Ennoblement is the conferring of
nobility—the induction of an individual into the noble
class. Depending on time and region, various
laws have governed who could be ennobled and how. Typically, nobility was conferred on individuals who had assisted the
sovereign. In some countries (e.g., France under the
Ancien Régime), this degenerated into the buying of
patents of nobility, whereby rich commoners (e.g., merchants) could purchase a title of nobility.