The Origins of the English Gentry

Abstract

The gentry played a central role in medieval England, and this study is a sustained attempt to explore the origins of the gentry and to account for its contours and peculiarities between the mid-thirteenth and the mid-fourteenth century. The book deals with the deep roots of the gentry, but argues against views which see the gentry as formed or created earlier. It investigates the relationship between lesser landowners and the Angevin state, the transformation of knighthood, and the role of knights in the rebellion of mid thirteenth-century England. The role of lesser landowners in the society and politics of Edwardian England is then put under close scrutiny. It also emphasises changes in social terminology and the rise of social gradation, the emergence of the county as an important focus of identity, the gentry's control over the populace, and their openness to the upward mobility of professionals.

Moral Hazard in High Office and the Dynamics of Aristocracy

“…Strong centralized government required credible guarantees that punishment of local government agents would occur only in carefully limited circumstances situations, and such guarantees required formal institutions to protect the agents' rights. From this perspective, we can also see how the subsequent development of parliamentary representation in England (from the thirteenth century) could further strengthen royal government, by enabling kings to credibly guarantee privileges to a broader class of local government agents than could be practically assembled at court (Coss, 2005, ch 7).…”

The knighthood in and around late medieval Brussels

“…104 Bannerets were also found in other principalities of the Low Counties, such as Guelders, 105 Hainault 106 and Holland, 107 but they were not as prominent and plentiful as in Brabant. As was the case in England, where the rise (and decline) of the banneret was typical of the fourteenth century, 108 Brabantine bannerets distinguished themselves from knights both socially and militarily. In this section, bannerets are first identified and then the distinctive features of the group are examined.…”

The English Gentry and Military Service, 1300–1450

“…5 Similarly, Peter Coss has made a strong case that 'the appearance of esquire as a social rung can be dated to the middle third of the fourteenth century'. 6 This was precisely the time that Edward III was successfully mobilising the English gentry to serve in his wars against France and Scotlanda period that Andrew Ayton has argued saw the ' "re-militarisation" of the gentle-born'. 7 And there was certainly a link between increasing Crown demands for military service and the emergence of a gentry class; 'esquire' (in its Anglo-Norman French form 'esquier') denoted a military rank before it became a social rank.…”

“…7 And there was certainly a link between increasing Crown demands for military service and the emergence of a gentry class; 'esquire' (in its Anglo-Norman French form 'esquier') denoted a military rank before it became a social rank. 8 Medieval scholarly tradition divided society into three estates: the oratores, those who pray; the bellatores, those who fight; and the laboratores, those who laboura tripartite division depicted by the idealised pilgrims, the Priest, the Knight and the Plowman in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The gentry naturally identified themselves with the bellatores; and for much of the period, military service remained an important marker of their social standing.…”