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Aristocracy: A Very Short Introduction

Online ISBN:
9780191776908
Print ISBN:
9780199206780
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Aristocracy: A Very Short Introduction

William Doyle
William Doyle
Emeritus Professor of History and Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol
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Published online:
24 September 2013
Published in print:
25 November 2010
Online ISBN:
9780191776908
Print ISBN:
9780199206780
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Aristocracy: A Very Short Introduction shows how ideas of aristocracy originated in ancient times, were transformed in the middle ages, and have only fallen apart over the last two centuries. The myths in which aristocracies have always sought to shroud themselves are stripped away, but the true sources of their enduring power are also revealed. Their outlook and behaviour affected the rest of society in innumerable and sometimes surprising ways, but perhaps most surprising was the way in which a centuries-old aristocratic hegemony has crumbled away over the last two hundred years. This VSI considers why this happened and what remains today.

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