 Similar patterns have existed toward other groups both in the region and elsewhere in the world, especially where political borders do not coincide with the patterns of ethnic population.Transylvania in the Middle Ages was organized according to the system of Estates, which were privileged groups ("universitates") with power and influence in socio-economic and political life, being nonetheless organized according to certain ethnic criteria as well.The first Estate was the lay and ecclesiastic aristocracy, ethnically heterogeneous, but undergoing a process of homogenization around its Hungarian nucleus.