https://wiki.sarg.dev/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=31.205.18.96Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]2026-10-23T13:31:40ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.44.2https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Retinue&diff=260245Retinue2025-07-22T20:19:15Z<p>31.205.18.96: /* Historical examples */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{short description|Body of servants in service of a dignitary}}<br />
[[File:Martinus opifex 001-cropped.jpg|thumb|Queen Helen with her retinue on the way to the [[Shrine of Venus Cloacina]], 15th century]]<br />
<br />
A '''retinue''' is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a [[nobility|noble]], [[royal family|royal]] personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of [[Affinity (medieval)|retainers]].<ref name=":1911"/><br />
<br />
==Etymology==<br />
The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', itself from ''retenir'', from the Latin ''retenere'': to hold back or retain.<br />
<br />
==Employment==<br />
Such retainers were not necessarily in the [[domestic service]] or otherwise normally close to the presence of their lord, but also include others who wore his [[livery]] (a kind of uniform, in distinctive colours) and claimed his protection, such as musicians and tutors.<br />
<br />
Some were a source of trouble and abuse in the 15th and early 16th century.<ref name=":1911">{{1911|wstitle=Retinue|volume=23|page=203|inline=1}}</ref><br />
<br />
Often their real importance was very different from their rank: on the one hand, [[sinecure]]s and [[wikt:supernumerary|supernumerary]] appointments allowed enjoying benefits without performing full service. On the other hand, "having the ear" of the master can allow one to act as a confidant in an informal capacity; or in some cases, even as a spy, under the guise of an innocent musician.<br />
<br />
The term is sometimes used in the context of the supporters or followers of a [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[knight]] or great lord, such as [[Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury|Richard, Earl of Salisbury]] in [[Retainers and fee'd men of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury|15th-century England]], which he called upon during the [[Wars of the Roses]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hicks|first=M. A. |title=Bastard Feudalism|year=1995|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1-317-89896-2|pages=50, 36, 38}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Historical examples==<br />
*[[Antrustion]]<br />
*[[Cohors amicorum]]<br />
*[[Comitatus (warband)|Comitatus]]<br />
*[[Dienstmann]] in [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]]<br />
*[[Druzhina]] in [[Kievan Rus']]<br />
*[[Svita]] in the [[Russian Empire]]<br />
*[[Manrent]], a [[Scottish clan]] bond<br />
*[[Gokenin]] in [[Feudal Japan]]<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
*[[Bodyguard]]<br />
*[[Great house]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
{{wiktionary}}<br />
*[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=retinue&searchmode=none Etymonline]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Court titles]]<br />
[[Category:Obsolete occupations]]</div>31.205.18.96