Dealing with the poor

Question 1

How was the monarchy financed?

Answer 1

Ordinary revenue – came from royal lands and monarch’s status as a landlord

Extraordinary revenue – taxation granted by parliament for the monarch’s special needs, usually the costs of war

Question 2

Taxation before 1513

Answer 2

Amounts paid by each local community had been fixed:

Boroughs = pay taxation equivalent to 1/10th of the value of their ‘moveables’ (land and other possessions)

Countryside = each community expected to pay amount equivalent to 1/15th of the value of its goods

Question 3

Problems with Taxation before 1513

Answer 3

Inflation: meant did not mean the needs of the government

unfair: each community was responsible for an amount rather based on each individual - nobility avoided

Towns: urban towns paid more than countryside where an increase of wealth due to cloth/wool trade

Question 4

1513 Subsidy

Answer 4

created bc wolsey needed funding for war

each person assessed by income - only paid tax in one category (land, wages, possessions)

separate for nobility - higher rank = more paid

JPs assessed each persons wealth

Question 5

Successes of 1513 subsidy

Answer 5

Reduced resentment as wealthier in society contributed more

successful so repeated

Question 6

Downsides of 1513 subsidy

Answer 6

wolsey had trouble due to increasing demands, parliament reluctant to grant subsidies

Wolsey forced to take out non-parliamentary tax in 1525 known as amicable grant

success not sustained - parliament granted during peace yielding £140,000 byt towards the reign only yielding £80,000

Question 7

Subsidies under Elizabeth -

Answer 7

instead of using wolsey’s flexible system, Elizabeth permitted tax to become fixed

Question 8

Problems of subsidies under Elizabeth -

Answer 8

Did not take inflation into account

Corruption: once assesment of wealth was completed, people claimed less than they had

Tax records not updated - did not take account of new taxpayers or those who had died e.g suffolk 17,000 assessed in but only 7,700 left

Question 9

Elizabeth’s response to problem of subsidies

Answer 9

did not nothing to respond to these problems and instead asked for multiple multiple subsidies plus the medievel fifteenths and tenths

However Elizabeth didn’t face the same type of tax rebellion that Henry did in 1489 and 1497, because there was increased control of localities

Question 10

Why was poverty a problem

Answer 10

government feared riots/rebellion from vagrants who had no master

landowning elites afraid of crime against their property

Question 11

how was poverty increased?

Answer 11

Rising population
Harvests could be affected by bad weather
Dissolution of the monasteries

Question 12

1495 Vagabonds and Beggars Act

Answer 12

Beggars and idle poor to be put in the stocks for three days, whipped and returned to original parish

Question 13

1547 Vagrancy Act

Answer 13

Defined Vagrant as someone able bodied and out of employment for three days. Branded V on the chest and had to work as a slave for two years!

Question 14

1552 Poor Law

Answer 14

Previous vagrancy act was so severe it was impossible to enforce

required impotent poor to be registered and required priests to put more pressure on those reluctant to make voluntary contributions to alms in the parishes.

Question 15

Social and economic crisis of the 50s (lead up to Statute of Artificers)

Answer 15

Lack of food due to bad harvests 1554- 1556

Influenza epidemic between 1555-1559 - death allowed poor to ask fo higher wages so employers raised prices

Question 16

Terms of the Statute of Artificers 1563

Answer 16

All unmarried people under the age of 30 were compelled to work and accept any work offered

All wages were to be assessed and set by the local JPs annually

Hours of work were fixed – in the Summer it was 5am to 7 or 8pm, in winter it was dawn to sunset,

Question 17

Strengths of Statute of Artificers 1563

Answer 17

lasted the rest of Tudor time

Statue also emphasised importance of everyone having a master and being involved in food production

Question 18

Limitations of statute of Artificers 1563

Answer 18

did not solve all the problems so further acts were needed,

Unsuccessful it assumed there was always work for everyone who wanted it but this was not always the case e.g. cloth-workers - decline of exports after war with spain

Question 19

1563 Act for the Relief of the Poor:

Answer 19

moved towards making payments to poor relief compulsory as special collectors of alms were appointed,

Question 20

1572 Poor Law:

Answer 20

unlicensed beggars punished, but it became harder to get a license as it had to be signed by 2 JPs

encouraged parished to build ‘houses of correction’ for vagrants

Question 21

Terms of the 1598 Poor Law

Answer 21

unpaid overseer for each parish who assessed how mych poor relief was needed and distribute it

worked with JPs who punished anyone that refused

Question 22

1598 Poor Law - strengths

Answer 22

National system of poor relief

First Act to make contributions to the poor compulsory

Poor made to felt less like rejected members of society so were less likely to rebel