The patriciate

The patriciate in the Netherlands
In an abstract sense, a group of people could be designated as such until the end of the sixties of the 20th century. In the sense that members of that group had a greater chance than others of acquiring a role in any government. Their ancestors had often been 'regents' in the cities during the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and had governed the country and a variety of businesses in the 19th century. Traditionally they played a more important role in the polders of the Northern Netherlands than the nobility, which mainly consisted of junkers from the province. In the time of the golden age and the republic,ennobling was not possible except by foreign kings. For example, the Roman-German emperor elevated the descendants of Dutch generations to the royal seat. When the Dutch royal family was installed, ennobling became possible. King William I deliberately included a number of regent families, often without giving them a title, in the nobility. Other families, on the other hand, took pride in the fact that they thought they were too dignified for that as offspring from well-known merchant families, but they did endeavor to acquire a knighthood in the Dutch lion. Genealogy of a large number of such families has been published in the Netherlands' Patriciaat publication of the Central Bureau for Genealogy Foundation.