W KRĘGU DWORSKIM W CZASACH KRÓLA STEFANA BATOREGO
THE COURT MILIEU IN THE REIGN OF KING STEFAN BÁTHORY

TREASURY OFFICIALS, MARSHAL GUARDS AND THE PRIVATE SERVANTS OF COURTIERS

Summary/Abstract: The subject of the analysis is the issue of affiliation to the strictly understood royal court as themonarch’s house. It is a voice in the discussion of who should and who should not be perceivedby historians as courtiers and servants of the court. The author of the article suggests that inaddition to formal considerations, the functional aspect should also be taken into account,especially if the considerations focus on the lowest personnel in the hierarchy. At the outset, twodifferent definitions of this institution (the so-called broader and narrower one) are presentedto highlight the ambiguity of the concept of the royal court and the changes that occurred inthe way it functioned during the Renaissance period. Next, four different categories of servantsand their relationship to the ruler’s household in the time of King Stefan Báthory are presented.The most extensively described is the treasury service which was subordinated to the treasurerand which performed a wide range of work for the court, often replacing the court’s staff.Subsequently, the participation and role of the marshal’s guard in the monarch’s immediatevicinity are presented. A rather specific example of a royal gardener is cited in the next part.The last group characterized in the text are the servants of court officials and courtiers, whomost likely were not their retinues, but remained at court performing various types of services.

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