Elizabeth and Poverty

Question 1

What was successful about Elizabeths Poor Relief policies?

Answer 1

Impressive record of achievement of poor laws and attempts to end some enclosure. Privy Councillors told JP’s to help with Poor Relief and Norwich and Ipswich were already doing so.

Question 2

What was so good about the 1598 new framework for Poor relief?

Answer 2

New framework into deserving and undeserving Unemployed were given jobs Children became apprentices- making good workers motivated

Question 3

What was the difficulty with the Poor economy when facing the MP’s?

Answer 3

Heavy subsidies were needed from Parliament to help Elizabeth. But MP’s and councillors main concern was the monopolies (oblivious, self centered, rich man interests)

Question 4

When was bad harvest and subsistence crisis at its peak ?

Answer 4

1597- causing a cycle of disparity

Question 5

When did plague and influenza break out?

Answer 5

1596-7

Question 6

What were the state of the wages ?

Answer 6

Pre black death level (low)

Question 7

How much of the population did the plague kill ?

Answer 7

6% of 4 million

Question 8

What happened to the prices as a result of the Harvest?

Answer 8

Prices increased, for example bread- average price of wheat doubling in 1596.

Question 9

How did transport affect subsistence crisis?

Answer 9

Poor transport made it hard to move supplies from areas with surplus.

Question 10

How much had death rate increased in 1595-7?

Answer 10

Increased by 50%

Question 11

What was the impact of the food riots on the elites?

Answer 11

The occurred in rich areas (London, Kent, Norfolk) which the government feared of camping like in Ketts- meaning their response was over-exaggerated

Question 12

What happened to the 5 Oxfordshire ringleaders?

Answer 12

They were taken to London and charged with treason under the 1571 Treason Act for ‘making war against the queen’

Question 13

What did the rich think of the poor? Example?

Answer 13

That they were too idle to work. 1596- 60 men asked Lord Lieutenants for help for poor, which the government saw as a threat

Question 14

What happened in Newcastle as a result of the economic crisis?

Answer 14

Paid for 25 funerals in 1597-8

Question 15

What did the government do when they realised that increased prices were increasing poverty?

Answer 15

Introduced laws and measure to keep land under cultivation and prevent depopulation and devastation of farms

Question 16

What was the general public mood during economic crisis?

Answer 16

Much grumbling over lack of food, paying ship money, purveyance, monopolies and raising troops.

Question 17

Where were the food riots across the country and when?

Answer 17

Ipswich in 1586

Kent 1595

Sussex, Somerset and Norfolk in the next 3 years

Apprentices rioted in London

Feltmakers in Southwark in 1592 and again in 1595

Bow 1593

Question 18

What did the Oxfordshire men try to do before they plotted to rise?

Answer 18

60 men went to Lord Lieutenant (Lord Norris) for help from the poor and starving.

Question 19

How much of Norwich population killed by plague in 1579-1580?

Answer 19

1/3 of its population

Question 20

How much had the death rate increased in 1595 - 1597?

Answer 20

Increased by 50%

Question 21

How many people in London were punished for vagrancy in 1600-01 compared to 1578-9?

Answer 21

1578-9 = 209

1600-01 = 555

Question 22

What happened to Robert Burton and Richard Bradshaw after the Oxfordshire uprising?

Answer 22

They were duly executed on Enslow Hill within sight of the enclosures they hoped to destroy.

Question 23

What was the poor population like in Norwich?

Answer 23

There was a presence of over 2,300 poor men, women and children- beginning and received lots of alms- making the seek for work pointless. They dwelled in Church, porches, cellars, barns, becoming filthy, diseased and led to a population with a drink and social problem

Question 24

How much had the population changed from the 1540s to 1601?

Answer 24

1540s= 2.774 million

1601 = 4.110 million

Question 25

What did London do in response to poverty?

Answer 25

1) Provided cheap grain after the harvest failure
2) Formed specific hospitals for types of poor people
3) 1547- compulsory payment for the poor
4) a special officer appointed to oversee the poor.

Question 26

What hospitals were created for the poor which determined the deserving and undeserving?

Answer 26

St Bartholomew’s Hospital for the sick

Bethlehem Hospital for the insane

St Thomas Hospital (Christs Hospital) as an orphanage

House of Correction - for the ‘criminal’ poor

Question 27

How did Norwich determine their groups of poor people?

Answer 27

Native poor

Those drawn to Norwich because of the generosity of their merchants.

Question 28

What did Norwich do to resolve the poverty crisis?

Answer 28

Set up an organisation to oversee poor relief- including consistent application. They supplied grain and set up work for able bodies poor.

Question 29

How did Norwich manage to fund and organise their poverty organisation?

Answer 29

They had a good budget due to taxation. Wage earners had to contribute, and their contribution was salary assessed (including rich parishes).

Question 30

What did Norwich do after their baseline poor organisation was set?

Answer 30

They purchased a prison in 1565.

The poor were expected to work 8am-4am, which they would keep the profits.

Select women were appointed to look after children and other women (paid 20s per year, would teach children)

1574- able-bodied poor men were to meet with tools at 5am to find work (employers could pick them up)

Question 31

How did Norwich organise taxation (which was so unique)?

Answer 31

They included richer parishes that did not have any poor. Traditionally, parishes contribute to their own parish, but in this case, the money from rich parishes was spread across Norwich.

Question 32

How much taxation did Norwich manage to retrieve?

Answer 32

950 people paid for poor relief, supporting 380 of the deserving. The organisations budget was, therefore, £500 per annum (more than what the city received)

Question 33

What was the significance of the 1563 Alms Act?

Answer 33

JP’s forced you to pay for poor relief if refused.

The distinction between the idle and the deserving poor.

Question 34

What was the significance of the 1572 Vagabonds/ Poor Relief Act?

Answer 34

COntributions were compulsory.

License to beg if parishes did not have poor relief.

Adult beggars were whipped and burnt in the ear (under 14 were just whipped)

Vagabonds were described as ‘not belonging to any baron of the realm’

Question 35

What was the significance of the Act for the Relief of the Poor?

Answer 35

The maximum amount for a compulsory poor rate set and levied locally.

Children were apprenticed until 24 (M) and 21 (F)

Jp’s appointed overseers of the poor to provide stocks of materials and administering the laws.

Begging was forbidden

Question 36

WHat was the significance of the 1576 Act of Relief of the Poor?

Answer 36

Able-bodied who lost possessions and/or had particular needs were given a license to beg.

All large towns provided a store of wool. hemp. flax or iron so the idle could be put to work.

Persistent beggars sent to House of Correction to then be disciplined to labour.

Question 37

What was the significance of the 1598 Act for Punishment of Rogues, Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars?

Answer 37

Ear burning ended, but ‘sturdy beggars’ were to be whipped ‘until his or her body be bloody’, then returned to their birthplace and then sent to House of Correction to await job offers.

Question 38

What was the 1601 Poor Law?

Answer 38

Further adaptation from previous laws. The impotent poor (people who can’t work)= cared for in almshouse or a poorhouse, offering relief to people who were unable to work: mainly those who were “lame, impotent, old, blind”.

The able-bodied poor were to be set to work in a House of Industry. Materials were to be provided for the poor to be set to work.

The idle poor and vagrants were to be sent to a House of Correction or even prison.

Pauper children would become apprentices.