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The French nobility (french: la noblesse française) was a privileged social class in France from the
Middle Ages 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 ...
until its abolition on June 23, 1790 during the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
. From 1808 to 1815 during the First Empire the Emperor Napoléon bestowed titles that were recognized as a new
nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
by the Charter of June 4, 1814 granted by
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Louis XVIII of France Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
. From 1814 to 1848 (
Bourbon Restoration in France The Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history during which the House of Bourbon returned to power after the first fall of Napoleon on 3 May 1814. Briefly interrupted by the Hundred Days War in 1815, the Restoration lasted until the J ...
and
July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...
) and from 1852 to 1870 (
Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930 ...
) the French nobility was restored as an hereditary distinction without privileges and new hereditary titles were granted. Since the beginning of the
French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 19 ...
on September 4, 1870 the French nobility has no legal existence and status. However, the former authentic titles transmitted regularly can be recognized as part of the name after a request to the Department of Justice. Families of the French nobility could have two origins as to their principle of nobility: the families of immemorial nobility and the ennobled families. Sources differ about the actual number of French families of noble origin, but agree that it was proportionally among the smallest noble classes in Europe. For the year 1789, French historian François Bluche gives a figure of 140,000 nobles (9,000 noble families) and states that about 5% of nobles could claim descent from feudal nobility before the 15th century. With a total population of 28 million, this would represent merely 0.5%. Historian Gordon Wright gives a figure of 300,000 nobles (of which 80,000 were from the traditional ''noblesse d'épée''), which agrees with the estimation of historian Jean de Viguerie, or a little over 1%. In terms of land holdings, at the time of the revolution, noble estates comprised about one-fifth of the land.


Origins of French nobility

Families of the French nobility could have two origins as to their principle of nobility: * The immemorial nobility for the families recognized for having always lived nobly. * The ennobled families (ennobled by an office or by Letters patent from the King). In the 18th century, the comte de Boulainvilliers, a rural noble, posited the belief that French nobility had descended from the victorious
Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
, while non-nobles descended from the conquered
Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They s ...
. The theory had no validity, but offered a comforting myth for an impoverished noble class. The French historian Guy Chaussinand-Nogaret, specialist of the French nobility in the 18th century, writes that some historians mistakenly confused the knightly nobility (noblesse chevaleresque) with the sword nobility (noblesse d'épée) that they opposed the robe nobility. He reminds us that sword nobility and robe nobility are states, professions and not social classes within the French nobility and that they often merge within the same family. He writes that the notion of sword nobility means nothing and he reminds us that the King of France did not establish a military nobility until 1750.


Immemorial nobility

The immemorial nobility (also called ''noblesse de race'' or ''noblesse d'extraction'') includes the families recognized for having always lived nobly and never ennobled. Genealogists sometimes make the following distinctions: * '' Noblesse d'épée'' (sword nobility): Known as France's oldest aristocracy, but its existence has been denied recently. * ''Noblesse féodale'' (feudal nobility): nobility proved since the 11th century. *''Noblesse chevaleresque'' (knightly nobility): nobility proved since the 14th century with the qualification of "knight" at this time. *''Noblesse d'ancienne extraction'' (nobility of old extraction): nobility proved since the 15th century. *''Noblesse d'extraction'' (nobility of extraction): nobility proved since the 16th century.


Ennobled families

The ennobled families includes the families ennobled by an office or by Letters patent from the King).. Different principles of anoblissment can be distinguished: *'' Noblesse de robe'' (nobility of the robe): person or family made noble by holding certain official charges, like masters of requests, treasurers, or Presidents of Parlement courts. The ''noblesse de robe'' existed by longstanding tradition. In 1600 it gained legal status. High positions in regional parlements, tax boards (''chambres des comptes''), and other important financial and official state offices (usually bought at high price) conferred nobility, generally in two generations, although membership in the Parlements of Paris,
Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th centu ...
,
Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...
and
Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
, as well as on the tax boards of Paris,
Dole Dole may refer to: Places * Dole, Ceredigion, Wales * Dole, Idrija, Slovenia * Dole, Jura, France ** Arrondissement of Dole * Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska * Dole, Ljubušk ...
and
Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
elevated an official to nobility in one generation. *''Noblesse de chancellerie'' (nobility of the chancery): commoner made noble by holding certain high offices for the king. The ''noblesse de chancellerie'' first appeared during the reign of Charles VIII at the end of the 15th century. To hold the office of chancellor required (with few exceptions) noble status, so non-nobles given the position were raised to the nobility, generally after 20 years of service. Non-nobles paid enormous sums to hold these positions, but this form of nobility was often derided as ''savonnette à vilain'' ("soap for serfs"). *''Noblesse de cloche'' ("nobility of the bell") or ''Noblesse échevinale/Noblesse scabinale'' ("Nobility of the Aldermen"): person or family made noble by being a mayor (''Bourgmestre'') or alderman (''échevin'') or ''prévôt'' (''Provost'', or "municipal functionary") in certain towns (such as
Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...
and
Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...
, Angoulême, Bourges,
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
,
Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...
,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, Perpignan, and Poitiers). Some towns and cities received the status temporarily or sporadically, like
Cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cognac production falls under French appella ...
,
Issoudun Issoudun () is a commune in the Indre department, administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is also referred to as ''Issoundun'', which is the ancient name. Geography Location Issoudun is a sub-prefecture, located in the east ...
,
La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...
,
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
, Nantes, Niort,
Saint-Jean-d'Angély Saint-Jean-d'Angély (; Saintongeais: ''Sént-Jhan-d'Anjhéli'') is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. The commune has its historical origins in the Abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély. Royal abbey Founded in the ...
and
Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
. There were only 14 such communities by the beginning of the Revolution. The ''noblesse de cloche'' dates from 1372 (for the city of Poitiers) and was found only in certain cities with legal and judicial freedoms, such as Toulouse with the "capitouls", acquiring nobility as city councillors; by the Revolution these cities were only a handful. *''Noblesse militaire'' (military nobility): person or family made noble by holding military offices, generally after two or three generations. *''Anoblis par lettres'' (ennobled through Letters Patent): person made noble by letters patent from after the year 1400. The ''noblesse de lettres'' became, starting in the reign of Francis I, a handy method for the court to raise revenues; non-nobles possessing noble fiefs would pay a year's worth of revenues from their fiefs to acquire nobility. In 1598, Henry IV undid a number of these ''anoblissments'', but eventually resumed the practice. Depending on the office, the acquisition of nobility could be done in one generation or gradually over several generations: *''Noblesse au premier degré'' (nobility in the first generation): nobility awarded in the first generation, generally after 20 years of service or by death in one's post. *''Noblesse graduelle'': nobility awarded in the second generation, generally after 20 years of service by both father and son. Once acquired, nobility was hereditary in the legitimate male-line for all male descendants (with some rare exceptions of ''noblesse uterine'' (through the female line) recognized as valid in the formerly independent provinces of
Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, ...
and
Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...
). Wealthy families found ready opportunities to pass into the nobility: although nobility itself could not, legally, be purchased, lands to which noble rights and/or title were attached could be and often were bought by commoners who adopted use of the property's name or title and were henceforth assumed to be noble if they could find a way to be exempted from paying the '' taille'' to which only commoners were subject. Moreover, non-nobles who owned noble fiefs were obliged to pay a special tax (''franc-fief'') on the property to the noble liege-lord.


Proofs of nobility

Henry IV began to enforce the law against
usurpation A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as ...
of nobility, and in 1666–1674
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...
mandated a massive program of verification. Oral testimony maintaining that parents and grandparents had been born noble and lived as such were no longer accepted: written proofs (marriage contracts, land documents) proving noble rank since 1560 were required to substantiate noble status. Many families were put back on the lists of the '' taille'' and/or forced to pay fines for usurping nobility. Many documents such as notary deeds and contracts were forged, scratched or overwritten resulting in rejections by the crown officers and more fines. During the same period Louis XIV, in dire need of money for wars, issued blank letters-patent of nobility and urged crown officers to sell them to aspiring squires in the Provinces. The rank of "noble" was forfeitable: certain activities could cause '' dérogeance'' (loss of nobility), within certain limits and exceptions. Most commercial and manual activities, such as tilling land, were strictly prohibited, although nobles could profit from their lands by operating mines, glassworks and forges. A nobleman could emancipate a male heir early, and take on derogatory activities without losing the family's nobility. If nobility was lost through prohibited activities, it could be recovered as soon as the said activities were stopped, by obtaining letters of "relief". Finally, certain regions such as Brittany applied loosely these rules allowing poor nobles to plough their own land.


Privileges

From feudal times to the abolition of the privileges in 1789, the French nobility had specific legal and financial rights and prerogatives. The first official list of these prerogatives was established relatively late, under
Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...
after 1440, and included the right to
hunt Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, e ...
, to wear a sword and to possess a '' seigneurie'' (land to which certain feudal rights and dues were attached). Nobles were also granted an exemption from paying the taille, except for non-noble lands they might possess in some regions of France. Furthermore, certain ecclesiastic, civic, and military positions were reserved for nobles. These feudal privileges are often termed ''droits de féodalité dominante''. With the exception of a few isolated cases,
serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which deve ...
had ceased to exist in France by the 15th century. In early modern France, nobles nevertheless maintained a great number of seigneurial privileges over the free peasants that worked lands under their control. They could, for example, levy the ''cens'' tax, an annual tax on lands leased or held by
vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
s. Nobles could also charge ''
banalité Banalités (; from ''ban'') were, until the 18th century, restrictions in feudal tenure in France by an obligation to have peasants use the facilities of their lords. These included the required use-for-payment of the lord's mill to grind grain, hi ...
s'' for the right to use the lord's mills, ovens, or wine presses. Alternatively, a noble could demand a portion of vassals' harvests in return for permission to farm land he owned. Nobles also maintained certain judicial rights over their vassals, although with the rise of the modern state many of these privileges had passed to state control, leaving rural nobility with only local police functions and judicial control over violation of their seigneurial rights. In the 17th century this seigneurial system was established in France's North American possessions perpetuating well into the 19th century under British rule.


Duties

Nobles were required to serve the king. They were required to go to war and fight and die in the service of the king, so called ''impôt du sang'' ("blood tax").


History


The Fronde and the Wars of Religion

Before
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...
imposed his will on the nobility, the great families of France often claimed a fundamental right to rebel against unacceptable royal abuse. The
Wars of Religion A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...
, the
Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...
, the civil unrest during the minority of Charles VIII and the regencies of
Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 un ...
and
Marie de Medici Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...
are all linked to these perceived loss of rights at the hand of a centralizing royal power. Before and immediately after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, many Protestant noble families emigrated and by doing so lost their lands in France. In certain regions of France a majority of the nobility had turned to Protestantism and their departure significantly depleted the ranks of the nobility. Some were incorporated into the nobility of their countries of adoption. By relocating the French royal court to
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
in the 1680s,
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...
further modified the role of the nobles. Versailles became a gilded cage: to leave spelled disaster for a noble, for all official charges and appointments were made there. Provincial nobles who refused to join the Versailles system were locked out of important positions in the military or state offices, and lacking royal subsidies (and unable to keep up a noble lifestyle on seigneurial taxes), these rural nobles (''hobereaux'') often went into debt. A strict etiquette was imposed: a word or glance from the king could make or destroy a career. At the same time, the relocation of the court to Versailles was also a brilliant political move by Louis. By distracting the nobles with court life and the daily intrigue that came with it, he neutralized a powerful threat to his authority and removed the largest obstacle to his ambition to centralize power in France. Much of the power of nobles in these periods of unrest comes from their "clientèle system". Like the king, nobles granted the use of fiefs, and gave gifts and other forms of patronage to other nobles to develop a vast system of noble clients. Lesser families would send their children to be squires and members of these noble houses, and to learn in them the arts of court society and arms. The elaboration of the ''
ancien régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for ...
'' state was made possible only by redirecting these clientèle systems to a new focal point (the king and the state), and by creating countervailing powers (the bourgeoisie, the ''noblesse de robe''). By the late 17th century, any act of explicit or implicit protest was treated as a form of ''
lèse-majesté Lèse-majesté () or lese-majesty () is an offence against the dignity of a ruling head of state (traditionally a monarch but now more often a president) or the state itself. The English name for this crime is a borrowing from the French, w ...
'' and harshly repressed. Economic studies of nobility in France at the end of the 18th century, reveal great differences in financial status at this time. A well-off family could earn 100,000–150,000 livres per year, although the most prestigious families could gain two or three times that much. For provincial nobility, yearly earnings of 10,000 livres permitted a minimum of provincial luxury, but most earned far less. The ethics of noble expenditure, the financial crises of the century and the inability of nobles to participate in most fields without losing their nobility contributed to their relative poverty. Guy Chaussinand-Nogaret divides the nobility of France into five distinct wealth categories, based on research into the capitation tax, which nobles were also subject to. The first category includes those paying over 500 livres in capitation and enjoying at least 50,000 l. in annual income. 250 families in total comprised this group, the majority living in Paris or at court. The second group numbered around 3,500 families with incomes between 10,000 l. and 50,000 l. These were the rich provincial nobility. In the provinces, their incomes allowed them a lavish lifestyle, and they made up 13% of the nobility. The third group were the 7,000 families whose income was between 4,000 and 10,000 l. per annum, which allowed a comfortable life. In the fourth group, 11,000 noble families had between 1,000 and 4,000 l. per year. They could still lead a comfortable life provided they were frugal and did not tend toward lavish expenditures. Finally in the fifth group were those with less than 1,000 l. per year; over 5,000 noble families lived at this level. Some of them had less than 500 l., and some others had 100 or even 50 l. This group paid either no or very little capitation tax.


The French Revolution

At the beginning of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, on August 4, 1789 the dozens of small dues that a commoner had to pay to the lord, such as the
banalité Banalités (; from ''ban'') were, until the 18th century, restrictions in feudal tenure in France by an obligation to have peasants use the facilities of their lords. These included the required use-for-payment of the lord's mill to grind grain, hi ...
s of
Manorialism Manorialism, also known as the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes forti ...
, were abolished by the National Constituent Assembly; noble lands were stripped of their special status as fiefs; the nobility were subjected to the same taxation as their co-nationals, and lost their privileges (the hunt, seigneurial justice, funeral honors). The nobles were, however, allowed to retain their titles. This did not happen immediately. Decrees of application had to be drafted, signed, promulgated and published in the Provinces, such that certain noble rights were still being applied well into 1791. Nevertheless, it was decided that certain annual financial payments which were owed the nobility and which were considered "contractual" (i.e. not stemming from a usurpation of feudal power, but from a contract between a landowner and a tenant) such as annual rents (the ''cens'' and the ''champart'') needed to be bought back by the tenant for the tenant to have clear title to his land. Since the feudal privileges of the nobles had been termed ''droits de feodalité dominante'', these were called ''droits de féodalité contractante''. The rate set (May 3, 1790) for purchase of these contractual debts was 20 times the annual monetary amount (or 25 times the annual amount if given in crops or goods); peasants were also required to pay back any unpaid dues over the past thirty years. No system of credit was established for small farmers, and only well-off individuals could take advantage of the ruling. This created a massive land grab by well-off peasants and members of the middle-class, who became absentee landowners and had their land worked by sharecroppers and poor tenants. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen had adopted by vote of the Assembly on August 26, 1789, but the abolition of nobility did not occur at that time. The Declaration declared in its first article that "Men are born free and equal in rights; social distinctions may be based only upon general usefulness." It was not until June 19, 1790, that hereditary titles of nobility were abolished. The notions of equality and fraternity won over some nobles such as the
Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...
who supported the abolition of legal recognition of nobility, but other liberal nobles who had happily sacrificed their fiscal privileges saw this as an attack on the culture of honor.


The First Empire

From 1808 to 1815 during the First Empire the Emperor Napoléon bestowed titles, which the ensuing Bourbon Restoration acknowledged as a new nobility by the Charter of June 4, 1814 granted by
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Louis XVIII of France Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
. Napoleon also established a new knightly order in 1802, the ''
Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
'', which still exists but is no longer hereditary. He decreed that after three generations of legionaries created knights by letters patent, they would receive hereditary nobility, but a small number of French families meet the requirement and the decree was abrogated and no longer applied.


The Restoration, July Monarchy and Second Empire (1814-1870)

From 1814 to 1848 ( Bourbon Restoration and
July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...
) and from 1852 to 1870 (
Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930 ...
) the French nobility was restored as an hereditary distinction without privileges, and new hereditary titles were granted. Nobility and titles of nobility were abolished in 1848 during the French Revolution of 1848, but hereditary titles were restored in 1852 by decree of the emperor
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
.


From the Third Republic (1870) to nowadays

Since the
French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 19 ...
on September 4, 1870 the French nobility is no longer recognized and has no legal existence and status. The former regularly transmitted authentic titles can however be recognized as part of a name, after a request to the Department of Justice.


Aristocratic codes

The idea of what it meant to be noble went through a radical transformation from the 16th to the 17th centuries. Through contact with the
Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
and their concept of the perfect courtier (
Baldassare Castiglione Baldassare Castiglione, Count of Casatico (; 6 December 1478 – 2 February 1529),Dates of birth and death, and cause of the latter, fro, ''Italica'', Rai International online. was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissanc ...
), the rude warrior class was remodeled into what the 17th century would come to call ''l'honnête homme'' ('the honest or upright man'), among whose chief virtues were eloquent speech, skill at dance, refinement of manners, appreciation of the arts, intellectual curiosity, wit, a spiritual or platonic attitude in love, and the ability to write poetry. Most notable of noble values are the aristocratic obsession with "glory" (''la gloire'') and majesty (''la grandeur'') and the spectacle of power, prestige, and luxury. For example, Pierre Corneille's noble heroes have been criticised by modern readers who have seen their actions as vainglorious, criminal, or hubristic; aristocratic spectators of the period would have seen many of these same actions as representative of their noble station. The château of
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
, court ballets, noble portraits, and
triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, cro ...
es were all representations of glory and prestige. The notion of glory (military, artistic, etc.) was seen in the context of the Roman Imperial model; it was not seen as vain or boastful, but as a moral imperative to the aristocratic classes. Nobles were required to be "generous" and " magnanimous", to perform great deeds disinterestedly (i.e. because their status demanded it – whence the expression ''
noblesse oblige ''Noblesse oblige'' (; ; literally “nobility obliges”) is a French expression from a time when French (more specifically, Anglo-Norman) was the language of the English nobility, and retains in English the meaning that nobility extends beyo ...
'' – and without expecting financial or political gain), and to master their own emotions, especially fear, jealousy, and the desire for vengeance. One's status in the world demanded appropriate externalisation (or " conspicuous consumption"). Nobles indebted themselves to build prestigious urban mansions (''hôtels particuliers'') and to buy clothes, paintings, silverware, dishes, and other furnishings befitting their rank. They were also required to show liberality by hosting sumptuous parties and by funding the arts. Conversely, social
parvenu A ''parvenu'' is a person who is a relative newcomer to a high-ranking socioeconomic class. The word is borrowed from the French language; it is the past participle of the verb ''parvenir'' (to reach, to arrive, to manage to do something). Origi ...
s who took on the external trappings of the noble classes (such as the wearing of a sword) were severely criticised, sometimes by legal action; laws on sumptuous clothing worn by bourgeois existed since the
Middle Ages 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 ...
. Traditional aristocratic values began to be criticised in the mid-17th century: Blaise Pascal, for example, offered a ferocious analysis of the spectacle of power and François de La Rochefoucauld posited that no human act – however generous it pretended to be – could be considered disinterested.


Titles

Nobility and hereditary titles were distinct: while all hereditary titleholders were noble, most nobles were untitled, although many assumed '' titres de courtoisie''. The authentic titles of nobility would be created or recognized by letters patent of the sovereign. If a title was not created or recognized by the sovereign it was a courtesy title without legal status or rank. Generally the titles were hereditary but could sometimes be personal. Under the
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for ...
(before the French Revolution of 1789) titles were linked to a land called ''fiefs de dignité''. *
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
(during the
First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...
), under the
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for ...
some families were possessors of lordships called a principality (principauté) and sometimes the king recognized them the use of this title but as a title of courtesy without any rank. * Duc * Marquis * Comte *
Vicomte A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...
*
Vidame Vidame () was a feudal title in France, a term descended from mediaeval Latin . Like the ''avoué'' or ''advocatus'', the ''vidame'' was originally a secular official chosen by the bishop of the diocese—with the consent of the count—to ...
: it was a rare title, always with the name of a
diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...
, as their origin was as the commander of a bishop's forces. * Baron *
Chevalier Chevalier may refer to: Honours Belgium * a rank in the Belgian Order of the Crown * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold II * a title in the Belgian nobility France * a rank in the French Legion d'h ...
(during the
First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...
), "chevalier" also was a title borne by a noble who belonged to an order of chivalry During the
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for ...
, there was no distinction of rank by title (except for the title of duke, which was often associated with the strictly regulated privileges of the peerage, including precedence above other titled nobles). The hierarchy within the French nobility below peers was initially based on seniority; a
count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
whose family had been noble since the 14th century was higher-ranked than a marquis whose title only dated to the 18th century. Precedence at the royal court was based on the family's ''ancienneté'', its ''alliances'' (marriages), its ''hommages'' (dignities and offices held) and, lastly, its ''illustrations'' (record of deeds and achievements). Note : * Écuyer was not a nobility title, but a title borne by untitled nobles to indicate that they were noble. * Seigneur ("Lord of the manor" and literally: "lord"): indicated a landlord's property but it did not indicate the owner was noble, especially after the 17th century. *Titles worn by members of the royal family ( dauphin, Prince du Sang etc.) were not titles of nobility but titles of dignity. The use of the nobiliary particle ''de'' in a name is not a sign of nobility. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the ''de'' was adopted by large numbers of non-nobles (like
Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
or Gérard de Nerval) in an attempt to appear noble. It has been estimated that today 90% of names with a particle are non-noble and a few authentic "extraction" nobles are without any particle at all. Noble hierarchies were further complicated by the creation of chivalric orders – the '' Chevaliers du Saint-Esprit'' (Knights of the Holy Spirit) created by Henry III in 1578; the '' Ordre de Saint-Michel'' created by
Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...
in 1469; the '' Order of Saint Louis'' created by
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...
in 1696 – by official posts, and by positions in the Royal House (the Great Officers of the Crown of France), such as ''grand maître de la garde-robe'' (the grand master of the royal wardrobe, being the royal dresser) or '' grand panetier'' (royal bread server), which had long ceased to be actual functions and had become nominal and formal positions with their own privileges. The 17th and 18th centuries saw nobles and the ''noblesse de robe'' battle each other for these positions and any other sign of royal favor.


Heraldry

In France, by the 16th century the
signet ring A seal is a device for making an impression in wax, clay, paper, or some other medium, including an embossment on paper, and is also the impression thus made. The original purpose was to authenticate a document, or to prevent interference with ...
(''chevalière'') bearing a coat of arms was not a sign or proof of nobility, as thousands of bourgeois families were allowed to register their arms, and they often wore them as a pretense of nobility. However, all noble families did have a registered coat of arms. The ring was traditionally worn by Frenchmen on the ring finger of their left hand, contrary to usage in most other European countries (where it is worn on the little finger of either the right or left hand, depending on the country); French women, however, wore it on their left little finger. Daughters sometimes wore the signet ring of their mother if the father lacks a coat of arms, but a son would not. Originally, its purpose was practical and was worn by nobles and officials in the Middle Ages to press down and
seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...
the hot wax with their coat of arms for identification on official letters, but this function became degraded over time as more non-nobles wore them for perceived status. The ''chevalière'' may either be worn facing up (''en baise-main'') or facing toward the palm (''en bagarre''). In contemporary usage, the inward position is increasingly common, although some noble families traditionally use the inward position to indicate that the wearer is married.. There is no legal or formal control or protection over signet ring carrying. Symbolic crowns : Ancien Régime First Empire :


Peerage

*
Peerage of France The Peerage of France (french: Pairie de France) was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France (french: Pair de France, links=no) was ...
**
List of French peerages For an explanation of the French peerage, see the article Peerage of France. Note that peerages and titles were distinct, and the date given for the extinction of the peerage is not necessarily the same as that of the extinction of the title. Fo ...
/ List of French peers ***
Dukes in France The title of Duke was the highest hereditary title in the French nobility during the time of the monarchy in France. Old dukedoms The highest precedence in the realm, attached to a feudal territory, was given to the twelve original pairies, which ...
and
List of French dukedoms This is a list of ducal titles created by the monarchs of France. See also French nobility, Dukes in France, Peerage of France, List of French peers, List of French peerages. {, class="wikitable sortable" , - ! Title !Date of Creation !Famil ...
**
List of coats of arms of French peers The peerage of France consists of the great officers, direct vassals of the Crown of Kingdom of France, France, with the title List of French peers, peer of France. They represent the primitive constituents of elective monarchy, before the success ...
* Seigneurial system of New France


References


Works cited

* Bénichou, Paul. ''Morales du grand siècle''. Paris: Gallimard, 1948. *Bluche, François. ''L'Ancien Régime: Institutions et société''. Collection: Livre de poche. Paris: Fallois, 1993. *Chaussinand-Nogaret, Guy. ''The French Nobility in the Eighteenth Century''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. *Hobsbawm, Eric. ''The Age of Revolution''. New York: Vintage, 1996. *Major, J. Russell. ''From Renaissance Monarchy to Absolute Monarchy: French Kings, Nobles & Estates''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1994. * Elias, Norbert. ''The Court Society.'' (Originally publ., 1969) New York: Pantheon, 1983. * Soboul, Albert. ''La Révolution française''. Paris: Editions Sociales, 1982. * Viguerie, Jean de. ''Histoire et dictionnaire du temps des Lumières 1715-1789''. Collection: Bouquins. Paris: Laffont, 1995. * Wright, Gordon. ''France in Modern Times''. 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1987.


Further reading

*Ford, Franklin L. ''Robe & Sword: The Regrouping of the French Aristocracy after Louis XIV''. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1953. *Dioudonnat, Pierre-Marie. ''Encyclopedie de la Fauss Noblesse et de la Noblesse d’Apparence''. New ed. Paris: Sedopols, 1994. *La Chesnaye-Desbois et Badier, François de (comp). ''Dictionnaire de la Noblesse de la France''. 3d ed. 18v. Paris: Bachelin-Deflorenne, 1868–73 (Kraus-Thomson Organization, 1969). * Pillorget, René and Suzanne Pillorget. ''France Baroque, France Classique 1589–1715''. Collection: Bouquins. Paris: Laffont, 1995. {{DEFAULTSORT:French Nobility * Political history of the Ancien Régime Clans