Hidalgo (nobility)

An hidalgo (Spanish) or a fidalgo (Portuguese and Galician) is a member of the Spanish or Portuguese nobility; the feminine forms of the terms are hidalga, in Spanish, and fidalga, in Portuguese and Galician. Quotes His father’s name was Jose—Don, of course,—  A true Hidalgo, free from every stainOf Moor or Hebrew blood, he traced his source  Through the most Gothic gentlemen of Spain. Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto I She married (I forget the pedigree)  With an Hidalgo, who transmitted downHis blood less noble than such blood should be;  At such alliances his sires would frown,In that point so precise in each degree  That they bred in and in, as might be shown,Marrying their cousins—nay, their aunts, and nieces,Which always spoils the breed, if it increases.This heathenish cross restored the breed again,  Ruin’d its blood, but much improved its flesh;For from a root the ugliest in Old Spain  Sprung up a branch as beautiful as fresh;The sons no more were short, the daughters plain:  But there’s a rumour which I fain would hush,’Tis said that Donna Julia’s grandmammaProduced her Don more heirs at love than law. Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto I External links Category:History of Europe Category:Nobility