English Society 1603 Flashcards
What were issues in 1603 regarding society?
- The population had reached 5 million but the agriculture industry and production had not followed, creating inflation and unemployment with a growing subclass who couldn’t rent or own property.
- In the 1620s harvest failure led to famine in this class.
- The rich could charge higher prices for properties, charging triple the amount to take advantage of the subclass.
What was the role of justices of the peace, (JPs)?
These were elected gentry who worked for free. The public often rioted due to food shortages, demanding tithes, (food donations to Church), and enclosure fences in times of unemployment. JPs had to listen to these concerns, offer sanctions such as whipping and fines, but also provide an ear to their voice. The JPs would have to act as judges to lesser crimes. Gentry were the landowners of the time.
What was the idea behind commonwealth and why was the masterless man feared?
Commonwealth described England as a tree which was interlocked with connections, and the king at the top. Everybody in England had duties to the king and each other, fulfilling duties for their neighbours. Tenants aided service to the nobility in return for protection and shelter, as the nobility relied on the monarch for formal influence. The vagrant had no allegiance to swear and so was regarded with suspicion and punished.
How did some men in towns prove the Great Chain of Being to not always be true?
Men were able to move up or down through trading. By selling types of cloth at a surplus, to replace broadcloth, a heavy cloth that shrunk after weaving to make it thicker, these men were able to receive lots of money through cheap mass production. Agriculture had not reached the same surpluses. Many examples of successful trading companies include the English East India Company, 1600. These men were rich merchants. Meanwhile, in London as trading increased, by 1650 the population had hit 400,000. These men could provide James with a loan due to their wealth.
What did peerage include?
Dukes, earls, and barons/lords.
What sources were available for limited social movement?
The church, the law, military service, and through receiving the notice and favour of an influential patron.
Who were included in the landed classes?
Baronets.
Knights.
Gentry with no title such as yeomen farmers and smallholders.
Who were included in the merchant classes?
Merchants. Bankers. City officials. Master-craftsmen. Skilled labourers.
Who were included in the lower classes?
Labourers and paupers.
What was the Royal prerogative and how did laws get enforced and passed?
Royal prerogative was the king’s power to act as an authority without others. He could employ and control the distribution of offices as well as controlling foreign policy, war, peace, the regulation of oversees trade, controlling the coinage, and pardoning criminals.
Since the establishment of the Protestant Church in the 16th century, the crown was the head and was able to radically alter practise. The King could change laws through issuing proclamations. This could lead to a statute where parliament would pass the law in the common law courts, (law established by long custom through court decisions). Only the King-in-parliament could pass statute law.
What did the King believe about his power compared to parliament ?
The King believed in the ‘divine right of kings,’ which is that he was appointed by God and therefore representative institutions only exist at his pleasure. He alone was the lawmaker and there would be no safeguard against rulers. Meanwhile those wanting to limit the king’s power argued that the ancient constitution and common law took centuries to write and should not be changed by the King. His power should not also determine the liberty of subjects.
Which groups did Sir Thomas Smith define to prove England was landed and hierarchical?
Sir Thomas Smith - gentlemen, yeomen, husbandmen, and cottagers/labourers
1- Gentlemen, there were peerage with honours, and the gentry who were knights, esquires, and mere gentlemen. Contemporaries argue they had leisure and independence.
2- Husbandmen - these men were poorer than yeomen and most susceptible for natural disasters with harsh economic climate.
3- Cottagers and labourers lived off allotments or smallholdings and earned money wages.
What is evidence for and against England being landed and hierarchical?
Landed, hierarchical society. The earls of Derby had estates in Cheshire and Lancashire, and mansions in Knowsley and Lathom. In 1587, the fourth Earl, in the Household of Henry, had over a hundred people, with 26 gentlemen, or their sons, from Cheshire and Lancashire serving for land, annuities, and influence in court. In 1597, when he returned from London, he was met by local gentlemen, tenants, and retainers.
Newer non-landed groups not included.
Increase in merchants and professional people; merchants were often sons of landowners or used wealth to become landowners. Apprentices and labourers increased, with the sons of yeomen farmers apprenticed to craftsmen or merchants, while farmers were also part time woollen cloth or metalworkers. However, there was an increase in non-landed groups.
What was evidence for and against large families in early 17th century?
For: Rich and elite landowning gentlemen often had large families.
Against : Average family of size 4.75 people with husband, wife, young children, and servants. Marriage during this time was at the average age of mid to late twenties, as young adults had to first find a household. Livings were earned through apprenticeships or through having roles as ‘servants in husbandry,’ as people had yearly contracts, moving farm to farm, and developing into ploughers.
What is evidence against English being immobile?
Contemporaries have found from parish records those baptised there often did not die there.
Subsistence migrants often moved for better work opportunities. The Shropshire village of Myddle had migrants flocking there, alongside Northamptonshire Forest, Sussex Weald, and moorland areas of Cumbria, pastoral regions. Later on, in 1620s, many migrated to Virginia, US. Other betterment migrants moved shorter distances on employment. This was due to unstable agrarian economy, contemporary marriage, and family customs.
