English Society

• the structure


  english society was stratified (layered) due to the influence of the feudal system (medieval society structured by relationships w land and service. most land was held by the monarch for military service and at the bottom serfs gave labour to lords for protection). also likely influenced by the great chain of being

  the feudal system:

  • king- gives the baron land, his power's absolute
  • barons- pays homage by organising military, give knights some land
  • knights- pay homage by fighting in the barons army, give peasants land
  • peasants- pay homage by working the land
• the structure


  • monarch
  • great landowners like senior churchmen and peerage/nobility
  • bourgeoisie (middle class town and city residents) like gentry, merchants and yeoman
  • peasants

  the remains of the feudal system were apparent in the law, social relationships and attitudes. but economic pressure since the black death where the pop. halved causing a shortage of land and food increased social mobility and created alarm in the upper class. Who tried to uphold traditional values by passing sumptuary laws (which tried to regulate how people should dress by status)
• nobility/peerage


  • dominated landownership, exercised considerate power in their localities and members of the house of lords so had political power
  • made up of around 50 men
  • held on to the 5 ranks of aristocracy (duke, marquis, earl, viscount and baron)
  • peerage families died out regularly and were replaced by others who bought the kings favour and recei#ved the titles
  • the crown often relied on them to maintain law and order in the countryside
  • unlike his predecessors, 7 was reluctant to create new peerage and didn't trust them, likely due to his growing up outside england
• nobility/peerage


  • only trusted lancastrian military commanders egthe earl of oxford who lead at boswoth and stoke, had political influence over 7
  • never trusted the earl of northumberland but relied on him to control the northeast on behalf of the crown
  • used system of bonds and recognisances to control peers. also controlled bastard feudalism/retaining (when wealthy magnnates recruited retainers to serve them, sometimes for military purposes) which could be used against the crown by limiting it through legislation while remaining conscious that they were essential to crown security
• nobility/peerage


  • parliamentary acts in 1487 and 1504 went against bastard feudalism
  • 1486 peers and MPs had to take an oath against illegal retaining, but illegality wasn't defined
  • 1487 a law against it was established and reinforced through the act in 1504 which made it so you needed a license to retain.
  • he fined lord bergavenny £100k in 1506 for illegal retaining but he probably paid no more than 1k before being pardoned after 8 took the throne
• gentry


  • below the nobility in status
  • often great landowners
  • the most important like Sir Reginald Bray sought knighthoods to confirm their status
  • 375 knights in 1490
  • originally had military obligation but that was no longer essential, expected to assist in administering their localities
  • peers and knights owned around 20% of the land together and formed an elite
• churchmen


  • the church was hugely important in both its spiritual role and as a great land owner
  • the clergy's social status varied, the lower level like the chantry priest were modestly rewarded but bishops and abbots of large religious houses were important enough to sit in the house of lords and had political roles
  • pope martin V declared the king governed the church of england and 7 used that power to appoint only men with legal training and competent administers as bishops like john morton (archbishop of canterbury) and richard fox (bishop of winchester and managed the transition to 8)
• churchmen


  • cardinals- senior churchmen and elected popes
  • archbishops- senior churchmen in each county
  • bishops- regional leaders
  • parish priests- ministered their own congregations, special rights separated them from laity (ordinary people)
• classes - town dwellers

  • below the peers, gentry and high clergy
  • at the top of the group was the bourgeoisie, educated professionals like lawyers and merchants
  • lower down came the 'middling sort', shopkeeps and tradesmen who played key roles in town councils and guilds (groups of craftsmen)
• classes- country dwellers

  • the middling sort were yeoman farmers (owned their own land) who famed substantial properties for the increasingly sophisticated economy, a decline in population and drop in land value from the black death enabled their emergence
  • below yeoman came husbandmen who kept smaller farms and worked for the gentry
  • below them was the peasantry (country dwellers who farmed rented/owned land) labourers dependent on the sale of their labour, their position was insecure
• classes- regional differences


  • england was a country were ideas of language and nationhood conferred a stron sense of single identity
  • though both small and politically unified, england demonstrated regional variations. deriving from differences in agriculture like the low zone high zone pastoral vs mixed farming divide
  • londoners tended to look down on the north for savagery while northeners were envious of sourthern riches. local identity was also reinforced by saint's cults which placed importance on pilgrimage like cantenbury
• social discontent and rebellion

  • during the second hald of the 15th century, living conditions for the poor seemed to improve
  • real wages (value of income related to price of goods, rather than actual money revied) increased in the 90s though reversed slightly over the turn of the century
  • compared to later tudor monarch's reigns social discontent was low
  • england avoided a subsitence crisis (harvest failure raising food prices to the point peasants starve) which effected many other european countries
  • but there were two majour rebellions: yorkshire, 1489 and cornwall, 1497. both over tax
• yorkshire rebellion


  • 1489
  • sparked off by resentment for taxation granted in parliament to finance the breton crisis
  • the earl of northumberland was sent to collect the new subsidy tax (a tax on land or goods) and was murdered by his tenants as his retainers deserted him, possibly as he had deserted richard III in bosworth
  • theres no evidence it started as anything other than a protest against taxes by gentry and never escalated beyong the gathering of large crowds and murder of norhtumberland
• yorkshire rebellion


  • the reasons were that yorkshire was poor and had recently suffered bad harvests so couldnt pay the tax. and they felt they werent at risk from france since yorkshire's on the opposite end of the country
  • the rebellion was early on in the reign when anxiety about elite conspiracy was high, yorkshire being the previous powerbase off rich III only added to government fears.
  • 7 responded by sending a large army under the earl of surrey, he may have felt it was a yorkist revolt rather than genuine popular outrage over tax
• cornish rebellion


  • 1497
  • sparked off by the need for revenue to finance the campaign against scotland
  • cornwal was independed with its own language and parliament and was also poor. the poeple resented paying a tax which had nothing to do with them geographically
  • it coincided with warbecks rebellion so appeared to be a bigger potential threat
  • led by lord audley, a local lawyer called thomas flamank and the physically imposing michael the blacksmith
• cornish rebellion


  • the leaders whipped up local support and marched to london, they were bigger than the hastily diverted crown army under lord daubeney
  • the kings councillors, morton and bray were blamed for the taxes, many never intending to take up ars against the king himself
  • support collapsed as many deserted to return to cornwall and there was anger that kent (where there had been rebellions previously) didn't show any support.
  • when the two sides met on 14th june 1497 henry had 25k men and quickly defeated the rebels
• cornish rebellion a threat? no

  • gave 7 the chance to say the rebels sought to overthrow him as warbeck was still at large, and wariwck still in the tower
  • after issuing their grievances the leaders didnt gain concessions from the king, they realised theyd have to fight, leading to many deserters
  • the recalled royal army outnumbered the rebels who lacked cavalry and artillery
  • the leaders were executed but the rebels were treated with leniency
• cornish rebellion a threat? yes

  • the rebellion shocked 7 into easing anglo-scottish tensions, treating foreign conflict with caution
  • leaders had the support of local nobility, gentry and clergy, though they were small and localised it encapsulated all classes and showed skill and determination leading the rebels to london
  • the size and sped shocked the goverment and 7, estimated 15-40k rebels
  • both rebellions were successful as the taxes were never collected
  • 7 was caught unawares, his forces were fighting scotland in the north, he thought local families could deal with the rebels