A DOMESTIC REPRESENTATION OF THE 15TH CENTURY HIERARCHY-BASED SOCIETY: THE EDUCATION OF UPPER AND MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN IN THE TUDOR PERIOD
UNE REPRÉSENTATION FAMILIALE DU XVe SIÈCLE ANGLAIS DANS UNE SOCIÉTÉ TRÈS HIÉRARCHISÉE : L'ÉDUCATION DES ENFANTS DES CLASSES MOYENNE ET SUPÉRIEURE À L'ÉPOQUE DES TUDOR

Summary/Abstract: The Tudor community of the fifteenth century was based on a system of dependences which were significant at every social class level. The human body acted as the symbol of a perfect ‘machinery’, and was referred to as the model to create links between the State and the English citizens. The medium used to weave such a hierarchy was education. The middle-classes imitated the aristocrats who were their models and the noblemen copied the king who represented God. The children had to comply to the system to make it work as a whole. The Tudor elementary institutions corresponded with the different educational needs of the pupils. The aristocrats’ sons were taught at home by tutors and masters (household up-bringing). Then from the age of seven on they were sent to other noble houses to learn the principles of ‘maintenance’ and good manners. Middle-classes boys and girls were sent to several different schools (A.B.C.; Chantry; grammar; gilds) where they spent ten or twelve hours a day. They learnt how to become successful merchants or clerks by priests and masters. The lower-classes got some literacy in order to read The Bible.

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