Immemorial nobility

Immemorial nobility is nobility that is established as existing since before normal records of noble title. In its restrictive meaning, it refers to noble families whose origins can be tracked back to the fall of the Roman Empire circa 490. In its more inclusive, and more generally accepted, meaning, it refers to those possessors of feudal nobility that can trace their unbroken possession of rights to time immemorial.

In many kingdoms, the oldest houses are considered primus inter pares, enjoying this rank not by a known royal charter but by uncontested exercise of the privileges of aristocracy since time immemorial, making it unnecessary to establish the circumstances of the original grant.

Standards by region

The year set as the limit for the earliest record preserved in order to be considered an immemorial noble depends on the traditions of the particular region.

• In Germany and Scandinavia, where records were not kept until relatively recently, the cut-off year is 1400 AD. Nobility who can trace back their noble ancestry at least to the year 1400 are referred to as Uradel.
• In central Western Europe, this nobility consists of those families whose origins go back to the Early Middle Ages. They include the houses of houses of Zähringen (Baden), Bigorre, Comminges, Carcassonne, Beziers, Ficquelmont, Foix, Toulouse, Rouergue, Aurvergne, and Boulogne, among others. Many of these families are branches descendant from the Dukes of Vasconia and Septimania. This nobility can not be granted nor achieved. It is a royal nobility, since the other kinds of nobility refer to persons who acquired the titles of nobility as a concession of a sovereign.
• In Spain, it refers to noble families created during the Iberian Crusades or Reconquista, starting with Pelagius in the Kingdom of Asturias in the early eighth century and Charlemagne in the Marca Hispanica in the ninth century. In particular, "hidalgos de sangre" (by virtue of lineage) are "those for whom there is no memory of its origin and there is no knowledge of any document mentioning a royal grant, which obscurity is universally praised even more than those noblemen who know otherwise their origin." When challenged, an hidalgo de sangre may obtain a judicial sentence validating his nobility from the Royal Chancillería of Valladolid or Granada, if he can prove that it has been accepted local society and custom. In this case, the resulting legal document that verifies his nobility is called a carta ejecutoria de hidalguia (letters patent of nobility). A famous, although fictional, example of an hidalgo de sangre is Don Quixote, whose nobility in the novel was described as well-known and immemorial, although it granted Don Quixote no material benefits other than paying no taxes. In contrast, "titled nobility" (which may include grandees, dukes, marquesses, counts among others) held their title because of royal privilege, of which there is a written record; therefore their nobility is not considered immemorial.
• In Imperial Russia, a similar category existed, called древнее дворянство ("ancient nobility"). It didn't have a set year, but it required tracing your lineage from Rurik of Novgorod (see Rurikids) or Gediminas of Lithuania (see Gediminids).
• In England, the threshold for being considered an immemorial noble would be the year 1189, the traditional time immemorial. However, in the Peerage of England the oldest peerage is the Baron de Ros, created by writ in 1264.
• In Ireland, noble families can, with few exceptions, trace their ancestry back at least to the 4th century AD, with their pedigrees extending still further back but entering the realm of mythology before that time. Most famous are the Uí Néill, descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages, in the north of Ireland, and in the south the Eóganachta. In Ireland the titles are the names of the septs themselves, examples being O'Conor Don, MacDermot of Coolavin, O'Neill of Clanaboy, O'Donnell of Tyrconnell, O'Kelly of Gallagh and Tycooly, O'Toole of Fer Tire, O'Donovan of Clancahill, O'Donoghue of the Glens, McGillycuddy of the Reeks, O'Callaghan of Duhallow, and O'Brien of Thomond. There are approximately twenty of these Irish noble families remaining, although fewer of the titles, perhaps half, have been in continuous use since the 17th century; this has caused at least one controversy, in the case of Terence Francis MacCarthy in 1999. A series of genetics papers published in 2004-08 argue that the male-line DNA of these lineages is still traceable in their descendants living today.
• In what is today Scotland the ancient nobility are actually very few, although many families make claims. The only verifiable are a few Norse-Gaelic families of the Western Isles, which were not part of Scotland when they first appear. The best known are the extensive Clann Somhairle, now represented by the High Chief of Clan Donald.

See also

• Time immemorial
• Uradel
• Spanish nobility
• Hidalgo (Spanish nobility)
• Nobiliary particle, the right to which is related to noble status