A burgher was a rank or title of a privileged citizen of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

towns in

early modern Europe Early modern Europe, also referred to as the post-medieval period, is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the late 15th century to the late 18th century. Histor ...

. Burghers formed the pool from which city officials could be drawn, and their immediate families that formed the social class of the medieval

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. Th ...

Admission

Entry into burgher status varied from country to country and city to city. In

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

proof of ownership of property in a town was a condition for acceptance as a burgher.

Privileges

Any crime against a burgher was taken as a crime against the city community. In Switzerland if a burgher was assassinated, the other burghers had the right to bring the supposed murderer to trial by judicial combat. In the Netherlands burghers were often exempted from "corvee" or forced labor, a privilege which later extended to the Dutch East Indies. Ulbe Bosma, Remco Raben ''Being "Dutch" in the Indies: A History of Creolization and Empire''. 9971693739- 2008 "... abandoned the idea of equal rights because not all Christians could be labeled "Burgher". II someone were subject to a local head, they were obliged to perform corvee, but anyone categorized as a Burgher was exempt from this." Only burghers could join the city guard in Amsterdam because in order to join, guardsmen had to purchase their own equipment. Membership in the guard was often a stepping stone to political positions.

British Isles

Germany

Low Countries

Switzerland

Specific Cities

Bourgeois of Brussels In Brussels, as in most European cities, one needed the capacity of bourgeois (equivalent to German burgher or English burgess; in French ''bourgeois'' or ''citoyen'' ''de Bruxelles''; in Dutch ''poorter'' or ''borger'' ''van Brussel''; in Lat ...

* Bourgeois of Paris * Bourgeoisie of Geneva * Hanseaten

References

{{Authority control Medieval society Titles Medieval titles Estates (social groups) Bourgeoisie