The Nobility of Italy comprised individuals and their families of Italy recognized by sovereigns, such as the Holy Roman Emperor, the Holy See, Kings of Italy or certain other Italian kings and sovereigns as members of a class of persons officially enjoying hereditary privileges which distinguished them from other persons and families. They often held lands as fiefs and sometimes were endowed with hereditary titles. Medieval "Italy" was a set of separate states until 1870, and had many royal bloodlines. Italian royal families were often related through marriage to each other and to other European royal families.
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Famous quotes containing the words nobility of, nobility and/or italy:
“It is of the nobility of man’s soul that he is insatiable: for he hath a benefactor so prone to give, that he delighteth in us for asking. Do not your inclinations tell you that the WORLD is yours?”
—Thomas Traherne (1636–1674)
“These hands do lack nobility that they strike
A meaner than myself.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“the San Marco Library,
Whence turbulent Italy should draw
Delight in Art whose end is peace,
In logic and in natural law
By sucking at the dugs of Greece.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)