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Examines the definitions, structure and behaviour of aristocracies, challenging some of the myths about them.
Synopsis
Aristocracies dominated the social, economic, and institutional history of all European countries until only a few generations ago. William Doyle strips away the myths and beliefs which have always surrounded them, looking at how these very distinctive governing elites held onto power, and analyses when, how, and why they eventually lost it.
Book Details
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Publication Date:
25-Nov-2010
ISBN:
9780199206780
Guardian review
Aristocracy by William Doyle review
the guardian Sat 08 January 2011
The publicity material for Aristocracy notes that it has been published "just in time for the royal wedding". But Doyle's succinct and informative book cuts through the "self-serving myths" of the aristocrats themselves, revealing their origins, how they organised themselves and behaved, their influence on society, how they exercised authority and how in the post-industrial age their authority has been undermined. Originally a Greek word meaning "rule by the best", aristocracy eventually became synonymous with nobility, a word derived from the Roman term describing the office-holding patrician families. Descent (blue blood) became integral to the creation of an elite whose wealth came from ownership of land. Even today in Britain, the greatest landowner and the richest man are both dukes. "I have come to the conclusion that the aristocracy have always been shits," said diarist James Lee-Milne in 1996, after dedicating his life to saving their country houses. Despite the royal wedding, Doyle predicts their future is bleak: "The fate of these closed castes will be slowly to dwindle away to nothing."
