retinue

noun

Etymology: From Middle English retenue, from Old French retenue, past participle of retenir (“retain”). Doublet of ritenuto.

1. A group of attendants or servants, especially of someone considered important.

   “the queen’s retinues”

   “And not any longer as a king did Winter appear in those streets, as when the city was decked with gleaming white to greet him as a conqueror and he rode in with his glittering icicles and haughty retinue of prancing winds, but he sat there with a little wind at the corner of the street like some old blind beggar with his hungry dog.”

2. A group of warriors or nobles accompanying a king or other leader; comitatus.

   “Then Igor looked up at the bright sun and saw all his warriors / darkened from it by a shadow. / And Igor said to his retinue: / “Brothers and companions! It is better to be slain than taken captive. / Mount, brothers, your swift horses that we may glimpse the Blue Don.””

3. A service relationship.