Court nobility
The term court nobility stands for the representatives of the nobility who gathered at the prince , royal or imperial courts of medieval and early modern Europe and were given court offices and functions . They were among the most influential social groups in the royal court, which also included commoners and ordinary people.
In contrast to the on his estates resident gentry who was court since the Middle Ages for the assembled nobles the center of their existence and at the same time to the stage, was wrestled to the order symbolic capital and influence. In particular, French absolutism under Louis XIV strived for a centralization of the nobility in order to integrate this social class into its own system of rank and thus to control it effectively. This system also had an impact on the other European monarchies.
In the 19th century, the court nobility in Europe lost its political importance with the increasing institutionalization and organization of the internal political system of the states. As a social grouping in Europe, it remained a formative political force until the end of the monarchies' existence with the end of the First World War and the subsequent revolutions in Russia , Germany , Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire .
See also
literature
- Norbert Elias : The courtly society . (1969), Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-518-58329-8 (Collected Writings Vol. 2).
- Pierre Bourdieu : The state nobility . UVK-Verl.-Ges., Konstanz 2004, ISBN 3-89669-807-9 .