Première dame d'honneur (French pronunciation:[pʁəmjɛʁdamdɔnœʁ], lit.'first lady of honour'), or simply dame d'honneur (lit.'lady of honour'), was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. Though the tasks of the post shifted, the dame d'honneur was normally the first or second rank of all ladies-in-waiting. The dame d'honneur was selected from the members of the highest French nobility.
The term Dame d'honneur has also been used as a general term for a (married) French lady-in-waiting. Initially, the married ladies-in-waiting who attended the queen of France had the title Dame. This was simply the title of a married lady-in-waiting, who was not the principal lady-in-waiting.
From 1523, the group of 'Dame', (married) ladies-in-waiting who attended the court as companions of the queen had the formal title Dame d'honneur ('Lady of Honour', commonly only 'Dame'), hence the title 'Première dame d'honneur' ('First lady of honour') to distinguish between the principal lady-in-waiting and the group of remaining (married) ladies-in-waiting.[2] In 1674, the position of Fille d'honneur was abolished, and the 'Dames' were renamed Dame du Palais.[3] Thus, the title Dame d'honneur was henceforth reserved for one office holder.
Tasks
The task of the dame d'honneur was to supervise the female courtiers, control the budget, order necessary purchases, and organize the annual account and staff list; she supervised the daily routine and attended both ordinary and ceremonial court functions, as well as escorting and introducing those seeking audience with the queen.[4] She had the keys to the queen's personal rooms in her possession.[4]
When the Dame d'honneur was absent, she was replaced by the Dame d'atour, who normally had the responsibility of overseeing the queen's wardrobe and jewelry in addition to dressing the queen.[4]
In 1619, the office of the Surintendante de la Maison de la Reine, or simply surintendante, was created.[4] The surintendante had roughly the same tasks as the Dame d'honneur—receiving the oath of the female personnel before they took office, supervising the daily routine of the staff and the queen, organizing the accounts and staff list—but she was placed in rank above the dame d'honneur.[4] Whenever the surintendante was absent, she was replaced by the dame d'honneur.[4] The post of Surintendante could be left vacant for long periods, such as between the death of Marie Anne de Bourbon in 1741 and the appointment of Princess Marie Louise of Savoy in 1775.
Later history
The position of Dame d'honneur was revived during the First Empire, when the principal lady-in-waiting to the empress held the same title.[5]
During the Second Empire, the dame d'honneur had the same position as before, but was now formally ranked second below a surintendante with the title Grande-Maîtresse.[6]
List of premières dames d'honneur to the queens and empresses of France
Though the office was commonly only referred to as "Dame d'honneur", this list use the full title of "Première dame d'honneur".
For the first years in France, before her Spanish entourage was sent back to Spain, Anne had both a French and a Spanish office holder in several posts of her court.
The Household of the wife of the heir to the throne were normally appointed one year before the royal bride arrived to France, so that they could be a part of the royal welcome entourage.
^Caroline zum Kolk, "The Household of the Queen of France in the Sixteenth Century", in: The Court Historian; vol. 14, number 1, June 2009
^Caroline zum Kolk, "The Household of the Queen of France in the Sixteenth Century", in: The Court Historian, vol. 14, number 1, June 2009
^Jeroen Frans Jozef Duindam: Vienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, 1550-1780.
^ abcdefNadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, eds. The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe. Leiden: Brill, 2013
^Philip Mansel: The Eagle in Splendour: Inside the Court of Napoleon
^Seward, Desmond: Eugénie. An empress and her empire. ISBN0-7509-2979-0 (2004)
^Aline Roche, "Une perle de pris" : la maison de la reine Eléonore d’Autriche, Paris, Cour de France.fr, 2010. Article inédit publié en ligne le 1er octobre 2010 (http://cour-de-france.fr/article1646.html).
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