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We may today think of the French aristocracy of the ancien regime as a class; but surely it was imagined this way only very late. To the question 'Who is the Comte de X?' the normal answer would have been, not 'a member of the aristocracy,' but 'the lord of X,' 'the uncle of the Baronne de Y,' or 'a client of the Duc de Z.'

—from Imagined Communities, a book by Benedict Anderson

Active since May 23, 2022.
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