Mid-Tudor Society

• On the basis of the 1549 rebellions and political instability of the mid-sixteenth century, historians beleive there was a social crisis at all levels of society
• basic stability of hierarchy in Tudor England suggests otherwise
• Church hierarchy still intact and the monarch, helped by the ruling classes, maintained law and order with few exceptions
• social mobility existed, but this was limited and it became harder to advance through education at the end of the century
• women were very limited in their advancement, except sometimes by marriage
• men - advancement came mainly through the ownership of land - they could gain a position in a town (as a merchant) or through a profession
• economic status not the same as social status - professions provided social status, but not always wealth while merchants may have wealth but not social status

Nobility and Gentry

• tensions had arose from the rising population and redistribution of land following the dissolution of the monasteries
• argued the basic cause of this was rising aspirations of the gentry, encouragement by Crown appointments, clashing with the traditional nobility
• number of nobles and gentry were constant between 1500 and 1550
• number of gentlemen, (below gentry class) increased, but this was probably in line with popuation growth as a whole
• redistribution of church lands and consequent dissolution of the monasteries mostly reinforced the existing positions of the nobility and gentry
• only a small amount of land appears to have passed into the hands of new landowners
• some old nobles fell from power - usually because of royal disfavour or failure to produce a male heir - this is normal in any century
• number of peers remained similar (51 in 1547 and 55 in 1603) - continued to hold roughly 10% of land available for cultivation
• Henry VIII made most…