\paperw5085 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \pard\tx3255\tx6525\tx9780\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 \f1 \fs22 In 1363 a sumptuary law was passed which prescribed the appropriate qual
ity of clothing for every grade in society. Clearly the more extravagant fashions of the period were threatening sartorial conventions believed by Parliament to be essential for the maintenance of the traditional hierarchy. It was not a class system th
at determined social status, but birth, the practice of arms and the possession of \ATXnt901 heraldic arms\ATXnt0 and landed wealth. The idea of an aristocratic Θlite was still not far developed by around 1300, and all\ATXnt902 landowners \ATXnt0 whos
e income allowed them to support the status of knighthood shared in the \ATXnt903 nobility\ATXnt0 of the earls and barons. By the mid-15th century, however, only the peers of parliament were universally regarded as noble. The\ATXnt904 Knights\ATXnt0
thus fell to the status of mere gentry, albeit to its upper ranks. Many a reversal of fortunes came about in the second half of the 14th century, when the\ATXnt905 Black Death\ATXnt0 enormously reduced the population of England. This in turn brought
about a decline in the rental values on which landowners depended for their incomes. Since this took place when standards of living were visibly rising, very few families managed to sustain the burden of noble status in the 15th century.
