Nobles of the Robe

Under the Old Regime of France, the Nobles of the Robe or Nobles of the Gown (French:Noblesse de robe) were French aristocrats whose rank came from holding certain judicial or administrative posts. As a rule, these positions did not of themselves give the holder a title of nobility, such as baron, count, or duke (although the holder might also hold such a title), but were almost always attached to a specific function. The offices were often hereditary, and by 1789 most Nobles of the Robe had inherited their positions. The most influential of them were the 1,100 members of the thirteen parlements, or courts of appeal. They were distinct from the "Nobles of the Sword" (French:Noblesse d'épée), whose nobility was based on their families' traditional function as the knightly class, and whose titles were usually attached to a particular feudal fiefdom, a landed estate held in return for military service. Together with the older nobility, the Nobles of the Robe made up the Second Estate in pre-revolutionary France.