landed nobility
Estate-owning aristocrats
Landed nobility refers to aristocrats whose wealth and power derive from ownership of land rather than trade, profession, or royal appointment alone.
The land typically passed through generations, creating hereditary estates that sustained the family's social position.
The term distinguishes this traditional aristocracy from newer forms of wealth: The landed nobility viewed the merchant class with suspicion.
In many societies, the landed nobility held political power tied directly to their territories.
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
- gentryHighborn but not noble
- estatesLarge property holdings
- country estateLarge rural landholding residence
- manorLanded aristocratic residence
stately home · family seat · feudal · peerage · lords · lord of the manor · squire · tenants · tenant farmer · inheritance · titles · landowner · baronet · fiefdom · ancestral · primogeniture · privilege · hunting
- social classesupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, aristocrats
- PhanariotsConstantinople, Moldavia, Greek influence
landed nobilitypeasantry
Rural working class
merchant class · serfs · commoners · bourgeoisie · working class
landed nobilityserfs
Feudal bound laborers
peasants · tenant farmers · sharecroppers · villeins · landless peasants
landed nobilitycommon people
Non-elite members of society
meritocracy · elected representatives · republican government · the masses · subjects
land, lands, landing, landings, landless, landlord, landed, noble, nobles