Society

Question 1

Nobles

Answer 1

Nobility (peerage) dominated landownership, compromised 50-60 peers, entitled to sit in HOL and relied to maintain order in countryside, as noble families died out, replaced by others who acquired King’s favour, however H distrusted the nob as a class and so was reluctant to create new peers. H cont through sticks and carrots

Question 2

Gentry

Answer 2

Below peerage, the gentry comprised of greater gentry = often great landowners in their own right, south knighthoods to confirm their social status (1490 = 375 knights) or esquires and ‘mere’ gentry = far more numerous, far less soc prestige that greater gentry, they too were landowners, both groups might be office-holders. Peers and knights made up about 1% of the population at the time but occupied 15-20% land

Question 3

Commoners

Answer 3

Commoners (‘peasants’) 1500 = 2 mil in Eng, Wales, 50% at or below poverty level, majority labouring poor who lived in rural areas

Question 4

Churchmen

Answer 4

Church imp for spiritual role and great landowner, Eng = Catholic, churchman had dual alliance to King and Pope, Pope elected by cardinals, under whom came the archbishops; Eng = Archbishop Canterbury and York. Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots = sat in HOL, often undertook political roles. H ensured that he had men of administrative ability as Archbishops and Bishops, and preferred men with legal training (e.g. Royal councillors = Morton and Fox), at parish level, curates and priests dealt with spiritual needs of ord people

Question 5

Regional divisions

Answer 5

Some regional variations arising from: demographic diff = sparsely pop rural areas to the North/West from Tees estuary to Weymouth contained 1/4 of pop, while 3/4 lived in more densely populated counties to the South/East; diff in agriculture = between two areas of demographic diff; social attitudes = e.g. Londoners may see Northerners as less defined, Northerns might envy Southern wealth; Government structures = sep councils for North, Wales, Welsh Marches, Ireland, nobles had considerable inf across county boundaries, some areas enjoyed considerable independence, e.g. County Palatines of Chester and Durham; church inf = varied by area; linguistic, cultural diff within kingdom = e.g. Wales, Cornwall, Ireland

Question 6

Yorkshire rebellion, 1489

Question 7

Cornish rebellion, 1497