Early Modern England (c.1500 - c.1700)

Question 1

List the reigns of the monarchs from 1509 to 1625.

Answer 1

• Henry VIII: 1509-47
• Edward VI: 1547-53
• Mary I: 1553-8
• Elizabeth I: 1558 - 1603
• James I: 1603-25

Question 2

How did the Reformation start?

Answer 2

• In 1517, a German priest called Martin Luther protested against the corruption of the Catholic Church
• Protestantism grew as more people agreed that the Catholic Church needed reform
• This movement became known as the Reformation

Question 3

List 2 reasons why heresy became extremely serious.

Answer 3

• Heretics were seen to be dangerous as they could persuade others to agree with them
• Treason and heresy became connected as Tudor monarchs became heads of the Church of England

Question 4

Describe the Tudor monarchs’ approach to religion (including James I).

Answer 4

• Henry VIII declared himself head of the CoE in 1534, although he was a Catholic
• He closed down Catholic monasteries to seize their wealth and land
• Edward VI was raised a Protestant
• He introduced an English prayer book, made churches plainer and allowed priests to marry
• Mary I was a strict Catholic and reinstated the Pope as the head of the English Church
• Elizabeth tried to find a ‘middle way’ so that Catholics could feel comfortable joining the Church of England
• James I was a tolerant Protestant up until the Gunpowder Plot

Question 5

List 3 changes to religious law under Elizabeth I.

Answer 5

• 1559 Act of Uniformity: everyone had to go to Church on Sundays and holy days or pay a fine
• Recusants were people who refused to go, and would eventually be prosecuted if they continued to do so
• 1559 Act of Supremacy: reintroduced the Oath of Supremacy; acknowledged Elizabeth I as the head of the CoE
• 1559: Mary I’s harsh heresy laws were repealed

Question 6

How many people were executed for heresy under each Tudor monarch?

Answer 6

• Henry VIII: 81 (Protestants for heresy and Catholics for not taking the Oath of Supremacy)
• Edward VI: 2 (also imprisoned some Catholic bishops)
• Mary I: 283 (causing 800 members of the Protestant clergy to flee, and earning herself the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’)
• Elizabeth I: 5 (in 1569, hundreds of Catholic rebels were executed)

Question 7

List 3 motives behind the Gunpowder Plot.

Answer 7

• In 1570 the Pope excommunicated (disowned) Elizabeth I and instructed loyal Catholics to depose her
• This caused anti-Catholic measures to increase
• James I was married to a Catholic, so Catholics hoped for more religious freedoms, but James I was prepared to introduce harsher anti-Catholic measures

Question 8

What was the Gunpowder Plotters’ plan?

Answer 8

• To set off an explosion at the state opening of Parliament on 5th November 1605 with the King and senior Protestant officials inside
• They had placed a minimum of 1 ton of gunpowder under the House of Lords
• They planned to crown Princess Elizabeth (James I’s daughter) and to control her

Question 9

How were the Gunpowder plotters stopped? What conclusion have some people drawn from this?

Answer 9

• On the 20th October 1605 Lord Monteagle received a warning not to go to Parliament as it would ‘receive a mighty blow’
• Robert Cecil, the King’s spymaster, was informed and Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder were discovered
• Historians believe that the plot was allowed to go ahead until the last moment to justify anti-Catholic legislation

Question 10

What happened to the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot? What were attitudes towards Catholics like afterwards?

Answer 10

• Torture (which could only be permitted by the King) was used on all of the plotters
• Guy Fawkes confessed after 2 days
• All of the conspirators were sentenced to being hanged, drawn and quartered in 1606
• Anti-Catholic sentiment increased
• Catholics were not allowed to vote until 1829

Question 11

List 7 reasons why the number of witchcraft accusations increased.

Answer 11

• Economic problems in the late 1500s caused rich people to become suspicious of the poor
• Poor harvests or dead livestock were blamed on witches
• Due to the CoE’s existence, witchcraft was also seen as a crime against the monarch
• After 1534 people feared Catholicism and wanted to ‘cleanse’ society
• After the Gunpowder Plot, James I encouraged witch hunts
• The English Civil War of 1642-9 caused uncertainty and disruption, so more people started to believe in superstition
• Assize (royal) judges could not travel as much, so locals took the law into their own hands

Question 12

List 4 changes to the law regarding witchcraft.

Answer 12

• 1542 Witchcraft Act: punishable by death
• 1563: witchcraft tried in common court (as opposed to Church court) and would result in execution when another person was harmed
• 1604: anyone who summoned evil spirits was put to death
• 1735: witches seen as tricksters

Question 13

Who was Matthew Hopkins, and when and where did he start witch hunts?

Answer 13

• A failed 25 year-old lawyer
• 1645 in East Anglia

Question 14

What were 3 methods that Hopkins used to prove the guilt of those he accused?

Answer 14

• To extract confessions he starved and tired out suspects, who tended to be vulnerable women (widowed/unmarried)- 90% of witchcraft accusation were generally made against women
• Any flies, mice or spiders seen going into their homes were said to be familiars
• Scars, spots or boils were said to be a ‘devil’s mark’; where familiars sucked on their blood, although they were usually caused by poor diets/ hardship

Question 15

How many of those who were investigated by Hopkins were executed?

Answer 15

• 112/300

Question 16

Give 2 reasons why witchcraft accusations declined.

Answer 16

• Hopkins is thought to have died from an illness in 1647
• The Enlightenment was a movement in the late 17th century that focused on reason rather than tradition and faith, and part of this was the setting up of the Royal Society in 1660 (established for the purpose of developing modern science)
• These 2 factors calmed down the witch hunting frenzy

Question 17

When did the final execution for witchcraft take place?

Answer 17

• 1716

Question 18

List 10 reasons why the number of vagabonds was increasing.

Answer 18

• Series of bad harvests and poverty made wages reach their lowest level since 1200
• People were vulnerable to to rises in the price of food
• The population went up by 1 million during the Elizabethan Era (and at least doubled between 1500 and 1700), making work harder to find
• Slumps in trade lead to unemployment and hardship
• Taxes were increased during times of war
• Demobilised soldiers struggled to find work
• Monasteries used to give out alms (food, medicine, money and shelter), but were shut down by Henry VIII
• Landowners decided to enclose their fields to keep sheep instead of growing crops as it was more profitable, causing unemployment
• The commonland (land shared by peasants to graze animals, etc.) was also enclosed, reducing the supply of food
• Vagabonds had to move to look for work, but other communities were less likely to help them
• The rich in every parish already paid poor rates (money that supported the poor)

Question 19

What was a vagabond? Describe 3 types.

Answer 19

• Vagabond: able bodied/ ‘sturdy’ beggars
• Tom O’Bedlam: a type of beggar who hoped to get charity by acting mad
• Clapperdudgeon: pretended to be ill by making artificial sores
• Counterfeit crank: pretended to be epileptic- used soap to make themselves foam at the mouth

Question 20

List the first 5 laws issued concerning vagrants.

Answer 20

• 1495 Vagabonds & Beggars Act: idle vagabonds were put in the stocks for 3 days and nights before being returned to their place of birth
• 1531 Vagrancy Act: vagrants were whipped until bloody and sent back to their place of birth
• 1547 Vagrancy Act: first offence lead to 2 years of slavery, and the second lead to either slavery for life or execution
• 1550 Repeal of 1547 Act: 1531 Act was revived as it was not too harsh
• 1572 Vagrancy Act: first offence lead to whipping and burning through the ear’s gristle, and the second lead to execution

Question 21

List the second group of five laws issued concerning vagabonds.

Answer 21

• 1576: Houses of Correction built in every county
• 1593 Repeal of 1572 Act: 1531 Act revived
• 1597 Act for the Relief of the Poor: Differentiated between the deserving (/impotent poor) and the undeserving (/sturdy) poor
• 1598 Vagrancy Act: vagrants were whipped and sent home, and repeat offenders were either sent to a House of Correction, banished or executed
• 1601 Poor Laws (made system dealing with vagrants more consistent): local parishes gave ‘poor rates’ to the deserving poor while the undeserving poor were punished severely

Question 22

What were public attitudes towards crime like in early modern England, and why?

Answer 22

• The printing press was invented in the mid 1400s and was used to publicise crime and executions
• The crime rate went up in the 1500s and early 1600s
• The fear of crime increased
• By the late 1600s the crime rate was falling, but people thought it was rising

Question 23

What 2 social crimes were on the rise, and why?

Answer 23

Poaching:
- People tried to resist enclosures by pulling down fences
- The 1671 Game Act made poaching illegal, but people continued to do it to improve their diets
- People started to poach in gangs so it was harder for them to be caught
Smuggling:
- In the 1600s, the government introduced import duties (taxes paid on imported goods)
- People were therefore willing to illegally supply and buy cheaper, smuggled goods

Question 24

Why were certain moral crimes introduced in early modern England? List 4 examples.

Answer 24

• After the English Civil Wars, Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan, was in charge of England
• He introduced new moral crimes in the 1650s
• Sports and entertainment were banned
• Work on Sundays lead to punishment
• Christmas and feast days became religious occasions
• Plain dress was enforced

Question 25

List 5 examples of continuity regarding law enforcement in early modern England.

Answer 25

• County Assizes: royal judges visited counties twice a year to deal with serious crimes
• Hue and cry was still used
• Courts relied on juries
• Constables worked part-time with no weapons or uniform, and were responsible for bringing criminals to justice
• The benefit of the clergy could still be claimed for minor crimes

Question 26

List 6 changes to law enforcement in early modern England.

Answer 26

• Town watchmen patrolled the streets in larger towns, and could arrest drunk people and vagabonds
• Sergeants worked in towns to enforce market regulations
• Thief takers were people who earned a reward for apprehending criminals
• JPs’ role expanded and met with other JPs in the county 4 times a year at ‘Quarter Sessions’ where they judged more serious cases and could even hand out the death penalty
• JPs judged manor court cases as they were usually landowners who wanted the prestige of the role
• 1679 Habeas Corpus Act: prevented authorities from locking up a person indefinitely without them being charged with a crime and stopped arrest without trial (they either went to court within a certain amount of time or were released), although the government still made up evidence to lock up critics

Question 27

Describe Jonathan Wild.

Answer 27

• Was known as ‘Thief Taker General’
• He secretly led a gang of thieves and became a famous thief taker in 1718
• He was discovered and executed in 1725
• He was one of many corrupt thief takers

Question 28

Describe prisons before 1700, and give an example of one.

Answer 28

• Prisons were a holding area for criminals awaiting a trial
• The London Bridewell was an early House of Correction that was opened in 1556
• It punished poor people who broke the law and housed poor children
• All inmates did ‘hard labour’ to pay for their keep and to learn the value of hard work

Question 29

Describe transportation in early modern England.

Answer 29

• Transportation to North America started as a punishment in 1615
• It was a good deterrent, gave a chance for rehabilitation, helped people populate the colonies and provided a workforce there
• It was a severe punishment as murderers served for 14 years, while other criminals did 7
• Most could not afford a ticket back to England, and so never returned
• Up to around 1770, between 50,000 and 80,000 people were transported to America

Question 30

What were 5 possible reasons for the Bloody Code’s introduction?

Answer 30

The crime rate was actually falling throughout the 17th century.
- Public executions and the distribution of pamphlets gave the impression that crime was out of control
- As transport improved, it became easier for news to spread
- Wealthy landowners who were MPs wanted to protect themselves
- Honest MPs believed that everyone suffered when the law was broken
- The trend in punishments had always been to make them harsher to act as a deterrent

Question 31

How did the Bloody Code develop?

Answer 31

• By 1688, 50 crimes were punishable by death
• By 1765 it was 160
• By 1815 it was 225