Elizabethan England / 1558-1603
Elizabethan Society and Hierarchy
Elizabethan society had a strict order, and everyone knew their place.
What To Remember
- Society was based on rank, land, and wealth, with the monarch at the top and the poor at the bottom.
- Most people lived in the countryside as yeomen, tenant farmers, labouring poor, or vagabonds.
- Town society was also ranked by wealth, with merchants and professionals above skilled and unskilled workers.
The countryside
The nobility and gentry sat near the top of the social order because they owned land, had status, and often served the queen.
Below them were yeomen, tenant farmers, labouring poor, and the vagabonds who had no settled home or job.
People were expected to show respect to those above them and support those below, especially within the household and village.
Towns
Merchants were near the top in towns because they owned property, traded widely, and could become very rich.
Professionals came next, then skilled workers, then unskilled workers and labourers.
Wealth shaped status in towns just as land shaped status in the countryside, so social rank stayed rigid even as the economy changed.
Revision Prompt
Why did wealth and land decide where people stood in society?