II.5. NOBLES, GODS AND HEROES

MENU: 2.6. Nobles gods & heroes 

TOWARD 1500, EXPLORERS' DISCOVERIES LEAD TO NEW SOURCES OF INCOME AND SO TO A BOOM THAT UNDERMINES THE SOCIAL SYSTEM 

Nascent capitalists gain the means to challenge the hereditary landowners, nobles who draw their wealth from peasant labor and define themselves as warriors.

          Discoveries in 1502 / zoom 

The earliest known map of the Age of Discovery

They wear armor for...

• Portraits.

Portrait of a Knight in Armor, 16th century (proposed for sale); Portrait of a Young General by Van Dyck, 1624 / zoom: Charles III, duke of Bourbon ( commissioned by Louis-Philippe from a copy, 1834) / zoom

Batons indicate command and curtains underscore grandeur.

They have themselves painted in full armor, in armor mixed with other signs of status, or in a martial way: examples here, here and here.   

• Stories.

Mort [Death] du Connetable de Bourbon, print, 1527 / zoom

The Duke of Bourbon (portrait above) becomes "Connetable" (Head of the royal armies) but by joining the Spanish betrays the French king. He is killed while scale a wall in the sack of Rome. 

• Tombs.

        Design of the Funeral Monument to Henri II de Montmorency in Moulins by Michel Anguier, 17th century / zoom

For the costume of antiquity, please scroll on.

Even in a painting that has nothing to do with fighting, the artist includes an idealized soldier in Roman military garb:

Saint Peter Preaches, Saint-Merri church in Paris, toward 1600 / zoom

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Eldest sons inherit the land, second sons enter the Church. The only honorable occupation for the rest is war, where heroic deeds they can bring royal favor. They back foreign wars, and 3000 join the American insurrectionists.

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Nobles' martial upbringing and values of honor and loyalty are irrelevant to commerce, and they lose their privileges should they engage in it. In any case, most lack the capital to do so. A few find new sources of revenue, through figureheads or by  through slave labor in the West Indies... 

                  The Count of Vaudreuil by François-Hubert Drouais, 1758 / zoom

The count points to a map of Saint Domingo, where he owns a plantation and becomes its governor. The red heel and the armor on the floor are included to show noble status.

...but despite a few exceptions (please click and scroll down), adapting to capitalism for them is impossible.

Yet in this still rural société,

innumerable aspects of daily life

lead almost everyone to think their superiority innate.

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In brief

• The primacy of hereditary rank 

• Everything aids the overclass 

• Allegory, a nobles' reaction to rising capitalists

• The Church omits pagan decor...

• Detour: History — anecdotes or the economy?

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Next,

2.5.1.

The primacy of hereditary rank