Probably, after watching a historical film or reading a work of fiction, you will have an interesting question: what is “patrician”? Or maybe your children will be asked this question. But do not be upset if you can not immediately give an answer. It is never too late to learn and learn something new, even with your children. From this article you will learn what a "patrician" is.
Brief terminology
The word has a Latin origin: from pater - father. It can be assigned two values:
- A person who belonged to the ancestral Roman clans, which in turn constituted the ruling class and held public lands. Applied to citizens living in ancient Rome.
- A person who belonged to a prosperous burgher clan. They played a dominant role in city government. Applied to citizens living in European cities in the Middle Ages.
We consider each of the interpretations separately.
Antique era
There is a problem in interpreting the origin of the patricians, which is due to the inconsistency of many sources based on research conducted at different times. Yes, and every historian was in his opinion, depending on what theory he supported. Contemporaries are still inclined to rely on the research of F. Engels, who evaluated the patricians precisely as the oldest population of Rome, who lived in a naturally formed clan organization. We will stop on this.
What is a "patrician"? The definition of this word was briefly described above, and now we will consider a more detailed interpretation of it. So, in ancient Rome, the patricians were originally called the indigenous population, that is, all people who were considered part of the clan community. Actually, they made up the Roman people, and they opposed the plebs.
Some time later, patriarchal families were separated from the clan community. After that, only aristocrats began to be called patricians, whose ancestors were once among the royal senate.
Further, only the ruling class, namely the estate of the Roman Republic, began to call patricians in Rome. This happened at the end of the 6th century BC. As before, they had the exclusive right to use public land.
Interestingly, after the plebeians were included in the Roman people, when they were equated with the rights of the patricians, nobility was formed. This happened by merging the top of the plebs and patriciate, and this event happened at the beginning of the III century BC.
Medieval europe
What is “patrician” in this case? In the Middle Ages, a clan estate was formed, which owned the financial, judicial and political-administrative power in free and imperial cities. It was called a patrician.
All its members, as a rule, had the right to be elected by senators, and also stood at the head of the most important city institutions and, in fact, made up the City Council. So, in this case, patricians called those who were representatives of the upper strata of the imperial city burghers, bureaucracy of the magistrates, merchant nobility. Representatives of other feudal estates, for example, the nobility and chivalry, which adopted the legal status of “burghers”, were also entitled to be called such.
In medieval Europe, the patricians profited from commercial-usurious activities.
Conclusion
Now you yourself know and will be able to answer your child the question of what “patricians” are. Although, perhaps it will be difficult for him to understand this. Patricians in ancient Rome could only become a clan, as, in fact, in medieval Europe. Also, someone could be awarded this title. And after death, a person lost his title. But there were times when this title was selected for any reason.