The term court society was definitively coined (as “Höfische Gesellschaft”) by Norbert Elias. His book Die Höfische Gesellschaft (1933/1969 [6]) exerted a seminal influence on the study of early modern society. He defined court society as follows: “At a certain stage in the development of European societies, individuals are bound together in the form of courts, and thereby given a specific stamp” (“Individuen werden auf ein…