Society/ class

• Social structure

  • Tudor society was hierarchical
  • At the top was god and
  • then the king
  • and the nobility, gentry and high clergy.
  • Merchants, burgesse, lower clergy and yeomen
  • the bottom was commoners e.g. peasants and servants
• The Church

  • it was a very powerful organisation that cosmdted of 10,000 clergy and 35,000 secular clergy
  • It was a state within a state. It had its own system of laws and courts which rivalled the authority of the king
  • These courts delt with religious crimes such as adult dry and heresy and crimes committed by churchmen.
  • There was a vast economic gap between senior Clergy, bishops and lower clergy
• Nobility

  • very few in numbers. in 1500 there were 55 nobles, 500 knights, 800 esquires and 500 gentlemen which made up 1% of the population
  • The crown relied on this class to govern the country
• The commoners

  • 2 million of them living in England and wales
  • 50% lived at or below the poverty line
  • These were the labouring poor who lived and worked in rural areas
  • A small number were educated professionals
  • Lower down the scale came shopkeepers and skilled tradesmen