The Grand Chamberlain of France (French: Grand Chambellan de France) was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France, a member of the Maison du Roi ("King's Household"), and one of the Great Offices of the Maison du Roi during the Ancien Régime. It is similar in name, but should not be confused with, the office of Grand Chamberman of France (French: Grand Chambrier de France), although both positions could accurately be translated by the word chamberlain.
At its origin, the position of Grand Chambellan entailed oversight of the king's chamber and his wardrobe, but in October 1545, the position absorbed the duties of the position of "Grand Chambrier of France", which was suppressed by François I, and the Grand Chamberlain became responsible for signing charters and certain royal documents, assisting at the trial of peers, and recording the oaths of homage to the Crown, among other duties.
The Grand Chambellan also played an important role during coronation: he ceremonially admitted the clerical peers to the room of the king, and fitted the king with boots, dalmatic, and mantle for coronation. In the protocol of the reign of Louis XIV, the Chambellan was in the second rank during ambassadorial receptions, he served the king at table, and, at the ceremony of the Levée or royal awakening, he presented the king with a shirt. The position played a key role in state affairs in the sixteenth century, but became merely honorific in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The political importance of the Chambellan stemmed from his having permanent access to the King's Chamber. His symbol of office was the keys to the royal apartments, which he always carried; in token of which, he was permitted to place two gold keys in saltire behind his coat of arms. He also was entitled to carry the banner of France. In rank, the position was between the Grand Maître de France and the Grand Écuyer. During a lit de justice, he sat at the king's feet.
In the first half of the 16th century, the position was always held by a member of the Orléans-Longueville family, then by the Duke of Guise, and finally – until the end of the monarchy – by a member of the La Tour d'Auvergne-Bouillon family.
Read more about Grand Chamberlain Of France: List of Grand Chamberlains of France
Famous quotes containing the words grand, chamberlain and/or france:
“The most refined skills of color printing, the intricate techniques of wide-angle photography, provide us pictures of trivia bigger and more real than life. We forget that we see trivia and notice only that the reproduction is so good. Man fulfils his dream and by photographic magic produces a precise image of the Grand Canyon. The result is not that he adores nature or beauty the more. Instead he adores his camera—and himself.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final Note stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o’clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)
“The bugle-call to arms again sounded in my war-trained ear, the bayonets gleamed, the sabres clashed, and the Prussian helmets and the eagles of France stood face to face on the borders of the Rhine.... I remembered our own armies, my own war-stricken country and its dead, its widows and orphans, and it nerved me to action for which the physical strength had long ceased to exist, and on the borrowed force of love and memory, I strove with might and main.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)