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GRANDEE (Span. Grande)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 349 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

GRANDEE (Span. Grande) , a See also:title of See also:honour See also:borne by the highest class of the See also:Spanish See also:nobility. It would appear to have been originally assumed by the most important nobles to distinguish them from the See also:mass of the ricos hombres, or See also:great barons of the See also:realm. It was thus, as See also:Selden points out, not a See also:general See also:term denoting a class, but " an additional dignity not only to all See also:dukes, but to some marquesses and condes also " (Titles of Honor, ed. 1672, p. 478). It formerly implied certain privileges; notably that of sitting covered in the royal presence. Until the See also:time of See also:Ferdinand and See also:Isabella, when the See also:power of the territorial nobles was broken, the grandees had also certain more important rights, e.g. freedom from See also:taxation, See also:immunity from See also:arrest See also:save at the See also:king's See also:express command, and even—in certain cases—the right to renounce their See also:allegiance and make See also:war on the king. Their number and privileges were further restricted by See also:Charles I. (the See also:emperor Charles V.), who reserved to the See also:crown the right to bestow the title. The grandees of See also:Spain were further divided into three classes: (1) those who spoke to the king and received his reply with their heads covered; (2) those who addressed him uncovered, but put on their hats to hear his See also:answer; (3) those who awaited the permission of the king before covering themselves. All grandees were addressed by the king as " my See also:cousin " (mi prima), whereas See also:ordinary nobles were only qualified as " my kinsman " (mi pariente).

The title of " grandee," abolished under King See also:

Joseph See also:Bonaparte, was revived in 1834, when by the Estaludo real grandees were given See also:precedence in the Chamber of Peers. The designation is now, however, purely titular, and implies neither See also:privilege nor power.

End of Article: GRANDEE (Span. Grande)

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