‘Het vooruitzigt op zijn toekomstig geluk’.:De benoeming van pages aan het hof van koning Lodewijk Napoleon als patronage-instrument (1806-1810) ; ‘The prospect of his future happiness’.:The appointment of pages at the court of King Louis Bonaparte as an instrument of patronage

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 h... Mehr ...