Estates at Risk Thirteenth century England demonstrated a perfect model of feudalism. The hereditary elite (the second estate) maintained its rule over an impoverished peasantry (the third estate), while the clergy (the first estate) held sway over all levels of society, setting moral standards and guiding the affairs of kings and serfs alike. However, as the 13th century came to a close, the durability of this rigid social order was about to be tested.
A series of crises in 14th century England led to increased economic mobility among the peasantry which threatened to destabilize the established feudal estate system. These crises included a famine, an exhausting war that occupied several generations, and a plague that left England’s population …show more content…
The statutes limited everything from how much a blacksmith could charge for shoeing a horse, to what food grooms were permitted to eat and what clothing they were permitted to wear (143-144). A statute from 1363 declared that, “Regarding the outrageous and excessive apparel of diverse people, violating their estate and degree, to the great destruction and impoverishment of the whole land, it is ordained that grooms... shall be served meat or fish once a day… They shall have cloths for their wear worth no more than two marks, and they shall wear no clothes of higher price which they have bought themselves or gotten in some other way… Their wives, daughters, and children shall be of the same condition in their clothing...” (144)
We can only imagine the distress caused to the nobility at the prospect of their daughters and sons being unable to identify acceptable companions based on their clothing. The lines between the estates had become blurred. Although these statutes brought down the price of labor and returned some definition to the boundaries of the estates; members of the third estate now had far more economic latitude than prior …show more content…
Many of the characters depicted in these tale are drawn from the burgeoning prosperous tier of the third estate. One such characters is the wife of bath, a cloth maker. The wealth of the Wife of Bath is evident in Chaucer's description of her apparel. “Hir coverchiefs ful fyne were of (texture) - I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound- That on a Sonday weren upon hir heed. Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed” (244). The extravagance of clothing depicted here by Chaucer clearly exemplifies the economic mobility available to successful business woman such as the wife of
A series of crises in 14th century England led to increased economic mobility among the peasantry which threatened to destabilize the established feudal estate system. These crises included a famine, an exhausting war that occupied several generations, and a plague that left England’s population …show more content…
The statutes limited everything from how much a blacksmith could charge for shoeing a horse, to what food grooms were permitted to eat and what clothing they were permitted to wear (143-144). A statute from 1363 declared that, “Regarding the outrageous and excessive apparel of diverse people, violating their estate and degree, to the great destruction and impoverishment of the whole land, it is ordained that grooms... shall be served meat or fish once a day… They shall have cloths for their wear worth no more than two marks, and they shall wear no clothes of higher price which they have bought themselves or gotten in some other way… Their wives, daughters, and children shall be of the same condition in their clothing...” (144)
We can only imagine the distress caused to the nobility at the prospect of their daughters and sons being unable to identify acceptable companions based on their clothing. The lines between the estates had become blurred. Although these statutes brought down the price of labor and returned some definition to the boundaries of the estates; members of the third estate now had far more economic latitude than prior …show more content…
Many of the characters depicted in these tale are drawn from the burgeoning prosperous tier of the third estate. One such characters is the wife of bath, a cloth maker. The wealth of the Wife of Bath is evident in Chaucer's description of her apparel. “Hir coverchiefs ful fyne were of (texture) - I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound- That on a Sonday weren upon hir heed. Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed” (244). The extravagance of clothing depicted here by Chaucer clearly exemplifies the economic mobility available to successful business woman such as the wife of