Effects of the Growing Middle Class During the 15th Century

Clothing

Gender vs. Class

Fashion had distinct divides between males and females of the upper class, but with the same goal of imposing their power above the lower class.

Socio-Economic Boundaries

Effects of the Growing Middle Class During the 15th Century

Sumptuary Statutes

Exploration developed new trade routes between newly encountered countries which gave the common man a greater opportunity at acquiring clothing that was previously limited to royalty and the upper class.

Despite the recent shift in socio-economic boundaries, fashion remained rooted in financial status and occupation, as was described in the sumptuary statutes.

Clothing

During the Elizabethan Era, expensive fashion began to cross established socio-economic boundaries, but still signified economic status and the social hierarchy.

“His [landowners] rents and profits soared; his need for labour declined, for one shepherd and his dog could do the work of half a dozen men who had previously tilled the same field.”(Kellen)

Health

(Bailey)

Plagues would run through fields and villages

Disease was quite common among the lower class

Vagabonds were men who couldn't find work and didn't have a license to beg

Short life span

Diet

if a vagabond had caused trouble of any kind he would be sen back to his home town then whipped, or enslaved

Diet remained the same as during the feudal times

Economic Opportunity

consisted mostly of carbohydrates (wheat, rye, oats, barley....)

Ale was consumed on a regular basis, however the alcohol content was extremely low

(Miller)

(Verna)

(Harding)

Living Standards

Home Environment

By: Cyrus Sobhani, William Pullum, and Chris Boinis

City: Tended to live in close quarters with one another. Hygiene was almost nonexistent

“There was a well-developed land market among peasants, some of whom managed to rise above their neighbors and began to constitute a class called yeomen.”(Coulton)

Field workers: As there were less people working in the fields small houses (really just shacks) became common. Nuclear family atmosphere

As a result of the growing middle class during the 15th century and a switch to mercantilism, the Lower class was sent even lower as those who couldn't rise into the middle class had almost no economic opportunity, fashion became an apparent indicator of your place in the social hierarchy as well as how you got there, and the living standards of the lower class became dependent on location.

(James)

Works Cited

Yeoman In the Field. N.d. National Portrait Gallery - Large Image - NPG D18042; Peasants' Dance. Grant, James. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

National Portrait Gallery - Large Image - NPG D12407; 'The Genera of Patriotism, - or - the Bloomsbury Farmer, Planting Bedfordshire Wheat' N.d. National Portrait Gallery - Large Image - NPG D12407; Bailey, Finn. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

A Group of Sheep in Leckhampton Fields. N.d. National Portrait Gallery. Miller, Hayden. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

National Portrait Gallery - Large Image - NPG D12541; William Pitt ('The British Butcher, Supplying John Bull with a Substitute for Bread'). N.d. National Portrait Gallery - Large Image - NPG D12541; William Pitt ('The British Butcher, Supplying John Bull with a Substitute for Bread'). Harding, William. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.

National Portrait Gallery - Large Image - NPG Ax137920; 'Hedgefield House - Inverness' N.d. National Portrait Gallery - Large Image - NPG Ax137920; 'Hedgefield House - Inverness'. verna, Katie Web. 08 Oct. 2014.