Elizabethan Society

The Elizabethan society was a clearly defined hierarchy that people were born into, there was constant re enforcement about where a person is in society and they knew the clear roles of what was expected of you in regards to your place. The structure was arranged like a pyramid with the queen at the top and mass peasantry and the working class at the bottom.

 



The nobility and gentry constituted of only a small proportion of Elizabethan society. The titled nobility - dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts and barrons accounted to a group of 57 men at the start of queen Elizabeh's reign, she was also very cautious about adding to the ranks of nobility. Nobility was something that could only be conferred by birth. The gentry were a great deal more difficult to define, the term itself consisted of three social gradiations: knights, esquires and gentlemen.

 

The peasantry was a large part of the hierarchy, if these people had skills such as carpentry or weaving they would be able to supplement the extra income necessary to survive but others just followed the harvest and endured harsh conditions, so the peasantry always worked. There was also some grey areas at the bottom of this hierarchy, some people did not fit into a niche and these included beggars and master less men.

 

During Elizabethan times we only say about men, as during this time a woman's worth or status was derived through her husband if she was married, or her farther if she was not. Women were regarded aas being one half step below her husband but of greater status than those who were of lesser status than her husband.

 

Fashion was viewed as a form of self - expression for all social ranks during Elizabethan times, Elizabethans made many efforts to wear their hair in fabulous styles that would take ages to do, women would sit in parlours and men in barber shops to make sure that their hair looked fantastic. People of a lower class would not have been able to afford this luxury as they had to work to get money, so from hairstyles it would be obvious who was from a higher class.
 

Susan Doran and Norman Jones (2014). The Elizabethan World. London: Routledge. 271 - 316.

Walter Nelson. (). The Structure of Elizabethan Society. Available: http://walternelson.com/dr/node/246. Last accessed 11th October 2015.