estate

In European history, an order of society that enjoyed a specified share in government. In medieval theory, there were usually three estates - the nobility, the clergy, and the commons - with the functions of, respectively, defending society from foreign aggression and internal disorder, attending to its spiritual needs, and working to produce the base with which to support the other two orders.

When parliaments and representative assemblies developed from the 13th century, their organization reflected this theory, with separate houses for the nobility, the commons (usually burghers and gentry), and the clergy. The fourth estate is the press; the term was coined in the 18th century by the British politician Edmund Burke.