Editing Magnate (section)

{{Short description|Person (usually a man) in a position of high wealth, power, or nobility}}
{{distinguish|Agnate}}
{{redirect|Magnat|a wealthy or powerful business baron or executive|Business magnate|other uses|Magnat (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Bacciarelli Jan Zamoyski.jpg|thumb|[[Jan Zamoyski]], an important 16th-century [[Polish people|Polish]] magnate]]

The term '''magnate''', from the [[late Latin]] ''magnas'', a great man, itself from [[Latin]] ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities in [[Western Christian]] countries since the medieval period. It also includes the members of the higher clergy, such as [[bishop]]s, [[archbishop]]s and [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]]s. In reference to the [[medieval]], the term is often used to distinguish higher territorial [[landowner]]s and [[warlord]]s, such as [[count]]s, [[earl]]s, [[duke]]s, and territorial-[[prince]]s from the [[baronage]]. In Poland the ''[[szlachta]]'' (nobles) constituted one of the largest proportions of the population (around 10-12%) and 'magnat' refers to the richest nobles, or nobles of the nobility - even though they had equal voting rights in Poland's electoral monarchy.