And make sure you remember the important point on the "new" nobility and are not confused. To become "noble," the king must say it is so. He might appoint someone or sell the office in hard economic times. He might also make you pay a tax (French: paulette) for that right to continue beyond you or pass to another. For the French judiciary, this means that higher level judges - say the Parlment of Paris - are likely noblesse de robe, but small affairs of local justice might be dealt with by non-noble lower level judges. Nobility and the new entrepeneurs affairs will increasingly be mixed over time, as the nobility invest in business enterprises and the new entrepeneurs buy land/estates. Economic wealth does not confer social status. Just because you are more wealthy than a king does not mean you are considered of high social status or are exempt from taxation as most nobles are.
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