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Commoner

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Acommoner,also known as thecommon man,commoners,thecommon peopleor themasses,was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neitherroyalty,nobility,nor any part of thearistocracy.Depending on culture and period, other elevated persons (such members ofclergy) may have had higher social status in their own right, or were regarded as commoners if lacking an aristocratic background.

This class overlaps with the legal class of people who have a property interest incommon land,a longstanding feature of land law in England and Wales. Commoners who have rights for a particular common are typically neighbours, not the public in general.

Inmonarchist terminology,aristocracy and nobility are included in the term.

History[edit]

Varioussovereign statesthroughout history have governed, or claimed to govern, in the name ofthe common people.In Europe, a distinct concept analogous tocommon peoplearose in theClassical civilizationof ancient Rome around the 6th century BC, with the social division intopatricians(nobles) andplebeians(commoners). The division may have been instituted byServius Tullius,as an alternative to the previous clan-based divisions that had been responsible for internecine conflict.[1]The ancient Greeks generally had no concept of class and their leading social divisions were simply non-Greeks, free-Greeks and slaves.[2]The early organisation ofAncient Athenswas something of an exception with certain official roles likearchons,magistrates and treasurers being reserved for only the wealthiest citizens – these class-like divisions were weakened by the democratic reforms ofCleistheneswho created newhorizontalsocial divisions in contrasting fashion to theverticalones thought to have been created by Tullius.[3]

Both theRoman Republicand theRoman Empireused theLatintermSenatus Populusque Romanus,(the Senate and People of Rome). This term was fixed to Roman legionary standards, and even after theRoman Emperorsachieved a state of total personalautocracy,they continued to wield their power in the name of the Senate and People of Rome.

A Medieval Frenchmanuscript illustrationdepicting the three estates: clergy (oratores), nobles (bellatores), and commoners (laboratores).

With the growth of Christianity in the 4th century AD, a new world view arose that underpinned European thinking on social division until at least early modern times.[1]Saint Augustinepostulated that social division was a result of theFall of Man.[1]The three leading divisions were considered to be the priesthood (clergy), the nobility, and the common people. Sometimes this was expressed as "those who prayed", "those who fought" and "those who worked". TheLatinterms for the three classes –oratores,bellatoresandlaboratores– are often found even in modern textbooks, and have been used in sources since the 9th century.[4] This threefold division was formalised in the estate system ofsocial stratification,where again commoners were the bulk of the population who are neither members of the nobility nor of theclergy.[5]They were the third of theThree Estates of the Realminmedieval Europe,consisting ofpeasantsandartisans.

Social mobilityfor commoners was limited throughout theMiddle Ages.Generally, theserfswere unable to enter the group of thebellatores.Commoners could sometimes secure entry for their children into theoratoresclass; usually they would serve as rural parish priests. In some cases they received education from the clergy and ascended to senior administrative positions; in some cases nobles welcomed such advancement as former commoners were more likely to be neutral in dynastic feuds. There were cases of serfs becoming clerics in theHoly Roman Empire,[6]though from theCarolingian era,clergy were generally recruited from the nobility.[7]Of the two thousandbishopsserving from the 8th to the 15th century, just five came from thepeasantry.[8]

The social and political order of medieval Europe was relatively stable until the development of the mobilecannonin the 15th century. Up until that time a noble with a small force could hold their castle or walled town for years even against large armies - and so they were rarely disposed.[9]Once effective cannons were available, walls were of far less defensive value and rulers needed expensive field armies to keep control of a territory. This encouraged the formation of princely and kingly states, which needed to tax the common people much more heavily to pay for the expensive weapons and armies required to provide security in the new age. Up until the late 15th century, surviving medieval treaties on government were concerned with advising rulers on how to serve the common good:Assize of Breadis an example of medieval law specifically drawn up in the interests of the common people.[9]But then works byPhilippe de Commines,Niccolò Machiavelliand laterCardinal Richelieubegan advising rulers to consider their own interests and that of the state ahead of what was "good", with Richelieu explicitly saying the state is above morality in doctrines such asRaison d'Etat.[9]This change of orientation among the nobles left the common people less content with their place in society. A similar trend occurred regarding the clergy, where many priests began to abuse the great power they had due to the sacrament of contrition. TheReformationwas a movement that aimed to correct this, but even afterwards the common people's trust in the clergy continued to decline – priests were often seen as greedy and lacking in true faith. An early major social upheaval driven in part by the common people's mistrust of both the nobility and clergy occurred in Great Britain with theEnglish Revolutionof 1642. After the forces ofOliver Cromwelltriumphed, movements like theLevellersrose to prominence demanding equality for all. When the general council of Cromwell's army met to decide on a new order at thePutney Debatesof 1647, one of the commanders, ColonelThomas Rainsborough,requested that political power be given to the common people. According to historian Roger Osbourne, the Colonel's speech was the first time a prominent person spoke in favour of universal male suffrage, but it was not to be granted until 1918. After much debate it was decided that only those with considerable property would be allowed to vote, and so after the revolution political power in England remained largely controlled by the nobles, with at first only a few of the most wealthy or well-connected common people sitting in Parliament.[3]

The rise of thebourgeoisieduring theLate Middle Ages,had seen an intermediate class of wealthy commoners develop, which ultimately gave rise to the modernmiddle classes.Middle-class people could still be called commoners. For example,Pitt the Elderwas often calledThe Great Commonerin England, and this appellation was later used for the 20th-century American anti-elitist campaignerWilliam Jennings Bryan.The interests of the middle class were not always aligned with their fellow commoners of the working class.

According tosocial historianKarl Polanyi,Britain's middle classin19th-century Britainturned against their fellow commoners by seizing political power from theBritish upper classvia theReform Act of 1832.The emergence of theIndustrial Revolutionhad caused severe economic distress to a large number ofworking class commoners,leaving many of them with no means to learn a living as the traditional system of tenant farming was replaced with large-scale agriculture run by a small number of individuals. The upper class had responded to their plight by establishing institutions such asworkhouses,where unemployed lower-class Britons could find a source of employment, andoutdoor relief,where monetary and other forms of assistance were given to both the unemployed and those on low income without them needing to enter a workhouse to receive it.[10]

Though initial middle class opposition to thePoor Lawreform ofWilliam Pitt the Youngerhad prevented the emergence of a coherent and generous nationwide provision, the resultingSpeenhamland systemdid generally manage to prevent working class commoners from starvation. In 1834,outdoor relief was abolishedand workhouses were deliberately made into places so unappealing that many often preferred to starve rather than enter them. For Polanyi this related to theeconomic doctrineprevalent at the time which held that only the spur of hunger could make workers flexible enough for the proper functioning of the free market. By the end of the 19th century, at least inmainland Britain,economic progress has been sufficient that even the working class were generally able to earn a good living, and as such working and middle class interests began to converge, lessening the division within the ranks of common people. Polanyi notes that inContinental Europe,middle and working class interests did not diverge anywhere near as markedly as they had in Britain.[10]

Trifold division breakdown[edit]

US Vice PresidentHenry A. Wallaceproclaimed the "arrival of the century of the common man" in a 1942 speech broadcast nationwide in the United States.

After theFrench Revolution,theNapoleonic warsand withindustrialization,the division in three estates – nobility, clergy and commoners – had become somewhat outdated. The term "common people" continued to be used, but now in a more general sense to refer to regular people as opposed to the privileged elite.

Communist theorydivided society intocapitalistson one hand, and theproletariatorthe masseson the other. InMarxism,the people are considered to be the creator of history. By using the word "people", Marx did not gloss over the class differences, but united certain elements, capable of completing the revolution. The Intelligentsia's sympathy for the common people gained strength in the 19th century in many countries. For example, in Imperial Russia a big part of the intelligentsia was striving for its emancipation. Several great writers (Nekrasov, Herzen, Tolstoy etc.) wrote about sufferings of the common people. Organizations, parties and movements arose, proclaiming the liberation of the people. These included among others: "People's Reprisal","People’s Will","Party of Popular Freedom"and the" People's Socialist Party ".

In the United States, a famous 1942 speech by vice presidentHenry A. Wallaceproclaimed the arrival of the "century of the common man" saying that all over the world the "common people" were on the march, specifically referring to Chinese, Indians, Russians, and as well as Americans.[11] Wallace's speech would later inspire the widely reproduced popular workFanfare for the Common Manby Aaron Copland.[12] In 1948, U.S. PresidentHarry S. Trumanmade a speech saying there needs to be a government "that will work in the interests of the common people and not in the interests of the men who have all the money."[13]

Social divisions in non-Western civilisations[edit]

ComparativehistorianOswald Spenglerfound the social separation into nobility, priests and commoners to occur again and again in the various civilisations that he surveyed (although the division may not exist for pre-civilised society).[14] As an example, in the Babylonian civilisation, theCode of Hammurabimade provision for punishments to be harsher for harming a noble than a commoner.[15]

See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^abcGary Day (2001).Class.Routledge.pp.2–10.ISBN0-415-18223-9.
  2. ^ThoughPlatodid recognise a fundamental division into rich and poor – "Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these two cities are at war." –The Republic (Plato),Part I,book IV.
  3. ^abRoger Osborne (2006).Civilization: A New History of the Western World.Jonathan Cape Ltd. pp. 52–56, 292–297.ISBN0-224-06241-7.
  4. ^"The Three Orders".Boise State University.Archived fromthe originalon 2014-04-07.Retrieved2013-01-31.
  5. ^See for example:
  6. ^DEVAILLY,Le Berry du X siècle au milieu du XIII siècle,p. 201; CHEDEVILLE,Chartres et ses campagnes,p.336.
  7. ^PERROY, E.,Le Monde carolingien,Paris, SEDES, 2.ª ed., 1975, p.143.
  8. ^BRETT, M., Middle Ages,Encyclopædia Britannica,15.ª ed., 1979, 12, p.1965.
  9. ^abcPhilip Bobbitt(2003).The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History.Penguin. pp. 80, 108, 486.ISBN978-0-14-100755-7.
  10. ^abPolanyi, Karl(2002).The Great Transformation.Beacon Press.ISBN978-0-8070-5643-1.
  11. ^ Henry Wallace(February 1942)."The Century of the Common Man".Winrock International. Archived fromthe originalon 2007-09-29.Retrieved2011-06-30.
  12. ^Byron Almnn; Edward Pearsall (2006).Approaches to meaning in music.Indiana University Press.p.88.ISBN978-0-253-34792-3.
  13. ^Robert Reich(2012-11-09)."The real lesson from Obama's victory".Financial Times.Retrieved2012-11-09.(registration required)
  14. ^Spengler, Oswald (1922).The Decline of the west(An abridged ed.). Vintage Books, 2006. pp.passim,see esp 335–337.ISBN1-4000-9700-2.
  15. ^Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society By Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob, page 13

Further reading[edit]

  • The common people: a history from the Norman Conquest to the presentJ. F. C. HarrisonFontana Press (1989)
  • The concept of class: a historical introductionPeter CalvertPalgrave Macmillan(1985)

External links[edit]