English Society
A short description of the social structures and societies of English history.
Social Classes in Medieval England
English culture solidified as a blend of indigenous, Celtic, Roman, and Germanic customs during the Middle Ages. At this time, its society consisted of small, rival kingdoms working to feed their populations and amass power. They adopted a feudal social structure common throughout Europe at the time. Under the feudal system, society organized itself along highly stratified class lines. These consisted of royalty, the nobility, their vassal knights, and peasant farmers. The former three held privileged roles marked by elite housing, food, and clothing. The majority of the population, however, labored beneath them in greater or lesser servitude. Not all peasants were legally controlled by a noble estate, but all answered to their local lord.
Parallel to this secular system was the clergy, or the power structure of the Roman Catholic Church. Most powerful of these were the bishops, who could at times exert influence over a king. Noble families often pushed younger children to become abbots and bishops in lieu of an inheritance. Lower-ranking priests, monks, and nuns came in greater contact with the peasants but still commanded respect.
Royalty and nobility inherited their positions by birth. The Anglo-Saxon ruling classes of England were abruptly replaced in 1066 by a new, Norman gentry. In the 13th century, the absolute power of the king declined through gradual concessions to the nobility. The Magna Carta, first signed in 1215, restricted the king’s authority to levy taxes and make certain decisions without the approval of a royal council. That council grew into the English Parliament, which was divided into an upper and lower house. The House of Lords consisted of nobility and the clergy, while the House of Commons was traditionally made up of knights and wealthy tradesmen.
Feudalism began to decline in the 14th century due to a variety of causes. Foremost among them was the Black Plague, a disease that wiped out about half of England’s population. The kingdom that had once struggled with famine now had a surplus of land. Farmers and laborers found themselves in a position to bargain with their lords for the first time. They used the opportunity to increase their own prosperity and security, causing a general improvement in quality of life.
English Society in the Renaissance Era
The Renaissance reached England about 100 years after it emerged in Italy. This period is often associated with the rise of the Tudor dynasty in 1485. The Renaissance saw great advances in technology and philosophy, as well as bloody resistance to its new ideas. Tudor monarch Henry VIII tightened England’s grip on Ireland and founded the Church of England in 1534. His rejection of Catholicism would divide the British Isles and their populace for centuries. His daughter, Elizabeth I, established England as a major naval power, eclipsing the vast fleets of Spain. Her successor, James I, funded the first British American colony in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia. James represented the union of the English and Scottish crowns, which formally merged in 1707.
Colonialism and Industrialization
The Age of Exploration brought British sailors to shores once almost unknown to Europe. The British were at the cutting edge of global technology at the time. Their advanced weaponry and tactics, combined with the devastating diseases they carried, allowed them to overpower native populations in many areas. Like the Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch, the British quickly established colonies around the world. They used these colonial holdings to extract huge amounts of wealth from foreign lands and their people. The Crown justified its actions with the promise of salvation through Christianity and Western education. It soon held colonial territories in North America, the Caribbean, much of Africa, and India.
The 17th and 18th centuries were a time of religious upheaval and political turmoil. Civil war between the Parliament and the Crown led to the beheading of King Charles I in 1649. Religious strife pushed the Stuart dynasty off the throne in favor of a Dutch prince named William of Orange. In 1776, thirteen American colonies declared their independence. They were the first in a long string of colonial losses over the next two centuries.
Victorian-Era Society
Queen Victoria ruled the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901. She is credited with expanding her kingdom into the world’s largest imperial power. Despite the earlier loss of the American colonies, the UK still held colonies in places like India, Hong Kong, the Caribbean, the Gold Coast, Nigeria, South Africa, and Sudan. Canada, New Zealand, and Australia all gained independence by 1907, though they continue to recognize the sovereignty of the British Crown.
This immense network of colonial power was held together by the British East India Company and the empire’s well honed military might. Meanwhile, aristocrats and merchants grew even wealthier through exploitation of the poor. Abroad, British colonial subjects worked on plantations and mines to produce bulk raw goods for export. At home, the working poor of London risked dangerous mines and factory conditions to fuel a growing industrial society. Living conditions in the city were dirty, cramped, and often desperate. Those who could not provide for themselves were sent to workhouses. These institutions kept their dependents alive on thin gruel in exchange for hard labor. Charles Dickens offered a scathing portrait of this society in novels like Oliver Twist and Great Expectations.
Modern Society in England
This legacy of European politics, colonial subjugation, and wealth disparity came to a head in the 20th century. The United Kingdom found itself embroiled in two World Wars. Two successive generations lost millions of young men to these conflicts. The British were unable to wage these wars while also maintaining a grip on their colonies. The empire lost many of its holdings before 1950, including most of Ireland, Africa, India, and the Caribbean. It emerged a reduced but more equal society. Birth no longer decided a person’s status to the same extent. Women, once relegated to domestic or menial labor, now occupied respected positions in the trades. At the same time, a growing population of ethnic and religious minorities challenged previous colonial assumptions about race.
Modern England is a multicultural society that still operates as a parliamentary monarchy. In recent decades, the United Kingdom as a whole has moved toward economic and socially liberal policies. The loss of industrial jobs overseas, however, has heightened wealth inequality among its citizens. This and recent immigration has pushed the public toward more conservative voting patterns. Most notable of these is a 2016 referendum to withdraw from the European Union.
References
Bell, Torsten. “How to Solve the UK's Wealth Inequality Problem.” New Statesman, NS Media Group, 8 Feb. 2018, www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/02/how-solve-uk-s-wealth-inequality-problem.
Dyer, Christopher. Everyday Life in Medieval England. Cambridge University Press. 2000.
Hibbert, Christopher. Life in Victorian England. New Word City. 2015.
Jenkins, Simon. A Short History of England. Profile Books. 2011.
Kumar, Krishan. The Idea of Englishness: English Culture, National Identity and Social Thought. Ashgate Publishing. 2015.
Olsen, Kirstin. Daily Life in 18th-Century England. 2nd Ed. ABC-CLIO. 2017.
“The World Factbook: United Kingdom.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 12 July 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html.
White, R.J. A Short History of England. Cambridge University Press. 1967.
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