2.3 Rebellion and Unrest Edward Flashcards
8 socio - economic problems in the mid tudor period
- population rise
- inflation + rising prices
- enclosure
- decline in living standards
- poverty + vagrancy
- rising rent
- poor harvest
- influenza + epedemics
Enclosure
-Putting up a hedge/fence around previously open land
-landowners ignored the rights of others, enclosed common land
- led to villagers destroying fences/ hedges
- often used when land was converted from crops to sheep
^ this was unpopular as it was beleived to cause unemployment
how much did population rise from 1525 to 1551
1525: 2.3 million
1551: 3 million
what issues did population growth cause
- agricultural productivity couldn’t keep pace
-price of food rose, was a very serious problem in bad harvests, of which there were many
- young population = dependency rate increased
were contemporaries aware of population growth?
No
They WERE aware of the rises in prices and rents.
how much higher were prices in 1530 compared to 1508
69%
in the mid tudor period, how many years saw insufficient harvests?
six
How did the dissolution of monasteries affect the poor
removed an institution which helped the poor
how did enclosure + the depression of the cloth trade affect the poor
- unemployment
- less arable land
- increased levels of poverty
When was the Vagrancy act and what did it do
1547 , under somerset
condemned vagrants to slavery for two years after a first offence and life for a second.
What did Somerset do which increased the rate of inflation
continued debasement of coinage to fund war against scotland
what did most people beleive was the cause of inflation and how did somerset respond
- the greed of landowners
- established commissions to look into enclosures 1548/1549
- this lost him the support of landowners, but gained the support of lower orders
- when legislation failed, they took law into their own hands, threw down enclosures beleiving somerset supported them.
