posted 03-15-2002 06:09 AM            

The social live at the medieval royal court, at least in the kingdoms of Germany, Italy, Burgundy (after 1032 A.D. all in the holy roman empire) was influenced very much by the fact that the king was almost all the time on the move. The court was where the king was, and if he stayed for three weeks at the same place, it was already an exceptional long time. The residence was changed all the time during that endless journey: royal palaces, the palaces of bishops, the guesthouses of abbey, castles or even tents on an open field. Abbots, earls, counts and bishops came to visit the king at meetings that took place in all parts of the kingdom. Some of them travelled with the king for months or even years, but most of them had other duties somewhere in the kingdom and had to travel there and back again or were even sent as messangers or diplomats to other royal courts or to Rome. So the social group around the king changed all the time – even the royal family wasn't always at the same place.