The intellectual gifts and literary attainments of her grandson, Henry VIII., augured well for the progress of learning in England, and the countess, who died the year that Henry was crowned, was thus spared the pain of witnessing the crimes which stained his after career. The mental energy which characterised all the Tudors seems to have had its fountain-head in their distinguished ancestress, whose position exposed her to many trials and dangers, through which her strength of mind, steadiness of purpose, and nobility of character carried her unscathed. Some ills might have been averted from England had Margaret Beaufort been alive during the reign of her grandson. And what a brilliant leader she would have made of that group of learned ladies who adorned the second half of the sixteenth century!
CHAPTER III.
THE RISE OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES.
The Feudal System unfavourable to the development of the middle classes—Subjection of women under Feudalism—Tyranny of feudal lords—Power of the Church—Rise of commerce—Material progress—End of the Feudal System.
Until the development of England as a manufacturing country, the strength and importance of the middle classes were not felt. They came into power contemporaneously with the growth of trade and commerce. It was the thriving burgesses who made England feared by other nations, for it was they who equipped her fleets and replenished empty exchequers. It has often been remarked that in no other country in Europe is there a middle class corresponding to the middle class in England. In no other country is the middle class such a powerful factor in national life. Whether it will retain its power is doubtful. The blows aimed by socialism at the upper classes are felt by those below. For every large landowner who is attacked on the score of undue wealth, there are a hundred small property-holders who will bend under the strain put upon their resources. Ground rents are not all in the hands of the nobility, and employers of labour are not all battening on enormous profits. It is the middle classes whom the socialistic portion of the democracy wish to reduce to a condition of insecurity, and whose energies they are trying to paralyze.
The feudal system was unfavourable to the growth of the middle classes. It savoured too much of absolutism. Energy was cramped. Individual effort was possible only within certain limits. In the feudal ages people cared more for protection than for freedom. They bowed to the sovereignty of the feudal lord, and were dependent on his bounty. The services which they were obliged to render prevented them from straying into new paths, and the conditions under which they lived made independent action impossible. It was not until the feudal system was broken down that there was a free course for the development of the middle classes. In the first four centuries after the coming of the Normans, it is the aristocracy who are the history-makers. Roughly speaking, there are only two classes to be considered: the nobles and the serfs—for such the lower classes remained in all the important relations of life—and until the arts of civilization have made some progress, until the resources of the country have been brought into play and foreign commerce has grown into importance, the life of the populace is a somewhat monotonous tale.
It has been stated that feudalism raised woman to a higher place in domestic life; that, whereas before she was in a state of subjection, under the feudal system she exercised independent power. Undoubtedly, as a wife woman was a gainer. The mantle of authority with which her husband was invested, fell upon her whenever he was temporarily absent. The ménage of a feudal household certainly gave the lady of the house a dignity, and imposed upon her responsibilities which secured her respect and gave her freedom of action. She was called upon to direct a little army of subordinates, and was her husband’s partner and equal. But this improvement in the status of women is not discernible, except in the governing classes. The women without title, rank, position, wealth, the women of every-day life, profited little. They shared in the subjection of their fathers, brothers, and husbands, and they enjoyed none of the privileges which the feudal system conferred on their more highly placed sisters. In a state of society where the mass of the people were in a dependent position, it was not likely that any special freedom would be granted to or even claimed by women. And in an age when the worship of force was dominant, their physical inferiority told heavily against them. Under feudalism there was no sort of independence possible to women who were born to wealth or rank.
Women were under a twofold sovereignty—that of the feudal lord and of their male relatives. No woman in any position of life could be said to be a free agent. If she were a great heiress, she was disposed of in marriage as best suited the king and his council without regard to her wishes. In the case of a vassal’s daughter, the consent of the feudal lord must be obtained to her marriage. Every tenant paid a sum of money to the lord on the marriage of his daughter, and this tax was even levied in the case of grand-daughters. The price was fixed by the manorial courts. A couple could not be betrothed without the permission of their feudal lord, and if they failed to obtain his consent they were subject to a fine.
In France, when feudalism was at its height, the birth of a daughter was regarded as a calamity, from the sovereign downwards. Louis XI., who refused even to admit into his presence his daughter, Jeanne de Valois, during the first four years of her life, and ferociously struck at her with his sword when she chanced one day to come into view, represents in an exaggerated form the sentiment of the peasant, who, if he had no sons, would say, “Je n’ai pas d’enfants, je n’ai que des filles.”