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Theminor orpetty nobility is the lowernobility classes.
Petty nobility in Finland is dated at least back to the 13th century and was formed bynobles around their strategic interests. The idea was more capablepeasants with leader roles in the local community that were giventax exemption for taking care of services like guard duties of local strongholds. Cavalry service was not required from these petty noble families. Later on, many of these petty noble families gained full nobility ranking.
FinnishVehkalahti is particularly noted in literature for having been an example of such petty nobility (Finnish:knaappiaateli).
Theaznauri (აზნაური) were the untitled nobility of medieval and early modern Georgia, ranked below thedidebuli (grandees),eristavi (dukes),tavadi (princes), andmtavari (dynastic princes), with the rulingBagrationi dynasty being at the top. They were further divided into themamaseulni (მამსეულნი) and theaghzeebul aznauri (აღზეებულ აზნაურს), which were the respective equivalents of the Western Europeanuradel and brevet. By the 15th century, the aznauri were consideredkmani (ქმანი), or slaves of their feudal lords, whether secular or ecclesiastic. This strict stratification was codified by KingVakhtang VI ofKartli in the 18th century, which essentially revived theGeorgian feudal dynamics of the Middle Ages. Manyaznauri were quite poor and lived no better than peasants, but their status carried certain privileges and exemptions from obligations. In the 19th century, following theRussian annexation of Georgia, the status ofaznauri was equated to that of the (untitled)dvoryanstvo of Russia. At the time of annexation, approximately 5% of the total Georgian population belonged to the nobility in some form, including theaznauri.[1][2]
TheNiederer Adel that held legal privileges until 1918 greater than those enjoyed by commoners, but less than those enjoyed by theHochadel, were considered part of the lower nobility orNiederer Adel. Most were untitled, only making use of the particlevon in their surnames.
Common nobility (Hungarian: Köznemesség,Latin: Nobiles) is defined as any noble, with a lower title than abaron, while those of higher rank are called Arch-nobles (főúr or főnemes). Along withHigh priests, these were the three estates of the medieval estate societies. They evolved fromRoyal servants,Castle serfs, and Armal nobles (Hungarian: Armális nemes, means a noble possessing anarmális).[3][4]Ten-lanced nobles were technically also part of this group. Later, in the 14th–15th centuries many have become Affluent Landed nobles (Latin: nobiles benepossessionati) who usually had 4–10 villages. Thanks to the large number of people obtaining land and/or noble title if they have achieved military success, in the 18th century, the country was also known as the Country of the Many Nobles, since the proportion of nobility among Hungarians could reach 8% (compare to 0.5% in France).
Although the privileges of the nobles and agilis (a serf married to a noblewoman) were taken away in theRevolution of 1848, they played an important role in the country's history afterwards. The fact that politics and the intelligentsia were largely made up of common and arch- nobility until the first half of the 20th century, allowed the country to undergo a stableIndustrial Revolution. The Latin names are available because Latin was the language of legislation from thereign of Stephen I until theEra of Civil Reforms of Hungary. The gentry (Hungarian: Kisnemes) were part of this group but had small feudal manors (Jobbágytelek) later developed into the gentries of capitalist society. They usually only had 3 feudal manors. Their subcategories are:
They namehétszilvafás "having only seven plum trees" referred to impoverished nobles or armal nobles, signifying the size of their land and were considered to be below the gentry. They were also called bocskoros nemes, since the symbolic difference is that wealthy people wore boots, while poorer people wore a footwear calledbocskor.
While the wordközbírtok (Latin: compossessoratus) means the territory shared by the serfs,közbirtokos nemes refers to nobles who cultivate a territory together, without hierarchy. This type usually developed in the frontiers.
Due to the civic changes of the 19th century, they were either absorbed into the peasantry or the intellectual class. In the Habsburg era, their number was 125 000.
Someone above Petty nobility is called a Középnemes (Middle-noble). In Hungary, the civic transformation was led mainly by the liberal middle-nobility. The middle-nobles are defined as someone with 100–1000 holds (1Hungarian hold equals 3586,25 m²) of land.
The nobility (szlachta) of Poland included petty nobility known asdrobna szlachta. These were owners of a part of a village or owning no land at all, often referred to by a variety of Polish terms such as:
The nobility (vlastela) of Serbia in the Middle Ages is roughly divided into magnates (velikaši), nobility (vlastela) and petty noblemen (vlasteličići). Sometimes, the division is made betweenvlastela (including "great" and "small" ones) andvlasteličići.
Thevlasteličići (властеличићи) were the lower nobility class of Serbia.[6] It was a relatively numerous class of the small, warrior nobility, originating from thevojnici (warriors) from sources from the end of the 12th- and beginning of the 13th century.[7] They held villages, with full rights,[6] and insocioeconomic and legal terms stood below thevlastela.[8] They had military obligations, such as joining the army individually or with a group of men (soldiers), dependent on their wealth.[9]
