Gentleman
A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man; abbreviated ''gent.'') is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the rank of ''gentleman'' comprised the younger sons of the younger sons of peers, and the younger sons of a baronet, a knight, and an esquire, in perpetual succession. As such, the connotation of the term ''gentleman'' captures the common denominator of gentility (and often a coat of arms); a right shared by the peerage and the gentry, the constituent classes of the British nobility.Thus, the English social category of ''gentleman'' corresponds to the French ''gentilhomme'' (nobleman), which in Great Britain meant a member of the peerage of England. In that context, the historian Maurice Keen said that the social category of gentleman is "the nearest, contemporary English equivalent of the ''noblesse'' of France." In the 14th century, the term ''gentlemen'' comprised the hereditary ruling class, which is whom the rebels of the Peasants' Revolt (1381) meant when they repeated:
In the 17th century, in ''Titles of Honour'' (1614), the jurist John Selden said that the title ''gentleman'' likewise speaks of "our English use of it" as convertible with ''nobilis'' (nobility by rank or personal quality) and describes the forms of a man's elevation to the nobility in European monarchies. In the 19th century, James Henry Lawrence explained and discussed the concepts, particulars, and functions of social rank in a monarchy, in the book ''On the Nobility of the British Gentry, or the Political Ranks and Dignities of the British Empire, Compared with those on the Continent'' (1827). Provided by Wikipedia
Showing 1 - 20 results of 1,376 for search 'Gentleman', query time: 0.13s
Refine Results
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
-
6
-
7
-
8
-
9
-
10
-
11
-
12
-
13
-
14
-
15
-
16
-
17
-
18
-
19
-
20
Search Tools:
RSS Feed
–
Email Search
Related Subjects
History
Politics and government
Description and travel
Agriculture
Economic conditions
English poetry
Commerce
Foreign relations
Church and state
Early works to 1800
Prerogative, Royal
History, Military
Sources
Catholics
Poor
Social life and customs
Conduct of life
Kings and rulers
Livestock
Social conditions
Campaigns
Commercial policy
Fisheries
Law and legislation
Nonjurors
Slavery
Animal Husbandry
Church history
Controversial literature
Coronation