Nobles of the Sword
aristocrazia dell'Ancien Régime francese
The Nobles of the Sword (French: noblesse d'épée) were the noblemen of the oldest class of nobility in France dating from the Middle Ages and the early modern period, and arguably still in existence by descent. It was originally the knightly class whose members owed military service, usually to a king (to the King of France typically but in some cases to other monarchs such as the Plantagenet kings of England) in return for the possession of feudal landed estates in the king's realm. They played an important part during the French Revolution since their attempts to retain their old power monopoly caused the new nobility's interests to align with the newly arising French bourgeoisie class, creating a powerful force for change in French society in the late 18th century. For the year 1789, Gordon Wright gives a figure of 80,000 nobles.
Background
The term noblesse d'épée is largely synonymous with noblesse de race ("nobility of family") and noblesse ancienne ("old nobility"), and it is used in distinction from the other classes of the French nobility:
noblesse de chancellerie ("nobility of chancery") – those holding certain high offices under the king
noblesse de lettres ("nobility of letters") – those ennobled by the king's letters patent
noblesse de robe ("nobility of the robe") – those holding certain official positions, such as maître des requêtes, treasurer or president of a parlement
noblesse de cloche ("nobility of the bell") or noblesse échevinale ("nobility of the chain") – échevins (mayors) or prévôts des marchands (merchants' provosts) in certain important towns, including Paris, Angers, Angoulême, Bourges, Lyon, Toulouse, Perpignan, and Poitiers
noblesse militaire ("military nobility") – officers holding commissions in the army or navy who were not by descent members of the noblesse d'épée
As with the term "officer of the sword", the expression "nobles of the sword" derives from the right of such noblemen to bear a sword, which reflected their duty of knightly service to their feudal overlord.
In later centuries, a nobleman of the sword was not recognized as such unless his family had held this status for at least three generations. The nobility of the sword also provided non-military services to the king, holding positions in all branches of government.
However, from the Renaissance onwards, kings upset the old nobility by the creation of a new "nobility of the robe", the first such men coming into the nobility through their own merit, by being appointed to various judicial or administrative offices, and later members buying the offices which carried such status. This angered the nobles of the sword, who saw their own opportunities being lost to the bourgeoisie.
In the 17th century, the nobility of the sword began to demand that the new nobility of the robe be limited in its access to the court.
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