Nobles of the Sword

Gabriel de Rochechouart, father of Madame de Montespan, was a member of the House of Rochechouart, one of the oldest French noble families.

The Nobles of the Sword (French: noblesse d'épée) were the noblemen of the oldest class of nobility in France dating from the Middle Ages and the early modern period, and arguably still in existence by descent. It was originally the knightly class whose members owed military service, usually to a king (to the King of France typically but in some cases to other monarchs such as the Plantagenet kings of England for example) in return for the possession of feudal landed estates in the king's realm. They played an important part during the French Revolution since their attempts to retain their old power monopoly caused the new nobility’s interests to align with the newly arising French bourgeoisie class, creating a powerful force for change in French society in the late 18th century.[1] For the year 1789, Gordon Wright gives a figure of 80,000 nobles.[2]

  1. ^ Michael J. LaMonica (11 November 2014). French Revolutions For Beginners. For Beginners, LLC. pp. 15–. ISBN 978-1-934389-91-1.
  2. ^ Gordon Wright, France in Modern Times, 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1987, p. 15.