Abstract
Contemporary writers often paired elite clerics with knights as distinct but equally high status social groups. Though modern historians rarely consider clerics as part of the aristocracy, powerful clerics in fact formed an important part of the English elites. Some came from an aristocratic background, but others rose into the aristocracy through success within the church. Not only did many clerics have great wealth and power, but clerics sometimes participated in such aristocratic pastimes as hunting and the pursuit of love. Naturally, the presence of clerics in the elites created both religious and social tensions. In a religion that stressed asceticism and poverty, aristocratic clerics presented a theoretical anomaly. There was also a limited amount of rivalry between knights and clerics. More disturbing to some was the possibility of social mobility through the clerical ranks.