Hidalgo (Spanish Nobility)
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A (; ) or a (, ) is a member of the Spanish or
Portuguese nobility Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
; the feminine forms of the terms are , in Spanish, and , in Portuguese and Galician. Legally, a is a nobleman by blood who can pass his noble condition to his children, as opposed to someone who acquired his nobility by royal grace. In practice, enjoyed important privileges, such as being exempt from paying
tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
es, having the right to bear arms, having a coat of arms, having a separate legal and court system whereby they could only be judged by their peers, not being subject to the death sentence unless it was authorized by the king, etc. Contrary to popular belief, hidalguía (i.e. the condition of being a hidalgo) is not a nobility rank, but rather a type of nobility. Not all hidalgos lacked nobility titles, and not all members of the titled nobility were hidalgos. For example, the
Kings of Spain This is a list of monarchs of Spain, a dominion started with the dynastic union of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. The regnal numbers follow those of the rulers of Asturias, León, and Castile. ...
are hidalgos, because their nobility was acquired by blood from time immemorial. In modern times, hidalgos are represented through various organizations, such as the Real Asociación de Hidalgos, the Real Cuerpo de la Nobleza de Madrid, and the orders of chivalry.


Etymology

From the twelfth century, the phrase (lit. son of something) and its contraction, , were used in the
Kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; : ) was a polity in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. It traces its origins to the 9th-century County of Castile (, ), as an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of León. During the 10th century, the Ca ...
and in the
Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal was a Portuguese monarchy, monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also known as the Kingdom of Portugal a ...
to identify a type of
nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...
. In Portugal, the
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
remained , which identified nobles of a similar status to a in Spain. In the
Kingdom of Aragón The Kingdom of Aragon (; ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Monarchy, kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain. It became a part of the larger ...
, the was the noble counterpart of the Castilian . The pronunciation changes in Spanish occurred during the late
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, the f- sound in the word-initial position developed into a h-sound, leading to the spelling of (see ''
History of the Spanish language The language known today as Spanish is derived from spoken Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans after their occupation of the peninsula that started in the late 3rd century BC. Today it is the world's 4th most wide ...
'') or “hijo-dalgo” in some formal contexts, etc. In time, the term included the lower-ranking
gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...
, the untitled, lower stratum of the nobility who were still exempted from taxation. The (), suggests that the word derives from ("italic"), a man with full Roman citizenship. In the previous
Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...
monarchies, the condition of the was that of a freeman without land wealth, but with the nobleman's rights to bear arms and to be exempt from taxation, in compensation for military service; the military obligation and the social condition remained in force by the law.


Origins

The has its origins in fighting men of the . By the tenth century the term appears in Asturian-Leonese documents as a synonym for the Spanish and
Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...
terms and (both, "
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
"). These were
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 of the great
magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
s and
prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...
s and ran their estates for them as
petty nobility The minor or petty nobility is the lower nobility classes. Finland Petty nobility in Finland is dated at least back to the 13th century and was formed by nobles around their strategic interests. The idea was more capable peasants with leader role ...
. In these first centuries it was still possible to become a simply by being able to provide, and afford the costs of, mounted military service.Sánchez-Albornoz, "''España y el feudalismo carolingio''", 778-787; Suárez Fernández, ''Historia de España'', 141-142; MacKay, ''Spain in the Middle Ages'', 47-50, 56-57, 103-104, 155; and Menéndez Pidal, ''La España del Cid'', 86-88, 544-545. Only by the mid-twelfth century did the ranks of the knights begin to be—in theory—closed by lineage. In the frontier towns that were created as the Christian kingdoms pushed into Muslim land, the , and not the magnates who often were far away, came to dominate politics, society and cultural patronage. From their ranks were also drawn the representatives of the towns and cities when the were convened by kings. It was in the twelfth century that this class, along with the upper nobility, began to be referred to as .


Types

(by virtue of lineage) are "those for whom there is no memory of its origin and there is no knowledge of any document mentioning a royal grant, which obscurity is universally praised even more than those noblemen who know otherwise their origin", or in other words, an immemorial noble. When challenged, a may obtain a judicial sentence validating his nobility from the Royal Chancillería of Valladolid or Granada, if he can prove that it has been accepted by local society and custom. In this case, the resulting legal document that verifies his nobility is called a ( letters patent of nobility). To qualify as a ("ancestral hidalgo"), one had to prove that all four of one's grandparents were . were regarded as the most noble and treated with the most respect. (by virtue of royal privilege) and (by virtue of meritorious acts) entail a grant of nobility from His Majesty the King of Spain in his position as monarch, or from his position as protector of a military
confraternity A confraternity (; ) is generally a Christian voluntary association of laypeople created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy. They are most common among Catholics, Lu ...
or hermandad. (" fly-of-the-trousers hidalgo") obtained tax exemption for having seven sons in lawful wedlock. In
Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...
,
Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...
and other regions of Spain every seven years the King ordered the creation of ("registers") where the population was classified either as , and therefore, exempt from taxation due to their military status or (from an archaic verb, , "to pay") who comprised the ("lower ranks") and were excluded from military service and had to pay taxes. These constitute nowadays a source of information about population genealogy and distribution as well as proof of nobility in certain cases. On March 22, 1697,
Charles II of Spain Charles II (6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700) was King of Spain from 1665 to 1700. The last monarch from the House of Habsburg, which had ruled Spain since 1516, he died without an heir, leading to a European Great Power conflict over the succ ...
issued a royal cedula that, among other matters, extended to the indigenous nobles of the Philippines, the ), as well as to their descendants, the preeminence and honors customarily attributed to the hidalgos of Castile. Over the years the title lost its significance, especially in Spain. Kings routinely awarded the title in exchange for personal favors. By the time of the reign of the
House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...
, over half a million people enjoyed tax exemptions, putting tremendous strain on the royal state which wasn't calling their services to arms but relied more on professional armies and costly mercenaries. Attempts were made to reform the title and by the early nineteenth century with the forced levies to military service of all citizens by
conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...
without any minimum requirements of nobility or pay or loyalty by honour but by
coercion Coercion involves compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner through the use of threats, including threats to use force against that party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to i ...
on
desertion Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
, it had entirely disappeared, along with the social class it had originally signified and most of its centuries-old developed code of honour in the nation's social culture. Influenced by policies in France, all became (taxpayers), without the privileges of the former title, and along with all citizens were also subject to conscription. Both
estates of the realm The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed a ...
(social classes) became combined, compulsorily contributing to the nation in service and taxes without exemption, while the titled nobility and royalty kept their former privileges and exemptions.


Literature

The prototypical fictional is
Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...
, who was given the
sobriquet A sobriquet ( ) is a descriptive nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym in that it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need for explanation; it may beco ...
'the Ingenious Hidalgo' by his creator,
Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...
. In the novel Cervantes has Don Quixote satirically present himself as a and aspire to live the life of a
knight-errant A knight-errant (or knight errant) is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective '' errant'' (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric ...
despite the fact that his economic position does not allow him to truly do so. Don Quixote's possessions allowed to him a meager life devoted to his reading obsession, yet his concept of honour led him to emulate the knights-errant. The picaresque novel '' Lazarillo'' features a so poor that he spreads breadcrumbs on his clothes, to simulate having eaten a meal. His
honour Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself ...
forbids him manual work but does not provide him with subsistence.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...
's ''Tales of a Wayside Inn'' includes "The Theologian's Tale" which recounts the tragedy of who betrays his two daughters to the Grand Inquisitor. himself lights the fires, then from a tower casts himself into the depths of despair.


See also

* Cuban nobility * Hidalgo (disambiguation) *
Principalía The ''principalía'' or Nobility, noble class was the ruling and usually educated upper class in the ''Municipality, pueblos'' of History of the Philippines (1521–1898), Spanish Philippines, comprising the ''gobernadorcillo'' (later called t ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * *


External links

*In Spanish
''Hidalgos de España''
(Association of Spanish nobles) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hidalgo Spanish noble titles Spanish words and phrases History of the Spanish language Spanish untitled nobility