Need a French speaker to tell me what one word means!

[Ivegotabigfatwardrobe]

Hi, I’m just doing some family history research and I’ve come across a word that I don’t understand.
It’s ‘bourgeois’
In context ‘Jean de Choiseul, bourgeois de Moulins-Engilbert’
I tried googling and it just came up with bourgeoisie!

Middle class?

Townsperson? Would that make sense?

It means from that place - so Jean de C from the commune Moulins Englibert

Nobleman/ burgher

Thank you!
His son is ‘Claude seigneur d’Arcilly’ but I’m also not sure what ‘seigneur’ is?

Lord

Sorry, seigneur is lord

Depending which century you are looking at, a bourgeois was a town dweller while a seigneur was equivalent to a Lord of the manor, ie untitled owner of a feudal property that had certain noble rights attached.

Someone who owns property, not a commoner.

It means a specific type of land owner. Doesn't mean they were noble.

Ok thanks everyone!
@IseethesilverliningcCentury-wise im looking anywhere from the 1500s to 1200s. There seems to be a lot of marriages between seigneurs of xyz and dames of abc so I suppose even if they weren’t considered noble, they didn’t marry beneath themselves!

If it makes any difference some of them also have numbers after their names I.e ‘Pierre third of his name of blah blah blah’

A seigneur owner can be male or female or even a group of people.

They might be the bigwig in their area but equally they might not be.

You made me think of droit de seigneur, I think it is spelled.

A seigneur is a lord, someone who owns a piece of land and has rights of jurisdiction and certain other rights (e.g. rights to labour) over the people who live on it.

A bourgeois (burgher) is not only a town-dweller but a town-dweller who has rights of citizenship and political rights in his town. So basically urban middle class. There will be plenty of townspeople who do not belong to the bourgeoisie- labourers, poor people, people from elsewhere.

The feudal system of seigneurie started out as a military expedient: the king would give a piece of land to a follower or local bigwig, he would then get to profit from it but in return had to provide a set number of soldiers/military equipment/provisions from the army from that land, and would also himself be expected to serve in the army.

That’s really helpful thank you @corythatwas

@Fenlandmountainrescue I’d never heard of that, it’s horrible!