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HistorianshavedescribedthesenoteworthytransformationsinEnglishsocietyin
general,butespeciallyinitsupperstrata.
1.3.ViewsonMedievalSociety
FeudalsocietyintheMiddleAgeshasbeenviewedfromavarietyofangles,andpre-
sentedinseveralforms.Somehistoriansoftendepictlatemedievalfeudalsocietyas
apyramidofstatusthatwasbasedontheownershipofland,withtheking,asthe
greatestlandowner,atthetopandthelaymagnates(dukes,earlsandbarons)followed
bythelordsspiritualandreligiousinstitutionsbelow.Certainecclesiasticaltitleswere
rankedwithpeers.Bishopshadarankequaltothatofanearlandarchbishopswere
rankedwithdukes.Nextcamenewentrantsfromtheprofessionsandtrade,followed
bytheyeomen.Thebaseofthepyramidwasformedbythepeasantry.Therestof
thesociety,i.e.thosewholivedoutsidetheruralsystem,wasshownastwopyramids:
onecomprisingtheclergyandtheothertownandcitydwellersregardedas‘random'
groups.11Otherhistoriansoptforthemedievaltheoryofthe‘estatesoftherealm'
orthe‘threeorders.'12Firstwastheclergy,dividedbetweenthesecularsandthe
regulars,whosebusinesswaswithprayerandspiritualwell-being.Theyformedthe
linkbetweenGodandmanwhichwasbestpresentedbytheGreatChainofBeing.13
Nextcamethewarriors,whodefendedthelandanditsinhabitants,followedbythe
11
Heard,TudorEconomyandSociety,pp.79–81.
12
ThisnotionwhichcanbetracedbacktotheearlyMiddleAgeswasrevivedinthefourteenth
century.AlthoughJohnGowerinVoxClamantis(c.1377)presentedEnglishsocietycomprised
offour‘degrees':theclergy,theknightlyclass,thepeasants,thelabourersandtownsmen,he
addedtothesetraditionalordersofmedievalsocietyanothergroup‘theministersofthelaw'.
ForadetaileddescriptionseeG.Duby,TheThreeOrders:FeudalSocietyImagined(Chicago,
1980).SeealsoR.Mohl,TheThreeEstatesinMedievalandRenaissanceLiterature(New
York,1933).
13
Thetermwasinventedbyeighteenth-centurywriters,however,theideaoftheGreatChainof
Being,orscalanaturæ,canbetracedbacktotheGreeks.Theconcepthereliesinthehierarchy
thatgovernstheuniverse.ExcludingGodatthetop,eachelementinthishierarchicalstructure
wasfurthersubdivided.Thesubdivisionofmanwasasfollows:king,aristocraticlords,cottagers
andlabourers.EachpersonhadtheirpermanentplaceintheChainanditwouldbeconsidered
tobeanactagainstDivineLawifsomebodytriedtochangetheirsocialstatus.Withthecon-
ceptionoftheGreatChainofBeingitwaseasytoexplainsocialrelationswithinsociety.As
thehierarchygovernedtheuniverse,themacrocosm,itwasalsothedrivingforceinthesocial
microcosm.Therewasarankingwithineveryfamily,especiallyanobleone.TheChainimplied
ahierarchyofgender:father,mother,maleoffspring(eldesttoyoungest),femaleoffspring(eldest
toyoungest).ThecharacteristicfeatureoftheChainwaspaternalism,orgoodlordship,accord-
ingtowhichthekingintherealmandfatherinthefamilywereanalogoustoGodwhomthey
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