French nobility

The French nobility (French: la noblesse française) was a privileged social class in France from the Middle Ages until its abolition on 23 June 1790 during the French Revolution.

From 1808 to 1815 during the First Empire the Emperor Napoléon bestowed titles that were recognized as a new nobility by the Charter of 4 June 1814 granted by King Louis XVIII of France.

From 1814 to 1848 (Bourbon Restoration in France and July Monarchy) and from 1852 to 1870 (Second French Empire) the French nobility was restored as an hereditary distinction without privileges and new hereditary titles were granted. Since the beginning of the French Third Republic on 4 September 1870 the French nobility has no legal existence and status. However, the former authentic titles transmitted regularly can be recognized as part of the name after a request to the Department of Justice.

Families of the French nobility could have two origins as to their principle of nobility: the families of immemorial nobility and the ennobled families.

Sources differ about the actual number of French families of noble origin, but agree that it was proportionally among the smallest noble classes in Europe. For the year 1789, French historian François Bluche gives a figure of 140,000 nobles (9,000 noble families) and states that about 5% of nobles could claim descent from feudal nobility before the 15th century. With a total population of 28 million, this would represent merely 0.5%. Historian Gordon Wright gives a figure of 300,000 nobles (of which 80,000 were from the traditional noblesse d'épée), which agrees with the estimation of historian Jean de Viguerie, or a little over 1%. At the time of the Revolution, noble estates comprised about one-fifth of the land.