Portrayals - What Classes are in a Household

1) Gentlemen. Gentlemen are basically members of families that have substantial land holdings clear of feudal obligations (i.e., they own land that gives them more than 5 pounds of revenue a year). Just having enough land is not enough, you also need to have at least one manor court under you. That means that on some of the land you hold, you are the lord and your tenants resolve their disputes in your court. These guys generally have lots of money (at least compared to lower classes) and wear lots of armour and ride horses. All gentlemen would have servants, usually of lesser gentle status or yeoman. You can't really be a gentlemen without servants that are close to your social rank. (in history, not in our group!) Gentlemen probably have a coat of arms (maybe always by the time period, not sure). You are required to be a knight if you get 40+ pounds a year in rent from your tenants, and are a Esquire if you get 20+ pounds a year. Less and you are just a gentlemen. The term Man-At-Arms generally refers to gentlemen in a military context.

2) Yeoman. Yeoman status means you or your family own enough land that you have a substantial number of tenants yourself, although you aren't gentlemen, but a commoner (you probably. control enough land that it earns you between 3 and 5+ pounds a year - that's a lot of land). You probably pay rent on your land to your landlord, but you have so much land that you rent it out to others. You might own enough land to be a gentlemen, but have not managed to get control of a property that entitles you to hold court. You probably also owe non-money rents on some of your land, such as labor or military service. Yeoman are wealthy peasants, and can afford good quality clothes and military equipment. They are often archers in a military context, but the wealthier could perhaps turn out as men-at-arms. You might well have some servants from the husbandman class, too.

3) Grooms. These come from the Husbandman class, which means you or your family have enough land to make a living, but not enough to rent out to others. These are basically the middle class. They have a decent house and a good size farm, and hire laborers to help work your land - you just don't have enough to rent out. They could be archers or billman, and would probably at least have a helmet, and maybe a jack and sword.

4) Laborers. They don't own enough land to feed their family, so they work for wages, and so do their family members. You still have one or two sets of decent clothing, live in a small house, and get some of your food from you garden (which would probably be several acres of land- big garden). Most of the population are Laborers. They would probably be billman, and many would not have any military equipment at all. When most people think of "peasants", they mean these guys.

So in a household, the officers and gentlemen of the chamber would all be gentlemen. I think the chamber guys might be squires or better in Grey's household, but the officer might not be (after all, they need to work as officers for extra income or social advancement). The staff of the departments and minor officials (like the Porter) would be Yeoman. Each department would also have a couple of Grooms that do the work not suitable for Yeoman and serving the yeoman. The household would also hire laborers as necessary. If the household also farms its own land instead of renting it out, it probably has many laborers that do this.