Social hierarchy

By 1087 the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy was almost entirely replaced, with only a tiny fraction of land remaining in English hands, while changes primarily affected the aristocracy and major landowners, not the peasantry.

English society was strictly hierarchical, structured around the Great Chain of Being, with the monarch at the apex, followed by the nobility, gentry, yeomen, and labourers.

A rigid racial hierarchy in which white colonists held absolute power and enslaved Africans were placed at the absolute bottom of colonial society.

The ranking of society, in which English thegns were replaced by Norman barons and knights and many free peasants became bound villeins.

Society was strictly hierarchical, with peasants divided between villeins, who were unfree, and freemen, who were fewer in number.

The rigid social structure of the era, which the composition of the medieval army reflected.