Gentry are representatives of a new social class of the 15th and 16th centuries.

England of the 15th and 16th centuries is a country emerging from the darkness of the Middle Ages, but still entangled in obsolete rules, laws and concepts. It took a powerful push for the development of this state to reach a new stage. And the main driving role in the necessary transformations played by immigrants from the class of non-titled nobles - gentry. These are the same people who brought the wheel of history into motion , having committed the British bourgeois revolution.

Who are gentry?

The meaning of the word "gentry" is rich, noble, noble. This word has French roots, and later it became known as a separate estate in medieval England. The new estate included younger sons of rich families. According to the laws of inheritance, they did not have property rights to inalienable / major / land, and were content with modest allotments. The ruined large landowners, successful merchants, wealthy townspeople or well-to-do peasants, who have acquired the right to be called nobles - that's who these gentry are. The position of these representatives of the new estate was not clearly marked, such as the position of knights or peasants. The newly-founded landlords were higher than ordinary yeomen, but were not so noble as to be called lords. Such an intermediate status required a special indication of the social role of people. The word gentry is the most appropriate term for a new social class.

Becoming a Gentry Estate

Having managed to adapt to capitalist relations in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, the gentry became agents of new economic relations in the English countryside. By secularizing church lands, alienating the property of fugitive or dead landlords and squatting communal territories, representatives of the new estate gradually increased their land ownership. Unlike the yeomen, the gentry did not engage in heavy Krishtan labor. The receipt of capital from land allotments was carried out in two ways. Land such landlords leased to peasants - that is, they received a fee from farmers for rent. The second way to profit gentry is to process your own land with the involvement of hired workers. Both methods are traditional for the capitalist model of economic development. The funds raised in this way were invested in trade or production, thereby expanding and strengthening the new model of economic relations.

Gentry's influence on England's politics and economy

Many politicians of those times, including the leaders of the parliamentary opposition who opposed the Stuart absolutism, came out of the estate of the gentry. Gentry is J. Pym, O. Cromwell, J. Hempden and other politicians who began the transformation in England. The new nobles became the main allies of the young bourgeoisie, as the transformations made it possible to sharply increase the land ownership of the gentry. The revolution made it possible to abolish the "knightly hold," and land squatting under the influence of new political laws turned into the full private property of the gentry. The investment of capital in trade and production made it possible to make a profit in a relatively short time.

Results of the Gentry

Capitalization allowed the most well-to-do noblemen of a new type to receive in the future titles and titles, which previously were 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 landed non-titled nobles, who traditionally supported conservatives and played important roles in local government.