Commoners

Who were at the top level of the commoners?

Rich merchants and craftsmen

Who were the most numerous group in the educated professionals?

Lawyers

Who were lower down in the social scale of commoners?

Shopkeepers and skilled tradesmen

What did lower commoners dominate?

Borough corporations/ town councils and guilds and lay confraternities

What did the middling sort comprise of in the countryside?

Yeoman farmers

Who were yeoman farmers?

Farmers who had large properties and farmed for a sophisticated market economy

What did the decline in population occur from?

The Black Death in 1348- 1349

What did the decline in population reduce?

Demand for land and land values

Who became below yeomen?

Husbandry

What was husbandry?

Had farms but smaller than yeomen or supplemented income by working from yeomen or gentry

What is a peasant?

Yeomanry and husbandmen together

What were labourers dependent on?

Income on the sale of their labour- irregular income- insecure position