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- honnête homme
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gentleman
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What does the word 'gentleman' mean?
The word "gentleman" has evolved through history. Originally, it denoted a man of good family entitled to bear arms, but not of the nobility.
During the Middle Ages, "gentleman" equated roughly to nobilis, referring to tenants in chivalry. By the 16th century, the gentry was a distinct social order, recognized by heralds for their right to bear arms. This definition blurred the lines between gentry and nobility, especially as more people acquired arms.
By the Victorian era, being a "gentleman" required an income from non-manual labor. Today, a gentleman is considered well-mannered, embodying the idea of a "gentle man," with behavior valued over social status or wealth.
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What qualities or manners are often associated with being a gentleman?
Historically, a gentleman was a man of good family entitled to bear arms, but not of the nobility. Over time, the concept evolved to include qualities of character and behavior, not just social standing.
Qualities and manners associated with being a gentleman:
* Courtesy A gentleman is honorable and courteous.
* Good Manners Etiquette dictates that a gentleman is well-mannered.
* Chivalry Gentlemanliness is related to chivalry.
* Ethical Behavior A gentleman is virtuous in private and public, and does good deeds.
* Social Grace A gentleman is mindful of etiquette and behaves accordingly.3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did someone become a gentleman in society in the past?
In the past, becoming a gentleman was tied to social status and specific criteria. Initially, the term "gentleman" denoted a man of good family, akin to nobility, and entitled to bear arms.
Over time, particularly by the 16th century, the gentry emerged as a distinct social order, marked by the heraldic right to bear arms and the financial means to live without manual labor. This definition allowed those outside traditional nobility to ascend into the ranks of gentlemen by acquiring coats of arms. While the concept retained some value as a marker of affluence into the 19th century, the Victorian era saw the term evolve to emphasize manners and behavior over lineage or wealth.
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Why was being a gentleman important in some societies?
The importance of being a gentleman in some societies evolved over time, reflecting changing social values and structures. Initially, the term denoted a man of good family entitled to bear arms, roughly equivalent to nobility.
Over time, particularly in England, being a gentleman became associated with social status, conduct, and economic independence, requiring an income derived from sources other than manual labor and retail trade. A gentleman was expected to be honorable, courteous, and well-mannered. The emphasis shifted from noble birth to virtuous behavior, as reflected in the idea of the gentleman as a "gentle man".
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How have ideas about what makes someone a gentleman changed over time?
The concept of a gentleman has evolved significantly over time. Originally, in English history, a gentleman was defined as a man of good family entitled to bear arms, but not of the nobility. By the 16th century, the gentry became a distinct social order, recognized by heralds' granting of the right to bear arms.
Over time, the term shifted from indicating social status and affluence to signifying a well-mannered man, regardless of his breeding or wealth. As Sir Richard Steele noted in 1714, the appellation of gentleman should refer to a man’s behavior rather than his circumstances. Today, a gentleman is generally regarded as an honorable and courteous man.
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What role do modern gentlemen play in today's society?
The role of a modern gentleman has evolved. Historically, a gentleman was a man of good family entitled to bear arms, but not of the nobility. Today, the term "gentleman" generally refers to a man who is honorable, courteous, and well-mannered.
While the traditional markers of social status and wealth may still hold some weight, a modern gentleman is characterized more by his behavior and ethics than by his background or financial status. Qualities such as respect, integrity, empathy, and good etiquette are central to the modern interpretation of a gentleman.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
gentleman, in English history, a man entitled to bear arms but not included in the nobility. In its original and strict sense the term denoted a man of good family, deriving from the Latin word gentilis and invariably translated in English-Latin documents as generosus.
For most of the Middle Ages, when the basic social distinction was between nobiles (the tenants in chivalry, whether earls, barons, knights, esquires, or freemen) and ignobiles (serfs, citizens, and burgesses) the word gentleman was roughly equivalent to nobilis. There was, in this respect, no distinction between the great earl and the humble freeman. Even as late as 1400 the term still had only the sense of generosus and could not accurately be used as a personal description denoting rank or quality or as the title of a class. Yet after 1413 it was increasingly so used; the list of landowners in 1431, printed in Feudal Aids, contains, besides knights, esquires, yeomen, and husbandmen, a fair number who are classed as "gentilman."
The immediate cause of this was probably the statute of 1 Henry V., chapter 5 (1413), which required that in all original writs of action, personal appeals, and indictments which involved the process of outlawry, the “estate, degree or mystery” of the defendant must be stated. More widespread influences were also at work: the profound economic changes of the 14th and 15th centuries, caused partly by the Black Death, made it increasingly difficult and unattractive for the younger sons of the nobility to settle on the land. They tended to seek their fortunes abroad in Continental wars or to become dependents of the court or of some great noble house. Such men often chose to describe themselves as gentlemen.
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By the 16th century the “gentry” were officially regarded as constituting a distinct order. At the same time, the badge of this distinction came to be thought of as the heralds’ recognition of the right to bear arms. This view was quite unhistorical, for many gentlemen of long descent had never had occasion to assume coat armour and never did. Nevertheless, it became firmly rooted. The result was the extinction, in England, of the identification of gentry with nobility. Since it was held that a gentleman bore arms, it followed that anyone who bore arms was a gentleman, and in the fluid social conditions of the 16th and 17th centuries many acquired the right to bear arms who were ignobiles. Hence the term nobleman came to be reserved for members of the peerage, while anyone who could afford, as William Harrison put it in Description of England (1577), to “live without manual labour, and thereto is able and will bear the port, charge and countenance of a gentleman,” could “for money have a coat and arms bestowed upon him by heralds…and [be] reputed for a gentleman ever after.”
Sought after as an indication of social status, the term gentleman retained a certain value as an index of rank and affluence until the early 19th century. By 1900, under the influence of the political, economic, and social changes of the Victorian era, the word had acquired a variety of usages and meanings which fully reflected the complexity of English society. On the one hand, gentlemen could be a mere synonym of men—used at public places and occasions to distinguish male persons from females, and, on the other hand, acceptance by “society” as a gentleman still required an income derived from sources other than manual labour and retail trade.
In England this view, though much weakened by the social upheavals produced by two World Wars, to some extent prevailed—preserved, cherished, and typified in the rigid distinction on the cricket field between “gentlemen” and “players.” In general, however, the modern "gentleman" is well mannered rather than necessarily well bred or well off. The idea of the gentleman as a "gentle man" is found in Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale:
Loke who that is most vertuous alway
Prive and apert, and most entendeth ay
To do the gentil dedes that he can
And take him for the gretest gentilman.
It gained, perhaps, its highest expression in Sir Richard Steele, who wrote in 1714 that “the appellation of Gentleman is never to be affixed to a man’s circumstances, but to his Behaviour in them.”
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