Patricianship, the quality of belonging to apatriciate, began in the ancient world, where cities such asAncient Rome had asocial class ofpatrician families, whose members were initially the only people allowed to exercise many political functions. In the rise ofEuropean towns in the 12th and 13th centuries, the patriciate, a limited group of families with a special constitutional position, inHenri Pirenne's view,[3] was the motive force. In 19th centuryCentral Europe, the term had become synonymous with the upperBourgeoisie and cannot be interchanged with themedieval patriciate in Central Europe. In themaritime republics of theItalian Peninsula as well as inGerman-speaking parts of Europe, the patricians were as a matter of fact the ruling body of the medieval town. Particularly in Italy, they became part of thenobility and it became a noble title.
With the establishment of the medieval towns,Italian city-states and maritime republics, the patriciate was a formally defined social class of governing wealthy families. They were found in the Italian city-states and maritime republics, particularly inVenice,Genoa,Pisa andAmalfi. They were also found in many of thefree imperial cities of theHoly Roman Empire, such asNuremberg,Ravensburg,Augsburg,Konstanz,Lindau,Bern,Basel,Zürich,St. Gallen and many more.
As in Ancient Rome, patrician status could generally only be inherited. However, membership in the patriciate could be passed on through thefemale line.[citation needed] For example, if the union was approved by her parents, the husband of a patrician daughter was granted membership in the patrician societyZum Sünfzen [de] of theImperial Free City of Lindau as a matter of right, on the same terms as the younger son of a patrician male (i.e., upon payment of a nominal fee), even if the husband was otherwise deemed socially ineligible.[citation needed] Accession to a patriciate through this mechanism was referred to as "erweibern."[4][clarification needed]
In any case, only male patricians could hold, or participate in elections for, most political offices. Often, as in Venice, non-patricians had almost no political rights. Lists were maintained of who had the status, of which the most famous is theLibro d'Oro (Golden Book) of the Venetian Republic.
From the fall of theHohenstaufen (1268), city-republics increasingly became principalities, like theDuchy of Milan and theLordship of Verona. The smaller ones were swallowed up by monarchical states or sometimes other republics, like Pisa and Siena by Florence. Following these developments, any special role for the local patricians was restricted to municipal affairs.
The few remaining patrician constitutions, notably those of Venice and Genoa, were swept away by the conquering French armies of the period after theFrench Revolution, although many patrician families remained socially and politically important, as some do to this day.
In the modern era the term "patrician" is also used broadly for the higherbourgeoisie (not to be equated with aristocracy) in many countries; in some countries it vaguely refers to the non-noble upper class, especially before the 20th century.[5]
There was an intermediate period under the Late Roman Empire andByzantine Empire when the title was given to governors in the Western parts of the Empire, such asSicily—Stilicho,Aetius and other 5th-centurymagistri militari usefully exemplify the role and scope of thepatricius at this point. Later the role, like that of theGiudicati ofSardinia, acquired a judicial overtone, and was used by rulers who were oftende facto independent of Imperial control, likeAlberic II of Spoleto, "Patrician of Rome" from 932 to 954.
In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Byzantine emperors strategically used the title ofpatrikios to gain the support of the native princes ofsouthern Italy in the contest with theCarolingian Empire for control of the region. The allegiance of thePrincipality of Salerno was bought in 887 by investingPrince Guaimar I, and again in 955 fromGisulf I. In 909 thePrince of Benevento,Landulf I, personally sought and received the title in Constantinople for both himself and his brother,Atenulf II. In forging the alliance that won theBattle of the Garigliano in 915, the ByzantinestrategosNicholas Picingli granted the title toJohn I andDocibilis II of Gaeta andGregory IV andJohn II of Naples.
At this time there was usually only one "Patrician" for a particular city or territory at a time; in several cities in Sicily, likeCatania andMessina, a one-man office of patrician was part of municipal government for much longer.Amalfi was ruled bya series of Patricians,the last of whom was elected Duke.
Though often mistakenly so described, patrician families of Italian cities were not in their origins members of the territorialnobility, but members of the minor landowners, the bailiffs and stewards of the lords and bishops, against whose residual powers they led the struggles in establishing the urbancommunes. AtGenoa the earliest records of trading partnerships are in documents of the early 11th century; there the typical sleeping partner is a member of the localpetty nobility with some capital to invest, and in the expansion of trade leading roles were taken by men who already held profitable positions in the feudal order, who received revenues from rents or customs tolls or market dues. Then in the 12th and 13th centuries, to this first patrician class were added the families who had risen through trade, theDoria, Cigala and Lercari.[6] InMilan, the earliest consuls were chosen from among thevalvasores,capitanei andcives. H. Sapori found the first patriaciates of Italian towns to usurp the public and financial functions of the overlord to have been drawn from such pettyvassals, holders of heritable tenancies and rentiers who farmed out the agricultural labours of their holdings.[7]
At a certain point it was necessary to obtain recognition of the independence of the city, and often its constitution, from either the Pope or theHoly Roman Emperor - "free" cities in the Empire continued to owe allegiance to the Emperor, but without any intermediate rulers.
In the late Middle Ages and early modern period patricians also acquired noble titles, sometimes simply by acquiring domains in the surroundingcontado that carried a heritablefief. However, in practice the status and wealth of the patrician families of the great republics was higher than that of most nobles, asmoney economy spread and the profitability and prerogatives of land-holding eroded, and they were accepted as of similar status. The Republic of Genoa had a separate class, much smaller, of nobility, originating with rural magnates who joined their interests with the fledgling city-state. Some cities, such asNaples andRome, which had never been republics in post-Classical times, also had patrician classes, though most holders also had noble titles. TheRepublic of Ragusa was ruled by a strict patriciate that was formally established in 1332, which was subsequently modified only once, following the1667 Dubrovnik earthquake.
Subsequently, "patrician" became a vaguer term used foraristocrats and elitebourgeoisie in many countries.
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In some Italian cities an early patriciate drawn from the minor nobles and feudal officials took a direct interest in trade, notably the textile trade and the long-distance trade in spices and luxuries as it expanded, and were transformed in the process. In others, the inflexibility of the patriciate would build up powerful forces excluded from its ranks, and in an urban coup the great mercantile interests would overthrow thegrandi, without overthrowing the urban order, but simply filling its formal bodies with members drawn from the new ranks, or rewriting the constitution to allow more power to the "populo". Florence, in 1244, came rather late in the peak period of these transformations, which was between 1197, whenLucca followed this route, and 1257, when Genoa adopted similar changes.[9] However Florence was to have other upheavals, reducing the power of the patrician class, in the movement leading to theOrdinances of Justice in 1293, and theRevolt of the Ciompi in 1378.
Of the major republics, onlyVenice managed to retain an exclusively patrician government, which survived untilNapoleon. In Venice, where the exclusive patriciate reserved to itself all power of directing theSerenissima Repubblica and erected legal barriers to protect the state increased its scrutiny over the composition of its patriciate in the generation after theBattle of Chioggia. Venetians with a disputed claim to the patriciate were required to present to theavogadori di comun established to adjudicate such claims a genealogy called aprova di nobiltà, a "test of nobility". This was particularly required of Venetian colonial elite in outlying regions of theVenetian thalassocracy, as inCrete, a key Venetian colony 1211–1669, and a frontier between Venetian and Byzantine, then Ottoman, zones of power. For Venetians in Venice, theprova di nobiltà was simply apro forma rite of passage to adulthood, attested by family and neighbours; for the colonial Venetian elite in Crete the political and economic privileges weighed with the social ones, and for the Republic, a local patriciate in Crete with loyalty ties to Venice expressed through connective lineages was of paramount importance.[10]
Active recruitment of rich new blood was also a character of some more flexible patriciates, which drew in members of the mercantile elite, throughad hoc partnerships in ventures, which became more permanently cemented by marriage alliances. "In such cases an upper group, part feudal-aristocratic, part mercantile would arise, a group of mixed nature like the 'magnates' ofBologna, formed of nobles madebourgeois by business, andbourgeois ennobled by city decree, both fused together in law."[11] Others, like Venice, tightly restricted membership, which was closed in 1297, though some families, the "case nuove" or "new houses" were allowed to join in the 14th century, after which membership was frozen.
Beginning in the 11th century, a privileged class which much later came to be calledPatrizier[12] formed in the German-speaking freeimperial cities. Besides wealthy merchantGrand Burghers (German:Großbürger), they were recruited from the ranks ofimperial knights, administrators andministeriales; the latter two groups were accepted even when they were not freemen.
Members of a patrician society entered into oaths of loyalty to one another and directly with respect to theHoly Roman Emperor.
German medieval patricians, Patrician (post-Roman Europe) did not refer to themselves as such. Instead, they organized themselves into closed societies (i.e., Gesellschaften)[citation needed] and would point to their belonging to certain families or "houses" (i.e., Geschlechter), as documented for Imperial Free Cities ofCologne,Frankfurt am Main,Nuremberg[citation needed]. TheDance Statute of 1521 is an example of such closed identification. The use of the wordPatrizier to refer to the most privileged segment of urban society dates back not to the Middle Ages but to the Renaissance. In 1516 the Nuremberg councillor and jurist Christoph Scheuerl (1481–1542) was commissioned by Johann Staupitz, the vicar general of theorder of St. Augustine, to draft a précis of the Nuremberg constitution, presented on 15 December 1516 in the form of a letter. Because the letter was composed in Latin, Scheuerl referred to the Nuremberg "houses" as "patricii", making ready use of the obvious analogy to the constitution of ancient Rome. His contemporaries soon turned this into the loan wordsPatriziat andPatrizier for patricianship and patricians. However, this usage did not become common until the 17th and 18th centuries.
ThePatrizier filled the seats of town councils and appropriated other important civic offices to themselves. For this purpose they assembled in patrician societies and asserted a hereditary claim to the coveted offices. In Frankfurt the Patrizier societies began to bar admittance of new families in the second half of the 16th century. The industriousCalvinist refugees from the southern Netherlands made substantial contributions to the city's commerce. But their advancement was largely limited to the material sphere. At the time this was summed up as
TheRoman Catholics have the churches, theLutherans have the power, and theCalvinists have the money.[13]
Jews were in any case never even considered for membership in patricians' societies. Unlike non-Lutheran Christians and until their partial emancipation brought on byNapoleonic occupation, however, other avenues to advancement in society were also closed to them.
As in the Italian republics, this was opposed by the craftsmen who were organized in guilds of their own (Zünfte). In the 13th century they began to challenge the prerogatives of the patricians and their guilds. Most of the time the guilds succeeded in achieving representation on a town's council. However, these gains were reversed in most Imperial Free Cities through the reforms in 1551–1553 byEmperor Charles V (of the Holy Roman Empire, 1519–1556) and patricians consolidated their exclusive right to city counsel seats and associated offices, making the patriciate the only families eligible for election to the city council.
During the formative years of a patricianjunker, it was common to pursue international apprenticeships and academic qualification. During their careers patricians often achieved high military and civil service positions in the service of their cities and the emperor. It was also common for patricians to gain wealth as shareholders of corporations which traded commodities across Europe.
In the territories of the former Holy Roman Empire, patricians were considered the equal of the feudal nobility (the "landed gentry").[14] Indeed, many patrician societies such as the Suenfzen of Lindau, referred to their members as "noble" and themselves as a "noble" or even "high noble" societies. Some patrician societies such as that of Bern, officially granted their members the right to use noble predicates whereas other patricians chose to use the noble predicate "von" in connection with their original name or a country estate, see e.g., the Lindau patrician families Heider von Gitzenweiler (also von Heider), Funk von Senftenau, Seutter von Loetzen (also von Seutter), Halder von Moellenberg (also von Halder), Curtabatt (also von Curtabat or de Curtabat). In 1696 and 1697 Emperor Leopold affirmed the noble quality (i.e., ebenburtigkeit") of Nuremberg Patrizier and their right to elevate new families to their society.[14]
Notwithstanding that membership in a patrician society (or eligibility there for, i.e., "Ratsfähigkeit") wasper se evidence of belonging to the highest of social classes of the Holy Roman Empire, patricians always had the option to have their noble status confirmed by apatent of nobility from the Holy Roman Emperor which was granted as a matter course upon the payment of fee.[15] In any case, when travelling to other parts of Europe for example to the court ofLouis XIV, members of the patrician societies of imperial free cities were recognized as noble courtiers as documented in the autobiography of LindauSuenfzenjunker RudolfCurtabatt.[16]
The Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist in 1806. Although not the arbiter of who belongs to the historical German patriciate, the modernGenealogisches Handbuch des Adels (=Genealogical Handbook of Nobility) following appropriate review by the fourth chamber of the GermanAdelsrechtsausschuß [de] or Noble Law Committee, will include families even without a title of nobility affirmed by the Emperor, when there is proof that their progenitors belonged to hereditary "council houses" in German imperial cities. To the extent patricians and their descendants chose to avail themselves of a noble predicate after 1806 and, therefore, without imperial affirmation, such titles and predicates would also be accepted by the German Adelsrechtsausschuß if acquired through a legal mechanism akin toadverse possession, i.e.,Ersitzung.[17]
In any case, in the Netherlands (see below) and many Hanseatic cities such asHamburg, patricians scoffed at the notion of ennoblement[citation needed]. Indeed,Johann Christian Senckenberg, the famous naturalist, commented, "An honest man is worth more than all the nobility and all the Barons. If anyone were to make me aBaron, I would call him a [female canine organ] or equally well a Baron. This is how much I care for any title."[18]
In 1816, Frankfurt's new constitution abolished the privilege of heritable office for the patricians.[19] In Nuremberg, successive reforms first curtailed the patricians privileges (1794) and then effectively abolished them (1808), although they retained some vestiges of power until 1848.
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TheNetherlands also has a patriciate. These are registered inNederland's Patriciaat, colloquially calledThe Blue Book (seeList of Dutch patrician families). To be eligible for entry, families must have played an active and important role inDutchsociety, fulfilling high positions in thegovernment, in prestigious commissions and in other prominent public posts for over six generations or 150 years.
The longer a family has been listed in the Blue Book, the higher its esteem. The earliest entries are often families seen as co-equal to the lowernobility (Jonkheers,knights andbarons), because they are the younger branches of the same family or have continuously married members of theDutch nobility over a long period of time.
There are "regentenfamilies", whose forefathers were active in the administration of town councils, counties or the country itself during theDutch Republic. Some of these families declined ennoblement because they did not keep atitle in such high regard. At the end of the 19th century, they still proudly called themselves "patriciërs". Other families belong to the patriciate because they are held in the same regard and respect as thenobility but for certain reasons never were ennobled. Even within the same important families there can be branches with and without noble titles.
InDenmark andNorway, the term "patriciate" came to denote, mainly from the 19th century, the non-noble upper class, including thebourgeoisie, theclergy, thecivil servants and generally members of elite professions such as lawyers. The Danish seriesDanske Patriciske Slægter (laterPatriciske Slægter andDanske patricierslægter) was published in six volumes between 1891 and 1979 and extensively described Danish patrician families.[20][21][22] The term was used similarly in Norway from the 19th century, based on the Danish model; notablyHenrik Ibsen described his own family background as patrician.[23] Jørgen Haave defines the patriciate in the Norwegian context as a broad collective term for the civil servants (embetsmenn) and theburghers in the cities who were often merchants or ship's captains, i.e. the non-noble upper class.[23] The bourgeoisie frequently intermarried with the families of higher civil servants and the nobility; the boundaries between the groups were not sharp.
WhileSwitzerland was part of theHoly Roman Empire patricianship developed as per the otherfree imperial cities of theHoly Roman Empire, creating an aristocratic-like closed ruling class. It was composed by both noble and upperbourgeoisie families. After Switzerland officially seceded from theHoly Roman Empire in 1648, the wealthy urban cantons were politically dominant, and were in turn governed by thepatricians of the Old Swiss Confederacy until the "Gracious Lords" were overthrown by the Helvetic Republic and finally by the liberal revolutions of the 1830s and 1840s. However, they were still able to maintain political and economic influence, especially in the cities. As in the German imperial cities, the patricians of these republics often became aristocrats at an early stage; thus, one speaks of "urban aristocracies" at the apex of the so-called "aristocratic republics."[24]
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