The magnate term, from the

late Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...

''magnas'', a great man, itself from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities in

Western Christian Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic ...

countries since the medieval period. It also includes the members of the higher clergy, such as

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

s, archbishops and cardinals. In reference to the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the term is often used to distinguish higher territorial landowners and

warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

s, such as

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particula ...

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

s, and territorial-

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

s from the

baronage {{English Feudalism In England, the ''baronage'' was the collectively inclusive term denoting all members of the feudal nobility, as observed by the constitutional authority Edward Coke. It was replaced eventually by the term '' peerage''. Or ...

, and in Poland for the richest '' szlachta''.

England

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the magnate class went through a change in the later Middle Ages. It had previously consisted of all

tenants-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as oppos ...

of the crown, a group of more than a hundred families. The emergence of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

led to the establishment of a parliamentary peerage that received personal summons, rarely more than sixty families. A similar class in the Gaelic world were the

Flatha {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 A flaith ( Irish) or flath (Modern Scottish Gaelic), plural flatha, in the Gaelic world, could refer to any member in general of a powerful family enjoying a high degree of sovereignty, and so is also sometimes tr ...

. In the Middle Ages a

sometimes held territory as a magnate, collecting the revenue of the manors and the associated knights' fees. In the Tudor period, after Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field, Henry made a point of executing or neutralising as many magnates as possible. Henry would make parliament

attaint A writ of attaint is an obsolete writ in English law, issued to inquire whether a jury had given a false verdict in a trial. In criminal cases, the writ of attaint was issued at the suit of the Crown, and in civil cases at the suit of either par ...

undesirable nobles and magnates, thereby stripping them of their wealth, protection from torture, and power. Henry also used the Court of the Star Chamber to have powerful nobles executed. Henry VIII continued this approach in his reign; he inherited a survivalistic mistrust of nobles from his father. Henry VIII ennobled very few men and the ones he did were all "

new men New men is a term referring to various groups of social mobility, the socially upwardly mobile in Kingdom of England, England during the House of Lancaster, House of York and Tudor period, Tudor periods. The term may refer to the new aristocrac ...

": '' novi homines'', greatly indebted to him and having very limited power.

Hungary

The term was specifically applied to the members (equivalent to British Peers) of the Upper House in the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary, the ''Főrendiház'' or

House of Magnates The House of Magnates ( hu, Főrendiház) was the upper chamber of the Diet of Hungary. This chamber was operational from 1867 to 1918 and subsequently from 1927 to 1945. The house was, like the current British House of Lords, composed of hered ...

Poland and Lithuania

Magnates were a social class of wealthy and influential

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...

, and later the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...

Spain

In Spain, since the late Middle Ages the highest class of nobility hold the appellation of

Grandee of Spain Grandee (; es, Grande de España, ) is an official aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility. Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the , though in neither country did they ha ...

Sweden

In Sweden, the wealthiest medieval lords were known as ''storman'' (plural ''stormän''), "great men", a similar description and meaning as the English term magnate.

References

Sources

* {{wealth Social classes Noble titles Nobility of the United Kingdom Hungarian nobility Spanish nobility Swedish nobility