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The Tagalog maginoo, the Kapampangan ginu, and the Visayan tumao were the nobility social class among various cultures of the pre-colonial Philippines. Among the Visayans, the tumao were further distinguished from the immediate royal families, the kadatuan. Barangay state and History of the Philippines (900-1565) The Tagalogs had a three-class social structure consisting of the maginoo (royalty), the maharlika (lit. freemen; warrior nobility), and the alipin (serfs and slaves). Only those who could claim royal descent were included in the maginoo class. Their prominence depended on the fame of their ancestors (bansag) or their wealth and bravery in battle (lingas). Generally, the closer a maginoo lineage was to the royal founder (puno) of a lineage (lalad), the higher their status. Members of the maginoo class were referred to as Ginoo. Proper names of the maginoo nobles were preceded by Gat (short for "pamagat" or "pamegat", originally meaning "lord" or "master", though it means "title" in modern Tagalog) for men and Dayang (lady) for women, denoting Lord and Lady respectively. The title Panginoon was reserved for particularly powerful maginoo who ruled over a large number of dependents and slaves, owned extensive property, and whose lineage was impeccable. Lower-status maginoo who gained prominence by newly acquired wealth were scornfully known as maygintawo (literally "person with a lot of gold"; nouveau riche). In Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala (1613), the Spanish Franciscan missionary Pedro de San Buenaventura compared the maygintawo to "dark knights" who gain their status by gold and not by lineage. The Tagalog datu were maginoo who ruled over a community (a dulohan or barangay, literally "corner" and "balangay boat" respectively) or had a large enough following. These datu either ruled over a single community (a pook) or were part of a larger settlement (a bayan, "city-state"). They constituted a council (lipon, lupon, or pulong) and answered to a sovereign ruler, referred to as the lakan (or the Sanskrit title raja, "king").

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Related concepts (14)

Maharlika

The maharlika (meaning freeman or freedman) were the feudal warrior class in ancient Tagalog society in Luzon, the Philippines. They belonged to the lower nobility class similar to the timawa of the Visayan people. In modern Filipino, however, the word has come to refer to aristocrats or to royal nobility, which was actually restricted to the hereditary maginoo class. Barangay state and History of the Philippines (900-1565) The maharlika were a martial class of freemen.

Tondo (historical polity)

In early Philippine history, the Tagalog settlement at Tondo (tunˈdo; Baybayin: ) ) sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Tondo, was a major trade hub located on the northern part of the Pasig River delta, on Luzon island. Together with Maynila, the polity (bayan) that was also situated on the southern part of the Pasig River delta, had established a shared monopoly on the trade of Chinese goods throughout the rest of the Philippine archipelago, making it an established force in trade throughout Southeast Asia and East Asia.

Timawa

The timawa were the feudal warrior class of the ancient Visayan societies of the Philippines. They were regarded as higher than the uripon (commoners, serfs, and slaves) but below the tumao (royal nobility) in the Visayan social hierarchy. They were roughly similar to the Tagalog maharlika caste. The term later lost its military and nobility connotations and was demoted to mean "freemen" during the Spanish conquest of the Philippines.