Nobility

Casa de los Lores, Microcosmos de Londres (1808-1811) de Ackermann.

The nobility in the Old Regime was one of the three estates along with the clergy and the common people; each one possessed a coat of arms and a badge established according to heraldic norms, and could be part of the King's Court (court nobility) holding some position in the kingdom or dedicate himself to governing his possessions or, in the absence of war, dedicate himself to The hunt; Since the Renaissance, the most powerful also formed a court around them or exercised artistic and cultural patronage. Its preponderant character was practically abolished in the political sphere, before the questioning of the legitimacy of its dominance and against the argument of the Enlightenment. His influence continued even after the bourgeois (1789, 1820, 1830, 1848) and proletarian (1917) revolutions.

Roman etymology

According to some, the word, Noble, comes from the Latin Nobilis, which is the same as non vilis, not vile or villain. But the truth is that, Nobilis, is derived from the verb Nosco, which is to know, and thus Nobiles is the same as Noscivitas , in such a way that they are called Nobiles, because they are known, notable or notorious, in their quality and blood, according to Pompeyo Festo, Nonio Marcelo, André Tiraqueau, Bartolomé Casaneo and others. Virgil alludes to this in his Aeneid, «in medio sub montibus altis Nobilis», which is the same as Notus or Notabilis.

Although the word Noble is so generic that it includes anyone who is "Dalgo Son", but due to common intelligence, it only includes those who have the greatest Nobility or by Nature or by Privilege. Those of nature, whom we call Nobiles Patritii, and thus Nobilissimi to a superlative degree. After the Emperors of the Roman Empire had invented various titles and epithets, they used that of Nobilissimi, and to those who were granted, they were participants in the honors of the empire and wore "the purple". In the same way as the Emperors, they wore and sat before the Praetorian Prefect. An example of this was Ulpiano, a magistrate so superior that he considered himself to be the second person of the Emperor Alexander Severus.

The renown of Nobilißimi was used especially by kings and emperors, as their attribute. Guido Panciroli called Emperor Commodus Nobilissimo. Carino and Numeriano, sons of Valentiniano Licinio were called Nobilisimos Cæsares, the same as Severo and Maximiano. Later Graciano and Valentiniano, being infants, were called Nobiles pueri.

Etymology according to the modern synthesis

It comes from the Latin word nobilis, which is derived from the verb nosco and the adjective notus; whose meaning is "to know" and "known", respectively. It alludes to being distinguished by facts or virtues among other men. Today it refers to the descendants of those who have served the country well. It is the recognition of the services of the ancestors in their successors to encourage them to follow in the footsteps of their elders and distinguish themselves like them for their talents or for their great services.

Seneca considered the true nobility of man obeying right reason, having a just soul and adorned by wisdom and virtue.

Conformation of the nobility

• Inmemorial nobility (in strict sense): which refers to those great families whose origins date back to the time of the fall of the Roman Empire of the West. The Inmemorial Nobleness is that established as existing from before the normal records of a nobility title. In its restrictive sense, it refers to noble families whose origins can be traced from the fall of the Roman Empire, that is, about 490. In its most inclusive and more generally accepted sense, it refers to the possessors of feudal nobility who can trace their uninterrupted possession of nobility rights to immemorial times.

In many kingdoms the oldest houses are considered primus inter pares, enjoying this rank not by royal decree, but by the uncontested exercise of aristocratic privileges since time immemorial, making it unnecessary to state the circumstances of the grant original.

Time immemorial: Time that extends beyond the reach of memory, records, or tradition. The inference is that the subject referred to is, or can be considered, indefinitely old. The term has been formally defined for some purposes. In English law, for example, time immemorial means "a time before legal history and beyond legal memory". In 1275, by the first Westminster Charter, this time was limited to the reign of Richard I "The Lionheart", beginning on July 6, 1189, the date of his accession to the throne. Evidence of uninterrupted possession or use of any right since that date made it unnecessary to establish the original assignment. In 1832 the plan to date legal memory from a fixed time was abandoned; instead it was accepted that rights which had been enjoyed for twenty years (or thirty years if against the Crown) could not be challenged simply by showing that they had not been enjoyed previously. Her Majesty's High Court of Chivalry of England and Wales, a former English civil court, defined the period before 1066 as 'time immemorial'; for matters of heraldry.

The year set as the cut-off for the earliest preserved record in order to be considered as an immemorial noble depends on the traditions of each particular region.

Structure of noble families

Noble families during the Middle Ages and up to the Modern Age were made up of grandparents, parents, uncles, nephews and even servants. This form has been called the extended family or open lineage. The father was in charge of taking care of the patrimony and the surname through the marriage agreements, the primogeniture and the use of the dowry.

Marriages were arranged with other families whose surname had prestige and contributed to the family assets. It was the firstborn who had the right and obligation to marry. The marriage bond was decided by the parents and older relatives. The younger male brothers, "secundones", had to decide between a military or ecclesiastical career or simply collaborate with the older brother.

The women in the family received a dowry, that is, an amount of property that was given to the husband in custody and for the support of the wife, which was considered the wife's contribution to the marriage. This patrimony was used in businesses that, when producing profits, were part of the family, which had been extended with said marriage. When the woman entered a convent she followed the same procedure, because she was marrying God. This time, the abbess was in charge of the administration of the dowry.

Many of the marriages were performed between relatives, so endogamy was frequent. But at the same time it was a way to solve problems between neighbors and generate convenient political connections between towns and kingdoms. In this way, the lord of the house had a "good lordship" that preserved and increased his prestige, his lineage and his assets for the benefit of him and his subjects.

[1] Lawrence Stone, "The Open Lineage Family. 1450-1630", in Family, Sex, and Marriage in England 1500-1800, trans. by María Guadalupe Ramírez, Mexico, 1990, pp. 59-74.

By countries and regions

Spain

In Spain it refers to the noble families created during the Iberian Crusades or the Reconquista, beginning with Pelayo in the Kingdom of Asturias in the 18th century VIII and Charlemagne in the Hispanic March at the beginning of the IX century. In particular, hidalgos de sangre (by virtue of lineage) are "those for whom there is no memory of their origin and no document is known to mention a royal grant, the obscurity of which is universally praised, even more so than those nobles who otherwise know their origin". A famous, though fictional, example of a nobleman by blood is Don Quixote, whose nobility was described in the novel as well-known and immemorial, although it did not grant Don Quixote any material benefits other than exemption from paying taxes. In Spain, belonging to the nobility is still valued as a social distinction for some people,^{[citation required]} despite having a merely symbolic legal meaning. In this regard, it is interesting to cite Judgment 27/1982 of the Constitutional Court:

...the possessing of a nobiliary title is a fact admitted by the current legal system, which constitutionally protects its concession by the King to any Spanish (arts. 62 (f) and 14 of the C. E.) as an act of grace or mercy in respect of the last decision, but in any case "in accordance with the Laws"; it contains rules on its rehabilitation, transmission and expiation, and which protects the use of the titles and pers. Therefore, it cannot be said that the fact of being or not being noble, having or not having a title, is entirely of relevance to the order, since what is irrelevant to the Law is what it does not contemplate or regulate. And being a lawful act the noble being cannot be considered either vexative or contrary to Law which with effects limited to certain private legal relations requires proof that oneself is noble (for example, in order to be a member of a private sports club or association) or that it is his spouse (as is the case in which we are concerned). The main problem is to determine the legal content of a nobility title, or otherwise, what are the legal consequences inherent in it. Although possessing a nobiliary title is, as we have seen, a lawful and constitutionally compatible fact, its legal content is exhausted in the right to acquire it, to use it and to protect it against third parties in a manner similar to the right to name. Since 1820 a nobiliary title has been, and is nothing more than that, a pre-eminence or prerogative of honour, and therefore it is understood that its concession is to the King as one of those “honours” referred to in article 62 (f) of the Constitution. But in the use of the title acquired by direct concession or by successorship, the title is exhausted by its legal content, and it is not, as in the Old Regime, a defining sign of a stately and privileged status or status. Its essence or legal consistency is exhausted in its existence. »

Judgement 27/1982 of 24/5/1982.

France

In France, these families are, in the first place, the descendants by paternal and legitimate line of the first dukes of Burgundy, Normandy, Gascogne and Aquitaine, and of the counts of Anjou, Blois, Brittany, Champagne, Flanders and Toulouse, and in a second place, of the counts of Angoulême, Bigorre, Comminges, Foix, Forez, Perigord, Ponthieu, Rouergue and Vermandois, and the viscounts of Limoges, Touraine, Béarn, Béziers and Carcassonne, and the lords of Bourbon, Coucy and Beaujeu. This nobility is neither granted nor accessible.

Ireland

In Ireland, noble families can, with few exceptions, trace their ancestry back to at least the 4th centuryd. C., with their genealogies extending even further back, but already entering the realm of mythology. The most famous are the Uí Néill, descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages, in the north of Ireland, and the Eóganachta in the south. Irish titles are the names of the septs (clan divisions) themselves, such as O'Conor Don, MacDermot of Coolavin, O'Neill of Clanaboy, O'Donnell of Tyrconnell, O'Donnell of Tyrconnell, O'Neill of Clanaboy, Kelly of Gallagh and Tycooly, O'Toole of Fer Tire, O'Donovan of Clancahill, O'Donoghue of the Glens, McGillycuddy of the Reeks, O'Callaghan of Duhallow and O'Brien of thomond. There are about twenty of these noble Irish families remaining, though fewer of the titles, perhaps half, have been in continuous use since the 17th century. . In what is now Scotland, the old nobility is actually very few, although many families make claims. The only verifiable ones are only a few families from the Western Isles, which were not part of Scotland when they first appeared. The best known are the long Clann_Somhairle, Halla the gift which means of noble origin today, represented by the High Chief of Clan Donald.

Northern Europe

In Germany and Scandinavia, where records were not kept until relatively recently, the cut-off year is AD 1400. Nobility who can trace their noble ancestry to at least the year 1400 are known as Uradel.

United Kingdom

In England, the threshold for being considered an immemorial nobleman would be the year 1189, the traditional time immemorial. However, in the peerage of England, the oldest title is that of Baron de Ros, created as a hereditary Peer in 1264.

Russia

In Imperial Russia, there was a similar category called древнее дворянство ("Old Nobility"). It had no set year, but required tracing his lineage from Riurik of Novgorod (Rurikidas) or Gediminas of Lithuania (Gediminidas).

Types of nobility

This is the royal peerage, as all other types of peerage refer to individuals who acquired peerage by grant from a Sovereign.

• Nobility of privilege: the monarch of each nation or state granted as a reward for services rendered to the state or glorious actions, which could be personal or communicable.
  • Personal when granted only to a subject so that he may enjoy it as long as he lives and disappears with his death.
  • Transmissible when tenure is for the person to whom it is bestowed and for his descendants in a way that passes to all grades in a straight line of male to male.
• Nobleness of blood: nobility inherited from the elders, that is to say that which comes by lineage. When this nobility has been transmitted from time before the existing records, it is also called immemorial nobility (it is broad sense). It is the case of the majority of hidalgos, who enjoyed their rank without specifying a concession document or executory letter of hidalguía.

Another criterion is the one that distinguishes:

• High nobility, the greats of Spain or pairs of France and the titles (dukes, marqueses, counts).
• Low nobility, which in Spain is represented by hidalgos, squids, infanzones, etc., who only enjoyed their privileged status, but did not have to have rents to support a way of life compatible with such condition.

The status of lord of a manor or fief, depending on its size or wealth, normally gave the necessary resources to maintain a way of life compatible with the nobility: that is, not working. The rank of knight, which normally coincided with belonging to a Military Order or Order of Chivalry, could provide sufficient income or not (there were mogollon knights , who had to be kept at the headquarters of the order). Other situations through which a noble could acquire income that allowed him to access the high nobility were the position in the Court —court nobility—, or in war. The military function of the nobility was very important in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Age, as it was considered the consideration that the nobles owed to society in exchange for maintaining their privileged social and economic status. In Spain, at the end of the century XVI the nobility began to lose their warrior vocation, leaving military positions in the hands of mercenaries, while in other countries the nobility continued playing an important role in the army. In the 18th century the Spanish army was reformed to try to restore high military positions to nobles. in the 19th century the requirements for nobility disappeared.

Features

Some of the characteristics of this social class were that they did not pay certain taxes, they had large tracts of land and a large number of peasants or serfs who worked for them. If a serf managed to survive for a year and a day away from his lord, he could achieve freedom.

Nobles owned castles and weapons. They had free time for hunting, fishing and even for organizing tournaments such as jousting or sword fighting in times of peace. In the event of some kind of armed conflict breaking out, they were obliged to put themselves at the service of the king for wars. In this sense, the identification of the nobility with the service of arms had the effect that, in addition to reserving army leadership positions for members of the estate, they were exempt from mandatory drafts. This was a recruitment formula that some Monarchies, such as the Hispanic one, began to apply at the end of the XVI century.

In Spain their prerogatives were regulated by law (fundamentally in the Siete Partidas and the Novísima Recopilación) and were the following:

• They were exempt from tributes concerning the plebeyos, although they should contribute to the repair of walls, fences, fountains and bridges.
• They could not be imprisoned for debts of a civil nature, but they could be for which they came from a crime or almost a crime and from breasts or real rights, although in such cases they were to be put in prison separate from that for others.
• They could go to prison for criminal offence (robo, homicide, etc.) but by virtue of being in a cell separate from other prisoners.
• They could not suffer torture (be put to torments).
• They couldn't be convicted of the insult they'd done to another.
• They could not be sentenced to death.

History

Greece

Theseus divided the people of Athens into two classes, distinguishing the nobles from the artisans and choosing the former as heads of religion, being the only magistrates.

Before Lycurgus, two classes of citizens were distinguished in Lacedaemon: the great or noble and the small and commoners. But wishing this legislator to erase class differences, he abolished all distinctions, making an equal distribution of lands among all citizens and abolishing distinctions between people.

Solon, when reforming the Republic of Athens, left the dignities, command, power, authority and honors in the hands of the nobles and the rich.

The archons, the judges of the Areopagus, the Senate of Five Hundred and all the main magistrates and generals of the army were chosen.

The lucrative or not very honorable positions with the right of suffrage in the assemblies were reserved for the people or the common people.

Rome

The first division that Romulus made of his vassals, formed the body of the nobility of people distinguished for their merit, for their services and for their wealth. He gave them the name of patres and formed a senate of them, and all the rest of the nation was called people, plebs , from which comes the distinction of patricians and commoners

There were two degrees of nobility in relation to birth, which were as follows:

• Naives who were born to free parents and who had always enjoyed freedom.

• Gentiles, who had peoplem et familiam or descending from an old family: after the plebeyos were admitted to the magistratures, those who were elevated to them were part of the nobility that was going to aneja, with the difference that they were called novi homines, new men, to understand that they had been renobled.

• Among the Romans were certain jobs that gave the right to those who exercised them to make their portrait or painting or sculpture, ius imaginum, which was called a family. The families who had had curules magistrates put in the atriums of their houses certain wardrobes with several niches and in them the portrait of one of their elders in wax with colors to the natural. A line stripped from high to bottom as our genealogical trees meant filiation and offspring. At the burials these portraits were taken out and they were carried in procession behind the corpse as a triumph.

• There were also some other outer signs of the nobility, such as the golden balls hanging around the neck of the children and the crystals they wore on their shoes. This happened in other ancient civilizations, like the Persians, who had the right to always go on horseback. In ancient India they distinguished themselves by their bee suits. Athenians with their gold ornaments on their heads. The bretons were painted blue.

• The nobility in Rome was not deified, but it was found in many ancient monuments as in the following:
  • In the medals of the emperor Comfort is represented, as Montfaucon observes, by a woman standing with a spear on the right hand.
  • A medal by the emperor Geta represents it in a talar habit, having a spear in one hand and in the other a figure of Minerva, alluding to the two ways of acquiring the nobility, for the weapons or for the letters.
  • Gravelot places a star on his head or the fate that presides over the birth.

• In time of the Roman emperors there is some example of acquired nobility, not for the exercise of some high magisterial, but for imperial concession, which makes to go up to a very remote time the nurture by letters of the monarch later made known by Jean François de Vaines in his work Reasoned diplomatic dictionary (Dictionnaire raisonné de diplomatique), known as protocol of august dignity.

Jewish people

Moses talks about nobility in the book of Deuteronomy. In Leviticus it says that the high priest will not mix the blood of his lineage with commoners. However, this only appears in Christian bibles, so it is tendentious to rely on these data as a historical reference.

Nobles are understood to be those who were known and distinguished from the common people, who were appointed princes and tribunes to govern the Jewish people.

In the books of the Torah they speak of the tribe of Levi where the cohanim or priests who directed the religious ceremonies in the first and second temples come from. In addition, there is talk of the appointment of Kings (not necessarily as a hereditary position), in addition to the appointment of Judges in charge of minor matters.

Feudal nobility

Everyone who owned a fief was noble, but the greater or lesser importance of the fiefs contributed to establishing different degrees of nobility. The most exalted were the dukes, counts and marquises, powerful lords who only paid homage to kings and on whom numerous vassals depended.

Of a lesser hierarchy, they were called barons in France, and rich-men in Spain, who in turn received the homage of lords of a lower category, holders of smaller fiefs. The latter constituted the petty nobility and were called castellanos, hidalgos or caballeros. (Because nobles fought on horseback, the term knight later became synonymous with noble.)

The inheritance of profits had over time converted the feudal lords into a closed social order: no longer could one be made noble by merit or by the positions held, was born. To strengthen power over a territory, to concentrate it and to ensure the transmission of father to son, the nobility adapted a family structure based on the lineage; that is, regulated by the male offspring of the firstborn of the same ancestor. Non-firstborn children reached the rank of knights through a regulated ceremony, an investiture that presupposed the appropriation of arms and badges.

Spanish nobility

The origin of almost all the Spanish nobility can be found at the time of the Reconquest, when the successors of Don Pelayo laid the foundations of the new monarchy that was to expel the Arabs from Spain in the mountains of Asturias. The descendants of the Goths initially maintained a certain precedence, but those who shed their blood in the Reconquest were immediately incorporated due to merit, and favors were granted to those who repopulated the dangerous borderlands, granting them the privileges of nobility or nobility.

They were also given honors and frankness that served others to follow their example and as a way of encouraging others to go to combat not only in defense of the territory, but as a personal reward, recognizing the most illustrious houses of Spain Its origin in particular people who for their deeds deserved to be rewarded with titles of nobility for themselves and their descendants, eventually achieving the dignities of knights, counts, marquises, dukes and rich men and even the Greatness of Spain.

Nobles and the Catholic Church

According to the Dictionary of Canon Law: translated from the one written in French by Father Andrew, volume 4, 1848, the word nobles, nobility:

In Canon Law it seems that it cannot be introduced or preserved without abuse of the Church, the rule of not admitting to the charges and benefits more than to the nobles, as canonists like Barbosa and Felino think. However, the provisions that in the most prettier times united certain prerogatives to the status of noble were very legitimate and sometimes useful, as the wise Thomas of the Church of Lyon mentioned in which in 1245 there were 72 canons, of which one was the son of emperor, nine of kings, fourteen of dukes, thirty of counts and twenty of barons claiming that this primate Church atrajese itself.

Cathedral chapters and spiritual seigneurial courts

In Spain, the structure of noble families encouraged several of its members, second-born sons and wives, to enter ecclesiastical life. In this way, alliances were generated, prestige was increased and spread, family patrimony was increased and influence in municipal governments was facilitated through the activities of the cathedral chapters and spiritual seigniorial courts.

Men could enter both the regular and secular clergy. To obtain a position within the Spanish crown, they had to obtain at least a bachelor's degree from a university. Careers as royal officials contributed both to their prestige and fortune. If they were part of a cathedral chapter, they had interference in economic, political and social affairs, since they were in charge of:

a) Transfer and control the income from tithes.

b) He acted as a conflict mediator.

c) Perform propaganda and legitimization tasks. Through noble patronage, temples were founded that were decorated with iconographic and heraldic elements. They were also in charge of organizing religious festivities.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish nobility shaped spiritual seigneurial courts. These were an educational model of royalty and a pious dynasty that lived in palaces-convents where they dedicated themselves to praying and observing the fulfillment of the ritual-sacramental commandments, which served as an example of Catholic virtues. The houses or palaces became sacralized spaces that gave diffusion, legitimacy and recognition to the aristocracy.

This religious model had the objective of allowing everyone, especially those who were not in charge of directing the institutions, to practice the virtues and grace of God. The faithful adapted to the task according to their legal and social status (friars, orphans, bastard children, widows, women who had not married, wives). In this way the subjects could actively participate to combat heresy and achieve peace in the kingdom. In a hierarchical order, it was up to the king and the nobles to fulfill their obligation to God to maintain religion through doctrine and example.

“when [the princes] are evil, the subjects fall slightly and the kingdoms are perverted. Just as the good are resurrected and by virtue established... When the princes are good and devout, they are very good for themselves and for many. They cause the virtues to be estimated and the good customs loved and continued, and therefore their reformed and increased, sublimated and established kingdoms. And they are cause that our Lord God may be more acquainted and served in all his kingdom, and reach for himself greater happiness in heaven and temporary and eternal health for his peoples. ”

The model of royalty and devout and spiritual nobility produced pious, saints, friars, mystics, prophets who practiced personal virtues (generosity, patience, prayer, attendance at mass), mastery of the passions, pity for those in need (visiting and healing the sick, preaching the doctrine), donations to the church, foundation of convents, monasteries and hospitals. These stately courts, sometimes small houses in cities and towns, formed extensive networks that connected convents, monasteries, beaterios throughout the kingdom. These were related to the alliances and kinship of the great families of the nobility (Guzmán, Ponce de León or Casa de Arcos, etc.). So the connection between the networks of seigneurial courts interacted with the establishment and spread of religious orders. In this way, the faithful of lower social rank were taught in Catholic devotions. Hispanic politics intertwined the operation between civil and ecclesiastical institutions, which was followed later in the colonies.

The proof of being noble

There are tests to demonstrate belonging to the nobility in Spain, which are the following (safe until the beginning of the XX century):

• The title of your concession.
• Test Local possession accrediting that the suitor and his father have been in possession of a son-in-law for 20 years and in his virtue he is commanded to keep the possession of son-in-law in the town where he lives only called drip or canal hidalgo inside Which means getting out of the place isn't anymore.
• Test General possession in which it has been proved of three persons, that of the suitor, his father and his grandfather for the same time of twenty years fulfilled and continuous and to whom he will prove it is ordered to protect in the possession of the hidalguide that must be kept generally but it is not declared hidalgo in property, because this litigation is preserved to the fiscal prosecutor and the council of the people to follow his right and, if they command the latter, is stripped.
• Test property that is achieved by proving the one of the suitor, father and grandfather and the proof of the immemorial and is asked for executory and the suitor declares son-in-law imposing perpetual silence on the contradictors.

Classes

In the nobility there were many classes and denominations that formed categories in themselves, known by the following names:

• Infanzón, denomination under which different classes of nobles are grouped, not entitled in the Kingdom of Aragon. They could be hermunios or privilege.

• Sondalgo or Hidalgo, a person who by his blood is of a noble and distinguished class. In the former regime they were majority in Cantabria, Asturias, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa and very numerous in Castilla la Vieja and Navarra.

• Simple. Of known land and of accruing 500 salaries, that is, of an older and nobler house belonging to a family.
• Gentleman, noble who served in the house of kings.
• Squire, person of the nobility generally related to an illustrious house by which it is recognized and treated as such, hidalgo at the service of a great house.
• Gentleman, qualified nobleness, members of the Military Orders, etc.
• Ricoman, who once belonged to the first nobility of Spain.
• From pendant and boiler, it is the rich men of Castile with privileges from the kings to have as a currency a pendant to mobilize people and the boiler that the expenses ran from their own.
• Count, a nobiliary title granted by kings and in the Middle Ages was equivalent to governor of a region.
• Marquis, a nobility title that corresponds to the magnate who was in front of a brand or border of his nation.
• Duke, a nobility title derived from the former military governors (dux).
• Archduke, princes of the House of Austria.
• Infante, the non-firstborn children of the kings of the Iberian peninsula, that is, the children of the kings of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Portugal and Spain.
• Viscount, person who replaced the count.
• Baron, a nobility of more or less dignity according to the country of Europe.
• Baronet, English hereditary title located in the nobiliary pyramid below the Baron but above the Knight.
• Nobile, Italian nobility title equivalent to Baronet.
• Sir, nobility title possessor of states and places.
• Prince, a title that had various country considerations:

• The Prince of Wales was the successor to the English Crown, and later to the British.
• The Prince of Asturias was the successor to the Castilian Crown, and later to the Spanish.
• In France, Italy and other countries it was a title of high nobility.
• In the Sacro Empire, and in the subsequent German Confederation and German Empire, it was a category of the nobleman who ruled a territory with functions similar to those of monarch. Before 1356 they had the right to choose the Emperor.
• Some monarchs, especially small States, take the title of princes.

• Dolphin, title of the successor of the kings of France since 1349, formerly of the noble lord of the Delfinado region.
• Great of Spain, an individual of the first nobility with important incomes and privileges. One of them was to be able to cover himself before the king or in the case of the ladies to sit before the queen. They were also called "first" by the king.

The dignity of Grandee of Spain, which succeeded the ancient rich manhood, was the one that enjoyed the greatest considerations and most dignities. Said privileges were related to the interior service of the palace, royal persons, the government of the nation, armies, the supreme administration of justice, and others. Being Grandee of Spain was like a safe-conduct to aspire to the most important positions of the different kingdoms in Spain.

The first nobles known during the Restoration of Spain were known as infanzones, leaders of the strong houses (such as Don Pelayo in Asturias, García Jiménez in the Pyrenees and García Íñiguez de Pamplona in the kingdom of Pamplona). They were the true and ancient manors of the nobility in Spain.

These first nobles conquered many lands and spoils from their fortresses with which they became powerful. These possessions were inherited by the eldest sons, and the latter were poor, all of them being called brats. Later this name was understood as hijodalgo and already belongs to the Castilian romance.

Don Alfonso, in his laws, gave the true etymological meaning to the word nobility by comparing it in the Spanish language with "good". That is why they were called fijosdalgo that shows as much as fijos of good, that is, as the son of man who has what he needs and who is not poor or lives in a vile state. The first hijosdalgo were those who, when the land was being conquered by the Moors, went out with their weapons and horses to help the king.

Later to the most powerful rich men, dignity of the same nobility that was of greater value. From this came our current greats of Spain.

Throughout time, these noble houses came to acquire such consideration that they were granted not only to individuals who had distinguished themselves, but also to the princes of the royal blood (see the memorial of the Duke of Arcos).

This fact elevated Felipe V of whom it is said, among other things, that the title of grandee of Spain was not only given to the legitimate grandchildren of the kings of Spain. In addition, they were granted to the legitimate children and grandchildren of kings or princes, Spanish or foreigners who arrived in Castile. In this way the sovereign princes of Europe did not obtain more rank or dignity than that of rich manliness or greatness.

This was justified in the time of King Alfonso X the Wise when their privileges as rich men were confirmed to the following people:

• The Dukes of Brabant and Burgundy.
• The Marquis of Monferrato.
• The count of Flanders.
• The Viscounts of Bearne and Limoges.

They had some recognition of the Crown.

For this same reason they were confirmed in those privileges and with the other great ones by the kings of Granada, Murcia and Niebla, of Jerusalem, the emperor of Constantinople and the brothers-in-law of the emperor Federico II, etc.

At this time, the nobles and grandees of Spain not only achieved honorary esteem. They also enjoyed States and lordships, where they were small sovereigns. They were related to each other by their genealogy or counting among their ancestors, illustrious and glorious names.

In the Memorial of the Duke of Arcos the following is said about some noble houses of Spain:

• That the House of Lara', which came from the counts of Castile, had in Spain the sovereignty of Molina and Albarracín and in France the duke of Narbona. May the lordship of Lara recayed by blood in the royal house of Castile and still put in the dictates of V.M. the lordship of Molina who went from this house.

• That the house of Haro obtained great prerogatives and from this house also came those of Mendoza and Ayala, of whose blood the royal house participated.

• That the house of Velasco, illustrious among all the oldest in Spain, comes from Nuño Núñez Rasura, one of the judges of Castile and descendant of the kings Hermenegildo and Recaredo. And the houses of Acuña and Giron, which were joined to the Dukes of Escalonada and Osuna, descend from the infant of Aznar Fruelas, the son of Fruela II, king of Leon.

• That the house of Moncada proof, with testimony of the same kings of Aragon, proceeding from the sovereign counts of Barcelona and not only was exalted by marriage to the sovereigns of Urgel, Ampurias, Provenza and others, but he enjoyed many years the principality of Bearne who claimed for blood in the august house of France.

• That the house of Toledoalways fecundated in lines and heroes, it is not only believed from the ancient Goth kings, but was fortunate that he belonged to his blood with the state of Casarrubios, to the Catholic king for his motherly line, and to V.M. again for the serene queen Maria de Médicis, her third grandmother, who was a granddaughter of Doña Leonor of Toledo, great Duke of Tuscany (see lineage).

Therefore, the great and rich men had a high consideration in the monarchy of the middle centuries to which they added the influence that gave them their personal value, their wealth and the great forces they could command. And they effectively contributed to the restoration of the monarchy and the expulsion of the Saracens from Spain (see Reconquista).

Later, it was necessary to stop this influence due to the pernicious effects that were felt in the 13th and 14th centuries. The nobles, owners of immense estates and leading numerous hosts who recognized them as their natural lords and respected them more than the monarch himself, became arrogant to the point that the Crown had to enter into shameful transactions with them.

The monarchs were forced to allow commoners, that is, the common state (see Cortes de Castilla), to enter the Cortes to make common cause against the nobility because the monarch saw his authority severed by the arrogance of the nobles.

There are several examples of this situation of precarious reigns before the arrogance of the nobles, some of which are the following:

• From the reign of Henry III who was at every step the victim of the ambition and pride of the magnates.

• From the reign of Don Pedro the Justiciero he had to unload against some noble prepotents all the weight of his anger to purge the country of many evils that plagued him by offering in his people terrible and exemplary punishment to unbridled and licentious ambition.

Once the monarchy was reconquered, the great ones followed the impulse that the throne gave them, because the influence of the sovereign was always portrayed in the magnates and powerful people who surrounded the throne.

• With the Catholic Kings they helped in the conquest of Granada and made expeditions to the new world.

• With Carlos V they always lived in the campaign participating in their conquests, laurels and disdain.

• With Felipe II of Spain they were no more than courtiers, beginning their decadence.

• In the time of Felipe IV, most of the nobles in Spain were employed in gallant adventures and intrigues palats.

• Since then, the majority of the nobles in Spain were nothing more than a luxurious adornment of the throne and the monarchy, composed of a multitude of nobiliary titles that resided and medrated in the Court to get political positions. For example, the governor of a province, viceroys in the New World, etc., and spent on it the rents that produced their states, many of them in pitiful abandonment.

Treatments

• S. M.: Your Majesty. It may be His Royal Majesty or His Imperial Majesty. It is so called the kings and emperors. That is, King of Spain. King of the Netherlands, Queen of England.

• S. A. I. R.: Your Royal Imperial Highness. It is thus called to the archdukes, dukes or male princes or unmarried ladies of some imperial crown. For example: Archdukes of Habsburg-Lorraine, descendants of the Emperor of Austria. The Chief of the Imperial Family of Germany and Royal Prussia. The Chief of the Imperial Family of Brazil as the Imperial Prince of Brazil and Prince of Orleans-Braganza.

• S. A. R.: Your Royal Highness. Thus is called the princes or dukes men or unmarried ladies of any royal crown. For example: Princes of Orléans, descendants of the former King of France. Infants of Spain, descendants of the King of Spain. Princes of Bavaria, descendants of the King of Bavaria.

• S. A. S.: Your Highness. All princes or dukes who exist mediated are thus called. For example: Princes of Lippe. Princes of Ratibor. Dukes of Arenberg.

Translations

The term nobility can be translated into English as peerage.

Within the Austrian and German foreign nobility, the titles appear in their original language, German, therefore the translation of these titles into Spanish is as follows:

• Erzherzog/Erzherzogin: Archduke/Archiduquesa
• Herzog/Herzogin: Duke/Duchess
• Prinz/Prinzessin (in the sense of son/son or husband/law of the king/of the queen), Fürst/Fürstin (as the title of some sovereigns, e.g. Prince of Monaco): Prince/Princess
• Graf/GräfinConde/Condessa
• Freiherr/Freiin/Freifrau: Baron/Baroness of Birth/Baroness Consorte
• Edler Herr/Edle Herrin: Noble Lord/Noble Lady

The title of Noble Lord (Edler Herr) is a special and very rare title (one of them is HSH Princess and Noble Lady Sophie zur Lippe-Weissenfel) and for those who hold it have is a complement to the title of prince or duke and can only be held by the latter two.^{[citation required]}

Nobility in the former Kingdom of Hungary

Unlike titles in Anglo-Saxon or Frankish nations, in Hungary until the mid-15th century, all nobles held the same rank, and what differentiated them was the amount of property they had. After the regency of Juan Hunyadi and the reign of his son Matías Corvino, the titles of baron and count began to be granted, as a reward for heroic deeds against the invading Ottoman Turks, or simply for service to the Hungarian king. These new titles were not tied to a particular territory, as was the case in other nations, where there were counties, baronates, and lordships (that is, there was no title of "Baron de Montesquieu" that was inherited). The three noble ranks in Hungary were then that of count, baron and Hungarian noble lord.

Hungarian nobles, on the other hand, inherited a "nobility forename" (nemesi előnév) which was simply the name of their main estate, which was placed before the family name with a letter "i" to denote the "of" belonging. Thus, the noble family Horthy of Nagybánya in Hungarian is denoted: nagybányai Horthy. Nobility titles and noble names were abolished in 1945 with the advent of communism and the dissolution of the Hungarian Kingdom.