Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/689

* NOBEL. 589 NOBILITY. mips of Sweden, the tit'tli by the Nor«ef»i!in Stor- thing'. The lirst awarils were aiiiKJiinceil on Ueeeni- her 10, 1!K)1 : In ])liysies, to Willielni R«)ntgen,of Munich Liiiversity, (ierniany, discoverer of the K<)ntj,'en rays; in clieniistry, to .1. 11. Van 't Holl", of Berlin University, founder of a new system of stereo-eheniistry ; in ]iliysioloi;y and medicine, to Kniil iielirinj.', of Marlnir^' liiiversity, discoverer of anti-toxin for diphtheria; in liteia- ture, to Arnuuid Sully-I'nidhcjninie. of the French Academy, author of Jiinlirc (1878) and other poems, and Dc rexprcssum duns Ics ^^eaux•■ar^s (1884) and other prose works; in peace work, divided between Henri Dunant, prime mover of the (ieneva Convention, and Krcdcrie Passy, founder of the Universal Peace Union. NOBILITY (OP. nobililc, nohilitcd, Fr. no- biliti', from Lat. nohililds. nobility, from nohilis, noble, from noscere, to know; connected with Gk. yiypuxrKdv. fi!f/)wskein, Skt. ji'ia, to know, and ultimately with Eng. knoic). A class possessing by hereditary transmission social rank and priv- ileges, and often political privileges as well, greater than those belonging to the mass of the people, and aristocracy of birth or privilege. In the most primitive societies, when the stronger and abler men became chiefs of tribes or clans there was frequently a body of supporters who acquired prestige from the power of their leader. The ancient empires — Egj'pt, Babylonia, .ssyria — which had developed out of earlier tribal con- ditions, had a noble class, priests and warriors, surrounding and upholding the throne, except wlien the aristocracy became too strong and am- bitious and overthrew the despot who trampled on its privileges. In the empires acquired by con- quest the warriors who had shareil success for the conqueror became through his gratitude or his necessity a special caste, above the con- quered, and handed down to their descendants the privileges they had won. In more ailvanced stages of society wealth or political inlluencc have often purclmsed rank for their possessors, and in the highest civilization intellectual ability has been rewarded by hereditary rank. There was another type of nobility in ancient Athens and Rome, where a population early in posses- sion retained privileges above all other comers, forming at once parties and privileged orders in the State — the eupatrids and the patricians. Among the ancient Germanic tribes class dis- tinctions went back to the beginnings of the race, for at- our first knowledge of them they were divided into nobles, freemen, and slaves. The constant warfare of centuries had effaced these distinctions to a considerable extent at the time of the Germanic invasions. The nobility of the nations of modern Europe has its origin in till' feudal aristocracy. See Ff.I'dali.sm. The Krankish Kingdom in Gaul was divided into gnvernnicnts, cacli under the authority of a chieftain called a count or coiii'f<^:i designation derived from the roinm of the Roman Empire — I whose Teutonic equivalent was fiifif. an ollicial of the frown in the time of Charles the Great, I but acquiring in the later confusion hereditary rights. (See CorxT: Grak. ) A higher dignity and more extensive jurispnnlencc was conferred on the (I11.T or duke (q.v. ), a term also of Roman origin, and implying the duty of leading the armies of the country. In the Lombard Kingdom of Italy the same term was applied to the great oliicers who were intrusted with the militarv and civil administration of cities and their sur- rounding provinces. The marquis (q.v.) was the guardian of the frontier marches. (See JIarcii.) In the subinfeudations of the greater nobility originated a secondary sort of nobility, under the name of vavasours, castellans, and lesser barons; and a third order below them com- prised vassals, whose tenure, by the military obligation known in England as. a knight's ser- vice, ailmitted them within the ranks of the aristocracy. In France the allegiance of the lesser nobles to their intermediary lord long continued a reality; in England, on the other liand. William the Conqueror obliged not only his barons, who held in fief of the Crown, but their vassals also, to take an oath of fealty to himself; and his successors alto- gether abolished subinfeudation. (See BaroN; Kkigiit. ) In Continental Europe, the nobles, after the tenth century, assumed territorial names from their castles or the principal town or village on their demesne; hence tin? prefix dc, or its German equivalent run. still considered over a great part of the Continent as the cri- terion of nobility or gentility. In England, on the contrary, many of the most distinguished famil}' names of the aristocracy had no terri- torial origin. In the later Carol ingian Empire the powerful nobles encroached more and more on the royal authority; and in course of time many of them openly asserted an independence and sovereignty with little more than a nominal reservation of superim-ity to the King. By the end of the ninth century the Empire had been parceled into separate and independent princi- palities, under the dominion of ])owcrful nobles. During the entire history of the Holy Roman Empire the Crown never succeeded in vindicating its power against the feudal ]irinces. In France the royal authority gradiuUly revived under the Capetians. the great fiefs of the higher nobility being one by one absorbed by the Crown. In Eng- land the resistance of the nobles to roj'al en- croachments was the means of rearing the great fabric of constitutional liberty. All those who, after the Conquest, held in ctipite from William belonged to the nobility. Such of them as held by barony (the highest form of tenure) are enumerated in Domesda.y. Their dignity was territorial, not personal, having no existence apart from baronial possession. The comes was a baron of superior dignity and greater estates; and these were in England the only names of dignity till the time of Henry III. The rest of the landholders, who held by other tenures than baron.y, also belonged to the nobility or gentry'. After the introduction of heraldry, and its reduction to a system, the jiossession of a coat of arms was a recognized distinction between the noble and the plebeian. On the Continent the term noble still generally refers to those to whom or their ancestors arms have been granted. In England it is now more common to restrict the words noble and nobility to the five ranks of the peerage constitutina the greater nobility, and to the head of the family, to whom alone the title belongs. Gentility, in its more strict sense, corresponds to the nobility of Continental coun- tries. The higher nobility, or nobility in the exclu- sive sense, of England, consists of the five tem- poral ranks of the peerage — duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron (in the restricted significa-