Today the concept of "noble people" has already become historicism. And once it was a determining factor in the fate of a person. This helped to achieve high positions in the state, receive a rich dowry, achieve success, we alth and respect from others. Let's consider in this short article who the noble people were. What advantages did they have? What were the responsibilities of noble people? Let's also turn to the history of Russia in the 19th century.
Meaning of the word "noble"
People have always belonged to some category of society. Who were called nobles? Modern explanatory dictionaries describe the meaning of this word in different ways. There is historical and modern interpretation. From the point of view of history, this is belonging to an aristocratic family. Modernity says that these are people who became famous for their merits (according to the dictionaries of S. I. Ozhegov and D. N. Ushakov).
Of course, we are interested in the first meaning of the word "noble". People to whom this concept can be applied are a kind of elite of society. Their distinctive feature is the right to transfer their achievements by inheritance. Thus, children inherit not only the property of their parents, but also their titles, in other words, social merits and the right to use them.
How did you know?
The stratum of noble people was formed in ancient communities, exerting its influence on the government. It retained its significance in the Middle Ages, losing it only at the end of the 19th century. Modern society no longer appreciates the aristocracy as it used to be (although in the west, aristocrats have retained their titles and ranks). This circumstance is connected with the fact that today it is not the merits of the ancestors of this or that person that are important, but his own initiative and the ability to occupy a high social position.
A person of noble origin in the era of monarchism
The highest flowering of aristocracy reached in an era when monarchism was a widespread state system. When republics appeared in the world, it was then that the power of the aristocracy began to fade significantly. This is due to the fact that the monarch himself is the highest person in the state, it is he who is the first aristocrat in the country.
The basis of the idea of monarchism and the primacy of the nobility is the idea that the government can be ruled by chosen people, God's anointed, whom God has entrusted with the management. Noble people, exercising this function of managing and supervising the common people, pass it on to their children, as they are the same chosen ones. After all, the Lord also chose them, allowing them to be born into a noble and noble family.
By the way, to know in differentcountries of Europe and Russia was determined on different grounds. It was military prowess, the ability to faithfully serve one's monarch, material we alth, and so on. The monetary aristocracy gradually supplanted all the rest and by the beginning of the era of capitalist relations began to be valued more than all kinds of titles of nobility.
Noble person in Russia of the 19th century
Who are they, noble people of the 19th century? The Russian nobility was divided into two main classes: personal and hereditary. It was the second that represented the nobility of that time. This included all the well-known aristocratic families of Russia, some of which traced their history from Rurik (the old boyars), and some from the chicks of Peter the Great (the nobility proper).
Even at the beginning of the 18th century, these two elite groups were opposed to each other. Peter the Great relied on the nobility as a service system, but he contrasted it with the old Russian boyars, lazy and mired in squabbles and dividing property. However, everything has changed since the reign of Catherine the Great, who, having ascended the throne, granted freedom to the entire noble class of Russia, freeing them from compulsory service to the state. Since then, a new stage in the history of the Russian nobility began, which ended with the tragic events of February and October 1917.
Noble families of Russia of the 19th century
Noble people of Russia entered the 19th century, representing only 1.2% of the total population of the empire. These were representatives of various genera, which can be divided intomultiple groups.
- Pillar ancient nobility is the oldest stratum of noble people. It included the descendants of Rurik and the Grand Dukes, as well as the heirs of the Golden Horde military leaders who switched to Russian service. The names and surnames of these people were recorded in special books - columns, hence the origin of the name.
- Noble people who had titles. This part of the aristocracy could boast of princely, county, baronial titles bestowed on their ancestors for special services to the country and the sovereign.
- Hereditary nobles who gained nobility due to their ancestors obtaining a special patent, military merit or success in civil service.
- Foreign nobility, which included representatives of the aristocracy of the states and regions annexed to Russia (Georgia, Ossetia, Armenia, etc.).
- Personal nobles who have received status for special merit, but are unable to pass it on to their heirs.
Advantages enjoyed by a nobleman
What property did noble people own? What could they afford? More A. S. Pushkin wrote that among the main advantages of noble people in Russia was the right to property and special freedom. In addition, noble people could afford to own numerous property of the following nature:
- estates and villages inhabited by serf souls (it was forbidden to kill serfs at the will of the owner, and also to sell them separately from their village);
- houses in cities andother real estate.
In addition, for privileged people, the procedure for commercial activities was greatly facilitated, they could receive higher education, were exempted from military service (until 1874), and if they wanted to serve, they entered the service already as officers (unlike ordinary people, pulling the strap of soldiery for 25 years), etc. Thus, as we can see, the nobility of origin until a certain time in our country, and throughout the world, meant a lot. A person of noble birth surpassed his peers from simpler classes and received in life those benefits that ordinary people could only dream of.
