Social Hierarchy In The Countryside Flashcards
What is the order of the social hierarchy in the countryside from the top to the bottom of the pyramid?
Nobility, gentry, yeomen farmers, tenant farmers, landless and labouring, homeless and vagrant
Who were the nobility?
Landowners (often lords, dukes and earls)
Who were the gentry?
People who owned small estates
Who were the yeomen farmers?
Farmers who owned their own land and farmed their land
Who were the tenant farmers?
People who rented land from yeoman farmers and gentry
Who were the landless and labouring poor?
People who didn’t own or rent land. They had to work or labour to provide for themselves and their families
Who were the homeless and vagrants?
Poor people who moved place to place looking for work
What % of the population in Elizabethan England lived in the countryside?
90%
