Social Classes During The Elizabethan Era

Social classes are expressions of status in society, thought to be established by God himself but a social class is determined by fame, wealth, skills, and birth but what other ways were there to have your social class determined or even changed to a higher social class? There are Many components that go into having your social class decided other than fame or wealth like your education of who you get married to.
During the Elizabethan Era, there were six social classes: Monarchy who was the ruler of a nation (usually a king or queen), and therefore the highest rank one could have. Nobility who are rich people who are either dukes or earls. Gentry was the class that belonged to the knights, gentlemen, gentlewomen, and squires of the kingdom. Merchants made their wealth through sales of wool, exotic goods, and other items of commerce. Yeomen were mostly farmers, tradesmen, or craft workers, who had enough money to support their family. Lastly, there were laborers who had a very hard life being servants and peasants and gained nothing at all.

One big component is education. If a person was educated and knew how to read and write, they were most likely in the higher class because you need to have lots of money to get through school. If a person was in the lower class and was educated, that means that their parents sacrificed a lot to put them through a couple years of school just so that they at least get the basics and have a better chance to be in a higher class in the future. Queen Elizabeth helped the poor class in a way by making a welfare system for the poor to get money and lowered the prices of schools a little. As a result of her work, ⅓ of the population was literate where before she became queen, only about ⅕ of the population could sign their own