The book examines the evolution of the royal court in European states of the Middle Ages and early modern times, the problems of political culture as an important indicator of the changing nature of monarchical power and ideas about it, its relationship with society. The development of power propaganda, ritual in ceremonial and etiquette of procedures for representing power as an important condition for its implementation, as well as art and science at court are investigated. The theme of the volume combined the entire spectrum of the cultural history of society - its ideology, mentality and social psychology, artistic forms. Power and politics in the context of cultural history have become an innovation in Russian medieval studies, contributing to its renewal.