The Crisis of the Aristocracy 1558-1641

by Lawrence Stone

[Abridged by the author himself, this edition omits many statistical and other details which are not needed by the non-specialist reader].

This book presents a new interpretation of the long-term social changes leading up to the English Revolution of the mid-17th century. It is argued that the most important social change in the century before the English Civil War was not the rise (or the fall) of the gentry, nor the rise of a capitalist bourgeoisie, but rather the relative decline in the military power, financial resources, territorial possessions, self-confidence, prestige, and authority of the aristocracy.

The causes and symptoms of this decline are analyzed, as well as the changes in aspirations, behavior patterns and economics which paved the way for the post-Restoration recover of the aristocracy and its renewed dominance of English politics and society until within the memory of men still alive today.

"In its imaginative sweep, the quality of its writing, and its intellectual authority, The Crisis of the Aristocracy is a brilliant work."
-- New York Review of Books

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Tudor Period, 16th Century, 17th Century, European History

363 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Lawrence Stone was an English historian of early modern Britain. He is noted for his work on the English Civil War and marriage. Stone was a major advocate of using the methods of the social sciences to study history.

Reviews

[Frank Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with so many British historians, the writer assumes intimate familiarity with individuals like the Earl of Shrewsbury (numerous of the Earls actually) and the Duke of Somerset, but in this case the individuals are less important than their group. This is a classic social history, albeit of a tiny group, the 382 English peers that existed from the beginning of Elizabeth the First's reign to the end of Charles I's (with 126 at the peak period in James's era). It can repeat itself, but it also helps the reader understand the shift from a medieval world to a modern one, and how the British aristocracy was part of that shift.

The most interesting parts of the book concern the shift from a violent, military aristocracy to one that attended to court balls and state sinecures. In the middle ages, the lords had hundreds of attendants, where even other gentlemen wore their livery and worked in their households, and they dominated local juries, courts, and assemblies, to the perversion of state justice. Henry VII however, passed acts demanding first loyalty to the king, enforced laws allowing livery only for household services, and fined Lord Bergavenny 70,000 pounds for retaining 471 men with him in Kent. Yet, as the author points, out within a few years that same lord contributed a 1,000 men to fight a battle. A third of all troops in the army still came indentured from lords. Elizabeth, however, demanded the peers work as county "Lord Lieutenant" to call up "Trained bands" directly for the Queen. While as late as the 1570s the Earl of Oxford traveled with up to a hundred bodyguards wearing his boar symbol, and lords would regularly kill each other and their aides in battles of dozens, within a few years Dukes ran around without any protection at all, and with total staffs of a few dozen. Broadswords and battles gave way to rapiers and the code duello. Peers gave up their castles for sprawling country houses, and their armories for London town houses.

For much of the book, in fact, it's hard to discern the "crisis," which the author implies led up to the aristocracy's fall in the Civil War. For instance, the aristocracy was increasingly impoverished during Elizabeth's penurious reign, but waxed fat under the spendthrift James. The total turnover of land doubled, and then halved after 1600. It's only in the conclusion that the author totals all the reasons the aristocracy lost in power and prestige. The peers' wealth declined relative to the gentry, their landholdings shrunk relative to their investments in paper and trading wealth, their military importance waned, the granting of titles for cash under the Stuart's sapped respect, the tenantry became only economically, not feudally, connected to their barons, they increasingly lived in London rather than in their country houses, and the Puritan undermining of respect for class all had their impact. Many of the aristocracy sided with the Roundheads during the war, but even those were stripped of their respect and their House of Lords. The aristocracy that emerged after 1660 and the death of feudalism, however, was also incipient in this time, in its focus on state service rather than war, its attention to bookish learning rather than physical pursuits, its increasingly involvement in trade, and so forth. The crisis of the aristocracy thus presaged its eventual rebirth, and its surprisingly leading part in the Industrial Revolution that brought England to the forefront of the globe.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to begin this review with a warning. This book is very dry, like super dry. If you left this book in a cattle stall overnight you'd open the door the next morning to find a pile of bleached bones and 1200 pounds of beef jerky. At the same time, the author’s writing is often exceptionally flowery. In combination, this sometimes makes for heavy going. For example: “Statistics make a dry and unpalatable diet unless washed down with the wine of human personality. They have been used, therefore, merely as controls to check the significance of the tangled jetsam of anecdote and quotation thrown up by three talkative, quarrelsome, idiosyncratic generations of noble men and women." In short, don’t try to read this unless you’re prepared to give it your full attention. This being said, The Crisis of the Aristocracy contains a wealth of information on the lives (and changes thereof) of the gentry and peers in England from the ascension of Elizabeth I, through the first two Stuart monarchs , and to the beginning of the English Civil War. What is especially good is that the author not only discusses what was done/how things changed, but also why – and frequently the difference between what people THOUGHT was happening at the time and what was ACTUALLY going on (his use of statistics comes in handy here). He deals with pretty much all aspects of their lives, during this period, from childrearing and education, to funerals and inheritance, making and spending money, roles in local and national government, relationships with each other (and other classes), et al. Published in 1965, this book may be a bit behind the times when the author starts speculating about gender relations, but is generally solid. The three star rating is an average of 4 stars (information) and 2 stars (readability).

[Susannah Outhier · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining read about a niche time period. The author combines storytelling and statistics to explore his question.

[Frederick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting and revealing study of the changes in the British aristocracy during Elizabeth and James I reigns. Their wealth declined, their territory shrunk, and the decline of their military power in men, arms, castles, and the will and ability to resist the monarchs created a sense of crisis of confidence. They also changed their views of their tenants as suppliers of manpower to suppliers of rent. They began to prefer life at the Court and in the city rather than life in the country. There was also pressure to pursue an education and the rise of the individual as being preeminent. Some of these changes they brought on themselves and others were forced on them. Of course, at the end of this episode there was a civil war and the beheading of a king. Dramatic and enlightening material.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the abridged version of the book. I usually avoid abridgments but since the author says at the beginning that mostly statistics were cut out, and since (sadly) my eyes glazed over at the statistics that were left in, it was lucky I chose to read this one.
Stone examines the changes that affected the aristocracy. Some of the subjects he covers are the inflation of honors, land ownership, the court and spending. His point of view, as he states in the conclusion, is that there was a general "crisis of confidence" that had been building over the period.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stone has one of my favorite explanations about how statistics work in his introduction. It's beautiful. And honestly, the stats throughout this are really well written. My copy's spine is disintegrating but here goes: "It is statistics that compose the bony skeleton of this book. As John Smyth of Nibley remarked 300 years ago, 'the old achievements and actions of private men appear but now and then floating in the great gulf of time.' If these fleeting appearances are to be given historical significance it is necessary to be sure that they are typical, a thing which only statistics will reveal. Political history is different, and easier. At any one time there is only one Prime Minister - if that - and at most no more than three foreign or economic policies. But a social group consists of a great mass of men, each an individual human being, and as such a partial variant from the norm. statistical measurement is the only means of extracting coherent pattern from the chaos of personal behavior and discovering which is a typical specimen and which a sport. Failure to apply such controls has led to much wild and implausible generalizations about social phenomena, based on a handful of striking or well-documented examples."

So yeah. I enjoyed this.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outdated arguments, but still an essential book to read, and very well written.

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 3 out of 5]

College Textbook. Don't really remember.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to my notes, useful but very dry.

[Gary Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost over the top. An amazing work. Lots of excellent writing. One of my on-again-off-again reads during the pandemic.