Rags to riches  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popular culture (for example, the writings of Horatio Alger, Jr. and recently J. K. Rowling).

Pre-20th-century fictional examples

• Fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Aladdin.
• The Dickens novel Oliver Twist, whose protagonist rises from a workhouse to child labour to a gang of pickpockets to being adopted by a wealthy family.
• The Arthurian story of Sir Gareth, who rises from a lowly kitchen boy to a prominent Knight of the Round Table.

Historical examples

• Genghis Khan, who was homeless with just his mother and his siblings, went on to create the largest land empire in history (however, Genghis was the son of a Mongol chieftain).
• Emperor Basil I, born a simple peasant in the theme of Macedonia, he rose in the Imperial court and despite his humble origins, he showed great ability in running the affairs of state. On Michael III's death, Basil, as an already acclaimed co-emperor, automatically became the ruling emperor.
• Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, born in poverty, founded the Medici bank; the Medici were a common family.
• Pope Leo III was of commoner origin and attained the high position in spite of violent opposition from the nobility, who considered the papacy as their preserve.
• George Thomas (soldier), born into a poor Irish farming family, became a mercenary in India eventually rising to become a wealthy Raja.
• Pope Gregory VII was born a commoner Hildebrand, perhaps the son of a blacksmith. His bad reputation was partially due to horror at his high social mobility.
• Chandragupta Maurya of India, who from a humble beginning founded the Maurya Empire.
• Mahmud of Ghazni, son of a Turkic slave, who founded the Ghaznavid Empire.
• Baibars, a slave who rose to become the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt through his military prowess.
• China's Emperor Gaozu of Han and Hongwu Emperor who were both born into peasant families, but eventually founded two of the nation's most illustrious imperial dynasties.
• Empress Xiaowu Si of Han, or Wei Zifu, was born in a peasant family and ended up as the second wife and empress of Emperor Wu of Han
• Emperor Xuan of Han brought up a commoner despite royal blood, later rose to become a capable ruler.
• Emperor Guangwu of Han lived life as a peasant at one point in his life despite being a distant royal. He eventually restored the Han dynasty.
• Emperor Diocletian, born to freed slave of low social standing in Dalmatia, he rose through the ranks of the Roman military to become a cavalry commander. After the death of emperor Carus, Diocletian defeated the former emperor's son Carinus in battle and proclaimed himself Roman emperor. His reign would be marked by consolidation of power around himself and its impact on the history of the late Roman Empire. He would eventually give up his post in later life to become a farmer.
• Emperors Justin I, Justinian the Great and Theodora came from peasant families. Justin and Justinian later became Emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire. Theodora was a courtesan and actress. Later became Empress.
• Hurrem Sultan, also known as Roxelana, was the chief consort and legal wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history and a prominent and controversial figure during the era known as the Sultanate of Women.
• Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, was the orphaned son of a goat-herder who established the most powerful empire in modern Persian history.
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a famous example in late medieval times, helped unify pre-modern Japan.
• Wei Zhongxian of Ming Dynasty China, a gambler who castrated himself and entered the Imperial Palace where he ended enormous power under the reign of the Tianqi Emperor. He eventually committed suicide upon banishment by the Chongzhen Emperor.
• Pope Sixtus IV, Pope from 9 August 1471 to his death in 1484, founder of the Della Rovere family
• Leonora Dori, a French courtier of Italian origin and an influential favourite of the French regent Marie de' Medici, mother of King Louis XIII of France.
• Karin Månsdotter, daughter of a soldier and jailkeeper named Måns, became Queen of Sweden by her marriage with King Eric XIV of Sweden.
• Madame de Maintenon, second wife of King Louis XIV of France and founder of the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, a school for girls from poorer noble families
• Catherine I of Russia, born into a peasant family, married Peter the Great, and became Empress of Russia following his death.
• Alexander Danilovich Menshikov
• Ernst Johann von Biron
• Alexei Razumovsky
• Nell Gwyn
• Abigail Masham
• Dorothea Jordan
• Madame du Barry
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Pierre Augereau
• Catherine Hübscher
• Joachim Murat
• Karađorđe
• Miloš Obrenović I of Serbia
• Halil Rifat Pasha
• Jean-Jacques Dessalines
• Henri Christophe
• Faustin Soulouque
• Piast the Wheelwright
• Přemysl the Ploughman
• Christopher Columbus
• Baldomero Espartero
• Agustín Fernando Muñoz
• Rachel Félix
• La Païva
• Marie Charlotte Blanc
• Marie-Anne Detourbay
• Draga Mašin
• Henriette Poincaré
• Anita Delgado
• Wallis Simpson
• Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan
• Magda Lupescu
• Kristin Rivelsrud
• Nathan Bedford Forrest
• Theodore Fred Williams

See also

• American Dream
• Horatio Alger
• Lottery
• New Russians
• Nouveau riche
• Novus homo
• Ragged Dick
• Self-made man
• Self-Made Men
• Self-help
• Social mobility
• Starman Jones
• The Ugly Duckling