Status
For much of the kingdom's existence, the zemans answered only to the king, they were outside any other nobleman's power and did not fall under their county's judiciary. They did not pay taxes, were automatically members of the Diet, elected their county officials, could not be ordered to convert from Lutheranism (mostly Slovaks) and Calvinism (mostly Hungarians) to Catholicism during the Habsburgs' forceful Counter-Reformation, and enjoyed other privileges of people free of feudal oppression.
Read more about this topic: Zeman (nobleman)
Famous quotes containing the word status:
“Anthropologists have found that around the world whatever is considered “men’s work” is almost universally given higher status than “women’s work.” If in one culture it is men who build houses and women who make baskets, then that culture will see house-building as more important. In another culture, perhaps right next door, the reverse may be true, and basket- weaving will have higher social status than house-building.”
—Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Excerpted from, Gender Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World (1990)
“The influx of women into paid work and her increased power raise a woman’s aspirations and hopes for equal treatment at home. Her lower wage and status at work and the threat of divorce reduce what she presses for and actually expects.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“As a work of art it has the same status as a long conversation between two not very bright drunks.”
—Clive James (b. 1939)