and how. Typically, nobility was conferred on individuals who had assisted the sovereign. In some countries (e.g. France under the Ancien Régime), this degenerated into the buying of patents of nobility, whereby rich commoners (e.g. merchants) could purchase a title of nobility.

Ennobling qualities

Medieval theorists of nobility relied on earlier classical concepts (Platonic, Aristotelian and Christian-Hellenistic)

1.Previous
3.Next