How and why did polite manners and etiquette develop?
The term "polite" already suggests that these rules of conduct developed at court. But were the royal and princely courts of the Middle Ages really the origin of what we today call good manners or etiquette?
And why did this develop into this particular era in human history?
Why not before or later?
Currently, politeness seems to be losing some of its appeal worldwide. Only a few countries, such as Japan, still adhere to highly ritualized forms of politeness.
Do you think it's possible that etiquette and behavioral norms will experience a renaissance at some point? Or is the era of polite rituals over once and for all?
(2 votes)
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Good morning,
very complex topic with multifaceted socio-cultural and socio-economic aspects interacting.
My tip: See if you can find a summary description (secondary literature) that deals with the standard work (3 volumes) on this topic by >Norbert Elias – "On the Process of Civilization"< and thus provides the interested layperson with a good introduction and overview of the current theoretical pattern on the topic and, if necessary, cross-references to other explanatory approaches.
Maybe there is something qualified and pre-sorted on the Internet (a "Harald Lesch" for this topic, so to speak) to browse the Internet in a relaxed manner.
Any attempt to address this seriously in the GF format would have to go beyond the GF format or remain piecemeal.
greeting
The term "polite" already suggests that this kind of code of conduct developed at court.
Yes. That's true, although there have always been rules of politeness; they simply developed over time in "high society." The so-called high society could simply afford better manners than the hard-working farmer or farmhand.
Because a lot of misinformation is being spread here, I would also like to say something about it.
Yes. In the Middle Ages, a courtly culture prevailed among the nobility, which, of course, the non-nobles also tried to copy. This also included habitual behavior.
This culture ultimately served as a whitewash of the culture of war and can be seen as a counterpoint to it. Not that this courtly culture was opposed—quite the opposite. It suited the people of the time and was accepted.
It is especially from the non-aristocracy that absurdly extreme developments in a certain extreme direction often come (e.g., among well-to-do citizens/patricians). The bourgeoisie has, so to speak, immeasurably exaggerated the customs of the nobility for imitation. This is often the case in society. Even in earlier societies (practically every one), there was always an elite that the citizenry oriented itself towards.
And in the Middle Ages, we have the practice that wealthy citizens, who neither had to work much themselves nor formed a "professional warrior class," took the status symbol (of being possibly impractical) to the extreme.
In the High and Late Middle Ages, patricia were excluded from tournaments because they had similar resources for expensive, highly specialized equipment and, at the same time, much more time to practice.
Because the medieval nobility, in its multitude, was more dependent on its external perception than in any previous era.
Andre from Geschichtsfenster likes to compare the knight with today's gangster rapper when it comes to portrayal.
This courtly behavior was often just a pretense, because ultimately it was also a lot about self-presentation.