New elements of social life were developed alike by the suffering and the prosperity of the times.

The wrong which had been done by the degradation of the free landowner into a feudal dependant was partially redressed by the degradation of the bulk of the English lords themselves into a middle class as they were pushed from their place by the foreign baronage who settled on English soil; and this social change was accompanied by a gradual enrichment and elevation of the class of servile and semi-servile cultivators which had lifted them at the close of this period into almost complete freedom.

The middle class which was thus created was reinforced by the upgrowth of a corresponding class in our towns.

Commerce and trade were promoted by the justice and policy of the foreign kings; and with their advance rose the political importance of the trader.

The boroughs of England, which at the opening of this period were for the most part mere villages, were rich enough at its close to buy liberty from the Crown and to stand ready for the mightier part they were to play in the developement of our parliament.