England of the 15-16th century is a country emerging from the darkness of the Middle Ages, but still entangled in obsolete rules, laws and concepts. It took a powerful impetus for the development of this state to enter a new stage. And the main driving role in the necessary transformations was played by people from the estate of the untitled nobles - the gentry. These are the very people who set in motion the wheel of history, having committed the English bourgeois revolution.
Who are the Gentry?
The meaning of the word "gentry" is rich, noble, noble. This word has French roots, and later it began to be called a separate estate in medieval England. The new estate included the younger sons of wealthy families. According to the laws of inheritance, they did not have property rights to inalienable / majorate / lands, but were content with modest allotments. Ruined large landowners, successful merchants, wealthy city dwellers or wealthy peasants who bought the right to be called nobles - these are the gentries. The position of these representatives of the new estate was not clearly defined, such as the position of knights or peasants. The untitled landowners were higher than ordinary yeomen, but were not so noble as to be called lords. Such an intermediate status required a special designation of the social role of people. The word gentry is the most appropriate term for a new social class.
Formation of the Gentry Estate
Having managed to adapt to capitalist relations in England of the 16-17th century, the gentry became the vehicles of new economic relations in the English countryside. By secularizing church lands, alienating the property of runaway or dead landlords, and seizing communal territories, representatives of the new estate gradually increased their land ownership. Unlike the Yeomen, the gentry did not engage in heavy Christian labor. Obtaining capital from land allotments was carried out in two ways. Such landlords rented land to peasants - that is, they received payment from farmers for rent. The second way to make a gentry profit is to cultivate your own land with hired workers. Both methods are traditional for the capitalist model of economic development. The proceeds thus obtained were invested in trade or production, thereby expanding and strengthening the new model of economic relations.
The influence of a gentry on the politics and economy of England
Many political figures of those times left the gentry estate, including leaders of the parliamentary opposition, who opposed the absolutism of the Stuarts. Gentry is J. Pym, O. Cromwell, J. Hampden and other politicians who began the transformation in England. The new nobles became the main allies of the young bourgeoisie, since the transformations allowed a sharp increase in the land property of the gentry. The revolution allowed the abolition of “chivalry”, and land self-seizures under the influence of new political laws turned into the complete private property of the gentry. Investing in trade and production made it possible to make a profit in a relatively short time.
The results of the appearance of the gentry
Capitalization allowed the most wealthy nobles of a new type to receive in the future the ranks and titles that were previously allowed only to hereditary representatives of the upper class. Many representatives of the new estate gave rise to the urban bourgeoisie, and most of them remained small-scale, untitled nobles who traditionally supported the conservatives and played important roles in local governments.