Opal

Opal - disfavor on the part of the monarch or other powerful and influential person. Opal most often manifests itself in the following forms:

• The king's refusal to see the court fell into disgrace.
• Termination of correspondence and other communications.
• Suspension from all posts or transfer to lower posts.
• The order to the nobleman to leave the courtyard and go to exile (to a country estate, abroad - sometimes under the threat of death in case of return).

The monarch can also take away his gifts if they were previously given to them. Opal may also be a harbinger of harsher punishments, although this has not always happened.

Initially, “opal” is the angry word of the king (grand duke), addressed to the guilty subject, in which the monarch’s anger is compared to a sizzling lightning ^[1] . The concept of disgrace, apparently, appeared in everyday life with the beginning of the formation of a single Russian state .

Foreign observers are the German Conrad Busse and the Polish interventionist Stanislav Nemoevsky - described the ceremony of royal opal, used in the late XVI - early XVII century. First, his guilt was declared disgraced, after which they were subjected to civil execution - they plucked his hair from his beard. This meant inflicting terrible dishonor on a person. The dignitary who fell into disgrace had to wear black clothes and show humility, taking off his hat in front of the oncoming ^[2] .