3.2 The Problem of the Poor Flashcards
1
Q
What was poverty like during Elizabeth’s reign?
A
- Spending more than 80% of your income on bread.
- Being unemployed or ill, so you could no longer provide for yourself or your family.
- Bring unable to afford the rising cost of food.
- Needing financial help (poor relief) or charity (alms).
2
Q
What are vagrants? What are the attitudes towards them?
A
- Vagrants were people without a settled home or regular work.
- Many vagrants seen as vagabonds - idle and dishonest people who wandered around committing crimes.
3
Q
What types of people were poor?
A
- Widows or women abandoned by their families / husbands, as women were paid very little.
- The sick and elderly who were incapable of work.
- Orphaned children : 40% of the poor were under 16.
- People on low wages.
- Itinerants, vagrants and vagabonds - homeless people who moved from their parishes looking for for work and were often involved in crimes.
