Abstract
In popular fiction and many scholarly works, courtiers are represented as masters of the art of dissimulation, cynical and self-serving, ready to turn their backs on anyone who has lost royal favour. This chapter challenges those assumptions by looking at the reaction of family groups and wider networks of friendship or clientele to disgrace. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, families rose and fell as a kinship group, and when confronted by the disgrace of one of their members the collective response was to rally in order to save social, financial, and political status. Friendship too proved far more durable than the stereotype of the courtier might lead us to predict, and by examining the conventions, theory, and actual practice of friendship in times of adversity this chapter offers new insight into noble sociability.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
