Where did the gentlemen come from, and how at different times it was possible to deserve such treatment

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Gentlemen, no matter what they say, not an endangered species at all. On the contrary, it is surprisingly resilient, because gentlemen existed both in the Middle Ages and in the New Time, and in the 21st century they have a place. Another question is that at different times this word had its own meaning, which means that the right to be called a gentleman had to be earned in different ways.

What were the very first gentlemen

There was a lot of talk about gentlemen in Europe in the 19th century, then this image was formed - a person of decent and worthy, carefully protecting his reputation, possessing impeccable manners and a strict code of honor. But in general, the term "gentleman" was used by the British and much earlier, even in the Middle Ages - and then a different meaning was put into it. The word itself is the result of a mixture of French and English concepts; gentil, from the Latin gentilis, means "well-born," and man, "man." Once upon a time, all men of noble birth, representatives of the aristocracy, were called gentlemen. A gentleman of the XIV century and later period of history is a nobleman who has the opportunity not to work and does not work.

Priest John Ball, who fought against social inequality and serfdom, because of which he was subsequently excommunicated and executed, uttered the words that have gone down in history during a sermon in 1381:

English society once consisted of four categories: the first was artisans and peasants, the second was the small yeoman landowners, the third was represented by the townspeople, and the fourth was the gentlemen, that is, the aristocrats.

Later, in the 15th century, speaking of gentlemen, they most often meant the younger sons and their descendants - that is, those who, according to the rules of the primacy, were deprived of their title, and with it - and the state: according to British norms, the inheritance was not divided, but passed to the eldest of sons, he assumed the title. In such cases, the younger brother arranged his life on his own, for example, becoming a priest and receiving the management of a church parish, or entering into a profitable marriage union. These were gentlemen - people of noble birth who did not have a specific title.

Gentry were associated with gentlemen, representatives of the small landed nobility, also without titles, but with the opportunity to boast of their nobility. Gentlemen were a level higher than yeomen - they worked on their plots of land, and for a gentleman in those centuries, physical labor was unacceptable.

From noble birth to noble manners

The word was used in the kingdom quite actively, "gentlemen" performed a number of court duties: gentlemen-at-arms, for example, represented the royal ceremonial life guard, and gentleman-at-large - a person at court without clearly defined duties. The gentlemen-commoners, noble students of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, were treated in these educational institutions in a special way, they enjoyed some privileges, for example, in terms of the length of study.

If physical labor remained a taboo for gentlemen, then in public, political life they considered it obligatory for themselves to take a direct part, hence the love of the British for all kinds of societies and clubs. One of these places was no less than the House of Commons of the British Parliament.

A little time passed, a gentleman was increasingly called someone who demonstrated decency and good upbringing by his behavior, despite the absence of eminent ancestors or his own family coat of arms. This approach became especially popular in the 19th century, when the emphasis was shifted from the circumstances of a person's life to his own behavior in these circumstances.

Gentlemen were no longer only those who were distinguished by their noble origins, but also men who had earned the ability to maintain a certain reputation, social capital.

But with regard to the inadmissibility of manual, physical labor for a gentleman, the taboo remained until the 20th century; of course, no one was forbidden to choose such a profession, but whoever began to work with his hands - including, by the way, a surgeon - ceased to be a gentleman in the then generally recognized sense of the word.

In general, the image of a gentleman was not associated with obligatory labor; rather, it was an amateur who chooses an occupation for himself, not guided by the desire to earn a piece of bread and generally get a reward in any way. Therefore, one of the classic gentlemen of the 19th century - Sherlock Holmes - seems so convincing in the image of a bored and at the same time perfectly behaving gentleman, he is an amateur sleuth.

On the Gentleman's Code and gentlemen in the men's room

As a middle class emerged in England and other European countries, the second meaning of the term "gentleman", unrelated to ancestry, became more widespread. In the 19th century, a set of rules for gentlemen was formed - a code that is subject to strict observance, at first unwritten, but then immortalized in books and on the pages of periodicals. The Britannica of 1856 by the word "gentleman" meant an appeal to someone whose manners betray sophistication and intelligence, provided that the status of this person is "above the merchant."

In the 20th century and in the modern world, this is mainly exactly the appeal, as in the usual formula "ladies and gentlemen". Another purpose of the term is to replace the not very polite word "man" in narratives or, for example, on signs in public toilets. Still, the classic image of a gentleman - above all, of course, a Briton - has not disappeared even today. Indeed, it turns out that, first of all, this word is applicable to aristocrats - due to the fact that it is in families with a long history that the traditions and standards of gentleman behavior are best preserved and passed on to new generations.

Being a true gentleman now means having self-esteem and “intellectual sophistication, expressed in a casual yet delicate manner” - again from the Encyclopedia Britannica, and anyone who claims to be a gentleman has to follow a code of honor developed in the past. century.

To see firsthand British gentlemen and admire their ability to "call a cat a cat" gives an opportunity to the series "Downton Abbey", created by a real gentleman and aristocrat.