{{Short description|Document confirming nobility}} [[File:Patent of Nobility for Johann Theodor von Waldkirch.jpg|thumb|Patent of nobility, an [[illuminated manuscript]] with the assigned [[coat of arms]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire|imperial]] seal (Wappen der Grafen von Waldkirch, 1792)]] The '''patent of nobility''', also '''letters of nobility''' (always {{pl.}}), or '''diploma of nobility''' documented the legal act of [[ennoblement]] (granting rights of a [[nobleman]] to a "new man" and his family). The ennoblement was an event of ultimate importance in a [[feudal society]].{{sfn | Kiliańczyk-Zięba | 2019 | p=85}}
The preparation of diploma of nobility was usually done at the expense of a future noble, so his wealth and sense of aesthetics influenced the grandeur and appearance of the document. The patent was kept in the family archives, and practicality dictated registering it in the central archive, with the seal applied.{{sfn | Kiliańczyk-Zięba | 2019 | pp=85-86}}
The patents were created as an instrument of a central power to be used against the [[Landed aristocracy|landed]] [[hereditary aristocracy]]. The first European patent was issued by [[Philip III of France]] in the early 1270s to a commoner silversmith.{{sfn | C. Griffin & Company | 1866 | p=249}}{{sfn | Montgomery | 1903 | p=2}} While the rules for granting the patents were established by the son of Philip III, [[Philip IV of France]], these were "far from irreversible", and the clear picture of French nobility as the men either able to claim the [[knightly descent]] or holding the patent only emerged by the second half of the 14th century.{{sfn | McKitterick | Abulafia | 1995 | p=15}}
The oldest diploma of nobility in Germany was granted in 1360 by [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor]], to his [[court chaplain]], {{ill|Wicker Frosch|de}}.{{sfn | Gritzner | 1912 | p=78}}
"Old" nobility tried to distance themselves from the holders of newly acquired patents. In Germany and Austria, for example, "the patent was a ticket of entry, not a membership card": multiple decades should have passed after ennoblement before the "ancient nobility" with roots predating the patent system (so called ''[[uradel]]''), would consider socially accepting and intermarrying the newcomers, the ''[[briefadel]]''. At an extreme, in the 19th century Austrian "old" aristocracy did not mingle with briefadel at all, this was helped by the former group's general disinterest in the day-to-day running of the country.{{sfn | Sagarra | 2017 | p=187}}
Practice of granting the patents of nobility continues in the 21st century. For example, the [[King of Belgium]] awards the nobility titles on a regular basis.<ref>{{cite web |title=King Philippe of Belgium awards ten titles of nobility and honorary decorations |url=https://www.brusselstimes.com/259278/king-philippe-of-belgium-awards-ten-titles-of-nobility-and-honorary-decorations |website=[[The Brussels Times]] |access-date=21 July 2024 |date=20 July 2022}}</ref> [[File:Lord Horatio Kitchener Q68901.jpg|thumb|1914 letters patent in the name of [[George V]] creating for [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Horatio Kitchener]] the titles Earl Kitchener, Viscount Broome, and Baron Denham]] A [[Peerage of the United Kingdom]] is created [[Letters patent (United Kingdom)#Peerage and baronetage|by letters patent]] sealed in green wax with the [[Great Seal of the Realm]].<ref>[https://www.royal.uk/great-seal-realm Great Seal of the Realm] royal.uk</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite journal | last=Kiliańczyk-Zięba | first=Justyna | title=On the Diploma of Nobility of Jan Januszowski and a Portrait of a Renaissance Printer | journal=Terminus | volume=21 | issue=Special Issue 1 | date=2019 | doi=10.4467/20843844TE.19.027.11288 | pages=81–105| doi-access=free }} * {{cite book | last=Sagarra | first=E. | title=A Social History of Germany, 1648-1914 | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-351-53452-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3FYPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187 | access-date=2024-07-21}} * {{cite book | title=The Book of Dates; Or, Treasury of Universal Reference: ... New and Revised Edition | publisher=C. Griffin & Company | year=1866 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vxJXAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA249 | ref={{sfnref | C. Griffin & Company | 1866}} | access-date=2024-07-21}} * {{cite book | last=Montgomery | first=D.H. | title=The Leading Facts of French History | publisher=Ginn | series=The leading facts of history series | year=1903 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JjwvAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR2 | access-date=2024-07-21}} * {{cite book | editor-last=Meister | editor-first=A. | last=Gritzner | first = Erich | title=Grundriss der geschichtswissenschaft: zur einführung in das studium der deutschen geschichte des mittelalters und der neuzeit, herausgegeben | publisher=B. G. Teubner | year=1912 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dcaK3ZmO4H0C&pg=PA78 | language=de | access-date=2024-07-21 | chapter = Heraldik}} * {{cite book | last=McKitterick | first=R. | last2=Abulafia | first2=D. | title=The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 5, C.1198-c.1300 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | series=Cambridge histories online | year=1995 | isbn=978-0-521-36289-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bclfdU_2lesC&pg=PA15 | access-date=2024-07-21}}
== External links == * {{cite web |last1=Neary |first1=Elizabeth A. |title=Spanish Golden Age Nobility Documents |url=https://dcc.newberry.org/?p=21226 |website=Digital Collections for the Classroom |publisher=The Newberry |access-date=21 July 2024}} * [[:s:la:Diploma Nobilitatis Andrea Falquet|Patent of nobility]] of [[André Falquet]] (1725) on Wikisource
[[Category:Nobility]]
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