what were the different social classes in the Elizabethan England?

Question

The full impact of shakespeare's ''romeo and juliet'' is affected by an understanding of Elizabetans beliefs, traditions and customs.

Answer 1

In Shakespeare's time, the English had a strong sense of social class -- of belonging to a particular group because of occupation, wealth, and ancestry. Some families moved from one class to another, but most people were born into a particular class and stayed there. Social class could determine all sorts of things, from what a person could wear to where he could live to what jobs his children could get.

The following descriptions of English social classes in 16th Century England are based very closely on three sources:
[1] William W. Lace's book Elizabethan England, which is in our library at 942.05 Lac,
[2] "Class and Customs," The Time Traveler's Guide to Tudor England, a web site at
http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide16/part05.html
[3] "Elizabethan Life," Britain Express, a web site at
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Elizabethan_life.htm

The classes were:
[1] Nobility: in Shakespeare's time there are only about 55 noble families in England. At the head of each noble family is a duke, a baron, or an earl. A person became a member of the nobility in one of two ways: by birth, or by a grant from the queen or king. Noble titles were hereditary, passing from father to oldest son. From Tudor times on, the nobles had to share power with the gentry and the great merchants. Still, they had enormous influence.

[2] Gentry: When Elizabeth I was young, only about 5% of the population would have been classed as gentry: knights, squires, gentlemen, and gentlewomen "who did not work with their hands for a living." They were the most important social class in Shakespeare's England. The rise of the gentry was the dominant feature of Elizabethan society. It was they essentially who changed things. One may fairly say that most of the leading spirits of the age, those who gave it its character and did its work, were of this class.

[3] Yeomen: "Between the two extremes of rich and poor are the so-called 'middling sort', who have saved enough to be comfortable but who could at any moment, through illness or bad luck, be plunged into poverty. They are yeomen farmers, tradesmen and craft workers." (Time Traveller's Guide)

"They had existed for centuries and were, like the gentry, peculiar to England. They had no counterparts in Europe, which had great nobles, poor peasants, and little in between.

"The yeomen were prosperous, and their wealth could exceed that of some of the gentry. The difference was how they spent their wealth. The gentry lived like lords, building great houses. The yeoman was content to live more simply, using his wealth to improve his land and to expand it. ... Some owned land, and others leased land for long periods (up to ninety-nine years) at a fixed rate.

"Below the freeholding yeoman on the social scale were the small leaseholders or "copyholders". Their lands might occasionally compare in size and wealth with those of the wealthier yeomen, but they were much less secure. A lease might be for life, in which case a copyholder could not be sure his son would inherit the land. His lease might be hereditary, but the amount due to the landowner might change. Copyholders were often forced off their land to make way for the larger operations.

[4] the poor: There was far more poverty under Elizabeth than in previous reigns, mostly because of enclosure [NOTE: Google this; it's very important!]. In earlier times, the church -- notably the monasteries -- had cared for the poor. Under Elizabeth, the government undertook the job -- a big job because enclosure had created so much unemployment.

Answer 2

Elizabethan Social Classes