Women’s Everyday Life at Court: Ladies’ Conversations about Court Ceremonial by Eleanor de Poitiers’ “Les Etats de France”

Based on the memoirs written between 1483 and 1487 by Eleanor of Poitiers, a lady-in-waiting of the duchesses of Burgundy, this article examines the everyday conversations of the female part of the court. Although the text is primarily devoted to questions of hierarchy and ceremonial, we can learn what the ladies at court talked about and hear not only the author’s own speech, but also her conversations with her mother, Isabella de Souza, the dame d’honneur of the Duchess of Burgundy, the remarks of Isabelle of Portugal herself and other ladies on different occasions, as well as their intended speech, expressed in actions. Most of the evidences comes from the author’s own experience or heard from her mother. The study shows that questions of honor, signs of respect and court protocol were not boundaries rigidly defined, but a natural part of usual everyday life.