By the nineteenth century, some of the ancient English families had lost their power, wealth, and influence.
In the passage Tess and Angel are looking at an old house once owned by the d'Urbervilles. Angel says, "There is something very sad in the extinction of a family of renown, even if it was fierce, domineering, feudal renown." This shows that some of the families that were once powerful in England have lost their power, wealth, and influence.
