CLASSES TO

and chantry priests, and clerks. The monastic life
was a recognised profession. In the monasteries
there were, besides regular monks, novices or those
who aspired to take the full monastic vows, and,
especially in the fifteenth century, by which time
the importance of lowly, arduous service for the
brethren and personal labour had lapsed, a very-
large number of semi-religious and lay brethren,
who were really servants to the regular monks.
In the fifteenth century the religious houses were
extremely wealthy. Some of the monks were of
noble birth. Nobles, when travelling, usually
lodged at the monastic houses, which were dotted
all over England. The kings resided often at abbeys
when visiting the provinces. Richard III., when
Duke of Gloucester, resided at the Austin Friary in
York.

The one monastic house for women was St.
Clement's Nunnery. There were, moreover, sister-
hoods in the hospitals of, for example, St. Leonard
and St. Nicholas.

St. X/eonard's Hospital, among its many functions,
was a home of royal pensioners.

The townspeople were chiefly merchants and
tradesmen and those they employed, and the wives
and families of all of them. Men of this type, both
rich and poor, rose to important positions in trade
and city life, and in the King's service. Some
entered the service of nobles. Great dignity was
attached to the higher positions of authority in city
and guild life. Trade led to wealth and increased
comfort and a higher social state. Men in the King's
service received preferment more often than direct
monetary reward.

Women had only the monastic life to enter as a
profession. They could become full members of a