Social Order: A Chain of Status Social Order: A Chain of Status Author Haley Zilian Supervising Editor Melissa Walter Editor Kate McPherson Copy Editor Leah Hamby Senior Encoder Leah Hamby Encoding and Metadata LEMDO Team Copyright Holder (Content) Kate McPherson Copyright Holder (XML and interface) University of Victoria Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Mitacs Globablink Research Internship

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Early Modern England Encyclopedia

By Haley Zilian, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions

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The social order in early modern England went, likek today, from rich to poor, with power and wealth strongly correlated. Early modern England subscribed to a belief in something called the great chain of being, which originated in ancient Greece and Rome and helped define a hierarchy for all creation. This explanation starts from the top of the chain, i.e., the link (social class) with the most power and wealth, working its way towards the bottom of the chain to those with the least power and wealth.

The Monarch

At the very top is the monarch, who was believed to be anointed by God to lead the people and rule the nation. Like other English monarchs before and after her long rule from 1558 to 1603, Elizabeth I, as the Queen of England, had the most power in the country, which came with the most wealth. The monarchy owned vast tracts of land, dozens of palaces and properties, and held significant monetary wealth, too.

The Court

Below the monarch were members of the court, the noble individuals in society. These were people with hereditary titles such as duke or duchess, earl or countess, marquis or marchioness, and baron or baroness. After the Queen, they held the most wealth due to extensive land holdings and the most power due to their close proximity to the Queen. Their connection to the Queen, if she favored them, yielded power, but the opposite was also true—the monarch’s disfavor yielded disgrace. Nobles often owned significant estates outside of London and much of their wealth was derived from the agricultural and other products of and rents from lands and houses they owned, although they also incurred significant costs to maintain and staff these estates, as well as entertain the monarch and court upon demand.

The Gentry

After the nobility that comprised the court was the gentry. This class was composed of individuals who held enough wealth that they did not need to work in any sort of trade or perform any labor, and they owned their own land. This class was comprised of knights, gentlewomen/gentlemen, and squires. Most of them held the customary coat of arms, which enabled bearers to style themselves gentlemen. The gentry became more favored during the Elizabethan era and began to amass greater wealth and power.

Merchants, Artisans, and Yeomanry

Below these ruling classes were the merchants, artisans, and yeomanry. These several groups would be considered middle class. This was a diverse group without much hereditary wealth and a slimmer chance at greater power, due to their distance from the monarch and court. Despite this, increasing numbers of urban merchants in this group gained great wealth due to trade, particularly in international trade as London grew in the latter half of the 16th century. Some rose into positions of civic power, with the Mayor of London sometimes pushing back against the Queen’s decisions, such as closure of the playhouses during plague.

Skilled artisans such as carpenters, goldsmiths, tailors, ironworkers, and vinters (winemakers and wine merchants) also occupied a middle position in the power dynamics of early modern England. Craftsmen were often organized into guilds or livery companies, which originated in the medieval period to regulate prices and quality of goods. Young men were apprenticed in these skilled trades, working for seven years without pay to learn the craft.

The yeomanry were small land holders from rural areas who, although not wealthy, still had the right to help elect members of the House of Commons. They owned and farmed their own land, typically with the help of tenants who rented fields and homes from them.

Laborers

Next to last on the chain were labourers. These were non-landowners who did physical labor for a living, often renting homes or fields to farm. These were the peasants who worked the land and did other menial jobs, including the large number of servants in wealthier households.

The Poor

At the bottom of the chain, often scorned or invisible, were the poor. These were people who either could not work or not find regular work. English historian Liza Picard notes they were given licenses to beg in certain areas, but also that several Parliamentary acts in the Tudor period attempted to sort those unable to work from those who were unwilling.

This group of people unwilling to work were often termed masterless men and were the cause of significant anxiety in the early modern period. These vagrants were often criminals that participated in petty theft and scams. Significant punishments were levied against vagrants, with public shaming like the stocks or the pillory for a first offense and increasingly severe punishments such as the removal or an ear or even hanging for further offenses. The vagrants were hated and feared in early modern society, though the accounts of their numbers appear to be over-exaggerated (Beier 6).

Key Print Sources Cannon, John and Robert Crowcroft. Guilds. A Dictionary of British History. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2015. Cannon, John and Robert Crowcroft. Vagrancy Acts. A Dictionary of British History. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2015. Cressy, David. Describing the Social Order of Elizabethan England. Literature and History vol. 3, 1976, p. 29.
Key Online Sources Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. Great Chain of Being. Encyclopedia Britannica. 10 Dec. 2021. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Chain-of-Being. Beier, A. L. Vagrants and the Social Order in Elizabethan England. Past & Present vol. 64, 1974, pp. 3–29. Oxford University Press, The Past and Present Society, https://www.jstor.org/stable/650315. Suzuki, Mihoko. Gender, Class, and the Social Order in Late Elizabethan Drama. Theatre Journal vol. 44, no. 1, Mar. 1992, pp. 31–45. JSTOR. DOI doi.org/10.2307/3208514.
Image Sources Brewer, John Sherren, and Godfrey Goodman. The Court of King James the First ... To Which Are Added Letters Illustrative of the Personal History of the Most Distinguished Characters in the Court of That Monarch and His Predecessors. Now First Published from the Original Manuscripts by J. S. Brewer. British Library. https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11017021146/. Smith, J.F., and William Howitt. John Cassell’s Illustrated History of England. The Text, to the Reign of Edward I, by J. F. Smith; and from That Period by W. Howitt. MS. British Library. https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11048764365/.