Open AccessUsurpation of Aristocratic Privilege and the Social Identity of the Polish Noble Elite in the Period of the Partitions
Author(s) -
Mikołaj Getka-Kenig
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
kwartalnik historyczny
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2451-1315
pISSN - 0023-5903
DOI - 10.12775/kh.2021.128.si.1.03
Subject(s) - elite , privilege (computing) , period (music) , monarchy , partition (number theory) , cult , hierarchy , identity (music) , ancient history , history , political science , law , politics , philosophy , aesthetics , mathematics , combinatorics
The aristocratic titles, which the partitioning monarchies granted to some of their Polish noble subjects in the long nineteenth century, did not play a decisive role in the development and formation of the modern Polish noble elite. The foreign titles could only sanction the internal noble hierarchy, which was apparently much more determined by specific noble traditions and the cult of the pre-partition past. This argument is evidenced by the cases of families which did not need formal title grants to be recognized as truly aristocratic in that period.