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Landed gentry

Definition and ranks
According to Peter Coss, historians have often relied on "common sense" to decide who belonged. Nevertheless, the gentry remains an important concept, as expressed by historian G. E. Mingay:

"despite the lack of an agreed definition, 'the gentry' remains an indispensable term; it is one of those vastly convenient portmanteau expressions which historians are obliged to employ in formulating the broad generalisations that make up the main strands of the historical fabric. It is the more indispensable since it was so widely used by statesmen and writers of the past. 'The gentry' was a convenient symbol for them, too, and was evidently meaningful to their audiences."

Sir John Fastolf was a 15th-century knight who was richer than some peers.

Medieval origins
Some historians use the term gentry to describe the lesser aristocracy of the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman periods. For example, David Carpenter describes thegns as "the country gentry of Anglo-Saxon England". Other historians believe the gentry did not exist until the 13th century.

The Statute Concerning Diet and Apparel, a 1363 sumptuary law, specifically recognised esquires as gentle. The same legislation references other people who possessed gentility: "esquires and all manner of gentle men below the estate of knight".