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The Social Role Of The Nobility Changed From ' Those Who Fight And The Poor ' Essay

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This essay proposes that across Europe between 1550 and 1800 the social role of the nobility changed from “those who fight’ to a broader role where political, professional and economic power had more significance. It will explore the parts of a noble’s role that continued and those that changed over the period. The essay is supported by primary source material such as contemporaneous writing, pictorial evidence of buildings and art and will draw on secondary source material taken from course work and independent study to indicate how this evolved elite used style and culture to portray an images of themselves that reflected the social changes in noble lifestyle. Charles Loyseau (1564-1627) in 1610 described three social orders they were: “those who pray, those who fight and the poor”. However Deborah Brunton expands Loyseau’s simplistic view (Brunton.D, 2016 p.22), by suggesting additional social layers, proposing that a nobles dominated the social order in the 16th century by owning much of the land and wealth, however by the 18th century, wealthy merchants and bankers from the lower orders joined the elite. This new type of nobility provided a more diverse and broader range of political influence with the monarchy and government. Historians have engaged in debate regarding the metamorphosis of the nobility from landowners who fought when required to do so by their ruler, into the educated, political advisors and administrators of the crown. For

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