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YORK.
CHAPTER XVI.
The latter years cf the fifteenth century and the
earlier decades of the sixteenth, on which we are no\r
entering, constituted a period of transition, social,
intellectual, and religious. The power of the baronage
had become weakened by the wars of the Roses.
The middle class was rising into more importance.
Trade organizations were acquiring greater sdidit)-.
The grants of charters of incorporation, which during
the reign of Henry VI. were multiplied, gave a more
definite character to the municipal institutions of the
more important towns and cities, and the rich
merchants who dwelt in them began to ally themselves
with the families of the gentry ; and when the
rich merchant or the great burgher " found acceptance
in the circles of the gentry, civic offices became an
object of competition with the knights of the county;
their names were enrolled among the religious
fraternities of the towns, the trade and craft gilds ;
and as the value of a seat in parliament became
better appreciated, it was seen that the readiest way
to it lay through the ofiice of mayor, recorder, or
alderman of some city corporation."!
But the intellectual development was yet more
remarkable, especially amongst the clergy.
It is almost
Stubbs' "Constitutional Historj'," iii. p. 596.