Great Chain of Being & Divine Right

• Great Chain of Being

  Heaven / Angels / God -> Clouds -> Angels -> People -> Birds -> Fish -> Elephant -> Camel -> Trees -> Minerals -> Hell
• Divine Right

  God -> Monarch -> Nobles -> Gentry -> Yeomanry -> Poor
• Nobility

  • Powerful, attended court to network.
  • Had a hierarchy.
  • Money from owning land.
  • 1% of the population, 14 % of the wealth.
• Gentry

  • Landlords - live of off the rent.
  • 25% of the population, owned 50 % of the land.
  • Power in local area's, Justice's of Peace.
  • Often as rich as nobles.
• Yeomanry

  • Middleclass.
  • Lived comfortably - plunged into poverty.
  • Lived in towns / villages.
  • 45% of the population.
• Poor

  • 50% of the population.
  • Struggled to pay rent & food.
  • Main food = Barley & Rye