Patronage

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Patron" redirects here. For the alcohol, see Patrón.

Generally, patronage is the act of a so-called patron who supports or favors some individual, family, group or institution.

The term derives from the Latin patronatus, the formal relationship between a Patronus and his Clientes.

A patronage system has different characteristics depending on the area in which it is practiced. Generally it can be described as a system where someone in a powerful position (the Patron) offers handouts in return for support.

The terms patron or patroness may also be used to refer to a patron saint.

Contents

[edit] The Arts

From the ancient world through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and into the early modern era, patronage of the arts was an important if not crucial phenomenon. It is known in greatest detail in reference to pre-modern Europe, though patronage can also be traced in feudal Japan and the traditional kingdoms of Southeast Asia and elsewhere—art patronage tended to arise wherever a royal or imperial system and an aristocracy dominated a society and controlled a significant share of its material resources. Rulers, nobles, and very wealthy people used patronage of the arts to endorse their political ambitions, social positions, and prestige. That is, patrons operated as sponsors. Various languages still use a term, "mecenate," derived from the name of Emperor Augustus' generous friend and adviser Gaius Maecenas. Some patrons, such as the Medici of Renaissance Florence, additionally used artistic patronage to "cleanse" wealth that was perceived as ill-gotten through usury.

While sponsorship of artists and the creation of art works is the best-known aspect of the patronage system, other disciplines and activities also benefitted from patronage, from early science (called natural philosophy), to scholarship and philosophy and all forms of intellectual endeavor, to practices like alchemy and astrology—all enjoyed varying levels of support from interested patrons.

Art patronage was especially important in the creation of religious art; organized religions have sponsored artistic development on every scale, from the largest architectural expressions in cathedrals, mosques, and temples to the smallest miniatures of painting and sculpture, and handicrafts of all types.

In European cultural history, virtually every major and minor figure in music, literature, and the fine arts from the Medieval period to the early modern era had some relationship with the patronage system, in which royal and noble patrons subsidized artistic creation. Artists as diverse and important as Chrétien de Troyes, Leonardo de Vinci and Michelangelo, Shakespeare and Jonson all sought and enjoyed the support of noble or ecclesiastical patrons.[1][2] Figures as late as Mozart and Beethoven also participated in the system to some degree; it was only with the rise of bourgeois and capitalist social forms in the nineteenth century that European culture moved away from its patronage system to the more publicly-supported system of museums, theaters, mass audiences and mass consumption that is familiar in the contemporary world.

This kind of system continues across many fields of the arts. Though the nature of the sponsors has changed—from churches to charitable foundations, and from aristocrats to plutocrats—the term patronage has a more neutral connotation than in politics. It may simply refer to direct support (often financial) of an artist, for example by grants.

In the later part of the twentieth century the academic sub-discipline of patronage studies began to evolve, in recognition of the important and often neglected role that the phenomenon of patronage had played in the cultural life of previous centuries.

See also: Category:Philanthropy

[edit] Politics

Political leaders often have at their disposal a great deal of patronage, in the sense that they take decisions on the appointment of officials inside and outside government (for example on quangos). Patronage is therefore a recognized and legitimate power of the executive branch. In most countries it has the right to make many of appointments, some of which may be lucrative, or sinecures. In some countries, high level appointments may be reviewed by the legislature; in other countries, such as those using the Westminster system, this is not the case. Some countries, such as the United States, permit the legislature to review some appointees, but not all.

In politics, patronage more narrowly defined is the practice by holders of political office of appointing their followers or fellow party members to positions. For example, those could be high-level posts such as ambassadorships, or lower-level civil service posts. Even blue-collar jobs on the government payroll may be sought after. Such overt political patronage is seen as a tool for rewarding and enforcing loyalty; loyalty is the criterion for selecting a person rather than more meritocratic considerations. The selection process - if not based upon the competence of the person - is then naturally seen as questionable. There is a fine line dividing this from rewarding supporters corruptly with government contracts.

Patronage can consequently be seen as one of the possible major deficiencies of a system of excess bureaucracy, defined as a system with a weak bureaucratic structure, the availability of large public resources to the Patron, and that these public resources be easily divisible in order to target specific groups and individuals. Nepotism and cronyism are more specific types of patronage.

See also: political machine

[edit] Patronage in the Gilded Age

In the United States during the Gilded Age, patronage became a central issue, due to bipartisan agreement on national issues and political decadence.

Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York became a powerful political figure by determining who in the party would gain certain lucrative positions. Conkling and his supporters were known as Stalwarts. The Republican reformers who opposed patronage and advocated a civil service system were known as Mugwumps - their lack of party loyalty seen as having their "mug" on one side of the fence, their "wump" on the other. Between the two were the Halfbreeds, who were less patronage-oriented than the Stalwarts, but not as reform-minded as the Mugwumps.[3]

When James Garfield became President, he appointed Halfbreeds to most offices (despite the appointment of Stalwart Chester A. Arthur to the role of Vice President, which was a compromise within the Republican Party). This provoked the ire of the Stalwarts. Charles J. Guiteau, a Stalwart, assassinated Garfield in 1881, 6 months after he became President.

To prevent further political violence, and in response to public outrage, Congress passed the Pendleton Act in 1883, which set up the Civil Service Commission. Henceforth, applicants for most federal government jobs would have to pass an examination. Federal politicians' influence over bureaucratic appointments waned, and patronage declined as a national political issue.

[edit] Commercial

Sometimes consumers support smaller or local businesses or corporations out of loyalty even if other cheaper options exist.

[edit] Ecclesiastical

[edit] Catholic

Main article: ius patronatus

[edit] Canon law

In Roman Catholic canon law, the "right of patronage" (ius patronatus) is a collection of rights and obligations in connection with the assignment and administration of a benefice; these rights are legally entailed upon a patron by the Church, "out of gratitude towards her benefactor." It is a combination of rights that pertain to the spiritual realm, designated in the decretals as ius spirituali annexum, and is therefore subject to ecclesiastical legislation and jurisdiction. However, property rights are also involved, so it is also subject to civil law (in the sense of laws passed by states, contrasted to canon law).

In the early Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, such rights were often granted to the clerical or lay founder of a church; for example, the Synod of Toledo in 655 gave a layman this privilege for each church erected by him. In the countries occupied by the Germanic tribes, the builder of a church, the feudal lord or the administrator possessed full right of disposal over the church founded or possessed by him, as his own church (ecclesia propria) and over the ecclesiastics appointed by him, whom he could dismiss at pleasure, though appointment and dismissal of ecclesiastics was at least formally subject to the consent of the bishop. In the course of the Conflict of Investitures (11th and early 12th centuries), the private right over churches was abolished. Still, even after that time the lord of an estate, as patron, was conceded the right as ius spirituali annexum of presenting a cleric to the bishop on the occasion of a vacancy in the church.

Any church benefice, with the exception of the papacy, the cardinalate, the episcopate, and the prelatures of cathedral, collegiate and monastic churches, may be the object of the right of patronage. Patronages may be heritable or ex officio.

In theory, the patron must be a member of the Church, though there are few other limitations (for example, women, minors, and illegitimates may be patrons in this sense). "Member of the Church" is construed broadly: in Germany and Austria the Peace of Westphalia (1648) left Protestant princes the rights of patronage over Catholic church offices (and vice versa), and modern concordats have continued it. However, a patron must be a Christian, and cannot be an excommunicati vitandi, though could be an excommunicati tolerati or someone "infamous according to ecclesiastical or civil law."

[edit] Patronage of Our Lady

The liturgical Feast of the Patronage of Our Lady was first permitted by Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites on 6 May, 1679, for all the ecclesiastical provinces of Spain, in memory of the victories obtained over the Saracens, heretics and other enemies from the sixth century to the reign of Philip IV of Spain.

Pope Benedict XII ordered it to be kept in the Papal States on the third Sunday of November. To other places it is granted, on request, for some Sunday in November, to be designated by the ordinary. In many places the feast of the Patronage is held with an additional Marian title of Queen of All Saints, of Mercy, Mother of Graces.

The Office is taken entirely from the Common of the Blessed Virgin, and the Mass is the "Salve sancta parens".

The Greeks have no feast of this kind, but the Ruthenians, followed by all the Slavs of the Greek Rite, have a feast, called Patrocinii sanctissimæ Dominæ etc., or Pokrov Bogorodicy, fixed on 1 October, which, however, would seem to correspond more with the Catholic Feast of the Scapular.

[edit] Anglican

See main article Parish

In the Church of England, patronage is the commonly-used term for the right to present a candidate for the benefice of a particular parish.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ F. W. Kent et al., eds.,Patronage, Art, and Society in Renaissance Italy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1987.
  2. ^ Cedric C. Brown, Patronage, Politics, and Literary traditions in England, 1558–1658, Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1993.
  3. ^ Marvin and Dorothy Rosenberg, The Dirtiest Election, American Heritage, August 1962, Volume 13, Issue 5. Accessed online 29 September 2006.

[edit] Sources and external links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../p/a/t/Patronage.html"
In other languages