Baldachin

A baldachin, or baldaquin (from Italian: baldacchino), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over high altars in cathedrals, where such a structure is more correctly called a ciborium when it is sufficiently architectural in form. Baldachins are often supported on columns, especially when they are disconnected from an enclosing wall.

A cloth of honour or cloth of estate is a simpler cloth hanging vertically behind the throne, usually continuing to form a canopy. It can also be used for similar canopies in interior design, for example above beds, and for processional canopies used in formal state ceremonies such as coronations, held up by four or more men with poles attached to the corners of the cloth.

"Baldachin" was originally a luxurious type of cloth from Baghdad, from which name the word is ultimately derived, appearing in English as "baudekin" and other spellings. Matthew Paris records that Henry III of England wore a robe "de preciosissimo baldekino" at a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in 1247. The word for the cloth became the word for the ceremonial canopies made from the cloth.

In the Middle Ages, a hieratic canopy of state (or "estate"), cloth of honour, or cloth of state was hung above the seat of a personage of sufficient standing, as a symbol of authority. The seat under such a canopy of state would normally be raised on a dais. The cloth above a seat generally continued vertically down to the ground behind the seat. Emperors and kings, reigning dukes and bishops were accorded this honour. In a 15th-century manuscript illumination the sovereign Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller in Rhodes sits in state to receive a presentation copy of the author's book. His seat is raised on a carpet-covered dais and backed with a richly embroidered dosser (French, dos). Under his feet is a cushion, such as protected the feet of the King of France when he presided at a lit de justice. The King of France was also covered by a mobile canopy during his coronation, held up on poles by several peers of France. The Virgin Mary in particular is very often shown sitting under a cloth of honour in medieval and Renaissance paintings where she is shown enthroned with saints.

The cloth was often simply a luxurious textile, often imported and with rich patterns, as in brocades, but might have heraldic elements. French kings are often shown with blue cloths patterned with the gold fleur-de-lys. Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII in her portrait by an anonymous artist, c. 1500 prays under a canopy of estate; one can see the dosser against the gilded leather wall-covering and the tester above her head (the Tudor rose at its centre) supported on cords from the ceiling. The coats-of-arms embroidered or woven into the tapestry are of England (parted as usual with France) and the portcullis badge of the Beauforts.

Sometimes, as in the presentation miniature Jean Wauquelin presenting his 'Chroniques de Hainaut' to Philip the Good by Rogier van der Weyden, the cloth continues over the seat, and then to the floor. In the summer of 1520, a meeting was staged between Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England, where the ostentatious display of wealth and power earned the meeting-place the name of The Field of Cloth of Gold. The canopy of estate may still be seen in most formal throne rooms.

When Mary, Queen of Scots, was a prisoner in England at Tutbury Castle in 1585 she protested to her keepers Amias Paulet and John Somers about the removal of her cloth of estate from a dining room, which seemed to be a slight against her royal status.

The state bed, intended for receiving important visitors and producing heirs before a select public, but not intended for sleeping in, evolved during the second half of the seventeenth century, developing the medieval tradition of receiving visitors in the bedroom, which had become the last and most private room of the standard suite of rooms in a Baroque apartment. Louis XIV developed the rituals of receptions in his state bedchamber, the petit lever to which only a handful of his court élite might expect to be invited. The other monarchs of Europe soon imitated his practice; even his staunchest enemy, William III of England, had his "grooms of the bedchamber", a signal honour.