Explain The Changing The Land Ownership System In Elizabethan England

Even though English society was hierarchical, it was easy to move up or down from one generation to the next. Most people got their status from birth and land ownership. England changed a lot during the 16th century. There were several internal changes in England which affected England’s class system. The respect for the middle class grew and the Gentry class grew.

During the middle ages the lack of protection and a stable government after the Fall of Rome created the need for a new political system. Feudalism was the political system that emerged and shaped the lives of people socially and politically. Manors were small communities that were made up of a castle, church, village, and land for farming. The structured society provided a place and responsibility for everyone. The feudal obligations showed that in exchange for one thing they would be provided with something else. Serfs and peasants would work and produce goods for the rest of the manor and in return had their land and promised protection. The vassals would need to obtain land from the Lord and in return would provide the Lord with military service, loyalty, and ransom if asked for (Doc. 4). To make clear the vassal’s specific allegiance to their lord whom they owed in for exchange for their fief they would take the Homage Oath (Doc. 2). This interdependent system required everyone to do their part and it created social classes that they were born into. Their daily lives were centered on the manor and that was how it stayed until towns began to

The population losses among the previously overpopulated peasant class, who at this time were underemployed due to this overpopulation, were able to haggle for higher wages and better terms when it came to working, renting, and owning land. At the same time, the sudden loss in population meant the nobles could not demand high prices for product which weakened their power of wealth. This coupled with the higher earning wages of the peasant class meant they could move up in the social order to become farmers themselves or merchants of equal social standing. This period of social mobility didn’t last long, but it allowed for the end of feudalism as it was known during the Middle Ages. The end of feudalism meant the end of kings and nobles being able to give land in return for anything they could ever need including food and protection from knights. While it was still an important part of social class, land was no longer in the very center controlling every decision. In the years before the Black Death, it was the peasants who gave food and work to the knights. The knights then gave protection to nobles which gave money and the knights’ protection to the kings. In return, the king passed down land throughout the social classes. Although, the lower classes had the opportunity to accumulate land for the services they provided, in the end

Europe, in the beginning of the Reformation, had a specific social structure for as to who belonged to what estate. This was during the medieval

In the early days of Colonial America life was harsh and “difficult, the colonists faced conflicts with natives, starvation, and difficulties finding stable sources of food and support” (Jaffee). The culture at first was a struggle for those settlers who had to cross the Atlantic by contract. Most of these people were bound by their contracts for four to seven years. As for most women in the early days of Colonial America they were “expected to grow up, get married, have children, and take care of a home (Peck).

Life in the high middle ages, between 1000 and 1300 A.D., had two kinds of communities, manorial villages and towns. The major difference in these two distinct types of communities was the freedom and rights of the people. In the manorial villages you had lords who owned large portions of land. The vassals who entered into a military obligation with the lords, in exchange for land and protection. Finally, serfs who were a class of people that worked their lord’s land as half slave and half freeman. Vassals were more of an employee and the serfs were little more than a slave because they were bound to the lord’s land. The serfs could not leave or do anything without the lord’s permission and most of the time they had to pay fees to be granted the permissions they requested. In contrast the townspeople elected their officials, had freedom to choose a careers, they move about where they liked, and could acquire training and schooling. Townspeople were in fact free and not absolutely controlled by a lord. As for the manorial villages, the lords had all the power and had absolute control over all the actions and work of the vassals and serfs.

The Middle Ages, or Dark Ages, of the 15th century, established a policy regarding the practice of agriculture that later became known as feudalism. The monarchy bestowed vast tracts of land and an ennobling title to individuals who were tasked with keeping a functioning economy in their lands and maintaining a private militia for the protection of the realm and fiefdom they owned. These aristocrats allocated parcels of land to the serfs, or peasants, in exchange for complete rustic servitude and the privilege being allowed to live on that lord's land. Any crops or animals that were cultivated belonged to the realm and peasants were only permitted to keep a meager portion of their efforts. This archaic practice, established during the era

In the mid-1700’s, not many people were granted the rights that they deserved. Of these rights, only few could vote and few could be educated. It was typical that white men were allowed to vote and were given the opportunity to become educated. This angered those who lacked these rights, which resulted in uproars within the nation. In an essay from a Maryland newspaper, a discussion of the injustice between owning land and having the right to vote is debated. Benjamin Rush wrote thoughts about giving women the chance at education. Living in the New World meant having rights as citizens and expressing instances of disagreement.

By 1600, England’s feudal system was nearing extinction, as a new family (Tudor’s) came to power and wanted support from the middleclass and the establishment of new liberties for Englishman (i.e. trial by jury and no arrest without a warrant), which resulted in a large amount of local and self initiative to prosper in the community: yet many beggars now existed, culminating in an increased need for colonial expansion both for personal prosperity and more space for the existing population.

age old practice of feudalism. The calling of the Estates-General was another change in the

A noble, or lord, was in control of his manor. The manor was the heart of feudal economy (Ellis and Esler 222). A manor often consisted of the castle, a church, a village, and

The feudal system of the time operated on the premise of peasants or serfs, and thanes, or lords. The lords owned the land, and the peasants worked on it. In turn, they received the protection

was based heavily on the honor system. The king had overall power, then the lord, then the

The economic system of this era is termed feudalism. Feudalism is defined by conditioned holding of land by lords on some kind of service-tenure to the monarch. The lords were a noble class who supplied military service and council to the monarch. The lords' social status was determined by their land holdings. The lords' estates were farmed by compulsory labor, known as serfs. The lords maintained a great deal of control over the serfs. They dictated what, where and when to plant. They also operated as a judiciary force over the serfs (Hilton, pp. 34-36).

Instead, Europe was overlapped with continuously altering Lordships, in which municipal Governments, Dukes or leaders of religious organisations had a ‘proprietary right’ to land, over which they could exercise control. Lordships were usually, though not always, inherited by nobility or dynasties. These rulers had an almost autonomous rule over their territorial land, with only a small say belonging to wealthy class citizens, and little involvement by Kings.