II.6. 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 their portraits

 Portrait of a Knight in Armor, end 16th century (proposed for sale) / zoom; Portrait of a Young General by Van Dyck, 1624 / zoom

The baton indicates command and the curtain underscores 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.   

• And for their 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 a painting has nothing to do with fighting, the artist introduces an idealized soldier in Roman garb:

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

Their martial upbringing and values of personal honor and loyalty are irrelevant to commerce. They lose their privileges should they engage in it (the next page says more), and in any case most lack the funds to do so.

They cannot adapt to capitalism.*

*For a deeper discussion, please click and scroll down.

But all social classes accept their superiority as innate,

due to innumerable aspects of daily life.

In brief

• The primacy of hereditary rank 

• Everything aids the overclass 

• Allegory, nobles' weapon vs. rising capitalists

• The clergy omits pagan decor...

• Detour: History — anecdotes or the economy?

*    *    *

Next,

2.5.1.

The primacy of hereditary rank