Abstract
By admitting pages into his household, King of Holland Louis Bonaparte (1806-1810) allowed upper class adolescents to be groomed for military careers in a prestigious environment. These traditional junior court positions, few in number and eagerly coveted, constituted one of the King’s instruments to bolster the legitimacy of his newly-created throne. This article examines royal patronage through the appointments of pages, considering Louis Bonaparte’s policies as well as the response of the country’s leading families. A prosopographical analysis of the total of twenty-five pages reveals how he sought to integrate as many sections of the kingdom’s broadened and fragmented elite as possible. Although the King’s efforts were eventually thwarted by the brevity of his reign, the allegiance of both the pages and their families proved in many cases to have been easily transferred to the succeeding imperial regime.
| Translated title of the contribution | ‘The prospect of his future happiness’.: The appointment of pages at the court of King Louis Bonaparte as an instrument of patronage |
|---|---|
| Original language | Dutch |
| Pages (from-to) | 81-112 |
| Number of pages | 32 |
| Journal | BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review |
| Volume | 136 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 22 Dec 2021 |
Keywords
- Louis Bonaparte
- Kingdom of Holland (1806-1810)
- Royal households
- Royal court
- Patronage
- Prosopography
- Elites