Which system popular in Britain during Daniel Defoe's time ranked women beneath men and men beneath angels and demons

Daniel Defoe: writer, journalist and writer of "Robinson Crusoe". Defoe was born around 1960 and passed away in 1731 during a period known as the Middle Ages in which Christianity had immense political and social control.

During these times, in Europe, they promoted a system of belief known as The Great Chain of Being that had the objective of connecting even the most simple elements and specifying an order or rank according to the connection with God, believed to be a spirit in all things.

God at the top of the list, believed to be outside of the physical realm, unaffected by time, and almighty.

Angels and demons were thought not to be bound by physical organs, but they were not as powerful as god, they didn't have the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of God.

Men shared a lot of characteristics with angels, but they were believed to be lower in the chain for being bound to a physical body.

Women were lower on the chain since it was thought their connection with God was worse and that they had come from the rib of a man, based on the Christian bible.

The great chain of being