Tudors Chapter 4

Society hadn't changed much from the peak of the feudal system, it was still present in the law, attitudes and relationships of Tudor society.

Monarch -> great landowners and senior churchmen -> nobles -> knights -> peasants.

There was a change: a growing professional and mercantile group who became increasingly important in London and major provincial cities like Norwich and Bristol.

Economic pressures, especially since the Black Death, had increased social mobility and created alarm amongs more conservative members of the upper class.

They tried, in vain, to uphold traditional values by passing sumptuary laws they couldn't enforce.

Sumptuary laws: Laws that attempted to regulate how one should dress according to their social status.

England didn't begin to revover from the black death until after 1450.

Peerage (important nobles) comprised of no more than 50 or 60 men. Not a closed caste, fams regularly died out but were replaced by others who aquired or bought the king's favour. Henry didn't create many new peerage titles, but these families were needed to maintain order in the country