The Upper Class
Unlike many of the Western European countries, Italy had no true social hierarchy in the Middle Ages. In stark contrast to the strictly held levels of British society, Italy’s people were separated into two large groups: the nobility and everyone else. The nobility included the princes and lords whose families had ruled over the city-states for generations. Aside from the princes and their families, there was no true aristocracy to speak of.
By the early 1500s, a new class had risen between the shopkeepers and the nobility: the newly rich upper class. In the late Middle Ages, much of the merchant class took stock of their accumulated wealth and saw opportunity. Buying titles where possible, the newly formed upper class carved out their own social strata where none had been before. The new gentry were hungry for the power previously held only by the nobles. They may not have had titles and noble blood, but they had plenty of resources. Purchased titles and careful marriage agreements solidified political alliances and brought power to the former merchants. It wasn’t long at before families who made their fortunes selling goods were controlling the politics of Italy.
Romeo and Juliet’s two feuding families fall into this powerful new class. Neither family has noble blood, but both are wealthy and powerful. It is servants of both households who start the brawl in act one, scene one. The Capulets are intent on furthering their reach: they plan to marry their young daughter to Paris, a relative of the Prince. The Montagues, too, are rubbing elbows with the nobility; Romeo's friend Mercutio is related to Prince Escalus.
By the early 1500s, a new class had risen between the shopkeepers and the nobility: the newly rich upper class. In the late Middle Ages, much of the merchant class took stock of their accumulated wealth and saw opportunity. Buying titles where possible, the newly formed upper class carved out their own social strata where none had been before. The new gentry were hungry for the power previously held only by the nobles. They may not have had titles and noble blood, but they had plenty of resources. Purchased titles and careful marriage agreements solidified political alliances and brought power to the former merchants. It wasn’t long at before families who made their fortunes selling goods were controlling the politics of Italy.
Romeo and Juliet’s two feuding families fall into this powerful new class. Neither family has noble blood, but both are wealthy and powerful. It is servants of both households who start the brawl in act one, scene one. The Capulets are intent on furthering their reach: they plan to marry their young daughter to Paris, a relative of the Prince. The Montagues, too, are rubbing elbows with the nobility; Romeo's friend Mercutio is related to Prince Escalus.
Information Drawn From:
Bowd, Stephen D. Venice's Most Loyal City: Civic Identity in Renaissance Brescia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2010. Print.
Brown, Alison. The Renaissance. London: Longman, 1999. Print.
Denton, Jeffrey Howard. Orders and Hierarchies in Late Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1999. Print.
Whitlock, Keith. The Renaissance in Europe: A Reader. New Haven: Yale UP, 2000. Print.
Brown, Alison. The Renaissance. London: Longman, 1999. Print.
Denton, Jeffrey Howard. Orders and Hierarchies in Late Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1999. Print.
Whitlock, Keith. The Renaissance in Europe: A Reader. New Haven: Yale UP, 2000. Print.