Second, established churches interacted very closely with the state and nobles. Third, urban labor was split into working groups called "guilds". Finally, the lower class was very low. It consisted of rural peasants who were subjected to very high taxes and feudal dues. The result of these four components: there was a large group of overworked, underpaid people who provided a high lifestyle for those few in charge.
Post-Revolutionary Europe, known primarily as the 1650s on, was the beginning of a different story. Previously, both France's and England's economies were based largely on agriculture. The money of the upper class rested on how well and how much the crop grew. Suddenly industrialization took Europe by storm. Between the new income from the New World and the emerging technology, for the first time people had a more or less consistent food source. There were new products to sell and the countries that figured out the best ways to market that merchandise became the ones with strong economies. France and England began to gain more power in the international trade scene, therefore significantly bolstering their economies. .
The end of our time line also sees the ascendancy of the middle class in Europe. This came about in large part to the industrialization of both England and France. Business owners and managers became the new upper class. By the mid-1800s, the middle class was no longer revolutionary. Those with property and assets moved to protect their wealth any way possible. .
From this new middle class formed a new lower middle class in France and England. This included secretaries, retail clerks; those who had steady jobs that afforded them some small comforts. These people for the first time in their families" histories were able to use expendable income on small luxuries. They pursued higher education, which would gradually unite the middle classes. .
