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meant, in simple terms, that someone was a member of an ancient, dynastic aristocratic line. Free noble families were independent of legal obligations of a secondary nature, and they were not subordinated to any other families or dynasties, apart from the king or emperor. The modern concept of
172:
were dependent on the protection and support of a powerful secular or ecclesiastical lord. And vice versa: a dependent relationship existed, in that larger territories could only be secured and managed with the aid of loyal vassals.
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now arose rapidly. These officials, who were mostly unfree in their origins, managed within a century to elevate themselves to the lesser nobility. The differences between
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attained high positions in the courts of their lords, and vassal service was often very lucrative. Especially at the time of territorial expansion and the emergence of a
133:, since the former term's scope is much broader: all families that can prove they belonged to the knightly aristocracy by no later than around 1400 (whether originally
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160:; these families are commonly referred to in the literature as "originally edelfrei". This submission did not always happen under duress. Many
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social hierarchy, and whose atonement reparation value was the standard "Weregild" (Wergeld) amount set according to regional laws. In the
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and the old aristocratic families began increasingly to blur. For many aristocratic families that were originally
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66:. This distinguished them from those other free men or free knights who came from the
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58:" (Wergeld) value from a guilty person or party. Such knights were known as
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43:
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during the course of the 12th century, in contrast to the so-called
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there is therefore no reliable evidence of their dynastic origins.
39:") was originally used to designate and distinguish those
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4. Auflage. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1987,
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families submitted themselves during the course of the
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97:, most of whom were originally unfree knights or
50:social hierarchy), who were legally entitled to
180:families was limited. A new social order, the
8:
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211:
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129:) must not be confused with the term
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14:
243:Nobility of the Holy Roman Empire
54:reparation of three times their "
1:
46:from the Second Estate (see
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145:, i.e., the aristocracy.
141:) are counted today as
74:, the "high nobility" (
48:Estates of the realm
16:Distinguishable term
87:) emerged from the
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72:Holy Roman Empire
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166:monetary economy
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176:The number of
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125:aristocracy (
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154:Middle Ages
115:Middle Ages
103: [
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37:free knight
201:References
100:Dienstadel
77:Hoher Adel
33:free noble
178:edelfreie
170:Edelfreie
89:Edelfreie
60:Edelfreie
52:atonement
19:The term
237:Category
227:, p. 56.
192:edelfrei
150:edelfrei
135:edelfrei
131:edelfrei
122:hochfrei
118:edelfrei
64:Edelinge
56:Weregild
44:noblemen
41:Germanic
28:hochfrei
22:edelfrei
168:, many
162:vassals
113:In the
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143:Uradel
127:Uradel
35:" or "
148:Many
107:]
84:]
221:ISBN
137:or
120:or
62:or
25:or
239::
208:^
110:.
105:de
82:de
31:("
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