The term honnête homme, first attested in 1538, is defined in the Dictionarium latinogallicum of Robert Estienne as a “cultured courtly gentleman without presumption.” Since the early 17th century, it expressed the quintessence of courtly urbanity, the social model of the new court society of the age of Louis XIV. Unlike related French words such as courtisan, homme de qualité, homme de bien, homme galant, and gentilhomme, the honnête homme (and the honnête femme) was not socia…