1 - Mid Tudor Crisis and the Causes of Rebellion Flashcards
What were simple basic explanations of the cause of unrest?
Bad harvest, price rises and inflation, destitution and rises in vagrancy
——-> lead to hunger and poverty.
What YEAR was the vagrancy act
1547
What WAS the vagrancy act
New law that any abled bodied person out of work for more than 3 days was to be branded with a letter V and sold into slavery for 2 years
What was reaction to the Vagrancy act
Widley unpopular, many of the country and urban authorities refused to enforce it. This measure had damaged Somerset’s reputation for humanitarianism
What are some examples of Somerset’s poor leadership?
5 ways
- Govt outstretching resources by trying to fight a war on two fronts (France and Scot)
- Introduction of drastic religious reforms
- Created tension between elites and commons
- Debasement of coinage
- Rise in food prices as a result of poor harvest
What does a rising population lead to
When the population increased so did inflation, which made living standards worse. Work more difficult to find and led to migration from country to city
What happened with the Antwerp cloth market
Was instable and led to widespread unemployment among textile workers in East Anglia (Norwich)
What did Somerset do to remedy price inflation
Rejected advice to end debasement of coinage and instead created the enclosure commission
What were aims for Enclosure commission
- Reduce Rural Poverty
- Increase Grain Production by discouraging sheep grazing
What did the public think of Somerset’s enclosure commission at the start
Earned him the title of the ‘Good Duke’ showing that the public thought he was gonna take his side. (this led to his downfall)
How were enclosures vital to Landlords
Helped them to make maximum profits as sheep and wool was far more profitable.
How did Somerset’s intervention make things worse
trying to support the commissioners he passed further measures such as placing a tax on wool but many of the landowners succeeded in evading the wool tax. Proving it unsuccessful
What was rack renting
Practise by landlords of rapidly increasing rents so that tenants who were unable to pay could be evicted
What was engrossing
The practice of amalgamating two or more farms together. Buildings tenants lived in were forced to move.
Why did John Hales bills fail
Bills were all failed due to parliament only representing interests of landed elites.
Only success was to put tax on sheep
