French aristocrats, c. 1774
**Nobility** was the highest social class in pre-modern societies. In the feudal system (in Europe and elsewhere), the noble were mostly those who got land from the monarch and had to provide services to him, mainly military service. Men of this class were called noblemen. It soon became a hereditary class, sometimes with a right to bear a hereditary title and to have financial and other privileges in the estates of the realm. 

Today, in most countries, 'noble status' means no legal privileges; an important exception is the United Kingdom, where certain titles (titles of the peerage) guaranteed until recently a seat in the Upper House of Westminster Parliament (that is why it is called House of Lords) and still provide some other, less important privileges.

History
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Nobles were always recognized as lower families of the King/Queen. Nobles usually rule Duchies, Counties, and principalities. Nobles were usually given a "House", being of course a noble house. Nobles usually worked as advisors to the King, and land owners. Some families did not work at all because they were quite wealthy. But not all nobles were wealthy. Some were very poor. One of the richest claim to be noble families were the Medicis. The Medici's ruled Tuscany, Milan ect. The Medici's were pretty much common people, but they were richer than most monarchs at there time until there fall in the 1700's. 

Noble families had plenty of power depending on what land they ruled. The rich Duchy of Burgundy was a major power spot because of how big to Duchy was. Another power spot was the Duchy of Milan and the Duchy of Luxembourg. Some nobles had little to no power. Most nobles are given a title such as "lady-in-waiting," that is non hereditary.

Famous Noble Families
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* House of Boleyn
* House of Grey
* House of Bourbon
* House of Normandy
* House of Foix
* House of Hesse
* House of Nassu

Nobility by rank
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| Title | Male | Female |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Empire | Emperor | Empress |
| Kingdom | King | Queen |
| Grand Principality | Grand Prince | Grand Princess |
| Principality | Prince | Princess |
| Archduchy | Arch Duke | Arch Duchess |
| Grand Duchy | Grand Duke | Grand Duchess |
| Duchy | Duke | Duchess |
| Marquisate | Marquess | Marchioness |
| County/Earldom | Count/Earl | Countess |
| Viscounty | Viscount | Viscountess |
| Barony | Baron | Baroness |

Other websites
--------------

* The German nobility
* Old Noble Family Trees[*permanent dead link*]
* WW-Person Archived 2010-12-03 at the Wayback Machine, an on-line database of European noble genealogy
* Paul Theroff's *An Online Gotha* Archived 2006-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
* Genealogics, an extensive database of European nobles
* Worldroots, a selection of art and genealogy of European nobility
* RoyalArk- ruling houses in many non-European countries
* Web site on the Royalty, the Nobility, the History and the Patrimony Archived 2021-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
* The Armenian nobility[*permanent dead link*]
* The Maltese Nobility and its ilks.
* Italian dynastic genealogies (in Italian, with an introduction in English)
* Worldwidewords
* OneTree Genealogy - European Royal and Danish-Norwegian-Swedish Nobility Lineages Archived 2022-01-22 at the Wayback Machine