Landed gentrydroite|vignette|350x350px|Mr and Mrs Andrews (1748-49) par Thomas Gainsborough, un couple de la noblesse terrienne, dont la richesse provenait du textile et du commerce maritime, tout récemment investie dans la terre, ici immortalisé. National Gallery, Londres. La Landed gentry, en français noblesse terrienne, était une classe sociale britannique de rang inférieur à l'aristocratie et à la pairie (haute noblesse) qui était composée par les propriétaires fonciers.
Upper classUpper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is generally distinguished by immense wealth which is passed on from generation to generation. Prior to the 20th century, the emphasis was on aristocracy, which emphasized generations of inherited noble status, not just recent wealth.
SurnameA surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person. Depending on culture, the surname may be placed at either the start of a person's name, or at the end. The number of surnames given to an individual also varies: in most cases it's just one, but in many Spanish-speaking countries, two surnames are used for legal purposes.
Early modern EuropeEarly modern Europe, also referred to as the post-medieval period, is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the late 15th century to the late 18th century. Historians variously mark the beginning of the early modern period with the invention of moveable type printing in the 1450s, the Fall of Constantinople and end of the Hundred Years’ War in 1453, the end of the Wars of the Roses in 1485, the beginning of the High Renaissance in Italy in the 1490s, the end of the Reconquista and subsequent voyages of Christopher Columbus to the Americas in 1492, or the start of the Protestant Reformation in 1517.
