We often say that there are 5 types of titles in ancient China: "Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi, Male" . Coincidentally, in the ancient West, the nobility titles were basically five types of "gong, marquis, uncle, son, and male".
In terms of the division of titles, why are the classifications of the ancient East and the West exactly the same? Is this a historical coincidence? What is the difference between them?
一、Social hierarchy of the Western Zhou Dynasty
What we often say "gender, prince, uncle, son, male" is actually the five types of princes in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Zhou implemented patriarchal system and sub-feudal system , establishing a strict patriarchal society.
Specifically, Western Zhou society is divided into Zhou Tianzi (king), princes, officials, scholars and common people.
The emperor Zhou bestowed the land and people of the world to 诸侯 in the form of entrustment. The princes were ordered by Zhou's emperor to separate their states and establish a country. The state they established was the next administrative unit of the Zhou Dynasty.
卿大夫 is located under the princes, they can serve the Zhou emperor, handle specific administrative affairs for him, or become the princes' staff.
Dr. Qing and then down is 士. 士 is divided into two categories: , one type of "shi" refers to a lower-ranking official, and the other type of "shi" together with "agriculture, industry, and business" constitutes the "four people" of the society. Scholars are different from ordinary ordinary people in that their social status is higher, but this status is also unstable.
Next to the person, is the common people at the lowest end of the social pyramid. The common people are also opposed to a concept, that is, nobility.
In Western Zhou society, all classes of scholars and above can be called nobles.
Among the above five classes, princes are more special, and they are divided into five knighthoods: "gong, hou, uncle, son, and male".
Although they are the same princes, their social status is also different due to the different titles, the size of the fiefs and the military power under their jurisdiction are also different.
For example, among the various vassal states in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the Song State with a higher social status was the Duke, because they were descended from Yin merchants. Qi, Lu, and Wei are marquis, Zheng, Qin, and Cao are earls, Chu and Wu are viscounts, and Xu is baron.
According to the rules of the Zhou Dynasty, not everyone can be duke: "The son of emperor is called the public, and the king is called the public", "三公" here refers to Zhou Gong, Zhao Gong和太公, "王者" here refers to the descendants of Xia Dynasty and Yin Dynasty.
However, in the later Spring and Autumn Period, with the decline of the Zhou royal family, "gong" evolved into a kind of respect for the princes, and many lower-status monarchs were also called XX, such as 齐桓公 can be called public, and as a small country of Qi vassal, its monarch can also be called public, such as 莒共公.
The earliest father is the "priest guest" of the Zhou royal family. They can form their own army and have greater independence;
Hou and Bo are the "minions" of Zhou Emperor, and is an important class to defend the Zhou royal family. Generally, Hou Fen was sealed outside Gyeonggi of the Zhou royal family, while Uncle could be sealed inside and outside Gyeonggi.
hou is Zhou Tianzi's "scout", they help Zhou royal family to control the area outside Gyeonggi. The uncles who were sealed outside Gyeonggi were close to Hou's power. They also represented Zhou Tianzi on the side and enjoyed the power of conquest. The uncles who were sealed in Gyeonggi generally served directly in the Zhou Dynasty and served the Emperor Zhou.
The descendants who are separated from the family of kings or princes, are generally named viscounts and barons.
It is worth mentioning that "gong, hou, uncle, son, and male" is only the division method in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is completely based on the blood relationship with the Zhou royal family and the degree of credit. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Whose arms become thicker, whose title is higher. For example, was originally the country of Chu, which was only a Viscount, and later dared to claim to be king. and the Zhou royal family were fighting against each other, which is the best example.
二、 Ancient European titles
The titles of ancient European countries are similar, and there are many similarities with the division of Western Zhou Dynasty.
For example, the titles of British titles are divided into 7 levels, namely "Duke, Hou, Bo, Zi, Male, Quasi-Baron and Knight". Among them, Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi and Nan belong to the nobles, while the quasi-barons and knights belong to the common people, not the nobles. This is an important difference from the nobility of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Some people may ask, why are the names of titles in ancient Europe exactly the same as our titles in the Western Zhou Dynasty?
This is because the noble titles in Europe happen to also have 5 levels, namely Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron, which are the same as the 5 levels of our princes in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Therefore, when we later translated in Chinese, we directly used the names of the marquises in the Western Zhou Dynasty to correspond to them. means Duke=Duke, Marquess=Marquis, Earl=Earl, Viscount=Viscount, Baron=Baron .
For example, among the five noble titles in the UK, is the highest duke, usually the lord of a duchy below the kingdom. is very similar to the duke of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Marquis is located under the earl, and is generally the chief official in the border area. ; earl is lower than the marquis, and they are also in charge of one party. except that the area under the jurisdiction is generally smaller than that of the marquis and generally only holds Several counties.
Viscount is the last title to appear, and its original meaning is "County Guard", that is, the chief of a county. They were originally the earl’s deputies, but gradually became independent. They could build their own castle and directly control a territory.
As the lowest level of the noble pyramid, the number of barons is the largest. This title gradually developed into a pure title and has no connection with the nature of the fief.
A nobleman in the Western Zhou Dynasty must be a nobleman, but this was not necessarily the case in ancient Western Europe. For example, in the United Kingdom, there are quasi-baron and knight below . They are commoners, not nobles, so there is no hereditary problem.
In 2005, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom knighted Bill Gates-the Lord Commander of the British Empire, Sir, this is a kind of 骑士爵位.
It can be seen that no matter how rich Bill Gates is, in the eyes of the British royal family, he is a commoner!
