Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty or the Tang Empire was an imperial dynasty of China spanning the 7th to 10th centuries. It was followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Historians regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilization, a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han dynasty; the Tang capital at Chang'an was the most populous city in the world in its day. The Lǐ family founded the dynasty, seizing power during the collapse of the Sui Empire; the dynasty was interrupted when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Second Zhou dynasty and becoming the only Chinese empress regnant. In two censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Tang records estimated the population by number of registered households at about 50 million people, yet when the central government was breaking down and unable to compile an accurate census of the population in the 9th century, it is estimated that the population had grown by to about 80 million people.
With its large population base, the dynasty was able to raise professional and conscripted armies of hundreds of thousands of troops to contend with nomadic powers in dominating Inner Asia and the lucrative trade-routes along the Silk Road. Various kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, while the Tang conquered or subdued several regions which it indirectly controlled through a protectorate system. Besides political hegemony, the Tang exerted a powerful cultural influence over neighboring East Asian states such as those in Japan and Korea; the Tang dynasty was a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty's rule, until the An Lushan Rebellion and the decline of central authority in the half of the dynasty. Like the previous Sui dynasty, the Tang dynasty maintained a civil-service system by recruiting scholar-officials through standardized examinations and recommendations to office; the rise of regional military governors known as jiedushi during the 9th century undermined this civil order.
Chinese culture further matured during the Tang era. Two of China's most famous poets, Li Bai and Du Fu, belonged to this age, as did many famous painters such as Han Gan, Zhang Xuan, Zhou Fang. Scholars of this period compiled a rich variety of historical literature, as well as encyclopedias and geographical works; the adoption of the title Tängri Qaghan by the Tang Emperor Taizong in addition to his title as emperor was eastern Asia's first "simultaneous kingship". Many notable innovations occurred including the development of woodblock printing. Buddhism became a major influence with native Chinese sects gaining prominence. However, in the 840s the Emperor Wuzong of Tang enacted policies to persecute Buddhism, which subsequently declined in influence. Although the dynasty and central government had gone into decline by the 9th century and culture continued to flourish; the weakened central government withdrew from managing the economy, but the country's mercantile affairs stayed intact and commercial trade continued to thrive regardless.
However, agrarian rebellions in the latter half of the 9th century resulted in damaging atrocities such as the Guangzhou massacre of 878–879. The Li family belonged to the northwest military aristocracy prevalent during the Sui dynasty and claimed to be paternally descended from the Daoist founder, Laozi the Han dynasty General Li Guang and Western Liang ruler Li Gao; this family was known as the Longxi Li lineage. The Tang Emperors had Xianbei maternal ancestry, from Emperor Gaozu of Tang's Xianbei mother, Duchess Dugu. Li Yuan was Duke of Tang and governor of Taiyuan, modern Shanxi, during the Sui dynasty's collapse, caused in part by the Sui failure to conquer the northern part of the Korean peninsula during the Goguryeo–Sui War, he had prestige and military experience, was a first cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui. Li Yuan rose in rebellion in 617, along with his son and his militant daughter Princess Pingyang, who raised and commanded her own troops. In winter 617, Li Yuan occupied Chang'an, relegated Emperor Yang to the position of Taishang Huang or retired emperor, acted as regent to the puppet child-emperor, Yang You.
On the news of Emperor Yang's murder by General Yuwen Huaji on June 18, 618, Li Yuan declared himself the emperor of a new dynasty, the Tang. Li Yuan, known as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, ruled until 626, when he was forcefully deposed by his son Li Shimin, the Prince of Qin. Li Shimin had commanded troops since the age of 18, had prowess with bow and arrow and lance and was known for his effective cavalry charges. Fighting a numerically superior army, he defeated Dou Jiande at Luoyang in the Battle of Hulao on May 28, 621. In a violent elimination of royal family due to fear of assassination, Li Shimin ambushed and killed two of his brothers, Li Yuanji and Crown prince Li Jiancheng, in the Xuanwu Gate Incident on July 2, 626. Shortly thereafter, his father abdicated in his favor and Li Shimin ascended the throne, he is conventionally known by his temple name Taizong. Although killing two brothers and deposing his father contradicted the Confucian value of filial piety, Taizong showed himself to be a capable leader who listened to the advice of the wisest members of his council.
In 628, Emperor Taizong held a Buddhist memorial service for the casualties of war, in 629 he ha
Tokyo
Tokyo Tokyo Metropolis, one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, has served as the Japanese capital since 1869. As of 2018, the Greater Tokyo Area ranked as the most populous metropolitan area in the world; the urban area houses the seat of the Emperor of Japan, of the Japanese government and of the National Diet. Tokyo forms part of the Kantō region on the southeastern side of Japan's main island and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo was named Edo when Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters in 1603, it became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from Kyoto in 1868. Tokyo Metropolis formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. Tokyo is referred to as a city but is known and governed as a "metropolitan prefecture", which differs from and combines elements of a city and a prefecture, a characteristic unique to Tokyo; the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo were Tokyo City. On July 1, 1943, it merged with Tokyo Prefecture and became Tokyo Metropolis with an additional 26 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture, the Izu islands and Ogasawara islands south of Tokyo.
The population of the special wards is over 9 million people, with the total population of Tokyo Metropolis exceeding 13.8 million. The prefecture is part of the world's most populous metropolitan area called the Greater Tokyo Area with over 38 million people and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy; as of 2011, Tokyo hosted 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world at that time. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development Index; the city is home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo third in the Global Cities Index; the GaWC's 2018 inventory classified Tokyo as an alpha+ world city – and as of 2014 TripAdvisor's World City Survey ranked Tokyo first in its "Best overall experience" category. As of 2018 Tokyo ranked as the 2nd-most expensive city for expatriates, according to the Mercer consulting firm, and the world's 11th-most expensive city according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's cost-of-living survey.
In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle. The Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo was ranked first out of all sixty cities in the 2017 Safe Cities Index; the QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student in 2016 and 2nd in 2018. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, the 1993 G-7 summit, will host the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics. Tokyo was known as Edo, which means "estuary", its name was changed to Tokyo when it became the imperial capital with the arrival of Emperor Meiji in 1868, in line with the East Asian tradition of including the word capital in the name of the capital city. During the early Meiji period, the city was called "Tōkei", an alternative pronunciation for the same characters representing "Tokyo", making it a kanji homograph; some surviving official English documents use the spelling "Tokei".
The name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, he got the idea from that book. Tokyo was a small fishing village named Edo, in what was part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified in the late twelfth century. In 1457, Ōta Dōkan built Edo Castle. In 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu was transferred from Mikawa Province to Kantō region; when he became shōgun in 1603, Edo became the center of his ruling. During the subsequent Edo period, Edo grew into one of the largest cities in the world with a population topping one million by the 18th century, but Edo was Tokugawa's home and was not capital of Japan. The Emperor himself lived in Kyoto from 794 to 1868 as capital of Japan. During the Edo era, the city enjoyed a prolonged period of peace known as the Pax Tokugawa, in the presence of such peace, Edo adopted a stringent policy of seclusion, which helped to perpetuate the lack of any serious military threat to the city.
The absence of war-inflicted devastation allowed Edo to devote the majority of its resources to rebuilding in the wake of the consistent fires and other devastating natural disasters that plagued the city. However, this prolonged period of seclusion came to an end with the arrival of American Commodore Matthew C. Perry in 1853. Commodore Perry forced the opening of the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate, leading to an increase in the demand for new foreign goods and subsequently a severe rise in inflation. Social unrest mounted in the wake of these higher prices and culminated in widespread rebellions and demonstrations in the form of the "smashing" of rice establishments. Meanwhile, supporters of the Meiji Emperor leveraged the disruption that t
Stanford University Press
The Stanford University Press is the publishing house of Stanford University. In 1892, an independent publishing company was established at the university; the first use of the name "Stanford University Press" in a book's imprinting occurred in 1895. In 1917, the university bought the press. In 1999, the press became a division of the Stanford University Libraries, it was located on Page Mill Road in the Stanford Research Park to the southeast of the Stanford campus before moving to its current location, Redwood City, in 2012-2013. It publishes about 130 books per year. Bancroft Prize: Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision, 1962. Bancroft Prize: Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, the Cold War, 1992. Nautilus Book Award: Companies on a Mission, 2010. Acting Out Between Pacific Tides Born Red Is Geography Destiny? Lessons from Latin America Quelling the People: The Military Suppression of the Beijing Democracy Movement In 1933, David Lamson, a sales manager at SUP, was accused of murdering his wife, Allene, at their home on the Stanford campus.
Janet Lewis, wife of Stanford poet Yvor Winters, campaigning for Lamson's acquittal, wrote a pamphlet emphasizing the dangers of using circumstantial evidence. Lamson was released after being tried four times. SUP Official Website
Rokkasen
The Rokkasen are six Japanese poets of the mid-ninth century who were named by Ki no Tsurayuki in the kana and mana prefaces to the poetry anthology Kokin wakashū as notable poets of the generation before its compilers. In their original appearance in the prefaces of the Kokin wakashū, the six rokkasen are not referred to with this term. There are numerous phrases that show the conceptualization of these six as a cohesive group, but the term "Rokkasen" first appeared in an early Kamakura-period commentary on Kokin wakashū, titled Sanryūshō 三流抄; the members of the rokkasen, their total poems in Kokin wakashū, are as follows: Ōtomo no Kuronushi, 3 poems Ono no Komachi, 18 poems Ariwara no Narihira, 30 poems Kisen Hōshi, 1 poem Sōjō Henjō, 17 poems Fun'ya no Yasuhide, 1 poem In his prefaces to the anthology Kokin wanashū, Ki no Tsurayuki first praises two poets, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and Yamabe no Akahito, from the period before the rokkasen and praises these six poets of the generation preceding his own, but critiques what he considers to be weaknesses in their personal styles.
His criticism in both prefaces is as follows: Kana preface Among well-known recent poets, Archbishop Henjō masters style but is deficient in substance. It is no more satisfying to read one of his poems with a woman in a picture; the poetry of Ariwara Narihira tries to express too much content in too few words. It resembles a faded flower with a lingering fragrance. Fun ` ya no Yasuhide's language is skillful, his poems are like peddlers tricked out in fancy costumes. The language of the Ujiyama monk Kisen is veiled, leaving us uncertain about his meaning. Reading him is like trying to keep the autumn moon in sight when a cloud obscures it before dawn. Since not many of his poems are known, we can not study them as a group. Ono no Komachi belongs to the same line as Sotoorihime of old, her poetry is lacking in strength. It reminds us of a beautiful woman suffering from an illness, its weakness is due to her sex. The style of Ōtomo Kuronushi's poems is crude, they are like a mountain peasant resting under a flowering tree with a load of firewood on his back.
Mana preface The Kazan Archbishop masters style. His poems, like a picture of a beautiful woman, move our hearts without leading to anything; the poetry of the Ariwara Middle Captain tries to express too much content in too few words. It resembles a faded flower. Bunrin deals cleverly with topics, his poems are like peddlers tricked out in fancy dress. The language of the Ujiyama monk Kisen is dazzling. Reading him is like trying to keep the autumn moon in sight when a cloud obscures it before dawn. Ono no Komachi belongs to the same like as Sotoorihime of old, her poetry is weak, like an ailing woman wearing cosmetics. Ōtomo Kuronushi's poems belong to the line of Sarumaru of old. Although his poetry has a certain light, witty interest, the style is crude, as though a peasant were resting in front of a flowering tree. There are varying theories on both why Tsurayuki chose these six poets and why he chose to criticize them in this manner. Helen McCullough claims that they were selected because they all had distinctive personal styles in a time of homogeneity, that by aligning them in his commentary with the six major styles of Han Dynasty poetry, Tsurayuki was showing off his knowledge of those sources.
Thomas Lammare believes that Tsurayuki picked these poets to match the six Han styles, focuses more on how Tsurayuki claimed these styles did not properly align heart and words. The concept of the rokkasen had a lasting legacy on poetic scholarship both in the pre-modern and modern periods. In 1009–1011, Fujiwara no Kintō compiled an expanded list known as the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry, which came to supplant this list of six; this led to the creation of similar lists based on this pattern, such as the "Thirty-Six Court Lady Immortals of Poetry," and the "Thirty-Six Heian-period Immortals of Poetry." Many Japanese scholars of the twentieth century conceptualized the history of waka poetry in the ninth century as a time when it was overshadowed by Chinese poetry in the first part of the century and returned to prominence by the end of the century. These narratives held that this time was a transitional period between the waka anthologies Man'yōshū and Kokin wakashū; when discussing the waka poetry of this period, some scholars have referred to it as the Rokkasen Period, although there has been disagreement on when this period starts.
Most of the scholars agree that it ends with the reign of Emepror Kōkō, but disagree on whether it begins with Emperor Ninmyō or Emperor Montoku. Both Hidehito Nishiyama and Ryōji Shimada conclude that they believe Ninmyō is the better choice for the start of this periodization. Additionally, all but one of the Rokkasen, Ōtomo Kuronushi, appear in the famous collection of poetry, Hyakunin isshū. Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry Kokin Wakashū
Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry
The Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry are a group of Japanese poets of the Asuka and Heian periods selected by Fujiwara no Kintō as exemplars of Japanese poetic ability. The eldest surviving collection of the 36 poets' works is Nishi Honganji Sanjū-rokunin Kashu of 1113. Similar groups of Japanese poets include the Kamakura period Nyōbō Sanjūrokkasen, composed by court ladies and the Chūko Sanjūrokkasen, or Thirty-Six Heian-era Immortals of Poetry, selected by Fujiwara no Norikane; this list superseded. Sets of portraits of the group were popular in Japanese painting and woodblock prints, hung in temples. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Ki no Tsurayuki Ōshikōchi Mitsune Lady Ise Ōtomo no Yakamochi Yamabe no Akahito Ariwara no Narihira Henjō Sosei Ki no Tomonori Sarumaru no Taifu Ono no Komachi Fujiwara no Kanesuke Fujiwara no Asatada Fujiwara no Atsutada Fujiwara no Takamitsu Minamoto no Kintada Mibu no Tadamine Saigū no Nyōgo Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto Fujiwara no Toshiyuki Minamoto no Shigeyuki Minamoto no Muneyuki Minamoto no Saneakira Fujiwara no Kiyotada Minamoto no Shitagō Fujiwara no Okikaze Kiyohara no Motosuke Sakanoue no Korenori Fujiwara no Motozane Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu Fujiwara no Nakafumi Taira no Kanemori Mibu no Tadami Kodai no Kimi Nakatsukasa Nyōbō Sanjūrokkasen, composed in the Kamakura period, refers to thirty-six female immortals of poetry: Ono no Komachi Ise Nakatsukasa Kishi Joō Ukon Fujiwara no Michitsuna no Haha Uma no Naishi Akazome Emon Izumi Shikibu Kodai no Kimi Murasaki Shikibu Koshikibu no Naishi Ise no Taifu Sei Shōnagon Daini no Sanmi Takashina no Kishi Yūshi Naishinnō-ke no Kii Sagami Shikishi Naishinnō Kunai-kyō Suō no Naishi Fujiwara no Toshinari no Musume Taikenmon'in no Horikawa Gishūmon'in no Tango Kayōmon'in no Echizen Nijō In no Sanuki Kojijū Go-Toba-in no Shimotsuke Ben no Naiji Go-Fukakusa In no Shōshōnaishi Inpumon'in no Tayū Tsuchimikado In no Kosaishō Hachijō-in Takakura Fujiwara no Chikako Shikikenmon'in no Mikushige Sōhekimon'in no Shōshō There are at least two groups of Japanese poets called New Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry: One selected by Fujiwara no Mototoshi One including poets of the Kamakura period.
The term refers to the second: Emperor Go-Toba Emperor Tsuchimikado Emperor Juntoku Emperor Go-Saga Prince Masanari of Rokujō-no-Miya Prince Munetaka of Kamakura-no-Miya Prince Dōjonyūdō Prince Shikishi Kujō Yoshitsune Kujō Michiie Saionji Kintsune Koga Michiteru Saionji Saneuji Minamoto no Sanetomo Kujō Motoie Fujiwara no Ieyoshi Jien Gyōi Minamoto no Michitomo Fujiwara no Sadaie Hachijō-in Takakura Shunzei's Daughter Go-Toba-in Kunaikyō Sōheki Mon'in no Shōshō Fujiwara no Tameie Asukai Masatsune Fujiwara no Ietaka Fujiwara no Tomoie Fujiwara no Ariie Hamuro Mitsutoshi Fujiwara no Nobuzane Minamoto no Tomochika Fujiwara no Takasuke Minamoto no Ienaga Kamo no Chōmei Fujiwara no Hideyoshi ja:中古三十六歌仙 Rokkasen Poem Scroll of Thirty-Six Immortal Poets Arts of Japan exhibit
Japanese poetry
Japanese poetry is poetry of or typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, Modern Japanese, some poetry in Japan, written in the Chinese language or ryūka from the Okinawa Islands: it is possible to make a more accurate distinction between Japanese poetry written in Japan or by Japanese people in other languages versus that written in the Japanese language by speaking of Japanese-language poetry. Much of the literary record of Japanese poetry begins when Japanese poets encountered Chinese poetry during the Tang dynasty. Under the influence of the Chinese poets of this era Japanese began to compose poetry in Chinese kanshi), it took several hundred years to digest the foreign impact and make it an integral part of Japanese culture and to merge this kanshi poetry into a Japanese language literary tradition, later to develop the diversity of unique poetic forms of native poetry, such as waka and other more Japanese poetic specialties.
For example, in the Tale of Genji both kanshi and waka are mentioned. The history of Japanese poetry goes from an early semi-historical/mythological phase, through the early Old Japanese literature inclusions, just before the Nara period, the Nara period itself, the Heian period, the Kamakura period, so on, up through the poetically important Edo period and modern times. Since the middle of the 19th century, the major forms of Japanese poetry have been tanka and shi or western-style poetry. Today, the main forms of Japanese poetry include both experimental poetry and poetry that seeks to revive traditional ways. Poets writing in tanka and shi may write poetry other than in their specific chosen form, although some active poets are eager to collaborate with poets in other genres; the history of Japanese poetry involves both the evolution of Japanese as a language, the evolution of Japanese poetic forms, the collection of poetry into anthologies, many by imperial patronage and others by the "schools" or the disciples of famous poets.
The study of Japanese poetry is complicated by the social context within which it occurred, in part because of large scale political and religious factors such as clan politics or Buddhism, but because the collaborative aspect which has typified Japanese poetry. Much of Japanese poetry features short verse forms collaborative, which are compiled into longer collections, or else are interspersed within the prose of longer works. Older forms of Japanese poetry include kanshi, which shows a strong influence from Chinese literature and culture. Kanshi means "Han poetry" and it is the Japanese term for Chinese poetry in general as well as the poetry written in Chinese by Japanese poets. Kanshi from the early Heian period exists in the Kaifūsō anthology, compiled in 751. Waka is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Waka are composed in Japanese, are contrasted with poetry composed by Japanese poets in Classical Chinese, which are known as kanshi. Thus, waka has the general meaning of "poetry in Japanese", as opposed to the kanshi "poetry in Chinese".
The Man'yōshū anthology preserves from the eighth century 265 chōka, 4,207 tanka, one tan-renga, one bussokusekika, four kanshi, 22 Chinese prose passages. However, by the time of the tenth-century Kokinshū anthology, waka had become the standard term used for short poems of the tanka form, until more recent times. Tanka are poems written in Japanese with five lines having a 5–7–5–7–7 metre; the tanka form has shown some modern revival in popularity. As stated, it used to be called waka. Much traditional Japanese poetry was written as the result of a process of two or more poets contributing verses to a larger piece, such as in the case of the renga form; the "honored guest" composing a few beginning lines in the form of the hokku. This initial sally was followed by a stanza composed by the "host." This process could continue, sometimes with many stanzas composed by numerous other "guests", until the final conclusion. Other collaborative forms of Japanese poetry evolved, such as the renku form.
In other cases, the poetry collaborations were more competitive, such as with uta-awase gatherings, in which Heian period poets composed waka poems on set themes, with a judge deciding the winner. Haiku are a short, 3-line verse form, which have achieved significant global popularity, the haiku form has been adapted from Japanese into other languages. Typical of the haiku form is the metrical pattern of 3 lines with a distribution of 5, 7, 5 on within those lines. Other features include the juxtaposition of two images or ideas with a kireji between them, a kigo, or seasonal reference d
Nobility
Nobility is a social class ranked under royalty and found in some societies that have a formal aristocracy. Nobility possesses more acknowledged privileges and higher social status than most other classes in society; the privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be honorary, vary by country and era. As referred to in the Medieval chivalric motto "noblesse oblige", nobles can carry a lifelong duty to uphold various social responsibilities, such as honorable behavior, customary service, or leadership positions. Membership in the nobility, including rights and responsibilities, is hereditary. Membership in the nobility has been granted by a monarch or government, unlike other social classes where membership is determined by wealth, lifestyle, or affiliation. Nonetheless, acquisition of sufficient power, military prowess, or royal favour has enabled commoners to ascend into the nobility. There are a variety of ranks within the noble class.
Legal recognition of nobility has been more common in monarchies, but nobility existed in such regimes as the Dutch Republic, the Republic of Genoa, the Republic of Venice, the Old Swiss Confederacy, remains part of the legal social structure of some non-hereditary regimes, e.g. Channel Islands, San Marino, the Vatican City in Europe. Hereditary titles and styles added to names, as well as honorifics distinguish nobles from non-nobles in conversation and written speech. In many nations most of the nobility have been un-titled, some hereditary titles do not indicate nobility; some countries have had non-hereditary nobility, such as the Empire of Brazil or life peers in the United Kingdom. The term derives from the abstract noun of the adjective nobilis. In ancient Roman society, nobiles originated as an informal designation for the political governing class who had allied interests, including both patricians and plebeian families with an ancestor who had risen to the consulship through his own merit.
In modern usage, "nobility" is applied to the highest social class in pre-modern societies, excepting the ruling dynasty. In the feudal system, the nobility were those who held a fief land or office, under vassalage, i.e. in exchange for allegiance and various military, services to a suzerain, who might be a higher-ranking nobleman or a monarch. It came to be seen as a hereditary caste, sometimes associated with a right to bear a hereditary title and, for example in pre-revolutionary France, enjoying fiscal and other privileges. While noble status conferred significant privileges in most jurisdictions, by the 21st century it had become a honorary dignity in most societies, although a few, residual privileges may still be preserved and some Asian and African cultures continue to attach considerable significance to formal hereditary rank or titles. Nobility is a historical and legal notion, differing from high socio-economic status in that the latter is based on income, possessions or lifestyle.
Being wealthy or influential cannot ipso facto make one noble, nor are all nobles wealthy or influential. Various republics, including former Iron Curtain countries, Greece and Austria have expressly abolished the conferral and use of titles of nobility for their citizens; this is distinct from countries which have not abolished the right to inherit titles, but which do not grant legal recognition or protection to them, such as Germany and Italy, although Germany recognizes their use as part of the legal surname. Still other countries and authorities allow their use, but forbid attachment of any privilege thereto, e.g. Finland and the European Union, while French law protects lawful titles against usurpation. Although many societies have a privileged upper class with substantial wealth and power, the status is not hereditary and does not entail a distinct legal status, nor differentiated forms of address. Not all of the benefits of nobility derived from noble status per se. Privileges were granted or recognised by the monarch in association with possession of a specific title, office or estate.
Most nobles' wealth derived from one or more estates, large or small, that might include fields, orchards, hunting grounds, etc. It included infrastructure such as castle and mill to which local peasants were allowed some access, although at a price. Nobles were expected to live "nobly", that is, from the proceeds of these possessions. Work involving manual labour or subordination to those of lower rank was either forbidden or frowned upon socially. On the other hand, membership in the nobility was a prerequisite for holding offices of trust in the realm and for career promotion in the military, at court and the higher functions in the government and church. Prior to the French Revolution, European nobles commanded tribute in the form of entitlement to cash rents or usage taxes, labour or a portion of the annual crop yield from commoners or no
