ABSTRACT
There was, of course, in practice all the difference in the world between the great man, lord of many manors, with numerous sub-vassals and many mighty castles, and the isolated knight who was master only of a small estate and with inadequate resources to maintain him in his station in society. The distinction between the freeman of knightly rank and the serf takes us back once more to the social structure of the non-noble rural population. The description of society has accepted the distinction made at the time between the free warrior class and the unfree serf class. Certainly from a social point of view only two classes can be seen. There was, however, another group in the community, the Church and its clergy, numerous, well-organized, and inspired by a coherent ambition. Literacy was almost completely restricted to the clergy and the written memorials of this age are, with few exceptions, due to them. The clergy wrote and spoke Latin.
