunt on board of one of the king's carriage

Carriage

A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...

s. At that point he would be casually introduced to the king. A noblewoman's presentation was much more formal, taking place during a specific ceremony.

From 1715 to 1790, 942 families were granted the Honneurs de la Cour, 880 of them were French. François Bluche who studied the royal genealogical archives specifies that among these 942 families "462 were able to prove a noble lineage dating back to 1400, if excluding sovereign houses and foreign nobles who, unlike one can think, made up more than half of the French nobleman received at Court". He has limited his work to a list of 43 Houses especially flattered by the King's archive, these 43 families are considered of major regional or national importance and members of the highest 18th century nobility.

According to Régis Valette only 280 of the 880 French families who were granted the honneurs de la Cour still remain today.

List of families who were granted the Honneurs de la Cour

The following table provides an incomplete list of notable families who were granted the "Honneurs de la Cour", including dates (when available) and sources. The ones listed by François Bluche, considered the most prominent French noble families of the 18th century, are marked with bold script.

Name	Dates	Sources
d'Arenberg House of Arenberg The House of Arenberg is an aristocratic lineage that is constituted by three successive families who took their name from Arenberg, a small principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Eifel. The inheritance of the House of Croÿ-Aarschot made the Arenbergs the most influential and most wealthy...	1749, 1767, 1771, 1774, 1776 et 1785	Valette, Piot
de Béon Béon Béon is the name of several communes in France:* Béon, Ain* Béon, Yonne...		Bluche
de Bourbon-Busset Bourbon-Busset The Bourbon-Busset family is an illegitimate branch of the House of Bourbon, being thus agnatic descendants of the Capetian dynasty. Historically they have been regarded as non-dynastic since decisions rendered by Louis XI of France....	1753, 1767, 1772 and 1773	Valette, Piot
de Broglie	1746, 1747, 1750, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1756, 1770, 1771, 1779, 1782, 1785 and 1786	Valette, Piot
de Butler Butler dynasty Butler dynasty refers to the several branches of the Butler family that has its origins in the Cambro-Norman family that participated in the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. Variant spellings include le Boteler and le Botiller. The surname has its origins in the hereditary office of...  and de Butler d'Ormond	1747	Valette, Piot
de Chabannes	1759, 1760, 1782, 1784 and 1787	Bluche, Valette
de Chabot Chabot Chabot may refer to:*Chabot Space & Science Center, a public science center and planetarium in Oakland, California*Chabot College, a public community college in Hayward, CaliforniaPeople with the surname Chabot:...	1778	Valette
de Chastellux	1765, 1768, 1773 and 1787	Bluche, Piot, Valette
de Choiseul Choiseul (surname) Choiseul is an illustrious family from Champagne, France, descendents of the comtes of Langres. The family's head was Renaud III de Choiseul, comte de Langres and sire de Choiseul, who in 1182 married Alix de Dreux, daughter of Louis VI of France. It has formed into the Langres, Clémont,...	1733	Bluche, Valette
de Clermont-Tonnerre Clermont-Tonnerre Clermont-Tonnerre is the name of a French family, members of which played some part in the history of France, especially in Dauphiné, from about 1100 to the French Revolution. Sibaud, lord of Clermont in Viennois, who first appears in 1080, was the founder of the family...	12 times	Bluche, Valette
de Colbert Colbert Colbert is a common surname and rare given name of Old French and Old German origins; it was introduced to Britain by the Normans.Colbert most commonly refers to:*Stephen Colbert , American comedian and television show host...	1748, 1758, 1759, 1763, 1764, 1768, 1770, 1772, 1778, 1782 and 1787	Valette
de Coucy Coucy Coucy is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Coucy-la-Ville, in the Aisne département, very close to* Coucy-le-Château-Auffrique, in the Aisne département, location of:** Château de Coucy...	1776	Bluche, Jougla (t. 3, n° 11398)
de Croÿ House of Croÿ The House of Croÿ is an international family of European mediatized nobility which held a seat in the Imperial Diet from 1486, and was elevated to the rank of Imperial Princes in 1594...		Valette
Diesbach de Belleroche Diesbach Diesbach is a village and former municipality in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland.It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Luchsingen in 2004. At that time Diesbach municipality had a population of 221....	1773	Valette, Piot
de Drée Drée Drée is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.-Population:-References:*...	1782 and 1783	Valette, Piot
de Durfort Durfort (family) Durfort is the name of a French noble family, distinguished in French and English history.Durfort is a village of southwestern France, formerly in the province of Guienne, now in the département of Tarn-et-Garonne, 18 m. NW of Montauban by road...  and de Durfort-Civrac	before 1732, and 22 times between 1737 and 1788	Bluche, Valette, Piot
d'Estaing Estaing Estaing is the name of two communes in France:* Estaing, in the Aveyron département* Estaing, in the Hautes-Pyrénées département...	1784 and 1785	Bluche
de Faucigny-Lucinge Faucigny Faucigny is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.Historically, Faucigny was a region in Savoy which included the area of the modern département of Haute Savoie and the municipalities of Chamonix, Argentière, and Les Houches.-Geography:In the...	1785 and 1787	Valette, Piot
de Ficquelmont House of Ficquelmont Nine-century-old high nobility Lorrainerinct family ranking among the prominent of the Holy Roman Empire, Lorraine, Austria and Hungary, France, Russia and Belgium.-Origins:...	1777 and 1789	Bluche, Valette
de Foucauld (de Pontbriand and de Malembert)	1765, 1769 and 1788	Valette, Piot
de Gironde Gironde For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...	1770 and 1779	Valette
de Gontaut-Biron Biron -Places:France* Biron, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime département* Biron, Dordogne, in the Dordogne département* Biron, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques départementUnited States* Biron, Wisconsin...		Bluche, Valette
de Gouffier Gouffier Gouffier, the name of a great French family, which owned the estate of Bonnivet in Poitou from the 14th century.*Guillaume Gouffier, chamberlain to Charles VII, was an inveterate enemy of Jacques Coeur, obtaining his condemnation and afterwards receiving his property...		Bluche
de Gramont Gramont Gramont is the name of an old French noble family, whose name is connected to the castle of Gramont, Agramont in Spanish, in the French Basque province of Lower Navarre.- Key representatives :...		Valette
d'Harcourt		Valette
de la Croix de Castries Castries Castries , population 10,634, aggl. 37,963 , is the capital city of Saint Lucia, a country in the Caribbean. The district with the same name had a population of 61,341 in 2001-05-22, and stretches over an area of ....	1744, 1753, 1776 and 1786	Valette
de La Rochefoucauld		Bluche, Valette
de Las Casas	dates	Valette
de La Tremoïlle La Trémoille Members of the House of La Trémoille, were part of an old French family which derives its name from a village in the department of Vienne....		Bluche
de Mérode Mérode The Mérode Altarpiece is a triptych by the Early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin, although believed by some to be by a follower, probably copying an original by Campin. It is currently described by the Metropolitan as by "Robert Campin and assistant"...	dates	Valette
de Montaigu Montaigu -In France:*Montaigu, in the Aisne département*Montaigu, in the Jura département*Montaigu, in the Vendée département*Montaigu-de-Quercy, in the Tarn-et-Garonne département*Montaigu-la-Brisette, in the Manche département...	dates	Valette
de Montalembert Montalembert Montalembert can refer to:* André de Montalembert , French officer* Marc René, marquis de Montalembert , French military engineer and writer* Charles Forbes René de Montalembert , French publicist and historian...	dates	Valette
de Montesquiou-Fezensac Montesquiou Montesquiou is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.The village of Montesquiou is the historical seat of the Montesquiou-Fezensac family.-Population:-References:*...	dates	Valette
de Montmorency		Bluche, Valette
de Noailles Noailles Noailles is the name of several communes in France:* Noailles, Corrèze, in the Corrèze département* Noailles, Oise, in the Oise département* Noailles, Tarn, in the Tarn département* Noailles, a neighborhood of Marseilles and its metro station...		Bluche, Valette
de Polignac Polignac Polignac is the name of several communes in France:* Polignac, Charente-Maritime* Polignac, Haute-Loire, in the Haute-Loire département, dominated by the fortress Château de Polignac with its square donjon tower, 32 m tall...		Bluche, Valette
de Rochechouart Rochechouart Rochechouart is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Limousin region in west-central France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.... , de Rochechouart de Mortemart	1732, 1738, 1751, 1752, 1756, 1757, 1764, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1776, 1779, 1780 and 1783	Bluche, Valette
de Rohan		Bluche
de Rougé Rougé Rougé is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.It lies near Rennes.The name "Rougé" comes from the Latin "Rubiacus", means the red place...	dates	Valette
de Sabran Sabran Sabran is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...		Bluche
de Sade Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...	dates	Valette
de Ségur Ségur -People:The Ségur family included many notable personages of France, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg and the United States:...	dates	Valette
de Vogüé Vogüé Vogüé is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...	dates	Valette

External links

• History of the Notice honneurs de la Cour (French)