Society on Elizabdthd accession

Describe Elizabethan society

Very rigid, based on inequality and a social hierarchy of structure where everyone knew their place

Social hierarchy of countryside

Nobility

Gentry

Yeomen

Tenant farmers

Landless and labouring poor

Homeless people and vagrants

Population in countryside

90%

The nobility

Major landowners

The gentry

Owned smaller estates

Yeomen

Owned a small amount of land

Tenant farmers

Renter land from yeomen and the gentry

The landless and labouring poor

People who didn’t own or rent land, and had to work or labour to provide

Homeless people and vagrants

Moved from palce to place looking for work

Social hierarchy of towns

Merchants

Professionals

Business owners

Craftspeople

Unemployed people

Population in towns

10%

Merchants

Traders who were very wealthy

Professionals

Lawyers doctors and members of the clergy

Business owners

Often highly skilled craftspeople, like silversmiths, glovers , carpenters or tailors

Craftspeople

Skilled employees, like apprentices

Unskilled labourers and unemployed people

People with no regular work and couldn’t provide

What did you owe people above you

Respect and obedience

What did you owe those below you

A duty of care

What did landowners do with these ideas

ran their estates based on these ideas. Ideally taking care of their tenants during hardship

What was run along simialir lines to society

Households

Who was head of the household

Husband or father

Who was expected to be obedient to him

His wife, children and any servants