3 social classes of FEUDALISM and their characteristics

The 3 social classes of feudalism were the nobility, the clergy, within the privileged; and the Third State or common people within the non-privileged. At unProfesor we tell you.

Social classes have been a key factor in societies since human beings began to live sedentarily. Each era in our history has had a series of characteristics regarding social classes, depending on many factors. And to know the social classes of a huge period in our history, in this lesson from a Teacher we are going to talk about the social classes of feudalism.

Index

1. The estates in feudal society
2. The nobility, one of the most privileged social classes of feudalism
3. The clergy in feudal society
4. The third estate in feudal society

The society of feudalism was divided by the estates, being some closed social groups. The estates were divided in:

• Two classes privileged (nobility and clergy)
• A class not privileged (the third state)

The status of each one was originated by family in which he was born, since each person was born occupying the same class as his father.

Even so, there were some possibilities in which a person passed from one class to another, although they were very rare. Among the reasons why one could move from one class to another was the ennoblement by the king, marriage with another estate (although they were frowned upon), or someone was born late into a family, causing him to have no inheritance and have to change from the nobility to the clergy.

We must bear in mind that The king and his family were above the estates, not being included in any, and having a social class above the rest, being the most privileged.

Here we leave you a summary of the main characteristics of feudal society.

The nobility was the social class with the greatest privileges, but also the one that had fewer members. In general, the nobility was made up of people who had land, that is, with fiefs. This caused them to have great influence over the third town, being the ones who were given the land for their work, as long as they gave them part of their crops and paid taxes.

Between the main features Of the nobility we highlight:

• Receive taxes from the lower classes
• Pay few taxes to the crown
• Being the ones in charge of defending the territory through their troops
• And occupy the highest positions of advisor to the king

High and low nobility

Although all the nobility were privileged, we must differentiate between high nobility and low nobility, being the two classes that existed during feudalism.

• The high nobility was the one that occupied the highest spheres, being direct vassals of the king, such as dukes, counts or barons. It was made up of the first children of the nobles.
• On the other hand, the low nobility It was made up of the nobility with fewer resources, who were knights but could barely afford their horse. It was made up of the children who did not receive the full inheritance.

The other privileged social classes of feudalism were the clergy, being the class related to religion, and which occupied a position in Christianity. The Church had a enormous influence on feudal life, and for this reason its workers were highly valued and it had enormous privileges, the best known of which was the tax known as the tithe, being a tenth of all crops.

The clergy had numerous activities, and not all of them were related to religion:

• The clergy advised the kings on their activities
• He could declare peace or start war in the name of God
• Translate texts and complete books
• He helped people with fewer resources.

High clergy and low clergy

Like the nobility, the clergy was also divided into two classes, the high clergy and the lower clergy.

• He high clergy It was made up of religious classes that had large fiefdoms, such as the Pope or bishops.
• On the other hand, the lower clergy was made up of monks and nuns who had fewer resources, although they maintained their privileges.

To continue with this lesson of the social classes of feudalism we must talk about the only non-privileged social class of this time, the one known as the Third Estate. This social class was the most numerous and versatile, but it was also the one with the fewest rights.

The Third Estate, also known as the plain town, was the only social class of feudalism that did not have privileges. It was the most versatile group, since it included groups of very different people, and therefore to know it in depth we must list the different kinds of people who formed this group. For this reason, the common people were made up of the following social classes:

• Farmers: The largest group of all, since it was the main working class of the feudal system. The peasants were tied to serfdom or the manor regime, so they were never completely free. They paid taxes, and most of what they generated from their work went into the hands of the privileged classes.
• Bourgeoisie: A group formed by the city's workers, among whom the artisans and merchants stand out. As the years went by, this class generated wealth until it had greater economic power than the nobility, which was the reason why the liberal revolutions began to happen.
• Beggars: People who survive by asking for money, generally being people who, due to a physical defect, were unable to work on their own. They did not pay taxes, so they were expelled from many cities.

If you want to read more articles similar to Social classes of feudalism and their characteristics, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

• Stavenhagen, R. (1969). Social classes in agrarian societies. XXI century.
• Astarita, C. TO. T. (2005). Power and social classes in late antiquity and feudalism.
• Dos Santos, T. (1967, January). The concept of social classes. in Annals of the University of Chile (No. 141-144, pp. page-81).