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A comment on The richest families in Florence in 1427 are still the richest (2016). Parent comment

Re:The richest families in Florence in 1427 are still the ri... by mprovost on Thursday January 10, 2019 @10:18AM (#18874410)
That reminds me of the story when a reporter asked Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor (the Duke of Westminster) if he had any advice for young entrepreneurs and he replied “Make sure they have an ancestor who was a very close friend of William the Conqueror.”
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Re:The richest families in Florence in 1427 are still the ri... by paganel on Thursday January 10, 2019 @10:39AM (#18874581)
In a similar vein, I remember reading Proust’s novels some time ago and one of the protagonists was explaining to some other protagonist that you could be seen as a very respected member of the society of that time (think France of the 1800s - the 1900s) only if some of your ancestors had taken part in the crusades as noted (meaning non-anonymous) individuals, ~700-800 years before.
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