Home / Summaries / Early Modern History / nobles-commercial-social

Europe in 1500 - Society and economy

8 important questions on Europe in 1500 - Society and economy

What was the great majority of a ruler's subjects?

The great majority of a ruler's subjects were likely to be country-dwellers, of whom the most numerous element was the peasantry, but the most important in point of riches, power and social standing was the nobility.

What differences were there between the different nobles?

The European nobility was a very heterogeneous class: Italian nobles, for example, had residences in both the city and the country and were often involved in commercial activities; in other parts of Europe such as France, nobles tended to live apart from towns and to avoid commerce, considered incompatible with noble status.
The English nobility paid direct taxes; the French nobility was largely exempt from them.

What were nobles expected to be? What values did they hold?

Nobles were considered to be the natural advisers of kings and princes and played a crucial role both in central and in local government; they were normally overrepresented in the upper ranks of the Church; and they continued to be the military caste par excellence.
Noble values such as loyalty, honour, courtesy, physical bravery and generosity were reflected in the epics and romances of the age.

What importance did the medieval towns have?

In some respects they played a more significant role than they had in the ancient world. Not merely had urban settlements sprung up in areas where there had never been towns or cities before; new economic instruments and institutions were developed which, taken together, created an early form of commercial capitalism for the first time in European history.

What status did merchants have?

Merchants came to enjoy a far higher social standing than in classical Antiquity, and, in complete contrast to the ancient world, they began to play a leading role in the government of many cities.

What was the social hierarchy in the fourteenth century?

For Christine de Pisan, the fifteenth-century French political theorist and social observer, the 'bourgois' were the upper class of the towns, the old families.
Below this social group in every city were to be found the artisans, organized like many of their social betters into guilds, of which medieval Paris had at least a hundred.
Below them were the industrial workers, such as those employed in the production of textiles, Western Europe's most crucial industry, in cities such as Ghent, Bruges and Florence.

What effect did the commercial revolution have?

The commercial revolution also had a dramatic effect on the countryside. By 1500 the medieval manorial system, based on labour services and the widespread use of serfdom, had largely disappeared from Western Europe and had been replaced by customary or commercial rents, share-cropping or wage labour, a development that in northern and central Italy had taken place nearly two centuries earlier.

How did war affect peasants?

Peasants were also vulnerable to the ravages of armed conflict: in the Hundred Years War, for instance, the English rarely chose to fight pitched battles, having recourse rather to chevauchées, military expeditions whose main purpose was to harry the rural population, depriving them of crops and cattle.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Early Modern History

View summary

A unique study and practice tool
Never study anything twice again
Get the grades you hope for
100% sure, 100% understanding

Remember faster, study better. Scientifically proven.

Europe in 1500 - Society and economy

8 important questions on Europe in 1500 - Society and economy

What was the great majority of a ruler's subjects?

What differences were there between the different nobles?

What were nobles expected to be? What values did they hold?

What importance did the medieval towns have?

What status did merchants have?

What was the social hierarchy in the fourteenth century?

What effect did the commercial revolution have?

How did war affect peasants?

Summaries related to Introduction - Assessment - early modern Europe

Early Modern History

A Concise History of the Netherlands

Indian Economics

Global politics

Essentials of international relations

Behavioral genetics

Management and organisational behaviour

Follow Up Engels idioom 4/5 H

International Business

Marketing fundamentals

Projectmanagement, A practical Approach-Engl…

Basic Management Accounting for the Hospital…