Cummings
Guides Home..|..Contact
This Site..|..Shakespeare
Videos..|..Shakespeare
Books
...
|
Now
Available...........................Shakespeare:
a Guide to the Complete Works...........................................
In Hardback
& Paperback
By the
Author of This Web Site
Plot Summaries
of All the Plays and Narrative Poems | Themes | Imagery | Historical Background
| Glossaries
Shakespeare's
Theatre | Drama Terms | Essays | Analysis of the Sonnets | and Much More
|
.
By
Michael J. Cummings © 2003.
.
.......Since
medieval times, members of the royalty and the nobility in England have
inherited their titles, lands and privileges. In most of Shakespeare's
plays–including Hamlet, King Lear, Richard III, Macbeth, As You Like
It,The Tempest, and Measure for Measure–it was the high-born,
the royals and nobles, who were the central focus. Rarely were commoners
more than supporting characters. However, the clergy–in particular, the
Archbishop of Canterbury–did enjoy high social status regardless of ancestry.
.......Who
outranked whom then and now? Following is a top-to-bottom ranking of the
high-born in England before, during, and after Shakespeare's age:
Royalty
1.
King 2.
Queen 3.
Prince 4.
Princess
Clergy
5.
Archbishop of Canterbury
The
archbishop was Roman Catholic until Parliament approved the Act of Supremacy
in 1534, establishing the Church of England as a Protestant entity under
King Henry VIII. Events leading to this action commenced in 1527. At that
time, Henry embarked on a campaign to win papal annulment of his marriage
to barren Catherine of Aragon, enabling him to marry Anne Boleyn and attempt
to sire a male  heir
to the throne. Thomas Cromwell, an ambitious politician and adviser to
the king, managed the king’s campaign. But Pope Clement VII steadfastly
refused to annul the marriage. On January 25, 1533, Henry married Anne
in secret. On March 30, 1533, Thomas Cranmer, a priest who also was secretly
married and who enjoyed the king’s favor, became the Archbishop of Canterbury,
swearing an oath to the Pope even though he was a de facto Protestant who
sympathized with Martin Luther’s revolt against Rome. In April, Cromwell
won parliamentary approval of the Act in Restraint of Appeals, which outlawed
matrimonial appeals to Rome and acknowledged England as a sovereign empire.
In May, Cranmer approved the king’s annulment and, in June, Anne Boleyn
was publicly recognized as the English queen. Finally, in 1534, the Act
of Succession forced English citizens to acknowledge Henry’s marriage as
legal and the Act of Supremacy sanctioned Henry as head of the Church of
England. Cranmer, accepting this act as valid, thus became the first Protestant
Archbishop of Canterbury.
Nobility
(Members
of the nobility were often referred to collectively as "the peerage." An
individual member of the peerage was called a "peer.")
6.
Duke. Wife, Duchess.
7.
Marquess. Wife: Marchioness. The
French and Scots used these spellings: Marquis and Marquise.
8.
Earl. Wife: Countess. (An earl
is the equivalent of a count in other European countries.)
9.
Viscount. Wife: Viscountess.
10.
Baron. Wife: Baroness.
Other
Terms of Rank
Baronet:.Commoner
recognized for distinquished service.
Dowager:.Widow
of a person of high rank, such as a duke or an earl.
Knight
(Medieval): Mounted warrior who served
a member of the royalty or nobility in return for land, favors or money.
A knight did not inherit his status and thus was not a member of the nobility,
although he may have been of noble birth.
Knight
(Modern): One who has earned recognition
from the king or queen after noteworthy accomplishments. Laurence Olivier,
the actor, was knighted for his achievements on stage and in motion pictures.
.
|