15th Century Society

Question 1

What was society like in 1485?

Answer 1

.3 million people - 90% rural.
.Hilly, mountainous.
.Small towns but Norwich 12000, London 60000 - cramped overcrowded city. Cities e.g. Salisbury 5000.
.Urban settlements not evenly distributed so small ones became centres for local government and market/fair sales - usually in more sparsely populated areas.

Question 2

What were sections of gentry?

Answer 2

.Higher - land - sir/barons/knights, gov. Bray.
.Middle - trade, mercantile bourgeoise.

Question 3

What happened in the Yorkshire Rebellion 1489?

Answer 3

.1489 - parliament granted taxation to finance Brittany campaign.
.Earl of Northumberland murdered by tenants as punishment for deserting Richard III.

Question 4

What happened in the Cornish Rebellion 1497?

Answer 4

.Extraordinary revenue demand to finance Scotland campaign.
.15000 rebels - Warbeck tried to exploit and marched to London.
.Daubeney and troops withdrawn.
.Lord Audley and rebel leaders executed.
.Most rebels faced leniency.
.Tension rose with Scotland and foreign conflict entry caution.

Question 5

What was the role of nobility?

Answer 5

.Owned land/titles.
.50/60 men, previous advisors but King distracts them.
.Retained men (bastard feudalism), controlled areas, Earl of Northumberland in North East.
.Rebel - bonds, no retainders, throne claims, lack of power, finances.

Question 6

What was the role of the gentry?

Answer 6

.Owned a lot of land - 15-20%.
.Many knighted but fighting for King was dying out. Links to court/gov.
.Military obligations, local admin., recognised, landowners and esquire.
.Rebel - land loss, elite diff ideas, yeomen want more power, nobility authority questioned, tax/local issues.

Question 7

What was the role of Churchmen?

Answer 7

.Pay dependent on role, Tithe - 10% goods, rent, collection, land, corruption.
.Higher parish in House of Lords, Erestian - King at top of Church, Lawyers and important jobs.
.Important jobs, social role - Sundays, Parish Priest.
.Rebel - neglected, taxes, local issues, legal decisions, not revolutionary.

Question 8

What was the social Hierarchy of the Church?

Answer 8

.King.
.Church.
.Archbishops.
.Bishops.
.Clergymen.

Question 9

What was the social Hierarchy of England.

Answer 9

.King.
.Gentlemen.
.Gentry/court.
.Yeomen/citizens.
.Labourers.
.Vagrants/beggars.

Question 10

What was the Great Chain of Being?

Answer 10

Everyone had a position/place in society.

Question 11

Define transubstantiation.

Answer 11

Wine and bread change into Christ.

Question 12

Define Purgatory.

Answer 12

Souls of dead purged before entering Heaven.

Question 13

Define Limbo.

Answer 13

State before entering Heaven or Hell.

Question 14

Define Incense.

Answer 14

Holy oils.

Question 15

Define Latin.

Answer 15

Language used for ecclesiastical doctrine.

Question 16

Define intercession.

Answer 16

Prayer on behalf of another.

Question 17

Define Confession.

Answer 17

Personal service for absolving sin.

Question 18

Define Hierarchy.

Answer 18

Formal structure.

Question 19

Define laymen/laity.

Answer 19

Neither priests nor members of religious order.

Question 20

Define cardinal.

Answer 20

Leading Bishops who support Vatican Pope.

Question 21

Define diocese.

Answer 21

Area under a Bishop’s pastoral care.

Question 22

Define Pope.

Answer 22

Head of Catholic Church.

Question 23

Define Bishop.

Answer 23

In charge of a diocese.

Question 24

Define monastic orders.

Answer 24

Monks and nuns.

Question 25

Define Archbishop.

Answer 25

Bishop who oversees all other Bishops.

Question 26

What were the strengths of the Church?

Answer 26

.Sense of community.
.Education, jobs, healthcare.
.Control - fear factor.
.Social.
.Connection with God.
.Margaret of Beaufort - Mystic, donated to Cambridge.
.1% men were monks.
.Cistercians and Carthusians.
.130 nunneries and Friars and Priesthood candidate numbers.

Question 27

What opportunities were the from the Church?

Answer 27

.Pilgrimages.
.Fear and control.
.Confraternities and Guilds.
.Local communities.

Question 28

What were the weaknesses of the Church?

Answer 28

.Canterbury - Thomas Becket - decreased in popularity - Kempis was critical.
.Friars - “great days were over”.
.Nunneries - most small and poor.
.Corruption (led to anticlericalism).
.Nepotism.
.Sexism.
.Simony.
.Pluralism.
.Bibles.

Question 29

What were the threats to the Church?

Answer 29

.Humanism - Grocyn, Linacre, Colet, Erasmus.
.1499 More boost Humanist ideas under Henry VIII - scholastic philosophy dominated.
.Lollardy (Wycliffe) - favoured Bible but sceptical of transubstantiation - Catholic Church corrupt and denied priesthood special status.
.Heresy.
.1414 - failed Lollard uprising.
.Anticlericalism - not widespread - politically motivated.
.Reformation.