During the Renaissance, the royal court became the centre for a codified culture distinct from the rest of society. It produced vestimentary codes and norms that governed an entire scale of appearances that differentiated its members from other social elites. After the disappearance of the last great feudal courts in France, the last of the Valois and the first of the Bourbons worked on the consolidation of the royal court at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries. From the time of François I, there was a commitment to the importance of having a brilliant court, in competition with European courts. It was a question of being ‘the queen of all other courts’, reported the ambassador from Mantua in 1539, a requirement maintained by successive sovereigns in spite of civil and religious conflicts (in 1562–1598) and international conflicts, particularly with Spain, which led to the dissolution of the court for eleven years after 1589. Once peace had been reestablished, the last years of the reign of Henri IV perpetuated the frenzy of courtly luxury in the first decade of the seventeenth century. As the court increasingly empowered itself, setting itself apart from the rest of society, it installed luxury as a sign of entitlement and social distinction.

The court reflected the power of the king and was also the instrument of that power. As it became materialised in an increasingly lavish setting, it also saw the place of the queen being established at its centre.