Nobility

The nobility (la noblesse) was the second of the three orders, or estates, into which ancien régime French society was divided. In 1789 there were about 30, 000 noble families—about 200, 000 individuals, or fewer than 1 per cent of the population. Originally a military group, with its origins in the landowning élite of the Dark Ages and the ruling families of the era of Charlemagne, by the 12th c. an aristocracy was identifiable as a warlike and governing class and an order in society [see Feudalism]. Gradually, the class of knightly retainers was admitted to the ranks of the nobility. At about the same time a clearly defined ethic emerged, based on prowess in battle, fidelity, honour, and virtue [see Chivalry]. Nobility had become transmissible through the male line, and the house or lineage was of vital concern to all members of the family.

From the 16th c. onwards, new elements were added to this definition of nobility. Noble culture became associated with courtly culture, as described in Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, in which education, manners, and a whole concept of civility were important [see Courtoisie]. The need to find a way of widening the ethic to incorporate as legitimate those ennobled by judicial administrative office or royal letters (as the financially hard-pressed monarchy sold titles to raise money) led to emphasis on the Renaissance concept of vertu as an essential trait. Above all, though, by the 17th and 18th c. nobility was a question of life-style. The gentleman should be able to live without doing demeaning manual labour or engaging in retail trade; he would be able to pursue a career at arms (but did not always do so), and would possess landed estates with lordships, and perhaps royal offices at court or in the administration. By the late 18th c. more than half of the order could trace its noble ancestry back no further than the mid-17th c. It was thus neither a closed caste nor a class of conquerors going back to the Franks, as many in the late ancien régime, such as Boulainviller and Montesquieu, believed. Regardless of the type of nobility, whether épée (military) or robe (judicial), it was imperative to live nobly and to display the external signs of such an honourable rank in society. Here, two concepts are important: misalliance and dérogéance. The latter was the loss of noble status for engaging in any non-noble activity, and fear of it conditioned noble strategies. Misalliance was a term to describe marrying down, such as the joining by marriage of a noble and a rich bourgeois family.

Nobles enjoyed extensive rights and privileges. The most significant was exemption from personal taxation, on the grounds that they paid their taxes in blood. Since the maintenance of status required independent means, nobility was ultimately defined as much by wealth as by ideology. Within the order, differences of wealth could be enormous. The provincial nobility was, in spite of complaints about its poverty, almost always the richest group in the area, even if a few of its members were relatively poor hobereaux. But provincial houses could rarely compete in terms of wealth with the grand houses drawing revenue from extensive properties in several provinces, court offices and pensions, governorships, and ecclesiastical sinecures. Most dukes were vastly wealthy, and by their presence at court were well able to defend their family interests. By the 18th c. formerly bitter conflicts between robe and sword had lost their force; except at court the distinction was now usually one between careers. The several sons of an aristocratic household might go, one into the army, another to an office which the family might have held for generations, and a third into the Church.

The power structures and business of politics were profoundly aristocratic. The upper echelons of the judicial and financial administration as well as most of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and virtually all posts at court were the preserve of the nobility. The social prestige of the class combined with political and financial power to produce a vastly powerful and deeply entrenched élite. Not only was the political system dominated by nobles, but so too was the financial one, as surplus wealth was channelled into the profitable state finances. Nobility was abolished in June 1790, but was revived by Napoleon, who also created new titles such as baron. Both before and after the Revolution usurpation of noble status was frequently attempted, often facilitatated by the popular misconception that a ‘de’ before the name was proof of nobility.

[Peter Campbell]

Bibliography

• J. Meyer, La Noblesse bretonne (1972)
• G. Chaussinand-Nogaret, La Noblesse au XVIIIe siècle (1976)