Noble Privilege: European Nobility (The European nobility) [Hardcover]

M. L. Bush (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: Holmes & Meier Pub; First Edition edition (December 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0841908737
• ISBN-13: 978-0841908734
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,194,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and very detailed study, November 15, 2001

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Noble Privilege: European Nobility (The European nobility) (Hardcover)

This amazingly thorough study investigates the aristocracy (which Bush uses as a synonym for "nobility") on the Continent as a class or order, with very little mention of individuals and their peculiarities or departures from the norm. His approach is synthetic with heavy reliance on secondary sources, but in that regard this multi-volume work has become the standard resource. The crux of noble privilege, he says, is that for the past thousand years it has been "not merely an expression of social superiority or of economic and political advantage" but "essentially a juridical fact." Such privilege existed not because of lax enforcement of the law but by explicit legal provision, and the special privileges of the nobility remained generally secure on the Continent until the French Revolution swept most of them away. Moreover, while titles and lands had long been the result of a contract between the aristocrat and the monarch, especially in France, by the 17th century the failure of a noble family to fulfill its obligations toward the ruler no longer resulted in demotion to the ranks. Beyond these general points, and following a discussion of the historical roots of the titled class, the author considers in great detail the nature and character of fiscal exemption and private taxation, judicial privileges and indemnity from state service, parliamentary and office-holding privileges, and the right to rank and title. All of these topics are heavily footnoted and Bush includes a very lengthy bibliography.