Early Modern England 1500-1700 Flashcards
Why did crime increase in this period?
Population growth
-Population growth from 2 million-7 million in 1500 – 1700. -90% of the population lived in villages and worked in agriculture but an increase in the number of people living in towns from 10% in 1500 to 22% in 1700 e.g London grew from 60,000 in 1520 to 575,000 by 1700 = MORE CRIME.
Why did crime increase in this period?
-More unemployment
-More unemployment –caused by rising population and problems in the cloth industry = increase in vagrancy where homeless people wandered the countryside begging for food and money.
Why did crime increase in this period?
- Enclosure of the land
- Enclosure of the land led to more unemployment as fenced fields were used for sheep grazing not growing crops so people lost their farming jobs.
Why did crime increase in this period?
-Inflation
-Inflation caused prices to rise faster than wages
Why did crime increase in this period?
-Closure of monasteries.
-Closure of monasteries by Henry VIII took away support for the poor.
Why did crime increase in this period?
-Reformation with Henry VIII
-Reformation with Henry VIII led to the Break from Rome in 1534. Those who had a different religion from the King/Queen were called heretics. Heresy had become a crime in 1382 but was much more widespread in the Tudor period because the religion kept changing between Catholic and Protestant. Catholics and Protestants accused each other of being in league with the Devil. This led to an increase in belief in the supernatural, which led to accusations of witchcraft, particularly in the Stuart period.
Why did crime increase in this period?
English Civil War 1642-1651
English Civil War 1642-1651 led to a breakdown of law and order with soldiers on mainly the Royalist side committing crimes which went unpunished.
Why did a fear of crime increase in the period 1500-1700?
-Gap between rich and poor widened in this period with harsher laws passed to stop poaching and protect property.
-English Civil War turned society ‘upside down’, particularly after the execution of Charles I in 1649.
Invention of printing press in the late 15th century led to reports about real crimes in pamphlets (known as chapbooks) broadsides, and ballads.
Since heresy became much more common how many protestants did Henry VIII and Mary I kill?
- Heresy became much more common e.g Henry VIII burned 81 Protestants, Mary I burned 284 Protestants.
What new crimes emerged in this period?
-Recusancy
-Recusancy - Elizabeth I passed the Act of Uniformity in 1559 which made it legal for everyone to attend Church on a Sunday. Anybody who refused was called a Recusant (Latin meaning to refuse). Recusants fined 12 shillings for non- attendance at church.
-After 1570 (the Pope had called on all Catholics to remove Elizabeth I from the English throne), the Recusancy laws increased the fine to a massive twenty pounds a month.
-Non-payment of fines resulted in imprisonment
-James I passed the 1605 Popish Recusants Act (brought in after the failed Catholic Gunpowder Plot) forced Catholics to swear loyalty to the King and introduced huge fines of £60 for not attending Church.
What new crimes emerged in this period?
-Vagabondage
-Vagabondage = being homeless was seen as a crime. As there were no benefits many people resorted to crime to get food, etc. They were blamed for thefts, assaults and even murders. They were hated by the settled population.
-Pamphlets warned people about different types of vagabonds such as dummerers (pretended to be deaf and mute to beg for money), priggers of prancers (horse thieves), kinchin morts (girl beggars). -In reality, vagabondage was not widespread e.g only 555 vagrants were recorded in London, 67 in Oxford and 96 in Salisbury.
What new crimes emerged in this period? (key points)
-Recusancy
-Vagabondage
Why did crime increase in this period? (key points)
Population growth
-More unemployment
- Enclosure of the land
-Inflation
-Closure of monasteries.
-Reformation with Henry VIII
English Civil War 1642-1651
