aristocracy

(noun)

The nobility, or the hereditary ruling class.

Related Terms

  • peasants
  • artisans
  • divination
  • shamanism

Examples of aristocracy in the following topics:

  • The Rise of the Nobility

    • Despite some attempts to weaken the position of the nobility, Louis XV met with avid resistance and largely failed to reform the system that privileged the aristocracy.
    • Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating a centralized state governed from Paris, sought to eliminate remnants of feudalism in France, and subjugated and weakened the aristocracy.
    • Only towards the close of his reign, under extreme stress of war, was he able, for the first time in French history, to impose direct taxes on the aristocracy.
    • The old military aristocracy ("the nobility of the sword") ceased to have a monopoly over senior military positions and rank.
    • Although Louis XV attempted to continue his predecessor's efforts to weaken the aristocracy, he failed to establish himself as an absolute monarch of Louis XIV's stature.
  • The Sun-King and Authoritarianism

    • Only towards the close of his reign, under extreme stress of war, was Louis able, for the first time in French history, to impose direct taxes on the aristocracy.
    • The old military aristocracy ceased to have a monopoly over senior military positions and rank.
    • Louis also attached nobles to his court at Versailles and thus achieved increased control over the French aristocracy.
    • Louis thus compelled and seduced the old military aristocracy (the "nobility of the sword") into becoming his ceremonial courtiers, further weakening their power.
    • In their place, he raised commoners or the more recently ennobled bureaucratic aristocracy as presumably easier to control.
  • Society Under the Shang Dynasty

    • The aristocracy were centered around Anyang, the Shang capital, and conducted governmental affairs for the surrounding areas.
  • Mary Wollstonecraft

    • Published in response to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), which was a defense of constitutional monarchy, aristocracy, and the Church of England, and an attack on Wollstonecraft's friend, Richard Price, Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) attacks aristocracy and advocates republicanism.
    • It encourages modesty and industry in its readers and attacks the uselessness of the aristocracy.
  • Crises of the Republic

    • Though the causes and attributes of individual crises varied throughout the decades, an underlying theme of conflict between the aristocracy and ordinary citizens drove the majority of actions.
    • In particular, they were concerned with the rise of individual generals who, backed by the tribunate, the assemblies, and their own soldiers, could shift power from the Senate and aristocracy.
    • Many members of this faction were so classified because they used the backing of the aristocracy and the Senate to achieve personal goals, not necessarily because they favored the aristocracy over the lower classes.
  • Roman Society Under the Republic

    • Ultimately, a new patricio-plebeian aristocracy emerged and replaced the old patrician nobility.
    • Whereas the old patrician nobility existed simply on the basis of being able to run for office, the new aristocracy existed on the basis of affluence.
  • John Locke

    • In addition, he participated in drafting the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, which established a feudal aristocracy and gave a master absolute power over his slaves.
    • Because of his opposition to aristocracy and slavery in his major writings, some historians accuse Locke of hypocrisy and racism and point out that his idea of liberty is reserved to Europeans or even the European capitalist class only.
  • The Rise of Classical Greece

    • In addition to this, a series of laws codified by Draco in 621 BCE reinforced the power of the aristocracy over all other citizens.
    • A mediator called Solon reshaped the city-state by restructuring the way citizenship was defined in order to absorb the traditional aristocracy within it, established the right of every Athenian to participate in meetings of governing assemblies.
  • The Silo D'Oro

    • Spanish art, particularly that of Morales, contained a strong mark of mysticism and religion that was encouraged by the counter-reformation and the patronage of Spain's strongly Catholic monarchs and aristocracy.
    • Some have argued that as a social critic, Lope de Vega attacked, like Cervantes, many of the ancient institutions of his country - aristocracy, chivalry, and rigid morality, among others.
  • From German Princess to Russian Tsarina

    • Born to the family of impoverished German aristocracy, Catherine the Great's fate was decided when she was chosen to become wife of her second cousin, the prospective tsar Peter III, whom she eventually overthrew, becoming the Empress of Russia in 1762.
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