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Recommended: Social structure during the french revolution

From the late sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century, French social classes were undergoing a transformation that changed the basic fundamentals of each class, specifically the nobles. The transformation that the nobility class had witnessed was that more and more citizens were allowed to be a part because of its availability. In other words, citizens could essentially purchase their way into the nobility class. Many sword or hereditary nobles were outraged to know that citizens who were not of noble descent allowed to be called nobles. Sword nobles viewed nobility as a birthright and a position attained by virtue, not by accumulating large sums of wealth and buying one’s way into the noble class. On the other hand, some justified the robe nobles or the newer nobles as important to the noble class overall and were viewed in a more positive light.
Sword nobles repeatedly attacked newer nobles and showed hostility towards them because of the fact that they were not “true” nobles. The main argument that they were expressing towards the “false” nobles was the fact that they were not born into it, but received it because of the amount of wealth that they have accumulated. For example, in document 9, Gilles Andre de La Roque, states that although these newer nobles may become gentlemen, they will never truly become a part of the race of warriors because they “lack the ancient roots that it requires.” In other words, although the king may recognize them as nobles, sword nobles do not have to since they were not of noble descent. It’s important to note that La Roque was obviously a sword nobleman himself and may have felt superior to robe nobles since he meets the prerequisites in being a real noble. In Document 11, Baron Fr...

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...om the judicial affairs because of the fact that he was granting them the ability to do so.
During the late sixteenth to late eighteenth century, the number of robe nobles steadily increased due to the fact that it was becoming common practice to buy the title of nobility. Some sword nobles felt that it was unfair and were angered with the king in allowing wealthy citizens to purchase nobility and pushed for laws to prevent it from occurring. However, there were others who supported the idea in allowing others to purchase the title of nobility and found ways to justify their ability to do so. By the late eighteenth century, this idea of purchasing nobility and whether there was a difference between robe nobles and sword nobles would no longer be an issue due to the French Revolution, which essentially ended any form of social hierarchy and pushed for meritocracy.

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