Nobility

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Nobility is a traditional hereditary status (see hereditary titles) that exists today in many countries (mainly present or former monarchies). The term originally referred to those who were "known" or "notable" and was applied to the highest social class in pre-modern societies. In the feudal system (in Europe and elsewhere), the nobility were generally those who held a fief, often land and/or office, under vassalage, i.e. in exchange for allegiance and various, mainly military, services to the Monarch and at lower levels to another nobleman. It rapidly came to be seen as a hereditary caste, sometimes associated with a right to bear a hereditary title and, for example in pre-revolutionary France, enjoying fiscal and other privileges. Today, in most countries, "noble status" is a purely honorary dignity that confers no legal privileges; an important exception is the United Kingdom, where certain titles (titles of the peerage, until recently guaranteeing a seat in the Upper House of Westminster Parliament, hence its name House of Lords), still confer some residual privileges.

Nobility is an historical, social and often legal notion, which should not be confused with socio-economic status which is mainly statistical based on income and possessions. Being wealthy or influential does not automatically make one a noble, nor are all nobles wealthy and influential (aristocratic families have lost their fortunes in various ways, and the concept of the 'poor nobleman' is almost as old as nobility itself).

Countries without a feudal tradition, such as the United States, do not have a nobility as such; various republics have expressedly abolished it, as Italy (a former kingdom) did. Although the United States, like almost every society, has a privileged 'upper class' with great wealth and power, this does not entail a separate legal status, or different forms of address. The U.S. Constitution expressly forbids the U.S. government to grant titles of nobility, and for U.S. officials to accept them from foreign governments.

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[edit] Western nobility

"The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the door of the Lodge of the Heralds.—After a Miniature of the Tournaments of King René (Fifteenth Century) MSS. of the National Library of Paris."
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"The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the door of the Lodge of the Heralds.—After a Miniature of the Tournaments of King René (Fifteenth Century) MSS. of the National Library of Paris."

European nobility originated from the feudal/seignorial system that arose in Europe during the Middle Ages. Originally, knights or nobles were mounted warriors who swore allegiance to their sovereign and promised to fight for him in exchange for allocation of land (usually together with serfs living there). During the time period known as the Military Revolution, nobles gradually lost their role of raising and commanding private armies, as many nations created cohesive national armies. This was coupled with a loss of the social-economic power of the nobility, owing to the economic changes of the Renaissance and the growing economic importance of the merchant classes (or bourgeoisie), which increased still further during the Industrial Revolution. In countries where the nobility was the dominant class, the bourgeoisie gradually grew in power; a rich city merchant was more influential than a minor rural nobleman. However, in many countries at this time, the nobility retained great social and political importance; for instance, the UK's government was dominated by the nobility until the twentieth century.

The nobility of a person might be either inherited or earned. Nobility in its most general and strict sense is an acknowledged preeminence that is hereditary, i.e., legitimate descendants (or all male descendants, in some societies) of nobles are nobles, unless explicitly stripped of the privilege. In this respect, nobility is distinguished from British peerage: the latter can be passed to only a single member of the family. The terms aristocrat and aristocracy are a less formal means to refer to persons belonging to this social milieu. Those lacking a distinct title, such as junior siblings of peers (and perhaps even the children of 'self-made' VIPs) may be considered aristocrats, moving within a small social circle at the apex of a hierarchical social pyramid.

Blue blood is an English expression recorded since 1834 for noble birth or descent; it is a translation of the Spanish phrase sangre azul, which described the Spanish royal family and other high nobility who claimed to be 'pure', free of Moorish or Jewish blood. In fact, all humans' blood is either bright red (in the arteries) or a darker hue of red (in the veins). However, in the ancient agricultural societies of Europe the whole upper class had superficial veins that might be more visible and appear bluish by comparison to the rest of the pale-pinkish skin, as the skin itself was not tanned. In contrast with the the working class of the time (mainly peasants), nobility and in general upper class people did not have to work outdoors, and mostly lived sheltered from the sun by dwellings and attire. The same contrast could be observed between untanned upper class Europeans - especially of northern stock whose skin tends to be less pigmented - and all social strata of mediterranean populations with higher levels of genetically determined skin pigmentation. An alternative traditional explanation, argyria (a disease causing a blue-grey skin tone after digestion of silver), is considered less valid as table silverware was not massively and regularly used by much of the nobility.

The same expression is encountered in several European languages:

Bulgarian синя кръв
Czech modrá krev
Dutch blauw bloed
German blaues Blut
Italian sangue blu
Polish błękitna krew
Portuguese sangue azul
Slovenian modra kri
Spanish sangre azul
Swedish blått blod


In France, influential high bourgeois, most particularly the members of the parlements (courts of justice), obtained nobility titles from the king. The old nobility of military origin, the noblesse d'épée ("nobility of the sword") became increasingly irritated by this newer noblesse de robe ("nobility of the gown"). In the last years of the ancien régime, before the French Revolution, the old nobility, intent on keeping its privileges, had pushed for restrictions of certain offices and orders of chivalry to noblemen who could demonstrate that their family had enough "noble quarterings" (in French, 'quartiers de noblesse'), a reference to a noble's ability to display armorially their descents from armigerous noble forebears in each of their lines of descent to demonstrate that they were descended from old noble families, who bore arms that could be quartered with their own male line arms, and thus prove that they did not derive merely from bourgeois families recently elevated to noble rank. A noble could be asked to provide proof of noble antecedents by showing a genealogy displaying 'seize quartiers' (sixteen quarterings) or even 'trente-deux quartiers' (thirty-two quartering) indicating noble descent on all bloodlines back five generations (to great-great grandparents) or six generations (great-great-great grandparents), respectively. This illustrates the traditional link in many countries between heraldry and nobility; in those countries where heraldry is used, nobles have almost always been armigerous, and have used heraldry to demonstrate their ancestry and family history. (However, it is important to note that heraldry has never been restricted to the noble classes in most countries, and being armigerous does not necessarily demonstrate nobility.)

Nobles typically commanded resources, such as food, money, or labor, from common members or nobles of lower rank of their societies, and could exercise religious or political power over them. Also, typically, but not necessarily, nobles were entitled to land property, which was reflected in the title. For example, the title Earl of Chesterfield tells about property, while the title Earl Cairns was created for a surname. However all the above is not universal; quite often nobility was associated only with social respect and certain social privileges. An example of the latter would be Polish szlachta. In the modern age, the notion of inherited nobility with special rights has become, in the Western World, increasingly seen as irrelevant to the modern way of life. The founding fathers of the United States rejected anything that may help in recreating a nobility; the French Revolution abolished the nobility and its special rights (though some nobility titles would be recreated by Napoleon I and III, they were mostly honorific).

A list of noble titles for different European countries can be found at Royal and noble ranks. To learn how to properly address holders of these titles, see Royal and noble styles.

Some con artists also sell fake titles of nobility, often with impressive-looking documents to back them up. These may be illegal, depending on local law.

[edit] Nobility in non-Western countries

Medieval Japan developed a feudal system similar to the European system, where land was held in exchange for military service. The daimyo class, or hereditary landowning nobles, had great social and political power. Like their European counterparts, they commanded private armies made up of samurai, an elite warrior class; for long periods, these held real power without a real central government and often plunged the country in a state of civil war. Although there are differences, the daimyo class can be compared to European peers, and the samurai to European knights. These feudal titles and ranks were abolished in Japan with the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and replaced by the kazoku, a five-rank peerage system after the British example which granted seats in the upper house of the Imperial Diet, but this too was abolished in 1947 following Japan's defeat in World War II.

Many other non-Western nations, have had noble or aristocratic classes of various kinds; these are so diverse that it is somewhat misleading to try to translate them all into western feudal terminology. For the feudal hierarchy on the Indian subcontinent, see princely state.

In Islamic countries, there are no definite nobility titles, but the closest to that are given the title Syed or Sayyid. This exclusive title given to only certain descendents, literally means, 'Sir' or 'Lord'. There are no special rights concerning the title: they are considered more religious than the general population, and many people come to them for first-hand religious questions.

In East Asia the system was often modelled on imperial China, the leading culture, where the emperor conferred degrees of nobility, which were not permanent but decreased a rank each generation. China had a feudal system in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, but the system gave way to a more bureaucratic system beginning in the Qin dynasty (221 BC). By the Qing dynasty, titles of nobility were still granted by the emperor, but served merely as honorifics: under a centralized system, governance in the empire was the responsibility of the Confucian-educated scholar-officials and local gentry.

In tribal societies, such as and the Polynesian Island states, the system of often (semi-)hereditary tribal chiefs can also be compared to a form of noble class; it is interesting to note that in Tonga, after Tongan contact with Western nations, the traditional system of chiefs developed into a Western-style monarchy with a hereditary class of barons, even adopting that English title.

[edit] Nobility by nation

For full categorized countries, see Category:Nobility by nation; some other follow:

Italian Nobleman of the Fifteenth Century. From a Playing-card engraved on Copper about 1460 (Cabinet des Estampes, National Library of Paris).
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Italian Nobleman of the Fifteenth Century. From a Playing-card engraved on Copper about 1460 (Cabinet des Estampes, National Library of Paris).

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      Social stratification: Social class
      Bourgeoisie Upper class Ruling class Nobility White-collar
      Petite bourgeoisie Upper middle class Creative class Gentry Blue-collar
      Proletariat Middle class Working class Nouveau riche Pink-collar
      Lumpenproletariat Lower middle class Lower class Old Money Gold-collar
      Slave class Underclass Classlessness
      Social class in the United States
      Middle classes Upper classes Social structure Income Educational attainment
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