What was the lower class called in elizabethan era?

[Taylor]

Like what was it referred to as... Like gentry, nobility, etc?

[uʍop ǝpısdn]

since we're still in the elizabethan era.. it's called the lower class.

[chebrew2000]

hoi polloi ? proletariat, rabble

[Louise C]

below the gentry in the country hierarchy were the landholding commoners. The most priviliged, called freeholders, held their lands in perpetuity: their holdings were passed on from generation to generation with no change in terms. freeholders may have numbered around 10,000 in all.

less fortunate than the freeholders were the leaseholders. Their tenancies were for fixed periods, sometimes as much as a lifetime, sometimes as little as a year. At the very bottom among landholders were the copyholders, also called customary tenants or tenants at will. their holdings were simply by custom, and the rent could be altered or the tenancy terminated at any time.

the rural hierarchy was the most prominent in the Elizabethan world view, but there also existed a fully develooed and independent social structure in the towns. citizenship in a town was a privilige restricted to male householders who were not dependent on others for their wages, typically craftsmen or tradesmen who had their own shop. citizens may have numbered as many as a quarter to a half of the adult male population in any given town. As the towns were self governing, they reied heavily on their own population for filling pubic officesm perhaps 1 freeman in 4 or 5 held office at any given time.

Wheras the rural hierarchy was centred in agriculture, the urban hierqrchy was based on trades and crafts. each cradt and trade had a hierarchy of its own based on the medieval guild system. for example, all grocers in a given town would belong to a corporate body, governed by the master grocers, who would regulate the manner in which the trade was plied. A boy would begin in his teenage years as an appretice to a master, after seven years he might finish his appreticeshio and become a journeyman: this meant he was free to sell his services in the craft or trade. Those who had adequte means or connections could ultimately become masters themselves. The citizenry of a town consisted primarily of its master tradesmen and craftsmen.

At the base of both the rural and urban hierarchies were the labourers and servants. In the countrym paid labor sometimes went to cottagers, but but increasingly fell to a growing number of rootless laborers who followed the market in search of employment. both rural and urban families hired servants, a quarter of the population may have been servants at any given time, and a third or more of households may have had servants. servants were subordinate members of their employer's household who actually lived with the family. Servants were mainly young people, many worked as servants until they had saved enough to marry and set up home.