Society Flashcards
Identify groups of society
-Nobles
-Knights
-Landowners
-Gentlemen
-Yeomen
Explain the structure of English society
-Whilst not rigidly hierarchal as Fr or Sp, society was layered
-At one level changed little from what existed during high point of feudal system = medieval structure where land ownership was exchanged for military service and loyalty
-In contrast, society also witnessed growth of professional and mercantile group
-Remnants of feudal system still apparent in law, social relationships and attitudes
-Economic pressures (black death 1348) increased social mobility - created alarm among conservative-minded members of upper class who attempted to uphold traditional values by passing sumptuary laws
Explain nobles
-Still dominated landownership
-Peerage comprised of no more than 50/60 men
-H7 reluctant to create new peerage titles possibly because deeply distrustful of them
-Only trusted Lancastrian military commanders such as E of Oxford and Lord Daubeney
-Never really trusted E of N’land, nevertheless relied on hum to control NE on behalf of crown
How did Henry control nobles?
-Bonds and recognizances
-Key to nobles power = bastard feudalism - wealthy magnates recruited knights and gentlemen to serve as administrators or accountants or military purposes
-Potentially noblemen could use retained men to bring unlawful influence on others in a court case, or use them against crown - H limited military power through legislation against retaining
-At same time remained conscious that loyal retainers were essential to maintain crown security
Explain the gentry
-Not a fixed caste however identity of greater gentry could be est by number of features - knighthood, coat of arms, considerable income, imposing country residence or courtly connections
-Possessed considerable social prestige e.g. dominating local office
-On the other hand lesser gentry = more in common with local yeomanry, living far more modestly with social horizons much more local than national
Explain churchmen
-Church = hugely imp - spiritual role and great landowner
-Social status of clergy varied
-Lower parish level - curates and chantry priests modestly rewarded for dealing with spiritual needs of ordinary folk
-Bishops and abbots of larger religious households = imp figures entitled to sit in HoL with political roles
-Martin V, Pope 1417-31 famously declared King of Eng rather than Pope governed Ch of Eng
-H7 intended to use power to appoint bishops as men with legal training with administrative competence
-Morton and Fox = 2 most imp clergymen of reign
-H7 reluctant to appoint men with aristocratic social background - higher clergy = less socially exclusive a
Explain commoners
-Below gentry and higher clergy
-At top of commoner group = ‘middling sort’, the bourgeoisie - rich merchants and craftsmen
-In towns and cities relatively small number of educated professionals, mostly lawyers, exercised considerable influence often in collaboration with wealthier merchants
-Lower down but still respectable were shopkeepers and skilled tradesmen
-In countryside the ‘middling sort’ comprised of yeomen farmers - farmed substantial properties for increasingly sophisticated market economy
-Decline in population (black death) reduced demand for land -> drop in values enabled emergence of this group
-Below came husbandmen - typically kept smaller farms and supplemented farming incomes through employment by yeomen or gentry
-Together yeomen and husbandmen can be described as ‘peasant’
-Labourers usually dependent for income on sale of labour , some cases could supplement irregular income through planting vegetables or exercise of grazing rights. Their position = insecure
Explain England’s regional divisions
Highland zone: N + W
-Sparsely populated
-Pastoral farming dominates e.g. sheep, cattle, horses
-Exception: grain farming and fruit growing in Hertfordshire and Welsh border counties
-Pastoral farming = rearing of animals (livestock)
Lowland zone: S + E
-3/4 population
-Mixed farming dominates, esp Norfolk, Suffolk and Kent
-Exceptions: pastoral farming in Fens and wood pastures of Kent and Sussex Weald
-Open field husbandry in grain growing areas of SE and midlands
-Mixed farming = growing crops and raising animals
Open field husbandry = nobles own land and tenants farm strips of land - in return enjoy ‘common rights’ - can use common land for keeping animals
Explain the Yorkshire rebellion
- Resentment of taxation granted by Parli to pay for Eng forces in campaign in Brittany
- Rebels murdered E of N’land in Yorkshire 1489
- N’land = victim of resentment v taxation. Murdered by his tenants, deserted by his retainers as punishment for desertion of RIII at BoB
Explain the Cornish rebellion
Need for revenue to finance campaign v Scot
1) Sheer numbers involved (15,000)
2) PW tried to use rebellion to his advantage
3) Rebels marched to London, halted at Blackheath
4) Alarming for H
-cause for immediate concern that rebels marched such a long distance and no one stopped them
-raised Qs on how effective crown’s systems for maintaining order in c’side was
-in reaching London they were in effect challenging security of H7 regime
5) Rebellion caused problem for H in that in order to ensure its effective suppression, he need to withdraw Lord Daubeney and his troops from defending the Scot border
6) In the end it was easily crushed easily enough by Lord Daubeney
What were the consequences of the Cornish rebellion?
a) Rebel leaders including the peer Lord Audley = executed
b) H punished only the leaders, and treated the bulk of the rebels with conspicuous leniency
c) It had shocked H into ensuring that Anglo Scot tensions were eased and made him particularly cautious about entering into any further foreign conflicts
Summarise society under Henry VII
-Socially Eng remained broadly stable, people at the bottom of the social scale - reasonably well off since Black Death (1346)
-Most people remained peaceable most of the time, pretenders unable to attract support
-2 rebellions = exceptions and easily suppressed
