Social Classes In The Middle Ages

The rights of the nobles were inherited through family name and not only through wealth. The nobles did have responsibilities, they had to take care of warfare. Wealth for both groups increased due to the commercial revolution. The commercial revolution occurred when Merchants created guilds and controlled commerce within their towns. This control over the economy allowed them to raise and lower prices at their

During the time period of the late sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century the concept of what nobility is and what it was conceived to be varied greatly as more modern thoughts developed and desperation of monarchs grew to meet such demand. The arguments related to nobility differed greatly, but these were the most crucial; the difference between the sword and the robe and the right to even hold such a position at all.

In the Middle Ages your social status depended on your rank. The ranks were kings, nobles, knights, and then serfs.(Doc.1) Typically, the serfs did the most for everyone else, they provided food and services when demanded in exchange for protection and maybe something to eat.(Doc.1) Knights provided protection and military service for nobles in exchange for land. (Doc.1)

This was influenced by the manor system, “ The manor was the economic side of feudalism” (Doc 2). This meaning that your ranking in the feudalism was your job in the manor system. If you were a serf you worked, and farmed for the King, Knights,and Nobles and you had one day a week to farm to feed yourself and your family. If that isn't hard enough they also had to pay high rents to the lords for using his land to farm. The Knights and Nobles had to fight and serve the King for exchange of land,and they had to pay taxes. This showing that life in the Middle Ages was hard for many

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

During the Middle Ages social class much different than modern day. In a feudal society “nobles were granted the use of land that legally belonged to the king,” (Doc. 1). The nobles, in return, would give the lord loyalty and military services (Doc. 1). As peasants or serfs worked for nobles and knights they received protection and a portion of the harvest to feed their families (Doc. 1).

Socially, the society depended on a rather strict division between nobles and free commoners, both of which were themselves divided into elaborate hierarchies of social status, responsibilities, and power. Economically

The social classes of the system were set up with three classes and determined your wealth. The first class was set up with the king and the pope at the top. The pope had a supreme position with his own court to enforce things. He had all religious power necessary doing the Middle Ages. His duty was to teach his followers how to live and pray. The pope was able to gain a lot of political power and followers. The king had control over the assets and could decide how much land to provide on lease to the barons. The king had the power to withdraw the land from the barons if they showed poor performance, which could be granted to another baron. The king also has his own court, which has a great deal of the judicial power. The next class was the hereditary nobles. The barons were the most important hereditary nobles. The role of the barons was to serve the royal council,

The Middle Ages was a society based on well-structured and well-defined classes. Once you were born into one class of the society, you belonged to that class for the rest of your life and there was little no chances of improving your status. These classes in order from high to low were King, Nobles, Clergy and Peasants. The Clergy were the religious people in the middle ages and the peasants were mainly farmers to the land owned by the lord. Clergy ranked up with the higher classes while the peasants were the lowest class. Clergy, though they weren’t considered part of one of the social classes, were an important part and had and influential role in society, and they did have a hierarchy of their own (Newman). The class of the peasants included Freemen who were inclined to a few rights and land, serfs were given no rights, and slaves were bought and sold.

Educational standards also enabled the nobles to be “judged by the universal standards of achievement rather than birth”[5]. This demonstrates the changing attitudes of the lower classes as they began to require justification of the nobility’s high status. The nobility’s high social position was confirmed by their privileges, which “firmly distinguished noble from commoner”[6]. These included fiscal advantages, such as being exempt from taxation, judicial privileges, their exclusion from menial work within state service,

The three Medieval European social classes are Nobles, Clergy, and Peasants. Out of all of the social classes, the clergy is the first class in the society because its sacred character. The people in the Clergy class were members that were in charge of the worship of God and to preach of the Gospel, the most elevated works that had exists. The clergy lays the foundation of civilization because without morals a country has no worth, and it is the Catholic clergy who have all the supernatural and natural means to inculcate authentic morals in a country. Then it came down to nobility, this was a distinctive social group, not all noblemen were originally great men with large hereditary lands.

The sons of nobles would be sent to live in a castle as boys, training to become a knight. The lowest social class in medieval England was the serfs. These were people who did not own land, but were hired by nobles to farm or take care of land for them. Perhaps though there is yet another class subservient even to these. Women in medieval times were expected to be completely obedient to men.

Nobles were wealthy, but their status changed depending on

Even if many were not born into wealth there are select few that have the advantage to be a nobleman, kings, queens, and church people. The people right under the king are the nobles. The nobles are born into their place in society which guarantees them wealth, privilege, and powerful family. During the times of the medieval era there was a form of government set up that was similar to a caste system.

Life as a serf or peasant was not easy. Serfs were bound to their lord's land and required to do services for him. Although they could not be sold like slaves, they had no freedom (Ellis and Esler 219-244). Peasants farmed for the goods that the lord and his manor needed. They went through difficult hardship because of this. Peasants were heavily taxed and had to provide for themselves the goods that they needed (“The Middle Ages”). According to the medieval law, the peasants were not considered to 'belong to' themselves (“The Middle Ages”). Although serfs were peasants and had relatively the same duties and similar rights, what differentiated a peasant from a serf was that a peasant was not bound to the land (“The Middle Ages”). Peasants had no schooling and no knowledge of the outside world (Ellis and Esler 219-244). They rarely traveled more than a couple miles outside of their villages. All members of a peasant family, including children, tended crops, farmed, and did some sort of work to help out (Ellis and Esler 224). Very few peasants lived past the age of 35 because of hunger in the winter and the easy development and transmission of disease (Ellis and Esler 224).