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The Early Modern Social Order: A Hierarchical & Unequal Society of Collective Identities

Explore the social structure, status, relations, and dynamics of the early modern European world, characterized by a hierarchical society built on collective identities and witnessing the rise of a dynamic "middling sort." Discover the diverse groups and their positions in the social pyramid, the interactions between different estates, the components of social status, and the complexities of social relations in this fascinating period of history.

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The Early Modern Social Order: A Hierarchical & Unequal Society of Collective Identities

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  1. ‘The European World’ The Early Modern Social Order Beat Kümin

  2. A hierarchical & unequal societybuilt on collective identities … consisting ofheterogeneous groups … witnessing the rise of a dynamic ‘middling sort’

  3. Outline 1. Social Structure 2. Social Status 3. Social Relations 4. Social Dynamics Handout Online

  4. A society of‘estates’The third estate carrying the clergy and nobility on its back (French print, 1790)

  5. 1. Social Structure - Building Blocks King Merchant Pope Priest Prostitute Rural labourer Slave Urban labourer Yeoman • Artisan • Beggar • Bishop • Chaplain • Count • Executioner • Gentleman • Husbandman • Jew

  6. The Social Pyramid Worldly Estates Emperor / King Duke / Count … Urban Rural Secular and Regular Clergy Pope Cardinal Bishop Abbot/Abbess Priest Monk/Nun Chaplain Novice Clerical proletariate / priests without a benefice • Merchant Gentleman • Master Yeoman • Journeym. Husbandman • Urban & Rural Labourer • Blind / ‘worthy’ poor • Beggars, Executioners, Jews, Slaves, Prostitutes Marginal Groups

  7. CLERGY Heinrich Bullinger, Pastor & Reformerin Zurich (d. 1557) SocialStructure NOBILITY Francesco dellaRovere, Duke of Urbino(by Vittore Carpaccio, 1510) PEASANTRY(wooodcut by Albrecht Dürer, 1512) MARGINALSJew with Badge(16thC Worms) BURGHERSMerchant Georg Gisze (by Hans Holbein t.Y, 1532)

  8. 2. Status Components Display

  9. LINEAGE Tudor Family Tree Components OFFICEHOLDING Abbot Cuno of Weingarten (c. 1520) MARRIAGE PARTNERS‘The Arnolfini wedding’’ (by Jan van Eyck, 1434) WEALTH Banker Giovanni di’ Bicci de Medici(d. 1429)

  10. LEISURE Hunting as a noble prerogative (c. 1518) Display HERALDRYRobert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, with crests (1564) COMMEMORATION‘Tanfield family Monument (Burford parish church, 1628) [Maximilian] POSITION Procession of Augsburg Councillors (c. 1525)

  11. None shall wear any cloth of gold, tissue, nor fur of sables: except duchesses, marquises, and countesses in their gowns; [none] silver, tinseled satin, silk, or cloth mixed or embroidered with gold or silver or pearl …: except all degrees above viscountesses ... [None shall wear] velvet (crimson, carnation); … embroidery or … lace of gold or silver: except all degrees above mentioned, the wives of knights of the Garter and of the Privy Council, the ladies and gentlewomen of the privy chamber and bedchamber, and maids of honour. …. No persons under the degrees above specified shall wear any guard or welt of silk upon any petticoat, cloak, or safeguard. ‘Statute of Apparel’ issued by Elizabeth I in 1574 (http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk in Seminar Resources)

  12. Promulgation Custom & Example Laws & Statutes Conduct Literature Sermons …. Enforcement? No IDs, few officials Impostors …

  13. 3. Relations Bonds Tensions

  14. Feudal ties Knighting ceremony conducted by French King Jean II (15thC miniature)

  15. Patrons Brokers Clients

  16. COMMUNITIES ‘Groups of people with a common point of reference and/or shared interests’

  17. COMMUNITIES INTELLECTUAL Humanists LOCAL Towns, Villages, Parishes BIOLOGICAL Family, Kin and Godparents SITUATIONAL Allies, Rebels RELIGIOUS Fraternities, Sects FEUDALManors, Kingdoms OCCUPATIONAL Crafts, Guilds,, POLITICAL Whigs, Tories

  18. Solidarity Kineton Parish Poor Law Returns (1639)

  19. Sociability ‘Good Fellowship’ (Mark Hailwood) Case study: Mr Ostermayr and the butcher (Bavaria, 1721) ‘The Law of Drinking’ (woodcut, 17thC)

  20. CAUTION Proliferation Factions Exclusion Social control (charivari) Nostalgia

  21. Seating plan for Whitton Church (Lincs., 18thC) Position &Precedence In a Star Chamber lawsuit, Giles Dobell of Minhead (Somerset) complained that Robert Heyward and others ‘with force of arms, that is to say with swords and daggers and other weapons … took out Margaret, [my] wife, out of her pew where she was kneeling in the church and brought [her] out into an aisle … against her will and then and there did beat and ill use her.’ Cited in K. French, The Good Women of the Parish (Philadelphia, 2008), 115.

  22. Personal Honour ‘In appearance: Hans Nora, Forester, accused by UliSchär’s wife of having called her a whore [etc.]. In response, Nora asked for the testimony of witnesses, as he had been full of wine at the time. [3 witnesses are cited, among which the village constable and the landlady Barbara Herren. The constable testified that] upon the woman’s entry to the inn, Nora had exclaimed: out with all whores! … [Then the landlady added that] the plaintiff had also called Nora ugly names. … Both parties desired a reconciliation … [The court decided that] 1. All slanderous words shall be void … 2. The forester is fined £1 … 3. Mrs Schär is censured for her insolent language’ Consistory Court of Neuenegg (Bern, 1664) … .’ Adriaen Brouwer, ‘Brawling Peasants’ (c. 1630)

  23. Peasants confront a noble (woodcut, c. 1500) Socio-Economic Conflict

  24. Politics ‘When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman ? From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. For if God would have had any bondmen from the beginning, he would have appointed who should be bond, and who free. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come, appointed to us by God, in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the yoke of bondage, and recover liberty.’John Ball’s sermon to the rebels in the English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381

  25. ResistanceCover page of theTwelve Articles (1525)Third, until now it has been the custom for us to be regarded as a lord's personal property, which is deplorable since Christ redeemed us all with the shedding of his precious blood.…….Eighth, we are aggrieved, especially those that have their own land, because these lands cannot sustain the payments on them, and because these peasants must then forfeit the land and are ruined.

  26. 4. Dynamics Frontispiece of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan (1651)

  27. The Awakening of the Third Estate French Revolution print Rise of the Middling Sort

  28. CONCLUSIONS • Early modern society consisted of - increasingly differentiated - ‘estates’ based on lineage, collective rights and legal privileges • Relative decline of clergy // rise of middling sort/gentry & state formation • Status was displayed, acknowledged and negotiated in various forms of social exchange • Strong bonds and mutual dependencies coexisted with - periodically erupting - tensions

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