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Patrician
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The term "patrician" originally referred to a group of elite citizens in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire became a term for Byzantine Imperial governors in the West. Medieval patrician classes were once again formally defined groups of elite burgher families in many medieval Italian republics, such as Venice and Genoa, and subsequently "patrician" became a vaguer term used for aristocrats and elite bourgeoisie in many countries.
word "patrician" is derived from the Latin word patricius (plural patricii), which comes from patres, the plural of pater ("father").
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The term "patrician" originally referred to a group of elite citizens in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire became a term for Byzantine Imperial governors in the West. Medieval patrician classes were once again formally defined groups of elite burgher families in many medieval Italian republics, such as Venice and Genoa, and subsequently "patrician" became a vaguer term used for aristocrats and elite bourgeoisie in many countries.
Etymology
The word "patrician" is derived from the Latin word patricius (plural patricii), which comes from patres, the plural of pater ("father"). Pater was one of the terms applied to the original members of the Roman Senate. The word comes down in English as "patrician" from the Middle English patricion, from the Old French patrician. In modern English, the word patrician is generally used to denote a member of the upper class, often with connotations of inherited wealth, elitism, and a sense of noblesse oblige.
Patrician position
Patrician status still carried a degree of prestige at the time of the early Roman Empire, and Roman emperors routinely elevated their supporters to the patrician caste en masse. The prestige and meaning of the status gradually degraded, and by the end of the 3rd-century crisis, patrician status, as it had been known in the Republic, ceased to have meaning in everyday life. The Emperor Constantine reintroduced the term, and Patrician became an honorific title bestowed to those who demonstrated faithful service to the Empire. There were often only a few patricians in the Empire at any given time, and sometimes only one.
By the 5th century, the title generally denoted a man, commonly a general of the Roman army, who held the power behind the imperial throne. Patricians of this era included Stilicho, Constantius III, Aėtius, Boniface, and Ricimer; Constantius III would later become co-emperor. The patrician title was occasionally used in Western Europe after the end of the Roman Empire; for instance, Pope Stephen II granted the title "Patrician of the Romans" to the Frankish ruler Pippin III.
In the Eastern Empire, where the emperors maintained their hold on power, the title retained its meaning as an honorific. The term fell out of use as the Greek language replaced Latin as the language of the court. A member of the plebeian class could be elevated by showing great support towards the Senate, by living a life of pure dedication, and having no criminal history with members of the groups. Patricians could be demoted to plebeian status if they failed to fulfill their duties as a husband, or by murdering another member of the patrician society.
The revival of patrician classes in medieval Italian republics, and also north of the Alps, is covered in Patricianship.
Use in fiction
In the satirical fantasy series Discworld by English author Terry Pratchett, the city of Ankh-Morpork is run by a Presidential figure who is akin to the old Roman nobility. The ruler takes the title of Patrician, but is in all respects a tyrant. He is described as believing in "One Man One Vote"; he is the one man, and he has the one vote. In most of the novels, the Patrician in office is named Havelock Vetinari and though he often puts up a democratic facade, he is a de facto dictator, albeit a relatively benign one.
In the science fiction Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov, Ducem Barr is referred to as a Patrician of the Empire in the Foundation and Empire volume. Within the story, it is an inherited noble title, clearly derived of the Roman Imperial definition, which was used as a model for Asimov's Galactic Empire.
In Ayn Rand's 1936 novel The Fountainhead, the narrator makes several comparisons between the newspaper tyrant Gail Wynand and a patrician.
List of some patrician families
Definite
Major
Minor
- Flaminia, Furia, Lucretia, Menenia, Cloelia,
- Horatia, Julia, Manlia, Nautia, Postumia
- Quinctilia, Quinctia, Sergia, Servilia, Sulpicia
- Veturia, Verginia, Gegania
List of Patricii
See also
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