deeds are an important source not only for the existence of noble families, but also for their rank and status. Witness lists, for instance, mostly enumerate edelfreie witnesses first, followed by ministeriales witnesses, mostly denoted as eques (knight) or something similar. In contrast, the younger Briefadel are families of the post-medieval nobility, probably originally of bourgeois (Bürger, burgher) or peasant origin, ennobled in the modern era by letters patent issued by a monarch, usually with the award of a coat of arms if they did not already have one. Said to have been modelled on the earlier French practice of raising officials (especially lawyers) to the aristocracy, the earliest letters patent conferring nobility in Germany were issued under Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, in the late 14th century. Austria A similar term used more often than in Austria is ("old nobility"). Scandinavia The term can be found in Scandinavian genealogy from the early 20th century. The contrasting term was calqued as brevadel. The 1926 edition of the Swedish Nordisk familjebok also cites 1350 as the required date, because "the oldest known letter patent dates to 1360". The letters patent referred to here is that issued by Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV to Wicker Frosch, a burgher of Frankfurt, on 30 September 1360. Svenska Akademiens ordbok mentions "circa 1420" as the threshold date. In Norway, one of the earliest known letters patent is of 1458. Hochadel (High Nobility) Hochadel is not a synonym for . Whereas (medieval or feudal nobility before AD 1400) is opposed to (nobility by letters – or patent – of nobility, mostly from the post-medieval period after AD 1400), Hochadel (high nobility) is opposed to Niederer Adel (lower nobility). The differentiation of from is age-based, whereas the distinction between Hochadel and Niederer Adel is based on the rank of titles, with Hochadel including all royal, princely and ducal houses of Europe, as well as the former German Imperial Counts, as far as they ruled an Imperial State with a seat on one of the four "benches of counts" in the Imperial Diet until 1806. The Almanach de Gotha (followed by subsequent series) differentiates between three sections of Hochadel. The first section listed Europe's sovereign houses, whether they reigned as emperor, king, grand duke, duke or prince. The second section contained the Mediatized Houses of Germany, which lost their semi-sovereignty within the Holy Roman Empire during the period