Causes of Poverty

Question 1

Who were the Impotent/undeserving Poor?

Answer 1

They were people who were generally unable to work due to age or hardship.

Question 2

Who are the Able-bodied poor?

Answer 2

Capable of work but unwilling to find it.

Question 3

What were the attitudes towards the vagabonds?

Answer 3

• seen as idle and too lazy to work
• Too prepared for crime
• spread diseases
• Poor rates fuelled resentment

Question 4

Why is rising inflation one of the main causes of poverty?

Answer 4

Wages could not keep up with rising prices.

Question 5

Why is the cloth industry one of the main causes of poverty?

Answer 5

Cloth trade collapsed so many spinners & weavers lost their jobs.

Question 6

Why were foreign wars one of the main causes of poverty?

Answer 6

Wars against France, Scotland & Spain led to increased taxes.

Question 7

Why was the closing of monasteries one of the main causes of poverty?

Answer 7

Charity relief gone. Increased unemployment.

Question 8

Why were bad harvests one of the main causes of poverty?

Answer 8

1556, 1596, & 1597 caused a rise in food prices and starvation.

Question 9

Why was rack renting one of the main causes of poverty?

Answer 9

Sharp increases in rents meant farmers couldn’t pay & were evicted.

Question 10

Why is changes in farming methods one of the leading causes of poverty?

Answer 10

Farmers stopped growing crops to keeping sheep, enclosed land & employed fewer people.

Question 11

Why is rural depopulation one of the main causes of poverty?

Answer 11

Unemployed farmers moved from the countryside to towns to find work.

Question 12

Why is the rising population one of the main causes of poverty?

Answer 12

More demand for food, clothes, housing and jobs.

Question 13

What was a Hooker/Angler?

Answer 13

Carries a long wooden stick & knocks on the doors of houses seeking charity during the day to see what they could steal. They return after dark and use a hooked stick to reach in through windows and steal clothes and valuables.

Question 14

What was a Doxy?

Answer 14

A female beggar who walks around with a large bag on her back whilst knitting. People think the bag is for all the clothes she’s knitted but really it’s full of stolen valuables.

Question 15

What was a Clapper Dudgeon?

Answer 15

They tied arsenic on their skin to make it bleed, hoping to attract sympathy while begging.

Question 16

What was a Counterfeit Crank?

Answer 16

Dresses in tatty clothes and pretends to suffer from falling sickness (epilepsy). Suck on soap to fake foaming at the mouth.

Question 17

What was a Dummerer?

Answer 17

Pretend to be dumb in order to beg for charity from passers by.

Question 18

What was a Ruffler?

Answer 18

A former soldier who survives by robbing, using threats or begging.

Question 19

What was a Abraham Man?

Answer 19

Pretends to be mad, hoping this would result in charity donations through pity.

Question 20

What was the 1563 Statute of Artificers?
Impact?

Answer 20

• Compulsory for boys to serve a 7 year apprenticeship in a craft of trade.
• Maximum wage limit set.
• Attempted to create employment
• Tied men to one area

Question 21

What was the 1572 Vagabonds act?
IMPACT?

Answer 21

• Severe penalties against vagrants
• JP’s to register at local parish
• poor rate & provide shelter
• Harsh punishments to act as deterrent
• Did nothing to remove the causes of poverty.