The Nobility The nobility (Old High German adal or edili 'noble family, the noblest', Latin nobilitas) sees itself as a "socially exclusive group with social precedence" that exercises power and usually passes this power on within the family (as a noble family). However, the term is not clear and in the individual European areas of rule different criteria apply or applied as to who belongs to the nobility and who does not. This applies even more to non-European cultures. A member of the nobility is referred to as a nobleman, noblewoman, noble maiden or nobleman. The nobility's claim to power was based on achievement, education and descent, as well as assumed divine intent. Leadership classes in the world's various cultures and in different societies are interpreted as nobility. Despite sometimes very long periods of continuity, the nobility was always subject to change. It could collapse, as with the late Roman nobility, or form anew. In many countries around the world, the nobility no longer holds its formerly extensive and exclusive political power, and in some cases no longer even exists (e.g. China), not even as an externally perceptible social group. At the same time, there are many states that are ruled or represented by noble houses and in which the nobility plays an important role - from Great Britain to Cambodia. In Europe, archaeology knows of the earliest evidence that is interpreted as such noble life, especially grave finds and the remains of former villas and castles. Ancient Greek, Roman, but also Etruscan leadership classes, for example, are seen as nobility. In the Middle Ages, the nobility developed from Roman and Germanic, and ethnically partly Slavic roots, into a "multifunctional elite" that led politically and militarily, economically, socially, culturally and religiously, but is not necessarily to be interpreted as "nobility". From around the 11th/12th century, the European nobility was generally organized into estates. In such estate systems, the nobility had certain rights, privileges, duties and codes of conduct. With the replacement of estates by democratic, socialist or communist systems or constitutional monarchies, the nobility in Europe largely lost its political significance. The legal and social situation of the nobility has historically been extremely different depending on the region: from the continued existence of class distinctions (e.g. the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) to the abolition of class privileges and duties (e.g. the Weimar Republic) and its abolition (e.g. Austria) to extinction through persecution, expulsion, imprisonment or murder (e.g. France, Russia, Soviet Occupation Zone/GDR). In Europe, the nobility today still represents a relatively closed social class with its own way of life, manners and a differentiated class ethos.