Why were the English Gentry so brutal towards their own people ?

Question

In the Middle Ages they were such animals and so brutal towards their own people, why was this ? How is it they were such ruthless animals at the time !

Answer 1

Because they didn't know any better.  That's WHY they called it the Dark Ages.

You have to understand, just a few hundred years before many of these same groups were of the same Barbarians that had sacked Rome.  They had come a long way, especially about learning to gather as a nation and not just tribes.

Answer 2

They had to make-do until the Irish came along!

Answer 3

When has a king ever loved his people ? or even cared ?

Queen Victoria instituted the Victoria cross in 1857 just after the crimean war of 1854 1856.The Victoria cross is the highest honour that can be given for valour.Since 1857 only 1354 medals have been awarded,when you think near 60,000 men died on the first day of the battle of the somme in WWI,you can get an idea how important this meadl is.Today many of the men who have recieved this award lie in unmarked graves . Do you think the Queen dont know ?  Let them eat cake i hear.

Answer 4

The English Gentry were descended from the Norman Conquerors, Normans; the ordinary people were descended from the original English, who came from Saxony in Germany, Anglo-Saxons. The Norman Conquerors were descended from Vikings who captured a large part of France. They were disdainful of the pathetic Anglo-Saxons.

Answer 5

Because the gentry were the monied classes of that time. The upper class have downtrodden people of lower classes all through history, and still do. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. We luckily do have rights enshrined in law that limit how much we can be taken advantage of, but they still do everything they can, within and all-to-frequently out with the law to make extra cash out of us. Like I say... That's sadly just the way it is.

Answer 6

If you want brutal, look at Russia and serfdom. At least Britons had a few rights.

Answer 7

lead plumbing and inbreeding

Answer 8

and other countries were so good and kind to their nationals.The Aztecs used to cut the living heart out of their people in sacrifices to the sun god.The Chinese turned torture into an art form for theirs.The Russians weren't known to be overly soft on their inhabitants either,Vlad the impaler wasn't English and neither was the Marquis de Sade.Is it just the English that you want to take a pop at?

Answer 9

You're talking about a time in the world where individual liberties did not exist as they do today. Go back in history and you will find the history of our world is washed in blood.

Be it the Gladiatorial Arenas of the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition, Slavery, US/Indian wars, Russia under Stalin, China under Mao Zedong and current crises like those in Somalia or Darfur, brutality is part of our world and has been since the dawn of mankind.

The individual liberties and human rights that many in the world enjoy today, took centuries to develop. Yet, even today there are many in the world who do not enjoy the same liberties and human rights that many of use do.

War is another form of brutality that has existed throughout human history.

Why are humans brutal towards each other? Money, power, and religion are probably the three primary reasons.

Answer 10

They weren't the only ones. Why pick on the English?