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Amagnate[1] is a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities inWestern Christian countries since the medieval period. It also includes the members of the higher clergy, such asbishops,archbishops andcardinals. In reference to themedieval, the term is often used to distinguish higher territoriallandowners andwarlords, such ascounts,earls,dukes, and territorial-princes from thebaronage. In Poland theszlachta (nobles) constituted one of the largest proportions of the population (around 10-12%) and 'magnat' refers to the richest nobles, or nobles of the nobility - even though they had equal voting rights in Poland's electoral monarchy.
InEngland, the magnate class went through a change in the later Middle Ages. It had previously consisted of alltenants-in-chief of the crown, a group of more than a hundred families. The emergence ofParliament led to the establishment of a parliamentary peerage that received personal summons, rarely more than sixty families.[2] A similar class in theGaelic world were theFlatha. In the Middle Ages, abishop sometimes held territory as a magnate, collecting the revenue of themanors and the associatedknights' fees.[citation needed]
Magnates were asocial class of wealthy and influentialnobility in theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland andGrand Duchy of Lithuania, and later thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Velikaš is the Serbo-Croatian word for 'magnate', derived from veliko ('great, large, grand'). It was used to refer to the highest nobility of Serbia in the Middle Ages and Croatia in the Middle Ages.
In Spain, since the late Middle Ages, the highest class of nobility hold the appellation ofGrandee of Spain and was known earlier asricohombres.
In Sweden, the wealthiest medieval lords were known asstorman (pluralstormän), "great men", a similar description and meaning as the English term magnate, see "Swedish nobility" for more.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Magnate".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.