Opening the text

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Magnetite" to "Malt": Volume 17, Slice 4Various

Science

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Magnetite" to "Malt": Volume 17, Slice 4

Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Magnetite" to "Malt": Volume 17, Slice 4
Author: Various

Various

Encyclopedias and dictionaries

The title of "MAID OF HONOUR" is given to an unmarried lady attached to
the personal suite of a queen. The custom of sending young girls of
noble or good birth to the court of a prince or feudal superior, for the
purpose, primarily, of education, goes back to early feudal times, and
is parallel with the sending of boys to act as pages and squires to the
feudal castles. The regular establishment of maids of honour (_filles
d'honneur_) appears first in the royal court of France. This has usually
been attributed to Anne of Brittany, wife of Charles VIII.; she had a
group of unmarried girls of high rank at her court as part of her
household, in whom she took a lively and parental interest, educating
them and bestowing a dowry upon them on their marriage. A slightly
earlier instance, however, has been found. When the young Margaret of
Austria came to France on her espousal to Charles VIII., broken by his
marriage to Anne of Brittany, there were in her train several _filles
d'honneur_, whose names appear in the _Comptes d'argenterie de la reine
Marguerite d'Autriche_, from 1484-1485 and 1488-1489 (_Archives de
l'empire K. K. 80 and 81_ quoted by A. Jal, _Dictionnaire critique de
biographie et d'histoire_). It is from the days of Francis I. that the
_chroniques scandaleuses_ begin which circle round the maids of honour
of the French court. The maids of Catherine de Medici, celebrated as the
"flying squadron," _l'escadron volant_, are familiar from the pages of
Pierre de l'Estoile (1574-1611) and Brantôme. Among those whose beauty
Catherine used in her political intrigues, the most famous were Isabelle
de Limeuil, Mlle de Montmorency-Fosseux, known as _la belle Fosseuse_,
and Charlotte de Baune. The _filles d'honneur_, as an institution, were
suppressed in the reign of Louis XIV., at the instigation of Mme de
Montespan--who had been one of them--and their place was taken by the
_dames de palais_. In the English court, this custom of attaching "maids
of honour" to the queen's person was no doubt adopted from France. At
the present day a queen regnant has eight maids of honour, a queen
consort four. They take precedence next after the daughters of barons,
and where they have not by right or courtesy a title of their own, they
are styled "Honourable."

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Magnetite" to "Malt": Volume 17, Slice 4Various

Science

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Magnetite" to "Malt": Volume 17, Slice 4

Various

Encyclopedias and dictionaries

The title of "MAID OF HONOUR" is given to an unmarried lady attached to
the personal suite of a queen. The custom of sending young girls of
noble or good birth to the court of a prince or feudal superior, for the
purpose, primarily, of education, goes back to early feudal times, and
is parallel with the sending of boys to act as pages and squires to the
feudal castles. The regular establishment of maids of honour (_filles
d'honneur_) appears first in the royal court of France. This has usually
been attributed to Anne of Brittany, wife of Charles VIII.; she had a
group of unmarried girls of high rank at her court as part of her
household, in whom she took a lively and parental interest, educating
them and bestowing a dowry upon them on their marriage. A slightly
earlier instance, however, has been found. When the young Margaret of
Austria came to France on her espousal to Charles VIII., broken by his
marriage to Anne of Brittany, there were in her train several _filles
d'honneur_, whose names appear in the _Comptes d'argenterie de la reine
Marguerite d'Autriche_, from 1484-1485 and 1488-1489 (_Archives de
l'empire K. K. 80 and 81_ quoted by A. Jal, _Dictionnaire critique de
biographie et d'histoire_). It is from the days of Francis I. that the
_chroniques scandaleuses_ begin which circle round the maids of honour
of the French court. The maids of Catherine de Medici, celebrated as the
"flying squadron," _l'escadron volant_, are familiar from the pages of
Pierre de l'Estoile (1574-1611) and Brantôme. Among those whose beauty
Catherine used in her political intrigues, the most famous were Isabelle
de Limeuil, Mlle de Montmorency-Fosseux, known as _la belle Fosseuse_,
and Charlotte de Baune. The _filles d'honneur_, as an institution, were
suppressed in the reign of Louis XIV., at the instigation of Mme de
Montespan--who had been one of them--and their place was taken by the
_dames de palais_. In the English court, this custom of attaching "maids
of honour" to the queen's person was no doubt adopted from France. At
the present day a queen regnant has eight maids of honour, a queen
consort four. They take precedence next after the daughters of barons,
and where they have not by right or courtesy a title of their own, they
are styled "Honourable."

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Magnetite" to "Malt": Volume 17, Slice 4

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Magnetite" to "Malt": Volume 17, Slice 4

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