Maharlika

Maharlika were named members of the Tagalog - warrior class, in the pre-colonial era, on the island of Luzon, Philippines. They had the same rights and obligations as the social standing over him class of the nobility, the Timawa, and formed the third class in the social system of the pre-colonial feudal Tagalog Society. In times of war Maharlikas were obligated to inform their Datu, Rajah Lakan or serve in combat. They had to arm themselves to at their own expense, but were also involved in the loot that they helped to win.

Though they were partly connected with the nobility, the Maharlikas were legally less free than the Timawas because they could not freely choose their affiliation to a Datu. If they wanted to change the membership of a leader they first had to align a large public festival and a payment to the Datu afford, like Spanish Kronisten report, to have amounted to 6-18 pesos in gold.

The term is derived from the term Maharlika Maharddhika from, derived from the Sanskrit, and means: a man of wealth, knowledge and skill. In many cases, the term is now equated with the terms nobility or aristocracy, but this is not entirely correct. The aristocracy in medieval Tagalog Society were the Maginoo and the warrior class of the Maharlikas were their followers. They were from today's perspective, an equivalent to the European gentry of the Middle Ages, the service nobility. The Maharlikas stood in the hirachrisch structured society over the unfree Alipin that it constituted the social base, however Represents the social model of Tagalog society was in contrast to comparable European societies permeable, so that the Maharlikas had the opportunity to climb into the classes of the nobility and the aristocracy. Since the beginning of the 17th century, the Maharlika warriors disappeared from the Tagalog society, as the company was flattened during the colonization of the Philippines by Spain, to a pure peasant society, were asked to pay only a tribute to the Spanish monastic orders and the colonial officials.

Maharlika culture

The term Maharlika culture emerged only in the 20th century, there was an attempt for the young nation of the Philippines to construct a similar cultural history, as they have in Japan or China. In the period of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos (President 1965-1986 ) this was taken to extremes. Marcos even played with the idea of ​​the Philippines change its name to Maharlika. There, among other streets, squares, buildings, schools were officially named as Maharlika. Even the entrance area of ​​the Malacañang Palace was called Maharlika. Shortly after the war claimed Marcos commanded a unit to have the Maharlika called and 8,000 men was said to be strong, which later turned out to be a lie. Also dates from this time the erroneous assignment to the aristocracy.