Postive Effects of Medieval Social Classes Essay - 752 Words

The development of social classes in medieval England affected life for the people in many positive ways. It served as a means of organization to base their daily lives off of, and also gave the peasants and trade classes protection from the rulers and the clergy class in return for their labor and allegiance (â€Å"Quizlet†). Life in the Middle Ages was based on the framework of social classes so they could flourish socially and economically. The British class structure was a configuration of five main classes. The King owned all the land and distributed portions of it to his nobles. He was part of the ruling class, along with the Pope and the rest of the royalty (Pattie). The Pope was the religious ruler and had power over the church and†¦show more content†¦Monks were the scholars of this time period, and they spent the majority of their time praising God and attending prayer meetings and church. The last group of people in the clergy class was the nuns. They we ren’t as intellectual as the monks, so their jobs involved catering to the people by nursing the sick to health in the infirmary, educating young children, and caring for orphans (People of the Middle Ages†). The next group of people was in the middle class. They were the citizens of the town, and they acquired high amounts of money so that their families could live comfortable lives. The mothers in these households were not obligated to work because the man of the house could financially support the whole family (â€Å"Middle Class†). Sometimes they had servants to help the women with household chores and duties like cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children. This class also included shipmen, cooks, and high-class merchants (Schwartz). Below the middle class was the trade class, which included merchants and craftsmen. Men involved with retail would travel great distances to achieve authority and power over certain trade routes (â€Å"Middle Ages: The Medie val Social Classes†). The trade class hugely impacted the towns and the people because their income and trading skills helped to stabilize the economy. Peasants and the middle class often disagreed with the work of the merchants because the priests and the bishops were highly against it. They believed