Commoners. Доходы не позволяли стать рыцарем. А многие не хотели.
According to the returns for the income tax collected in 1436, there were about 50 peers (those of the 'estate' of baron or baroness and above), with an average income of £768 excluding annuities, or £865 including them, ranging from the £3230 of Richard, Duke of York, to the £60 of Lord Clinton, although few were assessed on annual incomes of less than £300.
Below the peerage were 183 taxpayers who were assessed on an income of over £100, this group having an average income of around £200, although a few of them, such as Sir John Fastolf who was assessed on £600, were richer than the poorer peers. Together with about 750 taxpayers assessed on incomes between £40 and £100, with an average of £60, they constituted England's 'knightly' class since, in theory, the government required all those with landed incomes of over £40 to become knights.
In practice, however, many men preferred to pay a small fine rather
than take up their knighthood.
Below this stratum were those labelled by Gray as 'esquires', about 1200 taxpayers with incomes between £20 and £39, with an average of £24, although their ranks included many merchants and yeomen, £20 being the minimum income specified for a justice of the peace in 1439.
