Scantily dressed eunuch carrying a weapon keeps an eye on a harem in Tunis, Tunisia, 1931

A eunuch ( /ˈjuːnək/; Greek: Ευνούχος) is a person who (by the common definition of the term eunuch) may have been castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences. Less commonly, in translations of ancient texts, "eunuch" may refer to a man who is not castrated but who is impotent, celibate or otherwise not inclined to marry and reproduce.

Castration was typically carried out on the soon-to-be eunuch without his consent in order that he might perform a specific social function; this was common in many societies. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 21st century BC.^[1][2] Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials and guardians of women or harem servants.

Eunuchs would probably be servants or slaves who, because of their function, had been castrated, usually in order to make them reliable servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions—such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter, or even relaying messages—could in theory give a eunuch "the ruler's ear" and impart de facto power on the formally humble but trusted servant. Similar instances are reflected in the humble origins and etymology of many high offices (e.g., chancellor originally denoted a servant guarding the entrance to an official's study). Eunuchs supposedly did not generally have loyalties to the military, the aristocracy, nor to a family of their own (having neither offspring nor in-laws, at the very least), and were thus seen as more trustworthy and less interested in establishing a private 'dynasty'. Because their condition usually lowered their social status, they could also be easily replaced or killed without repercussion. In cultures that had both harems and eunuchs, eunuchs were sometimes used as harem servants (compare the female odalisque) or seraglio guards.^{[citation needed]}

In Latin, the words eunuchus, spado, and castratus were used to denote eunuchs.^[3]

Eunuchs by region and epoch[link]

Ancient Middle East[link]

Eunuchs were familiar figures in the Assyrian Empire (ca. 850 till 622 BCE) in the court of the Egyptian Pharaohs (down to the Lagid dynasty known as Ptolemies, ending with Cleopatra). Political eunuchism became a fully established institution among the Achamenide Persians.^[4] Eunuchs held powerful positions in the Achaemenide court. The eunuch Bagoas (not to be confused with Alexander's Bagoas) was the Vizier of Artaxerxes III and IV, and was the primary power behind the throne during their reigns, until he was killed by Darius III.^[5]

Ancient Greece, Rome and Byzantium[link]

The practice was also well established in Europe among the Greeks and Romans, although a role as court functionaries does not arise until Byzantine times. The Galli or Priests of Cybele were eunuchs.

In the late period of the Roman Empire, after the adoption of the oriental royal court model by the Emperors Diocletian and Constantine, Emperors were surrounded by eunuchs for such functions as bathing, hair cutting, dressing, and bureaucratic functions, in effect acting as a shield between the Emperor and his administrators from physical contact, enjoyed great influence in the Imperial Court (see Eusebius and Eutropius). Eunuchs were believed loyal and indispensable.^{[citation needed]}

However, it was not uncommon for wives to have sex with partially castrated eunuchs (those whose testicles were removed or rendered inactive only) whose sexual competence persisted for some time after the castration, hence the bitter epigram: "Do you ask, Panychus, why your Caelia only consorts with eunuchs? Caelia wants the flowers of marriage – not the fruit." ^[6]

At the Byzantine imperial court, there were a great number of eunuchs employed in domestic and administrative functions, actually organized as a separate hierarchy, following a parallel career of their own. Archieunuchs—each in charge of a group of eunuchs—were among the principal officers in Constantinople, under the emperors.^[7] Under Justinian in the 6th century, the eunuch Narses functioned as a successful general in a number of campaigns.

Following the Byzantine tradition, eunuchs had important tasks at the court of the Norman kingdom of Sicily during the middle 12th century. One of them, Philip of Mahdia, has been admiratus admiratorum, and another one, Peter the caid, was prime minister.

China[link]

Records of eunuchs in China date to the Shang dynasty, when the Shang kings castrated prisoners of war.^[8] In China, castration included removal of the penis as well as the testicles. Both organs were cut off with a knife at the same time.^{[9][10][11][12]} Men sentenced to castration were turned into eunuch slaves of the Qin dynasty state perform forced labor for projects such as the Terracotta Army.^[13] The Qin government confiscated the property and enslaved the families of rapists who received castration as a punishment.^[14] Men punished with castration during the Han dynasty were also used as slave labor.^[15]

From ancient times until the Sui Dynasty, castration was both a traditional punishment (one of the Five Punishments) and a means of gaining employment in the Imperial service. At the end of the Ming Dynasty there were about 70,000 eunuchs (宦官 huànguān, or 太監 tàijiàn) employed by the emperor, with some serving inside the Imperial palace. Certain eunuchs gained immense power that occasionally superseded that of even the Grand Secretaries. Zheng He, who lived during the Ming Dynasty, is an example of such a eunuch. Self-castration was a common practice, although it was not always performed completely, which led to it being made illegal. During the early Ming period, China demanded to send the eunuchs as tribute to Korea, where some of them oversaw the Korean concubines in the harem of the Chinese Emperor.^[16][17]

A Qing dynasty eunuch, before 1911

When the Ming army finally captured Yunnan from Mongols in 1382, thousands of prisoners were killed and, according to the custom in times of war, their young sons – including Zheng He – were castrated.^[18][19] During the Miao Rebellions (Ming Dynasty), Chinese commanders castrated thousands of Miao boys when their tribes revolted, and then gave them as slaves to various officials.^[19]

The sons and grandsons of the rebel Yaqub Beg in China were all castrated. Surviving members of Yaqub Beg's family included his 4 sons, 4 grandchildren (2 grandsons and 2 granddaughters), and 4 wives. They either died in prison in Lanzhou, Gansu, or were killed by the Chinese. His sons Yima Kuli, K'ati Kuli, Maiti Kuli, and grandson Aisan Ahung were the only survivors in 1879. They were all underage children, and put on trial, sentenced to an agonizing death if they were complicit in their father's rebellious "sedition", or if they were innocent of their fathers crimes, were to be sentenced to castration and serving as a eunuch slave to Chinese troops, when they reached 11 years old, and handed over to the Imperial Household to be executed or castrated.^[20][21][22] In 1879, it was confirmed that the sentence of castration was carried out, Yaqub Beg's son and grandsons were castrated by the Chinese court in 1879 and turned into eunuchs to work in the Imperial Palace.^[23]

It is said that the justification for the employment of eunuchs as high-ranking civil servants was that, since they were incapable of having children, they would not be tempted to seize power and start a dynasty. In many cases, eunuchs were considered more reliable than the scholar officials. A similar system existed in Vietnam.^[24]

The tension between eunuchs in the service of the emperor and virtuous Confucian officials is a familiar theme in Chinese history. In his History of Government, Samuel Finer points out that reality was not always that clear-cut. There were instances of very capable eunuchs, who were valuable advisers to their emperor, and the resistance of the "virtuous" officials often stemmed from jealousy on their part. Ray Huang argues that in reality, eunuchs represented the personal will of the Emperor, while the officials represented the alternate political will of the bureaucracy. The clash between them would thus have been a clash of ideologies or political agenda.^[25]

The number of eunuchs in Imperial employ fell to 470 by 1912, when the practice of using them ceased.^{[citation needed]} The last Imperial eunuch, Sun Yaoting died in December 1996.

Korea[link]

The eunuchs of Korea, called Naesi (내시, 內侍), were officials to the king and other royalty in traditional Korean society. The first recorded appearance of a Korean eunuch was in Goryeosa ("History of Goryeo"), a compilation about the Goryeo period. In 1392, with the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, the Naesi system was revised, and the department was renamed the "Department of Naesi" (내시부, 內侍府).^[26]

The Naesi system included two ranks, those of Sangseon (상선, 尙膳, "Chief of Naesi"), who held the official title of senior second rank, and Naegwan (내관, 內官, "Common official naesi"), both of which held rank as officers. 140 naesi in total served the palace in Joseon Dynasty period. They also took the exam on Confucianism every month.^[26] The naesi system was repealed in 1894 following Gabo reform.

Early on, castration consisted of daubing a boy's genitals with human feces and having a dog bite them off.^[27] During the Yuan Dynasty, eunuchs became a desirable commodity for tributes, and dog bites were replaced by more sophisticated surgical techniques.^[28]

Ottoman Empire[link]

Chief Eunuch of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II at the Imperial Palace, 1912.

In the Middle Eastern empires, eunuchs were typically slaves imported from outside the Islamic domains. A fair proportion of male slaves were imported as eunuchs.^[29]

The Ottoman court harem—within the Topkapı Palace (1465–1853) and later the Dolmabahçe Palace (1853–1909) in Istanbul—was under the administration of the eunuchs. These were of two categories: Black Eunuchs and White Eunuchs. Black Eunuchs were Africans who served the concubines and officials in the Harem together with chamber maidens of low rank. The White Eunuchs were Europeans from the Balkans. They served the recruits at the Palace School and were from 1582 prohibited from entering the Harem. An important figure in the Ottoman court was the Chief Black Eunuch (Kızlar Ağası or Dar al-Saada Ağası). In control of the Harem and a perfect net of spies in the Black Eunuchs, the Chief Eunuch was involved in almost every palace intrigue and could thereby gain power over either the sultan or one of his viziers, ministers or other court officials.^[30] One of the most powerful Chief Eunuchs was Beshir Agha who played a crucial role in establishing the Ottoman version of Hanafi Islam throughout the Empire by founding libraries and schools.^[31]

The eunuchs in the Ottoman Empire were created mainly at one Coptic monastery, at Abou Gerbe monastery on Mount Ghebel Eter. The Coptic priests sliced the penis and testicles off Nubian or Abyssinian slave boys around the age of eight.^[32] The boys were captured from Abyssinia and other areas in Sudan like Darfur and Kordofan then brought into Sudan and Egypt. During the operation, the Coptic clergyman chained the boys to tables and after slicing their sexual organs off, stuck a piece of bamboo into the genital area, then submerged them in neck high sand to burn. The recovery rate was ten percent. The resulting eunuchs fetched large profits in contrast to eunuchs from other areas.^[33][34][35]

Indian subcontinent[link]

Eunuchs in Indian Mughal royalty[link]

Eunuchs were frequently employed in Imperial palaces by Mughal rulers as servants for female royalty, and often attained high-status positions in society. Eunuchs in Imperial palaces were organized in a hierarchy, often with a senior or chief eunuch (Urdu:"Khwaja Saras") directing junior eunuchs below him. Eunuchs were highly valued for their strength, ability to provide protection for ladies' palaces and trustworthiness, allowing eunuchs to live amongst women with fewer worries. This enabled eunuchs to serve as messengers, watchmen, attendants and guards for palaces. Often, eunuchs also doubled as part of the King's court of advisers.^[36][37]

As a result of the number of high-status job openings available for eunuchs, poor families often converted one of their sons into a eunuch and had him work in the imperial palaces to create a steady source of revenue for the family and ensure a comfortable lifestyle for the son. This practice of castration was banned throughout the Empire in 1668 by Aurangzeb, but continued covertly.

The hijra of South Asia[link]

The Ancient Indian Kama Sutra refers to people of a "third sex" (triteeyaprakrti), who can be dressed either in men's or in women's clothes and perform fellatio on men. The term has been translated as "eunuchs" (as in Sir Richard Burton's translation of the book), but these persons have also been considered to be the equivalent of the modern hijra of India.^{[citation needed]}

Hijra, a Hindi and Urdu term traditionally translated into English as "eunuch", actually refers to what modern Westerners would call male-to-female transgender people and effeminate homosexuals (although some of them reportedly identify as belonging to a third sex). Some of them undergo ritual castration, but the majority do not. They usually dress in saris (traditional Indian garb worn by women) or shalwar kameez (traditional garb worn by women in South Asia) and wear heavy make-up. They typically live in the margins of society, face discrimination^[38] and earn their living in various ways, e.g., by coming uninvited at weddings, births, new shop openings and other major family events and singing until they are paid or given gifts to go away.^[39] The ceremony is supposed to bring good luck and fertility, while the curse of an unappeased hijra is feared by many. Other sources of income for the hijra are begging and prostitution. The begging is accompanied by singing and dancing and the hijras usually get the money easily. Some Indian provincial officials have used the assistance of hijras to collect taxes in the same fashion; they knock on the doors of shopkeepers, while dancing and singing, and embarrass them into paying.^[40] Recently, hijras have started to found organizations to improve their social condition and fight discrimination. There has even been a wave of hijra entering politics and being elected to high political positions.

Religious castration[link]

Castration as part of religious practice, and eunuchs occupying religious roles have been established prior to classical antiquity. Archaeological finds at Çatalhöyük in Anatolia indicate worship of a 'Magna Mater' figure, a forerunner of the Cybele goddess found in later Anatolia and other parts of the near East.^[41] Later Roman followers of Cybele, were called Galli, who practiced ritual self-castration, known as sanguinaria.^[41]

The practice of religious castration continued into the Christian era, with members of the early church castrating themselves for religious purposes,^[42] although the extent and even the existence of this practice among Christians is subject to debate.^[43] The early theologian Origen found scriptural justification for the practice in Matthew 19:12,^[44] where Jesus says, "For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can." (NRSV)

Tertullian, a 2nd century Church Father, described Jesus himself and Paul of Tarsus as spadones, which is translated as "eunuchs" in some contexts.^[45] Quoting from the cited book:^[45] "...Tertullian takes 'spado' to mean virgin...". The meaning of spado in late antiquity can be interpreted as a metaphor for celibacy, however Tertullian's specifically refers to St. Paul as being castrated.^[45]

Eunuch priests have served various goddesses from India for many centuries. Similar phenomena are exemplified by some modern Indian communities of the Hijra, which are associated with a deity and with certain rituals and festivals – notably the devotees of Yellammadevi, or jogappas, who are not castrated^[46] and the Ali of southern India, of whom at least some are.^[47]

The 18th-century Russian Skoptzy (скопцы) sect was an example of a castration cult, where its members regarded castration as a way of renouncing the sins of the flesh.^[48] Several members of the 20th century Heaven's Gate cult were found to have been castrated, apparently voluntarily and for the same reasons.^[49]

Eunuchs in the Bible[link]

Eunuchs are mentioned many times in the Bible such as in the Book of Isaiah (56:4) using the word סריס (saris). Although the Ancient Hebrews did not practice castration, eunuchs were common in other cultures featured in the Bible, such as Ancient Egypt, Babylonia, the Persian Empire and Ancient Rome. In the Book of Esther, servants of the harem of Ahasuerus such as Hegai and Shashgaz as well as other servants such as Hatach, Harbonah, Bigthan, and Teresh are referred to as sarisim. Being exposed to the consorts of the king, they would have likely been castrated.

There is some confusion regarding eunuchs in Old Testament passages, since the Hebrew word for eunuch, saris (סריס), could also refer to other servants and officials who had not been castrated but served in similar capacities.^[50][51] The Egyptian royal servant Potiphar is described as a saris in Genesis 39:1, although he was married and hence unlikely to have been a eunuch.

The reference to "eunuchs" in Matthew 19:12 has yielded various interpretations.

Castrato singers[link]

Eunuchs castrated before puberty were also valued and trained in several cultures for their exceptional voices, which retained a childlike and other-worldly flexibility and treble pitch. Such eunuchs were known as castrati. Unfortunately the choice had to be made at an age when the boy would not yet be able to consciously choose whether to sacrifice his reproductive capabilities, and there was no guarantee that the voice would remain of musical excellence after the operation.

As women were sometimes forbidden to sing in Church, their place was taken by castrati. The practice, known as castratism, remained popular until the 18th century and was known into the 19th century. The last famous Italian castrato, Giovanni Velluti, died in 1861. The sole existing recording of a castrato singer documents the voice of Alessandro Moreschi, the last eunuch in the Sistine Chapel choir, who died in 1922.

Non-castrated eunuchs[link]

According to Byzantine historian Kathryn Ringrose,^[52] while the pagans of Classical Antiquity based their notions of gender in general and eunuchs in particular on physiology (the genitalia), the Byzantine Christians based them on behaviour and more specifically procreation. Hence, by Late Antiquity the term "eunuch" had come to be applied not only to castrated men, but also to a wide range of men with comparable behavior, who had "chosen to withdraw from worldly activities and thus refused to procreate".^[53] The broad sense of the term "eunuch" is reflected in the compendium of Roman law created by Justinian I in the 6th century known as the Digest or Pandects. That text distinguishes between two types of eunuchs – spadones (a general term denoting "one who has no generative power, an impotent person, whether by nature or by castration",^[54] D 50.16.128) and castrati (castrated males, physically incapable of procreation). Spadones are eligible to marry women (D 23.3.39.1), institute posthumous heirs (D 28.2.6), and adopt children (Institutions of Justinian 1.11.9), unless they are castrati.

Eunuchs in the contemporary world[link]

The hijra of India (see above) may number as many as 2,000,000,^[55] and are usually described as eunuchs, although they may be closer to male-to-female transsexual people, but have surgical castration instead of reassignment surgery, and seldom have access to hormones. The loss of testosterone and lack of estrogen means their bodies take on the characteristics of post-pubertal eunuchs.

The most commonly castrated men are advanced prostate cancer patients. In the United States alone there are more than 200,000 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed each year. It is estimated that over 80,000 of these men will be surgically or chemically castrated within six months of diagnosis.^[56] With the average life expectancy after castration, there are approximately a half million chemically or surgically castrated prostate cancer patients at any time in the U.S. alone.^{[citation needed]} While most of these men would deny the term "eunuch," they meet all physiological characteristics of post-pubertal eunuchs. Some do, however, embrace the term for the historic and psychological grounding that it gives them.^[57][58]

Convicted sex offenders who have been castrated are rare; although there is debate as to whether the drastic reduction of testosterone and the consequent diminishing of libido might have an effect on recidivism.^[59]

Popular culture[link]

Film[link]

The 2001 documentary film Bombay Eunuch examines the changing role of India's hijras, some of whom are also eunuchs. Once granted an honored place in Hindu society because they were thought to possess divine powers, the hijras have lost status as Western notions of gender and sexual identity have crept into Indian culture.

The 2003 documentary film American Eunuchs investigates the underworld of modern eunuchs in America. Each year in the United States hundreds of men voluntarily choose to be castrated and reinvent their sexual identity for reasons other than sex reassignment.

Kiss the Moon, a 2010 documentary, is set in a rapidly changing Pakistan. Three generations of eunuchs examine the ancient rituals and religious beliefs surrounding their community.

The 2011 film Nilkantho treats the plight of the Indian hijras with sensitivity. They arrive at Nishikanta's house to shower blessings on his newborn son. Since Nishikanta is too poor to give them even a single pie, the eunuchs gave him money so that he may buy milk for his son. Nishikanta ends by joining the eunuch community to make a living.

The Last Eunuch, a 1991 Chinese biographical film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang, tells the story of Li Lianying, a eunuch who wielded power in the waning days of the Qing Dynasty. The film was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival, where it won an Honourable Mention.

Literature[link]

Eunuchs feature prominently in Montesquieu's 1722 novel Lettres Persanes, supposedly about Persian visitors to eighteenth-century France.

Bagoas, the eunuch favorite of Alexander the Great, is the main character and narrator of The Persian Boy, a 1972 historical novel by Mary Renault.

George R.R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire features the eunuch Varys, also called the Spider, who is the master of whisperers to Aerys II Targaryen, King Robert I Baratheon, King Joffrey I Baratheon, and Queen Cersei. There are a number of other eunuchs mentioned, including the Unsullied, elite eunuch soldiers; and Strong Belwas, a bodyguard to Daenerys Targaryen sent by Illyrio Mopatis.

Notable eunuchs[link]

In chronological order.

• Aspamistres or Mithridates (5th century BCE): bodyguard of Xerxes I of Persia, and (with Artabanus) his murderer.
• Artoxares: an envoy of Artaxerxes I and Darius II of Persia.
• Bagoas (4th century BCE): prime minister of king Artaxerxes III of Persia, and his assassin. (Bagoas is an old Persian word meaning eunuch.)
• Bagoas (4th century BCE): a favorite of Alexander the Great. Influential in changing Alexander's attitude toward Persians and therefore in the king's policy decision to try to integrate the conquered peoples fully into his Empire as loyal subjects. He thereby paved the way for the relative success of Alexander's Seleucid successors and greatly enhanced the diffusion of Greek culture to the East.
• Philetaerus (4th/3rd century BCE): founder of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamum
• Sima Qian (old romanization Ssu-ma Chi'en; 2nd/1st century BCE): the first person to have practiced modern historiography – gathering and analyzing both primary and secondary sources in order to write his monumental history of the Chinese empire.
• Ganymedes (1st century BCE): highly capable adviser and general of Cleopatra VII's sister and rival, Princess Arsinoe. Unsuccessfully attacked Julius Caesar three times at Alexandria.
• Pothinus (1st century BCE): regent for pharaoh Ptolemy XII.
• Unidentified eunuch of the Ethiopian court (1st century CE), described in The Acts of the Apostles (chapter 8). Philip the Evangelist, one of the original seven deacons, is directed by the Holy Spirit to catch up to the eunuch's chariot and hears him reading from the Book of Isaiah (chapter 53). Philip believed the section prophesies Jesus' crucifixion, which Philip described to the eunuch. The eunuch was baptized shortly thereafter.
• Cai Lun (old romanization Ts'ai Lun; 1st/2nd century CE): reasonable evidence exists to suggest that he was truly the inventor of paper. At the very least, he established the importance of paper and standardized its manufacture in the Chinese empire.
• Origen: early Christian theologian, allegedly castrated himself based on his reading of the Gospel of Matthew 19:12 (For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother's womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.). Despite the fact that the early Christian theologian Tertullian wrote that Jesus was a eunuch, there is no corroboration in any other early source. (The Skoptsy did, however, believe it to be true.)^{[citation needed]}
• Eutropius (5th century CE): only eunuch known to have attained the highly distinguished and very influential position of Roman Consul.
• Chrysaphius: chief minister of Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II, architect of imperial policy towards the Huns.
• Narses (478–573): general of Byzantine emperor Justinian I, responsible for destroying the Ostrogoths in 552 at the Battle of Taginae in Italy and saving Rome for the empire.
• Solomon: general and governor of Africa under Justinian I
• Staurakios: chief associate and minister of the Byzantine empress Irene of Athens
• Ignatius of Constantinople (799–877): twice Patriarch of Constantinople during troubled political times [847–858 and 867–877]. First absolutely unquestioned eunuch saint, recognized by both the Orthodox and Roman Churches. (There are a great many early saints who were probably eunuchs, though few either as influential nor unquestioned as to their castration.)
• Yazaman al-Khadim (died 891): Emir of Tarsus and successful commander in the wars against Byzantium
• Mu'nis al-Khadim (845/846–933/934): Commander-in-chief of the Abbasid armies between 908 and his death,
• Joseph Bringas: chief minister of the Byzantine Empire under Romanos II (959-963).
• Jia Xian (c. 1010- c. 1070): Chinese mathematician, Invented the Jia Xian triangle for the calculation of square roots and cube roots.
• Ly Thuong Kiet (1019–1105): general during the Lý Dynasty in Vietnam. Penned what is considered the first Vietnamese declaration of independence. Regarded as a Vietnamese national hero.
• Pierre Abélard (1079–1142): French scholastic philosopher and theologian. Forcibly castrated by his girlfriend's uncle while in bed.
• Malik Kafur (fl. 1296–1316): a eunuch slave who became a general in the army of Alauddin Khilji, ruler of the Delhi sultanate.
  

  

  European illustration of one of the "white eunuchs" of the Ottoman Sultan's court (1749)
• Zheng He (1371–1433): famous admiral who led huge Chinese fleets of exploration around the Indian Ocean.
• Judar Pasha (late 16th century): a Spanish eunuch who became the head of the Moroccan invasion force into the Songhai Empire.
• Kim Cheo Seon: one of the most famous eunuchs in Korean Joseon Dynasty, ably served kings in the Joseon dynasty. His life is now the subject of a historical drama in South Korea.
• Mohammad Khan Qajar: chief of the Qajar tribe. He became the King/Shah of Persia in 1794 and established the Qajar dynasty.
• Zhao Gao: favourite of Qin Shihuangdi, who plotted against Li Si (died 210 BC)
• Zhang Rang: head of the infamous "10 Changshi" (Ten attendants) of Eastern Han Dynasty
• Huang Hao: eunuch in the state of Shu; also appears in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
• Cen Hun: eunuch in the state of Wu during the Three Kingdoms Period
• Gao Lishi: a loyal and trusted friend of Tang emperor Xuanzong
• Le Van Duyet: famous 18th century Vietnamese eunuch, military strategist and government official (not a true eunuch, he was born a hermaphrodite)
• Senesino (1686 – 1758): Italian contralto castrato singer.
• Farinelli (1705 – 1782): Italian soprano castrato singer.
• Giusto Fernando Tenducci (c1736-1790): Italian soprano castrato singer.
• Li Fuguo: The Tang eunuch who began another era of eunuch rule
• Yu Chao'en: Tang eunuch who began his "career" as army supervisor
• Wang Zhen: first Ming eunuch with much power, see Tumu Crisis
• Gang Bing: patron saint of eunuchs in China who castrated himself to demonstrate his loyalty to emperor Yongle
• Yishiha: admiral in charge of expeditions down the Amur River under the Yongle and Xuande Emperors
• Liu Jin: a well-known eunuch despot
• Wei Zhongxian: most infamous eunuch in Chinese history
• Li Lianying: a despotic eunuch of the Qing Dynasty
• Boston Corbett (1832 – presumed dead 1894): who killed John Wilkes Booth, castrated himself to avoid temptation from prostitutes
• Alessandro Moreschi (1858 - 1922), Italian castrato singer, the only one to make recordings.
• Sun Yaoting (1902–1996): last surviving imperial eunuch of Chinese history

Notes[link]

Sources and references[link]

• English translation of Rudople Guilland's essay on Byzantine eunuchs "Les Eunuques dans l'Empire Byzantin: Étude de titulature et de prosopographie byzantines", in 'Études Byzantines', Vol. I (1943), pp. 197–238 with many examples

External links[link]

• "Born Eunuchs" Home Page and Library
• The Eunuch Archive
• Eunuchs in Pharaonic Egypt
• The Eunuchs of Ming Dynasty China
• Hidden Power: The Palace Eunuchs of Imperial China
• The Perfect Servant: Eunuchs and the Social Construction of Gender in Byzantium

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

For alternative meanings of the word "court", see: Court (disambiguation).

The court of a monarch, or at some periods an important nobleman, is a term for the extended household and all those who regularly attended on the ruler or central figure. In the largest courts many thousands of individuals comprised the court, many officials or servants in the permanent employ of the ruler, and others attending in hope of political or financial gain, or merely for the society and entertainments offered. As well as being the centre of political life, courts were usually the drivers of fashion, and often where literary, musical and artistic trends first developed. Courts are found in all monarchical high cultures, although relatively little is known about Pre-Columbian court life, for example.

Ambassador Kosa Pan and Siamese envoys pay their respect to Louis XIV at his court in Versailles.

Patronage[link]

The 'Court of Lahore'.

A royal household is the highest ranking example of this. A regent or viceroy may hold court during the minority or absence of a hereditary ruler, and even an elected head of state may develop a court-like entourage of unofficial, personally-chosen advisors and "companions". This position may have been first raised to semi-official status in the entourage of Alexander the Great, based on Persian conventions.^[1] The French word compagnon, and its English derivation "companion", literally connotes a "sharer of the bread" at table, and indeed the court is an extension of the great individual's household; wherever members of the household and bureaucrats of the administration overlap in personnel, it is sensible to speak of a "court", whether in Achaemenid Persia, Ming China, Norman Sicily, the Papacy before 1870 (see Curia) or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A group of individuals dependent on the patronage of a great man, classically in ancient Rome, forms part of the system of "clientage" that is discussed under vassal.

Court culture[link]

The Macartney Embassy. Lord Macartney salutes Emperor Qianlong, but refused to kowtow.

Individual rulers differed greatly in tastes and interests, as well as in political skills and in constitutional situations. Accordingly, some founded elaborate courts based on new palaces, only to have their successors retreat to remote castles or to practical administrative centers. Personal retreats might arise far away from official court centres.

Etiquette and hierarchy flourish in highly-structured court settings and may leave conservative traces over generations.

History[link]

East Asia[link]

The courts of Chinese Emperors were among the largest and most complex of all, with the Manchu dynasty occupying the whole Forbidden City and other parts of Beijing. In the late first millennium, the Japanese developed an exquisitely refined court that played an extremely important role in their culture.

Medieval Europe[link]

After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, a true court culture can be recognized in the entourage of the Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great and in the court of Charlemagne. In the Roman East, a brilliant court continued to surround the Byzantine emperors.

In Western Europe, consolidation of power of local magnates and of kings in fixed administrative centres from the mid-13th century led to the creation of a distinct court culture that was the centre of intellectual and artistic patronage rivalling the abbots and bishops, in addition to its role as the apex of a rudimentary political bureaucracy that rivalled the courts of counts and dukes. The dynamics of hierarchy welded the court cultures together.

Local courts proliferated in the splintered polities of medieval Europe and remained in early modern times in Germany and in Italy. Such courts became known for intrigue and power politics; some also gained prominence as centres and collective patrons of art and culture. In medieval Spain (Castile), provincial courts were created. Minor noblemen and burguesie allied to create a system to oppose the monarchy on many policy issues. They were called "las Cortes de Castilla". These courts are the root of the current Spanish congress and senate.

As political executive functions generally moved to more democratic bases, noble courts have seen their function reduced once more to that of a noble household, concentrating on personal service to the household head, ceremonial and perhaps some residual politico-advisory functions. If republican zeal has banished an area's erstwhile ruling nobility, courts may survive in exile.

Africa[link]

A member of court of the Emir of Kano parading on horseback outside the Gidan Rumfa at the annual Durbar festival. Nigeria, West Africa.

The kingship system has been an integral part of the more centralized African societies for millennia. This is especially true in West African sahel, where royal courts have been in existence since the 9th century Takrur and Ghana empires. The ruler of the 13th century Mali empire, Mansa Musa, brought a large number of his court with him on the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Today, the courts of the Ashanti in modern Ghana, the Mande in Mali, the Bamum of Cameroon, the Kanem of Chad, and the Hausa emirs of northern Nigeria continue the pageantry and court lifestyle traditions once common to the region.

Caliphate courts[link]

All four major Caliphates had sophisticated courts; this enabled Cordoba, Cairo and Baghdad (the seats of Umayyad, Fatamids and Abbasids) to become the largest, most culturally developed cities of their time. This drew talented people from all walks of life—such as musicians, singers, poets and scientists—to seek employment under the patronage of elite bureaucrats, emirs and Sultans at court. The other Caliphate was the Ottoman, which employed its court's culture to stabilize an empire inhabited by huge non-Islamic populations spanning three continents. Everything from Algeria to the Balkans to Yemen was controlled by the court in Istanbul.

The royal courts in the Islamic world were mostly run by rulers, but there were the exceptions of important elite families such as Barmakids and Nizams who established their own minor courts, enabling them to encourage arts and improve the empire even if the ruling king was useless. All Islamic courts had two things in common, which is that they helped to stabilise politics and society of the empires but they also harbored great bribery and manipulation.

Court officials[link]

Court officials or office-bearers (one type of courtier) derived their positions and retained their titles from their original duties within the courtly household. With time such duties often became archaic, but titles survived involving the ghosts of arcane duties, generally dating back to the days when a noble household had practical and mundane concerns as well as high politics and culture. Such court appointments each have their own histories. They include:

• Almoner
• Butler
• Chamberlain
• Chancellor
• Chapelmaster
• Chaplain = Arch
• Cofferer
• Confessor
• Constable
• Cup-bearer
• Dapifer
• Doorward
• Falconer
• Gentleman of the Bedchamber
• Gentleman Usher

"Triboulet", illustration for the theatre play "Le Roi s'amuse" ("The King Takes His Amusement") by Victor Hugo. Gravure by J. A. Beaucé (1818-1875) and Georges Rouget (1781-1869).

• Grand Almoner
• Grand Panetier, Panifer
• Grandmaster
• Grand Master of the Hunt
• Great officers
• Groom of the Stool
• Herald
• Intendant of the civil list
• Jester = fool
• Keeper of the seal
• King of arms
• Knight -/ Earl Marshal
• Lady-in-waiting
• Maid of Honour
• Majordomo
• Master of the Horse
• Master of the Hunt
• Page
• Panter or pantler
• Secretary
• Pursuivant
• Seneschal
• Standard bearer
• Steward

Court seats[link]

One of the criteria of Norbert Elias' concept of a court society is that it existed in space.^[2] Because the German word hof, meaning an enclosed courtyard, can apply to a rural farmstead with outbuildings and walls forming the perimeter, it has also been used for the palatial seat where the court was held. Thus hof or "court" can become transferred to the building itself. For example, though the grand residence Hampton Court on the Thames above London has been a palace where Thomas Wolsey held court as Catholic cardinal (built after the Italian ideal for a cardinal's palace) until his fall and its confiscation by Henry VIII and where William and Mary held court, 1689–94—and though it is built round two main courts—the structure itself, however, is no longer the seat of a court in the sense of this article.

As an example, ambassadors to the United Kingdom are still accredited to the Court of St. James's, and courtiers of the monarchy still have offices in St James' Palace, London. The present monarch, however, holds court at Buckingham Palace, where dignitaries are received.

Some former seats of power (see official residence):

• Castile, medieval Christian province in central current Spain
• Alhambra in Granada, seat of the last Muslim dynasty in current Spain
• The Forbidden City, imperial palace complex walled off from Beijing
• Wawel Castle (Kraków) and Warsaw's Royal Castle (Poland)
• Château de Versailles near Paris in France
• Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria
• Sanssouci in Potsdam near Berlin
• The Vatican in the Papal States
• The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia
• Urbino, seat of a duchy in the Marche
• The Red Fort, palatial fortress of the Mughal emperors in Delhi, India
• Shaniwar Wada palace fort of the Maratha Peshwas in Pune, India

See also[link]

• Aliénor de Poitiers who documented the etiquette of the Burgundian Court in the late 15th century.
• Curia regis
• Courtier
• Masque
• Courtesy book

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Elias, Norbert (1983) [1969]. The Court Society [Die höfische Gesellschaft]. trans. Edmund Jephcott. Oxford. . On the sociology of the court, originally completed in 1939.
• Fox, Robin Lane (1973). Alexander the Great. 

Further reading[link]

• Adamson, John (ed.). The Princely Courts of Europe, 1500–1750. Ritual, Politics and Culture under the Ancien Regime, 1500-1750. London, 1999.
• Birke, A., and R. Asch (eds.). Courts, Patronage and the Nobility at the Beginning of the Modern Period, 1450–1650. 1991.
• Burke, Peter. The Fabrication of Louis XIV. New Haven and London, 1992.
• Charles-Edwards, T.M. et al. The Welsh king and his court. Cardiff, 2000.
• Dickens, A.G. (ed.). The Courts of Europe: Politics, Patronage and Royalty, 1400–1800. 1977. Emphasis on patronage.
• Duindam, Jeroen. Myths of Power: Norbert Elias and the Early Modern European Court. Amsterdam, 1995. Critique of Elias. English translation of dissertation Macht en Mythe (1992).
• Duindam, Jeroen. Vienna and Versailles. The courts of Europe’s Dynastic Rivals 1550-1780. Cambridge, 2003.
• Jaeger, C.S. The Origins of Courtliness: Civilizing Trends and the Formation of Courtly Ideals 939–1210. Philadelphia, PA, 1985.

Antiquity[link]

• Spawforth, A.J.S. (ed.). The Court and Court Society in Ancient Monarchies. Cambridge, 2007

Early Middle Ages[link]

• Cubitt, C. (ed.). Court Culture in the Early Middle Ages. The Proceedings of the First Alcuin Conference. Turnhout, 2002
• Hen, Yitzhak. Roman Barbarians: The Royal Court and Culture in the Early Medieval West. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 978-0-333-78665-9.
• Jones, S.R., R. Marks and A. J. Minnis (eds.). Courts and Regions in Medieval Europe. York, 2000.
• Jong, M. de and F. Theuws (eds.). Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages. Leiden, 2001

External links[link]

• Courtstudies.org, The Society for Court Studies, offering a bibliography on court history
• Oxford University bibliography of Early Modern courts 1580–1700, structure and patronage, 2002
• "Court culture: representations of intimacy": division between Hall and Chamber in late medieval noble and royal households

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Noble courts

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since July 2009. It may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Tagged since April 2010.

A trial at the Old Bailey in London as drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin for Ackermann's Microcosm of London (1808-11).

A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law.^[1] In both common law and civil law legal systems, courts are the central means for dispute resolution, and it is generally understood that all persons have an ability to bring their claims before a court. Similarly, the rights of those accused of a crime include the right to present a defense before a court.

The system of courts that interpret and apply the law are collectively known as the judiciary. The place where a court sits is known as a venue. The room where court proceedings occur is known as a courtroom, and the building as a courthouse; court facilities range from simple and very small facilities in rural communities to large buildings in cities.

The practical authority given to the court is known as its jurisdiction (Latin jus dicere) -- the court's power to decide certain kinds of questions or petitions put to it. According to William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, a court is constituted by a minimum of three parties: the actor or plaintiff, who complains of an injury done; the reus or defendant, who is called upon to make satisfaction for it, and the judex or judicial power, which is to examine the truth of the fact, to determine the law arising upon that fact, and, if any injury appears to have been done, to ascertain and by its officers to apply a legal remedy. It is also usual in the superior courts to have attorneys, and advocates or counsel, as assistants,^[2] though, often, courts consist of additional attorneys, bailiffs, reporters, and perhaps a jury.

The term "the court" is also used to refer to the presiding officer or officials, usually one or more judges. The judge or panel of judges may also be collectively referred to as "the bench" (in contrast to attorneys and barristers, collectively referred to as "the bar"). In the United States, and other common law jurisdictions, the term "court" (in the case of U.S. federal courts) by law is used to describe the judge himself or herself.^[3]

In the United States, the legal authority of a court to take action is based on personal jurisdiction, subject-matter jurisdiction, and venue over the parties to the litigation.

Etymology[link]

The word cour comes from the French court, an enclosed yard, which derives from the Latin form cortem, the accusative case of cohors, which again means an enclosed yard or the occupants of such a yard. The words yard, court, and Latin hortus (meaning "garden," hence horticulture and orchard), are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space.^[4]

The meaning of a judicial assembly is first attested in the 12th century, and derives from the earlier usage to designate a sovereign and his entourage, which met to adjudicate disputes in such an enclosed yard. The verb "to court", meaning to win favor, derives from the same source since people traveled to the sovereign's court to win his favor.^[5][6]

Jurisdiction[link]

Jurisdiction, means "to speak the law," is the power of a court over a person or a claim. In the United States, a court must have both personal jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction. Each state establishes a court system for the territory under its control. This system allocates work to courts or authorized individuals by granting both civil and criminal jurisdiction (in the United States, this is termed subject-matter jurisdiction). The grant of power to each category of court or individual may stem from a provision of a written constitution or from an enabling statute. In English law, jurisdiction may be inherent, deriving from the common law origin of the particular court.

Trial and appellate courts[link]

Trial courts are courts that hold trials. Sometimes termed "courts of first instance," trial courts have original jurisdiction over most cases. Trial courts may conduct trials with juries are the finders of fact (these are known as jury trials) or trials in which judges act as both finders of fact and finders of law (these are known as bench trials). Juries are less common in court systems outside the Anglo-American common law tradition.

Appellate courts are courts that hear appeals of lower courts and trial courts.

Civil law courts and common law courts[link]

The two major models for courts are the civil law courts and the common law courts. Civil law courts are based upon the judicial system in France, while the common law courts are based on the judicial system in England. In most civil law jurisdictions, courts function under an inquisitorial system. In the common law system, most courts follow the adversarial system. Procedural law governs the rules by which courts operate: civil procedure for private disputes (for example); and criminal procedure for violation of the criminal law.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Courts

General[link]

• Tribunal
• Sanctions (law)
• International judicial institution
• International Criminal Court

Types and organization of courts[link]

• Appellate court
• Administrative court
• Constitutional court
• Court of Faculties
• Court-martial
• Courts of England and Wales
• Ecclesiastical court
• Equity court
• Family court
• High Court of Justiciary
• Revolutionary Tribunal (French Revolution)
• Scots Law
• Scottish Court Service
• Supreme court
• Trial court

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Courts

• US federal courts
• Courtprep, Information about the Canadian justice process, features an interactive courtroom and witness tips.
• Going to court if you're charged with a crime (Directgov, England and Wales)
• HM Courts and Tribunals Service (England and Wales)

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An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either his own or that of his superior and/or employer, public or legally private).

A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public administration or government, through either election, appointment, selection, or employment. A bureaucrat is a member of the bureaucracy. An elected official is a person who is an official by virtue of an election. Officials may also be appointed ex officio (by virtue of another office, often in a specified capacity, such as presiding, advisory, secretary). Some official positions may be inherited.

A person who currently holds an office is referred to as an incumbent.

The word official as a noun has been recorded since the Middle English period, first seen in 1314.^{[citation needed]} It comes from the Old French official (12th century), from the Latin officialis ("attendant to a magistrate, public official"), the noun use of the original adjective officialis ("of or belonging to duty, service, or office") from officium ("office"). The meaning "person in charge of some public work or duty" was first recorded in 1555. The adjective is first attested in English in 1533, via the Old French oficial.

The informal term officialese, the jargon of "officialdom", was first recorded in 1884.

Roman Antiquity[link]

An officialis (plural officiales) was the official term (somewhat comparable to a modern civil servant) for any member of the officium (staff) of a high dignitary such as a governor.

Ecclesiastical judiciary[link]

In Canon law, the word or its Latin original officialis is used absolutely as the legal title of a diocesan bishop's judicial vicar who shares the bishop's ordinary judicial power over the diocese and presides over the diocesan ecclesiastical court.

The 1983 Code of Canon Law gives precedence to the title Judicial Vicar, rather than that of Officialis (canon 420). The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches uses only the title Judicial Vicar (canon 191).

In German, the related noun Offizialat was also used for an official bureau in a diocese that did much of its administration, comprising the vicariate-general, an adjoined secretariat, a registry office and a chancery.

The title of official principal, together with that of vicar-general, has in Anglicanism? England been merged in that of Diocesan chancellor of a diocese.

Other[link]

In sports, the term official is used to describe a person enforcing playing rules in the capacity of a linesman, referee and umpire; also specified by the discipline, e.g. American football official, Ice hockey official.

The term officer is close to being a synonym (but has more military connotations). A functionary is someone who carries out a particular role within an organization; this again is quite a close synonym for official, as a noun, but with connotations closer to bureaucrat. Any such person acts in their official capacity, in carrying out the duties of their office; they are also said to officiate, for example in a ceremony. A public official is an official of central or local government.

Max Weber on bureaucratic officials[link]

Max Weber gave as definition of a bureaucratic official :

• he is personally free and appointed to his position on the basis of conduct
• he exercises the authority delegated to him in accordance with impersonal rules, and his loyalty is enlisted on behalf of the faithful execution of his official duties
• his appointment and job placement are dependent upon his technical qualifications
• his administrative work is a full-time occupation
• his work is rewarded by a regular salary and prospects of advancement in a lifetime career.

An official must exercise his judgment and his skills, but his duty is to place these at the service of a higher authority; ultimately he is responsible only for the impartial execution of assigned tasks and must sacrifice his personal judgment if it runs counter to his official duties.

Adjective[link]

As an adjective, official often but not always means pertaining to the government, either as state employee or having state recognition, or to analogous governance, or to formal (especially legally regulated) proceeding as opposed to informal business. Some examples:

• An official holiday is a public holiday, having national (or regional) recognition.
• An official language is a language recognised by a government, for its own use in administration, or for the use of citizens (for example on signposts).
• An official spokesperson would be an individual empowered to speak for the government, or some part of it such as a ministry, on a range of issues and on the record for the media.
• An official statement is issued by an organisation as an expression of its corporate position or opinion; an official apology is an apology similarly issued by an organisation (as opposed to an apology by an individual).
• Official policy is policy publicly acknowledged and defended by an organisation. In these cases unofficial is an antonym, and variously may mean informal, unrecognised, personal or unacknowledged.
• An official strike is a strike organised and recognised by a labour union, as opposed to an unofficial strike at grassroots level.
• An official school is a school administered by the government or by a local authority, as opposite to a private school or religious school.
• An official history, for example of an institution or business, or particularly of a war or military unit, is a history written as a commission, with the assumption of co-operation with access to records and archives; but without necessarily full editorial independence.
• An official biography is usually on the same lines, written with access to private papers and the support of the family of the subject.

See also[link]

Look up official in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Bureaucrat
• Official culture
• official trip

Sources and references[link]