English society at the end of the 15th century

Question 1

What was the structure of society like?

Answer 1

Still partly feudal with the king at the top, followed by the senior churchmen and nobility (land owners), then the gentry, then the yeomen and citizens, then the labourers with the vagrants and beggars at the bottom
Remnants of feudal system well still apparent in the law, social relationships

Question 2

What was the difference between the nobility and the gentry?

Answer 2

Nobility- owned land - dukes earl and barons - part of government
Gentry- gentleman who lived in large houses in the country and provided armies for war

Question 3

Who were yeomen citizens and labourers?

Answer 3

Yeomen- farmers, owned land or rented land in the country
Citizens - Rich merchants and craftsmen in towns
Labourers - worked for citizens or yeomen or shopkeepers

Question 4

Who were the nobility?

Answer 4

They dominated land ownership
Nobility/ peerage Comprised of around 50-60 people who were entitled to sit at house of lords
Henry relied on such families for the maintenance of order

Question 5

What happened as noble families died out but why was Henry reluctant to do this?

Answer 5

They were replaced by others who had acquired the kings favour - Henry distrusted the nobility as a class so was reluctant to create new peers (only trusted Lancastrian military commanders such as Earl of Oxford and Lord Daubeney) - never really trusted Earl of Northumberland despite him betraying Richard in BoB swaying it in H’s favour

Question 6

How did Henry control the nobility?

Answer 6

Through bonds and recognisances
In a law in 1487 he attempted to limit their power - the law restricted the practice that wealthy magnates recruited knights and gentlemen known as ‘retainers’ to serve them as administrators or for military purposes

Question 7

What was the hierarchy of the church like?

Answer 7

The papacy
The church at the top - owned land
The secular clergy
Cardinals
Archbishops (senior churchmen, v powerful, part of government)
Bishops/Abbots of large monastic houses (Important bishops were regional leaders of the church - some helg government office
Parish priests and curates
Social status of the clergy varied enormously

Question 8

Because England was a catholic country who did churchmen have a dual allegiance to?

Answer 8

Both the Pope and the king
Although Martin V (Pope 1417-31) famously declared that the king of England rather than the pope governed the church in England)

Question 9

Who was the pope elected by?

Answer 9

Cardinals - under which came archbishops (two in England - Canterbury and York)

Question 10

How important were the Archbishops, bishops and abbots in larger religious houses?

Answer 10

They were such important figures that the king intervened in their appointment and they sat in the house of lords often undertaking political roles

Question 11

What did henry ensure that people like archbishops and bishops had?

Answer 11

Used power to appoint bishops with Administrative ability and legal training (valued more than their spirituality)

Question 12

At Parish level what did the curates and priests deal with v the bishops and abbots of larger religious houses?

Answer 12

The spiritual needs of ordinary people however church influence was all-pervasive and the church even had its very own court and all clergy were tried in here as well as people guilty of religious crimes such as adultery
Bishops + abbots = important figures who were entitled to sit in the HoL and often had political roles

Question 13

How many people were in the gentry and what did it comprise of?

Answer 13

Around 500 knights, 800 esquires, and 5000 gentleman in 1500
Comprised of the great gentry and the esquires/mere gentry
(in 1490 = about 375 knights)

Question 14

What were the great gentry?

Answer 14

Often great landowners in their own right and the most important members sought knighthoods to confirm their social status (e.g. Sir Reginald Bray)
Peers and knights together owned 15-20% of the country’s land

Question 15

What were the esquires and the ‘mere gentry’?

Answer 15

There were far more numerous and had far less social prestige than the great gentry
They were too landowners and both groups may be office holders
Esquire = the eldest son of knights, the younger sons of barons, magistrates and others of wealth
Mere gentlemen = harder to define - in practice a gentlemen = anyone recognised as such by neighbours

Question 16

How much of the population did the gentry and nobility combined make up?

Answer 16

1%

Question 17

How many commoners were there?

Answer 17

Little more than 2 million

Question 18

What was the social ladder like for the commoners in towns and cities?

Answer 18

The Middling sort (Bourgeoisie), Educated and professionals (most numerous/influential group = lawyers, often collaborated with wealthy merchants) and merchants, then shopkeepers and skilled tradesmen (tended to dominate town councils/ borough corporations and played a key role in organisations such as guilds and lay fraternities which were common feature of rural life in pre-Reformation England) , then unskilled urban workers and beggars/prostitutes

Question 19

What was the social ladder like for the commoners in the countryside?

Answer 19

Yeomen farmers, then husbandmen/richer peasantry (bought or rented their own farms) then labouring peasants (relied on selling their labour or supplementing irregular income through planting of vegetables, grazing rights etc) and beggars.

Question 20

What did some of the regional, social variation/divisions arise from?

Answer 20

Demographic differences- sparsely populated north/west of imaginary line from Tees estuary to Weymouth = 1/4 of population while 3/4 = more densely populated south/east of line
Difference in agriculture either side of the line
Social attitudes (Londoners may look down at northeners while they envy southern wealth)
Government structures - separate councils for north of England, wales and Ireland - justice increasingly administered at county level but magnate influence often cut across county borders
Church influence - varied by area
Linguistic and cultural differences - particularly in Wales, Cornwall and Ireland

Question 21

Was there high levels of discontent in late 15th century?

Answer 21

No - probably because living conditions of the poor were improving - only two rebellions (lack of discontent compared to later in Tudor period) and seems to have avoided subsidence crisis which affected other countries

Question 22

What/when were the two rebellions and what triggered them both?

Answer 22

Yorkshire rebellion- 1489
Cornish rebellion- 1497
Both sparked by taxation

Question 23

What happened during the Yorkshire rebellion?

Answer 23

Sparked by resentment of the taxation granted by parliament in 1489 in order to finance an army for the Brittany campaign
The earl of Northumberland was murdered by his tenants/ the rebels when his retainers deserted him (in April in the North Riding of Yorkshire

Question 24

Why did Northumberland’s retainers desert him during the Yorkshire rebellion?

Answer 24

Punishing him because he had deserted Richard III at Bosworth
He was ultimately a victim of resentment against taxation

Question 25

What happened in the Cornish rebellion?

Answer 25

Arose from a tax needed to finance a campaign against Scotland - Cornish people saw this war as irrelevant to them
The people blamed the king and ministers such as Morton and Bray

Question 26

Why did the Cornish rebellion pose a greater threat than the Yorkshire one?

Answer 26

Larger numbers were involved (estimated 15,000)
Perkin Warbeck attempted to exploit the rebellion
A march on London reached Blackheath raising question on Henry’s ability to retain countryside order (they had marched so far with no real attempt to stop them)

Question 27

What were the effects of the rebellion?

Answer 27

In the short term it forced Henry to remove Lord Daubeney and his troops from the Scottish border to crush the rebellion
The rebellions were easily crushed and the three leaders e.g. Lord Audley, were executed (most rebels leniently treated)
Made Henry ensure Anglo-Scottish tensions were eased and made him cautious about entering further foreign conflicts
About 1,000 of the rebels were killed at the so-called Battle of Blackheath. Some were taken prisoner but many of the rebels simply fled.

Question 28

What did both the rebellions involve that made them a threat?

Answer 28

The involvement of the nobles made it a greater threat because of their level of power and the fact they were meant to support the King

Question 29

What changed in terms of society?

Answer 29

A growth of a professional and bourgeoisie who had become increasingly important in London and the major provincial cities such as Norwich and Bristol 
Economic pressure (especially since the black death) had increased social mobility and alarm amongst more conservative minded members of the upper classes whose sumptuary laws proved unenforceable

Question 30

What is a sumptuary law?

Answer 30

Laws that attempted to regulate how individuals should dress, depending on their social status

Question 31

What affect had the black death had on population?

Answer 31

The later outbreaks (e.g. 1375 + 1378) reduced the population of England by half and it did not begin to recover until after 1450
These deaths caused a shortage of land usage and food

Question 32

What was key to the nobles power?

Answer 32

The system which became known as bastard feudalism (or retaining) by which wealthy magnates (leading and most wealthy members of the nobility) recruited knights and gentlemen (retainers) to serve them as accountants or administrators or sometimes for military purposes
Potentially noblemen could use their retained men to bring unlawful influence on others in a court case or use them against the Crown so Henry sought to limit the military power of the nobility through legislation (but remained conscious that loyal retainers were essential to the Crown’s security

Question 33

How did bastard Feudalism work?

Answer 33

Implied a reciprocal relationship between the magnate and his retainers - in return for service , a retainer might receive rewards such as local office or grants of land as well as direct payment
Some historians criticise the system as abusive others see it in a positive light (natural response to changes) and could only be politically destabilising when the position of the monarch is insecure

Question 34

What was Henry’s response to bastard feudalism?

Answer 34

Passed acts to take action against nobles abusing the system (had to be careful as nobles = powerful)
In 1486 - Peers and MPs required to take an oath against illegal retaining or being illegally retained (illegality here remains undefined)
1487 - law against retaining was established
1487 law reinforced by act passed in 1504 under which licences for retaining could be sought

Question 35

What was the 1504 act regarding retaining?

Answer 35

Stated that only the King could grant licences for retaining. This lasted only for the duration of the king’s lifetime
Lord Bergavenny was the significant victim of this act who was indicated for illegal retaining in 1507 and fined £100,000 (but probably paid no more than £1000 as Henry VIII pardoned him shortly after coming to the throne)

Question 36

What had the title ‘gentry’ originally imposed and what had changed?

Answer 36

Military obligations upon its holders - this was dying out as a specific obligation - it was still assumed those holding the status would assist in the administration of their localities

Question 37

Despite gentry not being a fixed caste, how could the identity of the greater gentry and the lesser gentry be established?

Answer 37

Greater =he possession of a knighthood, a coat of arms authenticated by the College of Arms, considerable income and an imposing country residence or courtly connections. They possessed considerable social prestige e.g. dominating local office
Lesser = Often had more in common with the local yeomanry, living far more modestly and with social horizons that were much more local than national

Question 38

Why was the Church important?

Answer 38

Not merely for it’s spiritual role but also as a great landowner

Question 39

Who were the two most important clergymen in H’s reign and what did that show?

Answer 39

John Morton and Richard Fox (both examples of administrative competence being valued above spirituality)
King also reluctant to appoint those of an aristocratic background so the higher clergy were becoming less socially exclusive

Question 40

Who were the peerage?

Answer 40

Groups of people who held one of the five ranks of the aristocracy (duke, marquis, earl, viscount, baron), they were usually considerable landholders, exercised considerable power in their localities and were members of the HoL

Question 41

What was the reformation?

Answer 41

A 16th century movement opposing Catholic Church, which resulted in the establishment of Protestant and reformed churches

Question 42

What is the difference between yeomen farmers and husbandmen and together what did they comprise?

Answer 42

Yeomen - farmed substantial properties for an increasingly sophisticated market economy (decline in population due to black death had reduced demand for land, enabling emergence of this group)
Husbandmen typically kept smaller farms than yeomen and supplemented their farming incomes through employment by yeomen or gentry
Together yeomanry and husbandmen can be described by the term ‘ peasant’

Question 43

What were the regional differences in agriculture?

Answer 43

South and east of the line, mixed farming predominated in the more densely populated counties (especially Norfolk, Suffolk and Kent)
In more sparsely populated areas in the North and the West, pastoral farming dominated with the rearing of sheep, cattle and horses
Exceptions to this rule - Pastoral farming dominated in the Fens and grain farming and fruit growing in Herefordshire and the Welsh border counties

Question 44

What were local identities also reinforced by?

Answer 44

Saints’ cults which placed importance on the centres of pilgrimage, such as Canterbury and Durham
However, has been argued that at this time England had a stronger sense of a single identity than ever before

Question 45

What were real wages like under Henry VII?

Answer 45

They seem to have increased but towards the end of the 15th century inflationary pressures were becoming more evident - though evidence points towards a further slight increase in 1490’s, by the following decade this situation appears to have reversed

Question 46

Define real wages an subsidence crisis?

Answer 46

Real wages - the value of income in relation to the price of goods on the market, instead of actual money received
Subsidence crisis - When harvest failures raises food prices to such an extent that significant numbers of the poor die from starvation

Question 47

What was the order of the garter?

Answer 47

?

Question 48

What were other causes of the Yorkshire rebellion?

Answer 48

Strong resentment about a Lancastrian monarch especially as a Yorkist one had been overthrown.

Yorkshire had been badly hit by a poor harvest and many in Yorkshire saw this tax as a tax too far.

Other northern counties were exempted from the tax because they were expected to use their finances to defend the country from the Scots.

Question 49

What were the outcomes of the Yorkshire rebellion?

Answer 49

Easily crushed by earl of Surrey
Henry offered pardons to many of the rebels
The new Earl of Northumberland was only a minor and the Earl of Surrey was made Lieutenant- Surrey had no reason not to be loyal to Henry as his own social and political advance rested with the king.
Henry faced no more problems in the north though he failed to collect the region’s tax quota for the Brittany campaign.

Question 50

What were other causes of the Cornish rebellion?

Answer 50

Henry had issued new regulations on tin mining and suspended the privileges of the Stannaries – the local Cornish court and parliament. This hit both at the key contributor to the Cornish economy and at local independence from the centre
Cornwall had previously been exempt from tax in Scotland because of the distance
Cornwall had to pay a disproportionately large amount of the tax