Community, Class and Careers

Underlying all the various avenues of social advancement in late medieval England lay the concept of service. Men did not pursue their trades and professions in isolation: they drew their wealth from those sections of the community which they served. Indeed careerists remained to a surprising degree dependent for their status on their relationship to landed society. Craftsmen, clerks and soldiers who were attached to a royal or an aristocratic household commanded a great deal more respect than their counterparts on the open market. While newly made fortunes could not be easily converted into landed respectability in a single life-time, the fortunate servant might temporarily share in the eminence of his master. Another element common to all the various trades and professions, and in some regards the obverse of service, was patronage. At all stages in the careers of tradesmen, clerks and soldiers, patrons were indispensable: merchants needed lucrative contracts, clerks rich benefices and soldiers prestigious commands. Even when fortunes had been amassed, ‘good lordship’ was vital to ease the careerist's path to social acceptance. There can be little doubt that most social mobility was ‘sponsored’ in this sense. While many men were able to advance themselves, their achievements were often dependent on, and a buttress to the powers of sections of the establishment.

Personal service was not merely an element common to all the main forms of careerism. In some respects it transcended them.